LarryFlowers
04-12-09, 07:57 AM
A heads up to everyone currently running Windows 7 Beta.
Windows 7 Beta has been an interesting experience. Extremely stable, mostly feature complete, many of you have probably used it as a "production" PC. I have as well and am extremely happy with it for the most part.
RC (Release Candidate) is coming in May. When you install it on your PC, it will stop dead in it's tracks. Microsoft wants a broad based testing of this RC, because unless something radical happens it will be the only RC released.
For Microsoft this means installing it one of two ways: Clean install OR, a method they would really like you to use, Reinstall Vista and then upgrade it. I get why Microsoft wants us to do this but it is a pain in the butt.
This of course means you will lose any customizations and you will have to re-install everything.
A warning: Microsoft will provide a way to bypass this, but it will be somewhat difficult. I have no doubt that the RC will be made available on various downloading sites with this change already made... Please, Please be careful about this... a modified version of this file could represent a real danger as you will have no way of knowing what it may contain.
At any rate: the RC is coming fast, no more than 4 weeks away so you might want to get your system ready for a clean install which is always the best method when you are testing an OS. I will post a notice when the Windows 7 RC appears on the MSDN and TechNet sites which generally occurs a few days before it is publicly available.
Windows 7 Beta has been an interesting experience. Extremely stable, mostly feature complete, many of you have probably used it as a "production" PC. I have as well and am extremely happy with it for the most part.
RC (Release Candidate) is coming in May. When you install it on your PC, it will stop dead in it's tracks. Microsoft wants a broad based testing of this RC, because unless something radical happens it will be the only RC released.
For Microsoft this means installing it one of two ways: Clean install OR, a method they would really like you to use, Reinstall Vista and then upgrade it. I get why Microsoft wants us to do this but it is a pain in the butt.
This of course means you will lose any customizations and you will have to re-install everything.
A warning: Microsoft will provide a way to bypass this, but it will be somewhat difficult. I have no doubt that the RC will be made available on various downloading sites with this change already made... Please, Please be careful about this... a modified version of this file could represent a real danger as you will have no way of knowing what it may contain.
At any rate: the RC is coming fast, no more than 4 weeks away so you might want to get your system ready for a clean install which is always the best method when you are testing an OS. I will post a notice when the Windows 7 RC appears on the MSDN and TechNet sites which generally occurs a few days before it is publicly available.