Twitter: doing some reading for a class

Vista Beta 2 Download Available

Jun 08, 2006 in , ,

Microsoft has decided to offer Windows Vista Beta 2 (build 5384.4) to the public for free. I can only assume this is Microsoft’s way of letting everyone know that they have an actual working product and that progress is being made regardless of the delays. This is a great strategy to let people know what to expect in the next version as well as get a sneak peek of what they will be paying so much for. Screenshots show that the beta is of the Windows Vista “Ultimate” type. Microsoft seems to have a knack for releasing betas of upcoming software. Several weeks ago, the Microsoft Office 2007 Beta was released.

Microsoft mentioned last month that Vista will be offered in more flavors than the regular home and professional. There will actually be, get this, seven different kinds of Vistas: Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, a Home Premium with MCE, Ultimate, Professional, Small Business and Enterprise Editions. You can find out about the differences between each type of Vista on Softpedia.

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21 Comments

  1. Ahh I wish I had received an email letting me know this had gone live, servers are spammed.

  2. You’re saying that like you actually want to try it. Been there, done that, it’s no picnic. For when I’m forced to use Windows now, I’ll stick with XP.

  3. Hey, I’m just reporting the news… don’t kill the messenger. =D I’ve played with Longhorn/Vista betas for a long time though… I’m sticking with OS X and I can’t wait for Leopard.

  4. Lots of people were worried that Vista would be craptacular. Maybe they are right. Even Paul Thorutt (sp?) said it wasn’t anything on Mac OS X 10.4. But hey, it’s a personal taste I’ve found. Among my friend’s I’ve found that those who read blogs, use RSS, web 2.0, etc prefer a Mac.

  5. Yea, I’m with Matt on this one. Ill stick with OSX, I dont need to use OSXP…I mean vista. I’m done with microsoft.

  6. I too am done with Windows Vista, I expect to hold onto my XP laptop for a few more months after the release of Vista _then_ buy me a Mac with the money I saved up over that time.

  7. The messenger is of no importance. :-P *rolls eyes*

    Sorry Paul I obviously have seen Stigmata too many times. ;)

  8. I got the cd-key from their website but the servers been pwned and i cant download it. i need to try it for my IT needs at the office. and i like to break my home computer so it would be a good reason to buy your mac mini lol

  9. I’m done with Microsoft too.
    I can’t wait to see Leopard in action!

  10. I finally got it installed in VMware and have been messing around with it and Office 2007. It is definately a leap forward not only for the Windows Platform, but in general as it seems to integrate a “calibrate enviroment” theme throughout the OS and Office suite.

    I applaud M$FT for what appears to be a more secure OS (it pops up everytime you start an app or change a setting, verifying that you actually did it), but quickly gets annoying. The networking was also more “locked down” as most all sharing and services where by default blocked and the admin needed to enable them. I just hope they got rid of those LM password hashes.

  11. Seems to me taht Windows is getting jealous of Apple, what with all of the graphical extras.

  12. Is it possible to install with Boot Camp? I’d like to take it for a spin on my iMac…

  13. Looks like the preview program has been closed

  14. I don’t know if any body is intrested or if they already know about this site but i found a vistas download site at http://download.windowsvista.com/preview/rc1/en/download.htm its still down loading so don’t know if it works yet and i still need to find a key for it

  15. Being an eager and dedicated computer geek would appreciate beta installation of Vista.

  16. How do I download Vista and by the way yall are talking about it badly should i buy it?

  17. its good and attractive

  18. Please give me tghe link of vista to download

  1. [...] Thanks to Paul’s article, I just found out that Microsoft is offering the Vista Beta 2 as a free download. I haven’t been able to get to the servers yet, but I’m trying. This comes at a perfect time since we are doing some testing of authentication methods at my office. Unfortunately, I’ve heard that feature of Vista is still being written(please let me know if that is false)? Either way I would like to get my hands on it, but haven’t yet. If you are able to get copy of it from the site, any chance you would be willing to share? [...]

  2. [...] Microsoft has announced that Windows Vista Beta 2 is available for the public to download and test. The traffic was so overwhelming that Microsoft closed the download. It was only available for a number of hours. Hans Verbeeck managed to download his copy and he went to install it onto a MacBook Pro. So how did he do? Well he succeded. At first he downloaded the x64 version of Vista, but then later realised this at an error screen. So he downloaded the right copy and things started to go smoothly. He installed Vista but an error screen came up saying that Vista had not installed correctly. However he said that this was not a problem and you just need to return to the install screen and us the ‘Repair’ link on the bottom left hand corner. That was the end, and he started to mess with the settings to get Vista looking good. Note: To get the Vista DVD working he had to go through a number of steps, which can be found on his blog. [...]

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