Is it illegal to download the Windows 7 Beta off the torrent sites?

[BigToque]

Just curious because the article on dailytech says to go get it and I found the statement a little odd.

 

[lxskllr]

Does it work without a key?

 

[BigToque]

Originally posted by: lxskllr
Does it work without a key?

I don't know... I haven't downloaded it

 

[StinkyPinky]

Most likely, but thousands of people have already downloaded it. Microsoft also aren't selling it, so it can't hurt their sales.

 

[Bateluer]

Odds are, the more people that actively run it on varying hardware configs will actually help them. They'll get better bug 'reports'.

 

[stlcardinals]

Originally posted by: lxskllr
Does it work without a key?

No, it will eventually disable itself like Vista without a proper key. Therefore it would be like running any other Windows OS without a valid key, illegal.

 

[ViRGE]

Is it illegal to download the Windows 7 Beta off the torrent sites?

Yes.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: ViRGE

Is it illegal to download the Windows 7 Beta off the torrent sites?

Yes.

Ditto.

Get it from connect.microsoft.com if available. Otherwise it's illegal.

 

[Snapster]

Illegal yes.

IIRC the beta has a kill swtich end of June/July 09 anyways, and before then Beta 2, RC and even Gold should be looming.

 

[Miklebud]

According to this guy this guy you can install it with a 30 day trial. This is a beta, so why not try it out? Who needs it more than 30 days?

The full ISO comes in at under 3GB and fits nicely on one DVD. Like Vista and XP SP3, you can install Windows 7 without a license key under a 30-day trial.

After reading that bit of info on it, I'm kind of excited for Windows 7. I use OSX at work everyday, I do like a lot about it, and it seems Windows 7 has some improvements that are similar to OSX.

 

[gizbug]

illegal after 30 days, when you need a key. Until then, no

 

[Negronpope]

No, it's still illegal. Downloading it is illegal. Having an unlicensed copy of Windows 7 is illegal. The unauthorized distribution of Windows 7 is illegal. Providing it to other (even without monetary gain) INCLUDING torrent seeding is illegal.

 

[bwatson283]

If you feel like getting audited, have at it.
It is Torrent, enough said.

 

[BD2003]

It's illegal, but it's a pretty victimless crime. Youre DLing a time-bombed beta OS that's going public for free in a few days. You can install it just fine without a serial and put off activation until you get your official beta key. Not that I recommend it of course, but I wouldnt lose any sleep over it.

 

[KeypoX]

Originally posted by: stlcardinals

Originally posted by: lxskllr
Does it work without a key?

No, it will eventually disable itself like Vista without a proper key. Therefore it would be like running any other Windows OS without a valid key, illegal.

wrong. Vista works without a key for 180 days legally. Windows 7 beta works at least 30days without key, legality i dunno.

 

[KeypoX]

Originally posted by: Miklebud


After reading that bit of info on it, I'm kind of excited for Windows 7. I use OSX at work everyday, I do like a lot about it, and it seems Windows 7 has some improvements that are similar to OSX.

Such as? Because while win7 does prob have some enhancements to vista. The things that are similar to OSX, like the super bar is the worst part of windows 7. Even though it will bring in the most users. No more quick launch toolbar sucks... (you know the jump list that windows had way before leopard)

I really hope windows listens to the feed back of all the win 7 testers. Becasue the superbar is in no way faster. But it is kinda like leopard, 2 or more steps to retrieve an open window.

Win 7 - mouse down to bar, hover, mouse up to the the open windows until you decipher which is the window you want. 3 step

Leopard- Mouse to right corner (in my case) visually scan all the 'exposed' windows, mouse to the one i want. 2 step

Win 95, 98, 2k, ME, XP, Vista - Click the window on the task bar. 1 step That is listed based on when it was opened, so i already knew where it was based on the order or opening.

You can unstack in win7 but, still quick launch is gone...

 

[Nothinman]

No, it's still illegal. Downloading it is illegal. Having an unlicensed copy of Windows 7 is illegal. The unauthorized distribution of Windows 7 is illegal. Providing it to other (even without monetary gain) INCLUDING torrent seeding is illegal.

Well the unlicensed part is probably questionable since MS does the install without a key to get a trial thing these days but the rest is right on. Even if MS was offering it to download from their site it would likely still be illegal to get it from a torrent since the place hosting the tracker and all of the torrenters wouldn't have redistribution rights.

 

[skyofavalon]

windows isnt free ??

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: KeypoX

Originally posted by: Miklebud


After reading that bit of info on it, I'm kind of excited for Windows 7. I use OSX at work everyday, I do like a lot about it, and it seems Windows 7 has some improvements that are similar to OSX.

Such as? Because while win7 does prob have some enhancements to vista. The things that are similar to OSX, like the super bar is the worst part of windows 7. Even though it will bring in the most users. No more quick launch toolbar sucks... (you know the jump list that windows had way before leopard)

I really hope windows listens to the feed back of all the win 7 testers. Becasue the superbar is in no way faster. But it is kinda like leopard, 2 or more steps to retrieve an open window.

Win 7 - mouse down to bar, hover, mouse up to the the open windows until you decipher which is the window you want. 3 step

Leopard- Mouse to right corner (in my case) visually scan all the 'exposed' windows, mouse to the one i want. 2 step

Win 95, 98, 2k, ME, XP, Vista - Click the window on the task bar. 1 step That is listed based on when it was opened, so i already knew where it was based on the order or opening.

You can unstack in win7 but, still quick launch is gone...

You can get fairly close to the old style taskbar by choosing small icons and not to stack, so it'll all still be one click, the main difference is that the quick launch shortcuts are mixed in with open windows. Which sounds confusing at first, but everything is always in order so it actually works very nicely.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

Does it matter?

 

[Blain]

How can we know that the Torrent Windows 7 beta doesn't include malware?

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: Blain

How can we know that the Torrent Windows 7 beta doesn't include malware?

You can't.

 

[thescreensavers]

Originally posted by: KeypoX

Originally posted by: Miklebud


After reading that bit of info on it, I'm kind of excited for Windows 7. I use OSX at work everyday, I do like a lot about it, and it seems Windows 7 has some improvements that are similar to OSX.

Such as? Because while win7 does prob have some enhancements to vista. The things that are similar to OSX, like the super bar is the worst part of windows 7. Even though it will bring in the most users. No more quick launch toolbar sucks... (you know the jump list that windows had way before leopard)

I really hope windows listens to the feed back of all the win 7 testers. Becasue the superbar is in no way faster. But it is kinda like leopard, 2 or more steps to retrieve an open window.

Win 7 - mouse down to bar, hover, mouse up to the the open windows until you decipher which is the window you want. 3 step

Leopard- Mouse to right corner (in my case) visually scan all the 'exposed' windows, mouse to the one i want. 2 step

Win 95, 98, 2k, ME, XP, Vista - Click the window on the task bar. 1 step That is listed based on when it was opened, so i already knew where it was based on the order or opening.

You can unstack in win7 but, still quick launch is gone...

Your logic is also flawed as you also have a 3 step procedure for Leopard- Mouse to the right corner 1. Visually scan all exposed windows 2. Mouse to the one I want 3.

Same thing with Win 7. Drag mouse to Icon on task bar 1. Visually scan all exposed windows of that app 2. And mouse to the one I want 3.

I like windows 7, and I hate Vista still using XP and I am going to make Win 7 Beta my main OS, tonight. But I will probably reformat once 64bit one comes out