I installed Windows 7 Beta for a few reasons:

1. Because it's free! (as in free beer)
2. In order to test things under Windows and IE8
3. To get SecondLife / OpenLife which are kinda dodgy on Linux
4. Just for curiosity because all the reviews have been good

I think Microsoft have done a really good thing here, generating such an interest and making it available to as many people as want to try it. From the looks of things it's a good release both in looks and in functionality, and they should get a lot of great publicity that should lay the disastrous year of Vista to rest. Plus loads of free testing and feedback of course!

Fear not, i am still a great big Linux fan, and i will continue to use Ubuntu as my operating system of choice. But you know, if Windows 7 is really worth it, i might just cough up the money for the real thing when it comes out and the beta expires.

I followed the instructions here: How to dual-boot Vista with Linux (with Linux installed first) to create some space for Windows 7, install it to the new partition, and then fiddle with GRUB to make the two play nicely together. In fact they did not play together to start with. Windows 7 tried to hide Ubuntu, and then i fixed that, and Ubuntu refused to let Windows 7 have a turn. I got "BOOTMGR is missing" and had to run the Windows 7 fix program on the DVD twice before it came back to life.

Anyway, i got it working now and there are some pretty cool things that have impressed me. This is not going to be a full review; that has already been done by plenty of other people … but here are some snapshots of my experience.

I was delighted to see that it comes with a "United Kingdom" theme, possibly because i entered United Kingdom as my location. How very thoughtful and welcoming! The background changes every 30 minutes with nice scenes from around the UK.

The "important message" is Windows 7 anxiously urging me to install a virus checker. Welcome back to the world of insecure operating systems, hah! I have installed the Kaspersky preview for Windows 7 which annoys me with popups every time i try to do anything. Rubbish, hey!

My first piece of feedback to Microsoft, if i could be bothered to give it … the Start button has a spiky highlight. It looks a little bit threatening, to me.

Previews are pretty awesome, especially in Internet Explorer 8 where each tab becomes a separate preview. When you hover over the preview, the full-size image appears. It's neat!

The hover colours themselves are actually really stunning! It seems to take colours from the icon, and apply a beautiful glassy effect, for example the Firefox one is mostly orange:

The 'show desktop' now works both as a click and a hover.

I've already done that a couple of times tonight to have a check on the time and temperature. It's quite nice that a quick mouse gesture (to the bottom corner) can quickly minimize and bring back again. However, the gadgets are not always visible, which may be a glitch or maybe i've just not understood when they show and when they don't.

Finally, Second Life! I was initially disappointed because Second Life claimed that it didn't like the video card driver. So i went to Control Panel – Hardware and Sound – Device Manager, right-clicked on my Display adapter and requested an update. Windows 7 found a good one for me!

YAY! :D

Like half the world, i have been trying to download Windows 7 tonight. I might have found a legitimate link, thanks to @benhedrington – i clicked this and it started downloading something. It obviously comes from download.microsoft.com and it begins with the number 7000, which i suppose is a good sign.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/6/3/3/633118BD-6C3D-45A4-B985-F0FDFFE1B021/EN/7000.0.081212-1400_client_en-us_Ultimate-GB1CULFRE_EN_DVD.iso (2.4GB)

Update: Steve Clayton corroborates this link, and also provides a 64-bit link:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/6/3/3/633118BD-6C3D-45A4-B985-F0FDFFE1B021/EN/7000.0.081212-1400_client_en-us_Ultimate-GB1CULXFRE_EN_DVD.ISO (3.2GB)

Let's hope it's the right thing, hey!

I think we also need an activation key, otherwise it will only work for 30 days. I managed to submit my email address on the technet beta program signup, so hopefully they will send me one.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/dd353205.aspx

Please don't all freak out on me … but … i am thinking of trying out the Windows 7 beta.

I think it's fair to say that Windows Vista did not quite meet all the expectations that Microsoft had for it in 2008. The user account protection was annoying, the visual effects to me smacked of "tried too hard" and i think a lot of Windows XP users felt it wasn't different enough to be worth an upgrade. People took their new Vista computers back to "upgrade" to XP, Dell are selling computers with Ubuntu, and the netbooks available in the high street have pushed Linux further into public awareness than ever before.

