Windows 7 Demand Clogs Beta Download Servers

Internetnews.com ^ | January 9, 2009 | Stuart J. Johnston

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Microsoft servers got quite a workout on Friday from potential testers as the company opened public beta testing of Windows 7 to a broad audience– so much so, in fact, that the company decided to delay the beta's opening until it can bring more servers online.

"Due to very heavy traffic we’re seeing as a result of interest in the Windows 7 Beta, we are adding some additional infrastructure support to the Microsoft.com properties before we post the public beta," said a posting on The Windows Blog at around 3 p.m. Pacific Time on Friday afternoon. It included a promise to get the beta servers up and running as quickly as possible.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced on Wednesday night that beta test of Windows 7 would be broadened to the general public on Friday. It was made available to MSDN and TechNet Plus subscribers on Wednesday.

Additionally, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) executives have planned a public beta with at least 2.5 million participants. However, apparently they didn't expect everyone to try to get in at once.

"It's starting to look almost like a land rush," said Michael Cherry, operating system analyst at Directions on Microsoft, told InternetNews.com.

As to where to look when the broad public beta is open for business, at press time, a Microsoft spokesperson said the company is referring users to The Windows Blog.

[big'ol_freeper]

That sucks. I can appreciate your frustration, formally having had to do graphic intensive work on a PC before upgrading to Mac.

[D-fendr]

I do a lot of photography also in addition to ‘puter work and have machines of most OSs.

Lightroom/Photoshop/Mac is where I end up, no contest, and it’s cheaper in the long run. You can also buy used or refurb Macs and save there..

[PAR35]

But part of the Microsoft business model is to force upgrades. If I keep XP, that means I can keep all of my old software working. If they can move me to Vista, then some of my software won’t work. If I don’t want to move to Vista, then they’ll come out with a new version of Office where the default save formats aren’t compatible with older versions, and try to force upgrades of both Office and Vista that way.

Microsoft just knows that it can’t survive by just improving software.

On the other hand, if my old software won’t work, why not just switch to Linux. I’m typing this on a new laptop, Vista pre-installed, but operating off of a bootable Linux CD. SeaMonkey and OpenOffice seem to do everything I need. I might, however, be willing to try a cheap upgrade to 7 to see if it’s any better than Vista.

[theymakemesick]

http://www.proengineertips.com/platform-support/can-i-run-pro-engineer-in-apple-mac-os-x.html

Can I run Pro/ENGINEER in Apple Mac OS X?

The answer is NO. Please read below for the Operating System supported by Pro/E.

MICROSOFT WINDOWS 2000 PROFESIONAL (Until ProE Wildfire 1.0 only)
MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP
MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP X 64 EDITION (ProE Wildfire 3.0 onwards only)
MICROSOFT WINDOWS VISTA ULTIMATE (ProE Wildfire 4.0 only)
WINDOWS VISTA BUSINESS (ProE Wildfire 4.0 only)
HP-UX
SOLARIS ON SPARC
SOLARIS 10 ON AMD X64 (ProE Wildfire 3.0 onwards only)
LINUX RED HAT (Until ProE Wildfire 3.0 only)

Back to proengineertips.com FAQ main page

[NerdDad]

I loved Wordstar.

I was the first USAF admin specialist to put a computer on a desk at the squadron level. I bought an Osborne with its 5” screen and 90k floppy drives. Built an RS232 interface to tie it to my Royal electronic typewriter. Dysan 5.25” 90k floppies cost $10 each in those days. It kills me to remember that everytime I see that the price of a terabyte drive has dropped again.

It took me 4 hours to set up the template for the first Officer Effectiveness Report that I typed. Then it took less than 5 minutes each of the next 4 times I had to re-do it as it made its way up the chain because one colonel or another wanted this word or that one changed. This setup and the Trash-80 Model III with daisy wheel printer that followed it were seen as pure magical by superiors. I never had to worry about another inspection. The inspectors would come to my office and watch me work, They would ask me the kinds of questions one might expect from somebody who had never seen a computer before. Then they would write up a glowing report on my inspection and leave.

I truly enjoyed those days. It was fun being the great wizard.

[D-fendr]

You could run Windows on your Mac and Pro/ENGINEER on that, vm-like.

You’d still have all the costs and headaches of Windows, but at least you’d save on hardware rather than having OSX and Windows on two machines.

[perfect stranger]

Something to try this weekend.

[Gondring]

[...] claims it has a "You Will Use The New Interface!" mentality.

Yeah, that really worked with Microsoft Bob!

Microsoft, if you're listening..."stop being idiots!"

[Gondring]

When you have something that people like and want and are willing to pay for, don’t just throw it away.

But Microsoft doesn't have MacOS.

[Blue Highway]

Did that Beta version ever work for you last week or the week before?

[Gondring]

I have an old system in my office running XP. It has half the processing power and RAM yet runs faster than my newer desktop.

That is what frustrated many Vista users, and why I haven't gone for Vista. Why spend a bunch extra just to downgrade performance?

[perfect stranger]

No, they were just empty zip files.

[perfect stranger]

You might find this interesting.

[Blue Highway]

Pretty neat video. I am at 3% on the beta. Hope it works.

[roamer_1]

Yeah I was going to try it out but can't access the download servers. The "official" links are down, but it is still available at Softpedia and MajorGeeks too, if I am not mistaken. The dld links point right to MS, so go figger... I just pulled one down an hour ago...

[perfect stranger]

@ 41% for me right now. You know I’ll try it on the Dell first. If (when) that doesn’t work I’ll try it on the white machine.

[Born Conservative]

I’ve made the switch to Linux (OPENSuSE), but my son has a box with Vista 64 bit, and no problems at all. One of the other problems with Vista was that they made major changes with SP1, and the drivers that WERE working prior to the service pack, STOPPED working after installing it. That was a big blunder on the part of Microsoft.

[Blue Highway]

Not sure if it will even work as it’s stated the minimum requirements are 1ghz cpu speed and 1gb memory. Remember Vista, it wouldn’t even install on the Dell 800mhz.

[perfect stranger]

25 cents says it will. ;)

[mysterio]

Yep, Wordstar was my first processor as well. Was running it on a 386. Got me through high school and my first year or two of college. Wrote a lot of papers in Wordstar. My class was the first that the college decreed that all papers must be word processed and not typed. I was lucky enough to have a computer and not have to wait in line at the lab.

That was the year I discovered hard drive, sound card, and modem upgrades. I sort of miss learning about a new BBS and calling it up to see what they have.