Who can download the Windows 7 Beta?
The Beta is free and available to the first 2.5 million people who download it, starting January 9, 2009. However, because Microsoft isn’t providing technical support for the Beta, we strongly recommend that only experienced computer users sign up. How experienced? At minimum, you should be comfortable backing up a computer, formatting a hard drive, burning an ISO file to DVD, and installing an operating system from scratch. You should also be comfortable troubleshooting problems on your own.