As Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer promised at CES 2009 during his preshow
keynote, the Windows 7 beta is now available to the public for
download. It is only available to the first 2.5 million people who
download it, so make sure to get your hands on it as soon as you can!
The
beta is available in English (32-bit and 64-bit), German (32-bit and
64-bit), Japanese (32-bit and 64-bit), Arabic (32-bit and 64-bit), and
Hindi (32-bit). Once you have the .iso image downloaded, I recommend
you use IMGBurn to burn it to a DVD. The beta supports clean installs
and Windows Vista SP1 to Windows 7 upgrades. You can only install the
Ultimate edition. You should receive a beta key by e-mail sometime
after you download the build. Microsoft gives the following minimum
hardware recommendations for the Windows 7 Beta (and notes that they
can change before the final):
•Processor: 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor •Memory: 1 GB of system memory •Hard drive: 16 GB of available disk space •Video card: Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128MB memory (in order to enable Aero theme) •Drive: DVD-R/W drive •Internet connection (to download the Beta and get updates)