Vista was late, but i think they released it too soon. I think Microsoft's reputation took a knock, but they have a chance to repair it. Windows 7 is pretty much Vista done properly, and from everything that i've read so far, it looks as if they've actually done quite well this time. So i'm going to try and get hold of the beta and have a go at dual booting it. It certainly won't be my primary operating system of choice, but it could be useful for running SecondLife and/or OpenLife and i will admit i'm curious to see for myself what it's like.

I find it odd that Microsoft seem to be dedicating so much TV air time to their "I'm a PC" response advertisments to the Mac vs PC ads of a few years back. The odd thing is, i never remember seeing any of these ads on television. And i would remember because they were done by Mitchell and Webb in the UK. I've only seen them on Youtube when browsing for amusement's sake. I reckon there could be plenty of people who are completely bemused by all these people saying, "I'm a PC" when they have never seen the original ads for reference. Maybe Microsoft will awaken people up to the realisation that actually, Windows is not the only option.

Here's one of the Mitchell and Webb ads: The Naughty Step.

I actually thought it was illegal to make direct comparisons between your product and a direct competitor's product in an advertising campaign, so i don't know how Apple got away with this whole series of advertisements.

Somebody should do an ad called "I'm a free-thinker!" I haven't sold my soul to Microsoft or to Apple. I don't owe anybody any money. I just owe a debt of gratitude to thousands of volunteers who willing donated their time, knowledge and expertise to create the world's best, most secure, most reliable, most flexible, freely available, freely modifiable and freely redistributable operating system.

Actually, IBM did a Linux ad, ages ago. Linux: The Future is Open. Has anyone done anything like that since?

Have you ever done a search in Windows, and kept the search window open for a really long time? That ridiculous dog starts going crazier than usual!

Here is the dog, not looking at its best …

In case anyone is worried i drugged the dog, or forgot to feed it or something, don't worry! It perked up later on!

I don't want to be accused of cruelty to pixellated animals, heh!

Today i found out that a 24" iMac is waiting for me at my new job! WOoooHOooo!! I have been watching videos, boffing up on how Macs work! I have never seriously used one before, but i'm very excited! I'll be able to honestly compare Windows, Linux and Mac. It also means that Microsoft products will no longer be a part of my life!

This final week seems to be going terribly slowly. I can't wait to get started at my new job!

I'm on my course. Going well. It's a short break now. I think the tutor is not a great fan of Windows either:

"If you go way back to when Windows was very popular …"

According to the tutor, that was around the era of Windows 3.1. It all went downhill from there!

I'm scared! I have been instructed to install Vista SP1 for testing purposes. The installation guidelines told me to backup EVERYTHING on to an external hard drive (preferably in a fire-proof building a minimum of three miles away?!) and that i needed SEVEN GIGABYTES of free space! For a Service Pack, y'all!! The 64-bit version needs 13GB free!

Now it is telling me that the upgrade may take an hour or more, and the computer will reboot several times during installation.

Vista SP1 has been described as dog poo with icing on top. Fun for me! :)

Dear Windows Vista,

When i have logged on as an administrator and i have right-clicked on something and told you to 'Run as Administrator' and i have clicked the confirm button … DO NOT TELL ME this action requires elevation!!! How much more elevated can i possibly get?!

I am starting to think Windows Vista has been sent to us with the sole purpose of annoying us as much as possible.

I seem to have found a workaround: install the program you want on a different machine, then network to it and copy the entire program directory to your desktop and run it from there. Not exactly the easiest method, but it's the only one i've found that works.

I also love the double confirmation you need to give to create a folder. Once to create it as 'New Folder' and again to rename it to a proper name! When i'm logged on as a numpty user i have to enter an administrator username and password both times. Micro$oft, would you please go and visit your nice friendly competitors at Apple and learn a thing or two about usability? Kthxbye.