Windows 7 Official Public Beta

[FiB3R]

I'm normally still awake around that time :)

[ebabat]

It?s not much of a secret at this point, but CEO Steve Ballmer is expected to announce official availability of the closed Windows 7 Beta 1 release during his Consumer Electronics Show keynote address on January 7. The official (non-Torrented) Beta 1 bits should be available to pre-approved Windows 7 Beta 1 testers later Wednesday night or early on January 8.

Ditto with Windows 7 Server, a k a Windows Server 2008 R2. The private Beta 1 release of that product is scheduled for late January 7/early January 8, I?m hearing.

I?ve gotten a number of questions from readers this year already about the expected public betas of these products. I?ve made some discreet inquiries.

The public (the one and only) beta of Windows 7 client and server could be released simultaneously with the private Beta 1 builds this week, according to some of my sources. What?s the point of a simultaneous public and private beta? The private testers? feedback will get top priority; the public beta will be more of a milestone marker than anything else.

One source of mine said the Windows Server 2008 R2 code definitely will be available to the public this week, but was less sure about client. He said he thought the public beta of Windows 7 client might lag by a week or so.

Update: Nope. It?s going to be sooner, not later. The latest word: The public beta of Win 7 client is due to hit Friday, January 9, according to a source familiar with Microsoft?s plans. The public beta of Win 7 Server is due to hit a day earlier, January 8, the source added.

Microsoft officials declined to comment as to when testers ? public or private ? should expect to get the new Windows 7 client and server builds.

Bottom line: If the tipsters are on their game, anyone who wants to test Windows 7 client and Windows 7 server should be able to do so starting this week?. And if you?re a consumer in the market for a new Windows PC but want the flexibility to upgrade to Windows 7 for free, it sounds like you should wait until July 1, 2009, to make your purchase?.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1792

[onomato]

Update: Nope. It?s going to be sooner, not later. The latest word: The public beta of Win 7 client is due to hit Friday, January 9, according to a source familiar with Microsoft?s plans. The public beta of Win 7 Server is due to hit a day earlier, January 8, the source added.

I heard that MS Netherlands informed the Dutch press in a meeting yesterday that the public beta of Win 7 will be released on January 9.

[Ci7]

January 9th

oh no more waiting :(

[mikeyakagod]

May not be official but 64bit build has just leaked outside of MS hands by some good looking foreigners ;)

[Popcorned1]

May not be official but 64bit build has just leaked outside of MS hands by some good looking foreigners

More info please ... :p

[gonzo68]

i read info about it and saw it on torrent.ru a russian site. It looks as there is a download link but you need to be register to access it and unfortunatly registration are closed

[Popcorned1]

Cool

[MrChainsaw]

So where is it? Huh, huh? Can't wait to download it, just came home from school. :drool:

[bkp_duke]

Problem is they are a closed group.

No new registrations, and no public release of the torrent.

[Popcorned1]

It'll be leaked in due time.

Try http://bit.ly/1haYae for an account.

[edgarf28]

or look in the <<snipped>>

very nice forum, and very nice discussion there about windows 7 beta 1 x64 :rolleyes:

LOL

Edited January 7, 2009 by creamhackered

[tomwarren Veteran]

Remember guys, no links to torrents. Against our rules as it's warez.

[thealexweb]

64bit have no advantage over 32bit on running 32bit games infact 64bit run 32bit games slower, not by much but it does.

Fact: On average 64bit run programmes 10% faster than 32bit.

[mikeyakagod]

Fact: On average 64bit run programmes 10% faster than 32bit.

64bit apps also use more memory ;) Did you know that fact too?

Faster because 64bit apps can handle integers 4 words long instead of 2 words in 32bit. They are generally faster when it comes to crunching numbers.

[y_notm]

Fact: On average 64bit run programmes 10% faster than 32bit.

Care to back that up with some sources? I've heard nothing but the contrary (I run 64-bit Vista, btw, so I'm in no way biased against it)

[Unimatrix Xero]

all being well will be installing within 2 hours :)

any PM's asking where i got it will be ignored

[Popcorned1]

Unimatrix, report back if it's the real deal.

Ta

[mikeyakagod]

Care to back that up with some sources? I've heard nothing but the contrary (I run 64-bit Vista, btw, so I'm in no way biased against it)

dword

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc...PROT.10%29.aspx

qword

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/2s70e2x4.aspx

If I use a pointer to a memory address in a 64bit OS my pointers will always be 8bytes. Same pointer to memory address in a 32bit OS is only 4 bytes.

Why? Because If I want to address 64bits of memory I need to use pointers that are 64bits long to hold the memory address of the type that its pointing to. So my pointers on the stack now take up two times as much stack seg memory.

it might not seem like much 4bytes here, 4 bytes there, but classes /structs with a lot of pointers and qword members slowly add up in size and that means you will use more memory to store that data.

programming 101.

[+primortal Subscriber²]

[tin foil hat]Is there any thought on if these "leaked" copies of win7 found on torrent sites haven't been tempared with and have spyware/root kits on them?[/tin foil hat]

[atleeit]

Yeah and as I stated, 3 was not compiled on 1st December. Do you really think 12 was compiled on Saturday 20th December? That's wrong as well.

12 says 15th lol

[Michael Chourdakis]

Care to back that up with some sources? I've heard nothing but the contrary (I run 64-bit Vista, btw, so I'm in no way biased against it)

Let me clarify some things about 64-bit.

The x64 (AMD) mode is not an emulation mode like IA64. That is, 32-bit Software run natively in a mode known as "Compatibility" mode of the 64-bit CPU. Therefore, any application as long as its code does not jump back and forth to 64/32 big segments, will run as fast (or as slow) as an 64-bit native one.

What happens with Win32 applications that make system calls or otherwise mess with the kernel? Because the kernel in x64 is only 64-bit (there is no WOW64 for kernel), the code has to jump into x64 and get back to 32-bit segments when they make a system call. Therefore they are slower in theory when running under x64.

The cost, if any, is negligible of course, but in exchange of that you get other features that may or may not increase the speed of the application, that is, SSE/SSE2 instructions by default, a full 4GB of address space of the 32-bit app, PAE by default and some (more developer-wise) stuff.

So an older 32-bit app that wasn't designed to be run under wow64 will probably run slower. The difference is not noticeable even with most developing testing tools and of course it is invisible to the end user. But a 32-bit app that can take care of the extra features under wow64 will probably run faster.

64-bit apps will surely run faster than their 32-bit counterparts under a 32-bit OS because of the nature of programming under x64, including additonal CPU registers, fast calls between procedures and some more. The % difference depends on the application. In notepad might be 0.0001% , in a time critical processing software it might be way over 100% as I 've tested. In addition, they have the entire address space and ram.

Conclusion: x64 at the moment is better than x86 if you have a reason. Most people don't have one currently. But If you have a reason, the x64 is the way to go.

[StealMySoda]

[tin foil hat]Is there any thought on if these "leaked" copies of win7 found on torrent sites haven't been tempared with and have spyware/root kits on them?[/tin foil hat]

I guess that's just a risk some people are willing to take.

[atleeit]

Fact: On average 64bit run programmes 10% faster than 32bit.

Only if it's coded in 64bit! Why does this thread have to turn into a 32bit vs 64bit lol seriously

[tomwarren Veteran]

12 says 15th lol

Bingo, 7012 was on the 15th. Glad we are on the same page now :p