Windows 7 Beta 1 Downloads Officially Discontinued

Microsoft: We are excited that you are excited!

Ahead of the end of January 9, 2009, Microsoft discontinued official Windows 7 Beta downloads, with the company offering no information as to when it planned to give users green light to access the first Beta development milestone of the next iteration of Windows again. On January 9, as it started serving the public downloads of Windows 7 Beta 1, Microsoft's level of excitement was on par with that of users crowding in mass to the bits, however, the company's server infrastructure failed to rise up to the challenge on sheer enthusiasm alone and to deal with the huge influx of traffic.

Having already dropped Windows 7 Beta to TechNet Plus and MSDN subscribers on January 7, 2009, following the opening keynote address of Microsoft's Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer at the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2009) in Las Vegas, the software giant went on to open up the Beta program to no less than 2.5 million people on January 9, only to shut down downloads before the day ended.

“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. We want to ensure customers have the best possible experience when downloading the beta, and I’ll be posting here again soon once the beta goes live. Stay tuned! We are excited that you are excited!” Brandon LeBlanc, Windows communications manager on the Windows Client Communications Team, exclaimed.

Because of heavy traffic, the Windows-dedicated area on Microsoft.com was down completely on the morning of January 9. The company attempted to extend the infrastructure of Microsoft.com by adding additional servers ahead of releasing the Windows 7 Beta bits, but, in the end simply gave up. Up to this point in time, the Redmond company has officially postponed the public availability of Windows 7 Beta to an undisclosed date.

“Thanks for your interest in the Windows 7 Beta. The volume has been phenomenal -- we’re in the process of adding more servers to handle the demand. We’re sorry for the delay, and we’ll re-post the Beta as soon as we can ensure a quality download experience,” Microsoft explained. Even the TechNet page, which was serving 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 Beta, has now nothing for visitors, except for the message above.