Windows 7 Beta Expiring Soon
I have been running Windows 7 Beta for several months now. Yesterday I received a pop-up warning on my computer that Windows 7 Beta will expire in 14 days.
Yikes!
What does that mean? Will I be without a computer in 2 weeks? No… Not exactly.
This is what will happen… First, Windows 7 Beta will begin a bi-hourly expiration starting on July 1st. What that means is that every 2 hours Windows 7 Beta will shut down and you will have to restart and log back on to your computer. This will go on for a month until August 1st when the beta version of Microsoft’s newest Windows Operating System will become unusable on August 1st.
Now I don’t know about you, but I can’t go without my computer for more than 15 minutes during waking hours. So, I am now preparing to upgrade to Windows 7 RC1 (RC stands for release candidate) ASAP.
I have just completed a full backup of all of my data to a USB hardrive and then performed an off site backup of all my important data with Mozy. This weekend I will backup any additional data created since today’s backup and then install the new Windows 7 RC1.
Just like the Windows 7 Beta, Windows 7 RC 1 can be downloaded and installed at no cost. However, the release candidate will begin shutting down every 2 hours until it expires on June 1st 2010. So unless you have a great deal of patience with your computer shutting down every 2 hours, you will need to buy the fully licensed version of Window 7 before June 1st 2010.
Microsoft has announced that it will release the full version of Windows 7 in October of 2009. Some computer manufacturers, like Dell, are already selling users the option of upgrading to Windows 7 if they purchase a new computer with Windows Vista. If you buy a new computer with Vista and the Windows 7 option, you will be able to upgrade at no additional cost.