Microsoft offers free windows vista

[tigerman8u]

Microsoft just released Windows Vista pre-RC 1 for public trial. The file is 2.5GB in size! Once you complete the download you must burn the ISO file to a DVD.
Expires: Unknown
Microsoft states they will close the offer after 100,000 downloads.
I am downloading it now.

http://download.windowsvista.com/preview/prerc1/en/download.html

[anonymez]

guess they needed "a few" more beta testers

i likely won't be upgrading to vista anytime soon, good 'ol ubuntu & suse for me. i just might give the trial a shot though, thanks tiger

[volfann]

I tried the previous Beta version.. worst mistake I ever made......

[PurpleDemon]

I tried the previous Beta version.. worst mistake I ever made......

Same here. Vista drivers unavailable for the MB, Made it drag slow.

Maybe I'll give this one a try. Like anonymez said they need more testers

Thanks for the heads up tigerman

[drfsupercenter]

Microsoft Virtual PC is the greatest thing ever for stuff like this

[UncasMS]

you will have a "key" from previous beta testings or otherwise downloading this iso wont make much sense

[drfsupercenter]

Dang, it's closed now.

Anyone downloaded it that could do me a favor and upload?

[RFBurns]

Ya that was fast. The site says it will be available again in comming weeks.

Im not sure what this accomplishes......other than MS being able to test their ftp servers durability. 2.5Gb file is no small potatoes. As Chewy pointed out in the thread sick of microsoft, they are delaying the SP3 for XP.

[JimS]

...
anonymez,
I'll stick with Ubuntu also.
I've got a lot to learn yet,
but I'm only in my 60s.
Maybe a bit of WINE to help
with ripping and burning.
...

[drfsupercenter]

2.5 GB to me isn't much... I have downloaded more before

[RFBurns]

2.5 GB to me isn't much... I have downloaded more before

No doubt.....multiply that tho by half of 100,000, and at one time, thats a good pull on a server! A berry good testing for a server me thinks.

[jm1647]

you will have a "key" from previous beta testings or otherwise downloading this iso wont make much sense

I guess there is no key in this download then ?

[drfsupercenter]

It's not available anymore.

I wanna find someone with it and borrow it

[tigerman8u]

I downloaded it and burnt the ISO to a dvd. If you click on the link from the expired dl site it states the beta will expire June 2007. It also states you have to do a clean install or an upgrade from win xp. The microsoft site states you can run vista with 512 mg ram and an 800 mhz cpu. That sounds like pretty slow to me. I just got off work so maybe I will play with it after I get some sleep. I'm hoping it will allow me to install a duel boot system.

[volfann]

I tried running the previous Beta version on a Hyperthreaded 2.8 P4 and 1 gig of RAM. Didn't have much luck. Too many driver issues and it sucked memory like it was starving to death. Hopefully they have gotten rid of some of the bugs by now.. It is a nice looking interface . I'm sure Chewy would just love to try and strip it down to run lean and mean>>