I am looking to join the beta of this once they start pushing out the builds. Does anyone know how I can join this?

theres absolutely now ay of doing so as of yet, keep checking back on the forum im sure someone will post as and when its possible.

Or, you know, they'll just keep using the same pool of 10k-15k testers they've been using since the Vista betas. I'm still testing stuff for them, SP1 included. Although, they may go for a bigger base and sign people up through blogs again. That's how I got on board. Keep yer eyes peeled I supose.

Go to www.connect.microsoft.com and sign in with a Passport. Look in Available Connections and see if there are any Beta's that you would like to be in. If you get in make sure to do all of the Surveys, participate in Newsgroups. keep up with Feedback. You may not find any bugs, but you can validate other peoples bugs.
You have to know that even doing all of these things you may still not get into a Beta like Windows 7.
Beta Testing can take up alot of time and hard work and at the end of the Beta all you may get is a thank you.

Oh well, if you even need to ask you probably won't be accepted in time.

Hey,


any news on this? I was a beta tester for Vista...Even submitted a few bugs but never via Connect so I never got the free copy.
Anyway, I'd love to test Windows 7 too.


Thanks.

if you're in, you'll hear from Microsoft themselves...
Also even talking about the 7 Beta will break NDAs so most will refrain from talking about it

My ass people will keep quiet about win7. There have already been leaks with pre-alpha 1. Besides longhorn/vista was one of the worst leaked os betas MS ever did. I highly doubt win7 will be any different. Look at fiji, it's been out what 1 week and screenshots have been posted.

I tested Vista, and SP1 so I'm assuming that they'll at least offer me a chance to test Win7 when it becomes available. Since I'm not testing it currently, and NOT under NDA, I can safely say that I haven't heard or seen anything on connect about this. Yet. I'm sure it'll happen soon enough, but I'm thinking not for a few more months at least.

I have a tech friend who could get me a copy of the beta. Hes already worked a little with the alpha.

wonder if they'll do public betas/RCs like they did in vista

the likelihood , yes they probably will

Hopefully they do! Because i want my free Windows 7

I've been told sending Sinofsky a teddy bear is sure to get you a spot in, but that's just what I've been told.

Will only be like vista enrolled testers instead of public testers who get free copy.

I hope not.

A lot of the misconceptions about Vista come from those public releases.

It got rid of a lot of bugs in Vista though. I wouldn't be surprised if they did the same again.

I own a site about Windows Vista. Sure it's not Windows 7 but the user base is there and if I got to beta test, it's a win-win situation because I'll generate more hype for it.

Any chance I can get a beta because of that?

If you go to PDC, then yes!

Otherwise, wait in line like the rest of us (including other, very high profile media members).

^
Or just wait for a .torrent

Microsoft Connect no??

Microsoft has been distributing public previews of Windows since Windows 2000 Beta 3, its nothing new. Only difference is, you had to pay for the Corporate previews of Windows 2000 and XP. With Windows Vista, all you had to do was download 7 GBs of data, you could even request DVDs for a minimal fee. MSDN and Technet subscribers automatically get access to beta 1. So, if you are desperate access an early preview, then that would be the best route.

I am sure they will do the same for Windows 7.

I don't remember ever paying for beta software of Windows 2000 or XP. Both were on what Microsoft now referes to as CTP.

I am not aware of CTPs during 2000 or XP betas, I am aware of interim builds which were not as often as CTPs were during the Vista beta. In fact the idea of Community Technology Previews did not come into existence until Visual Studio codename Whidbey.

Please note though that Corporate Previews were not available to the general public until around Beta 3 and RC1 I believe for 2000 and XP respectively. If you were in the private betas or subscriber to MSDN you would automatically get access to those previews of which you speak.

So... what you really mean is that you downloaded the publically available CTP version and were not an actual beta tester.. rightt? If you were in the actual beta program, you should have been filing bugs via connect.



How do you know "a lot of bugs" were resolved as a result of the CTP program and not the actual closed beta program? The CTPs are largely just a marketing gimmick.

CTPs were not released to the Public, milestone builds such as BETA 2 (5384), RC1 (5600) and RC2 (5744) were. Do you remember testing the following builds: 5219, 5231, 5270, 5308, 5381, etc? There were eleven of these builds not made available to the general public. The need for CTPs for Vista was essential because private testers were getting bored with the same old build. It became especially unproductive filing bugs that were already resolved in a later build. CTPs essentially gave the tester progress updates and help to quickly find and resolve new problems in addition to incorporating new features that testers could test for regressions.

I recall receiving 5270 in the mail for something or other to do with Vista, but was never in the Connect program for it.

It was actually build 5270.1. There was a select group of testers that were doing some side work for MS trying to nail down some bugs.