Download Windows7 Beta

What is Windows7

Windows 7 is the next release of the Windows client operating system, built on the secure foundation of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. Performance, reliability, security, and compatibility are core tenets of this release as we collect your feedback to meet our engineering goals of making Windows 7 the best-performing and most stable Windows operating system to date. Innovations in the product are, designed to augment your ability as an IT professional to better provision and manage increasingly mobile PCs, protect data, and improve both end-user and personal productivity.

Windows7 beta (formerly codenamed Blackcomb and Vienna) version is available for you to download now. Please Install and look at some of the new features and functionality of Microsoft’s new Operating System, how powerful and good it is for you and your Environment.

You have two Beta versions for this to download
32-bit (x86) Beta software
64-bit (x64) Beta software

To Download from Microsoft (Beta Download available till 10th Feb 09)
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd353205.aspx
Scroll down; you will be able to see below screen,

Select appropriate version, you need to register for Microsoft TechNet (Already a registered user, please login with your TechNet ID)
Note: It is an ISO format, total size of 2.54GB.

Catching Features of Windows 7
Windows 7 includes a number of new features, such as advances in touch, speech, and handwriting recognition, support for virtual hard disks, improved performance on multi-core processors, improved boot performance, and kernel improvements. Adds support for systems using multiple heterogeneous graphics cards from different vendors, a new version of Windows Media Center.
Many new items have been added to the Control Panel including: Clear Type Text Tuner, Display Color Calibration Wizard, Gadgets, Recovery, Troubleshooting, Workspaces Center, Location and Other Sensors, Credential Manager, Biometric Devices, System Icons, Action Center, and Display. "Windows Security Center" has renamed as "Windows Action Center" (Windows Health Center and Windows Solution Center in earlier builds) which encompasses both security and maintenance of the computer.

Removed features

While Windows 7 contains many new features, a number of capabilities and certain programs that were a part of Windows Vista are no longer present or have changed, resulting in the removal of certain functionality. The following is a list of features that were present in Windows Vista but have been removed in Windows 7
-->Several Start menu and taskbar features including:
Floating Deskbands (was deprecated in Windows Vista, now desk band can be only pinned to taskbar)
------>Windows Media Player Toolbar (replaced with the new Jump list feature)
------>Pinning default Internet Browser and E-mail client software programs on Start menu by default (programs can be manually pinned)
-->Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Movie Maker, Windows Mail, and Windows Calendar (in favor of downloading or using online the free respective Windows Live counterparts, which lack some features)
-->Software Explorer feature of Windows Defender
-->Removable Storage Manager (RSM)(applications dependent on it, such as NTBackup or the NTBackup Restore Tool, cannot run)
-->Windows Meeting Space
-->InkBall, a game
-->The numeric keypad from On-Screen Keyboard
-->Microsoft Agent 2.0 Technology
-->Windows Sidebar (Gadgets remain, sitting freely on the Desktop)
-->Windows Ultimate Extras

Hardware requirements