On Tuesday, May 5, the Windows 7 Beta Release Candidate (7 RC) became available to everyone via Microsoft's Customer Preview Program. Windows 7 is Microsoft's planned replacement for Vista. Now you can install the new operating system and use it at no charge, at least for a year or so.
As with the Beta, the Windows 7 RC Customer Preview Program is a broad public program that offers the Release Candidate free of charge to anyone who wants to download it. It will be available for download at least through 30 June 2009 with no limits on the number of downloads or product keys available. Once installed, the Release Candidate will continue to function until 1 June 2010.
A "release candidate" is believed to be the final test version of a new software release. Microsoft offers this Release Candidate to anyone who wishes to experiment and test it. Assuming that no last-minute, show-stopper bugs are found, the Release Candidate will eventually become the "Gold Copy" that Microsoft will release as version 1.0 of the final product.
The Release Candidate will expire on 1 June 2010, giving testers more than a year's free access to Windows 7. If you become a tester, starting on 1 March 2010 your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Windows will notify you two weeks before the bi-hourly shutdowns start. To avoid interruption, you’ll need to install a non-expired version of Windows before 1 March 2010. Anyone who uses the Release Candidate has until 1 June 2010 to decide if they wish to purchase the commercial release and continue using the product. If they do so, they will not lose any data or other functionality. The final product that will eventually be available in stores should install on top of the Release Candidate and will preserve all data and installed programs.
You can obtain the free Windows 7 Release Candidate right now at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-download.aspx.
IMPORTANT:
Never use beta software of any sort with your only copy of critical data. The entire purpose of a beta test process is to find software bugs. One has to assume that such bugs exist in beta software, even release candidate software, and possibly may corrupt your data.
If you are running Windows XP or an even earlier version of Windows, Microsoft recommends you first first back up your data (preferably on an external device), reformat the computer's hard drive, and then do a clean install of the Windows 7 Release Candidate. After installing Windows 7, you will need to reinstall your applications and restore your data files. If you need help with the installation process, please see the installation instructions.
If you are running Windows Vista, you can install Window 7 Release Candidate without having to back up and reinstall your programs and data. To be on the safe side, however, I'd suggest you still should backup your data before you start.
First Look
I performed a fresh installation of Windows 7 Release Candidate this morning on a virtual PC and am writing this article in Windows 7. I have only been using the new operating system for a few minutes, but it has worked well so far. While experimenting with Windows 7 is a great educational tool and allows me to test genealogy programs under Windows 7, I haven't seen anything yet that will entice me to give up the Macintosh as my primary system. Most everything that is new in Windows 7 has already existed in the Macintosh operating system for several years.
Watch for future news on Windows 7 as I continue testing its functionality and operation, especially with genealogy programs.
