Posts Tagged ‘Beta 1’

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

Yes, you can finally obtain Windows 7 via legit avenues! Yaaaay! Good luck getting through to the site when it goes live, though, as I’m sure it will come to a crawl with all the users who will be hitting it. Only 2.5 million people will be accepted to download the public beta, so don’t wait! I know that’s a large number, but it’ll go much quicker than you think. Public downloads aren’t available yet, but keep your eyes peeled on the official Windows 7 product site. Word is, downloads will go live this afternoon, pacific standard time (GMT-8).

Link: Windows 7 Site

UPDATE: Many thanks to Imran Hussain for letting me know that the Community Technology Preview (CTP) Beta 1 build is already available on TechNet! Link: Giggity

UPDATE 2: lol. Looks like they pulled it from TechNet for now. I get an error after going through the sign in process for downloading the x64 build.

-Stephen

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

The Beta documentation provided with Windows 7 Beta 1 provides a couple of ideas in regards to the bug that corrupts certain MP3′s, including how to possibly recover MP3′s already affected. First and foremost, though, make sure you’ve installed the KB961367 patch. You can find a link to it at the bottom of this post.

Explanation: “When MP3 files are added (either manually or automatically) to either the Windows Media Player or the Windows Media Center library, or if the file metadata is edited, several seconds of content may be permanently removed from the start of the file. This issue occurs when files contain thumbnails or other metadata of significant size before importing or editing them.”

Solutions:

1 – Ensure that all MP3 files that may be accessed by a computer running Windows 7 (including those on removable media or network shares) are set to read-only. To do this, in Windows Explorer, find the files, right-click them, click the General tab, and then select the Read-only check box. Then back up all of the MP3 files prior to using Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center.

2 – If some of your files have already been affected, you may be able to recover the data by using the Previous Versions feature. To do this, right-click the file name, click Properties, click the Previous Versions tab, and in the File Versions pane select the most recent previous version.

Patch Links (Thanks to RedmondPie for the links): x86 or x64

-Stephen

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

Tonight, Steve Ballmer announced the official availability of Windows 7 Beta 1. If you are a subscriber to MSDN or TechNet, check your account and get your official x86 or x64 build of 7000. Ballmer also announced that the build would be available for all of the public on January 9th, so just a couple more days to go. Regardless of how you obtain the build, MAKE SURE you download the patch which fixes the MP3 corruption bug in the build! It’s not publicly available yet, but for those of you who are subscribers, you’ll see it: KB961367

-Stephen

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

Redmond Developer News approached me a few days ago with interest in having me write a review for them of my hands-on experience with Windows 7 Beta 1 Build 7000. This review was based on the 32-bit version since x64 wasn’t leaked/released yet (I’m downloading it now, though). Check it out:

http://reddevnews.com/news/article.aspx?editorialsid=10488

-Stephen

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

During the Windows 7 PDC 2008 keynote, Sinofsky assured that Beta 1 would be feature-complete. I really hope that’s not the case… at least, with MS Paint, that is. Personally, I love MS Paint. I never install any 3rd party image applications because I’ve never needed them. The one thing I’ve always had to work around is translucency with PNGs. Paint hates PNGs, so I thought maybe the Windows 7 revision in all of its glitz and glamour might finally complete my life. Alas, I was wrong. I find it hard to believe that with all of the added functionality in Paint, proper handling of translucent PNGs is nowhere to be found. I let out a literal chuckle and shook my head as I went to create the screenshot I wanted to make my point here, you know why? Because when I pasted the 2 images, I noticed a spiffy little shadow underneath the canvas. I mean, yeah, it looks good but where the hell is the REAL added value?? lol. Check it out (click on the image to see it in full resolution):

I know that looks a little confusing at first but look at where the 2 red arrows are pointing. Neat, huh? No purpose, but neat-looking! Now, from top-to-bottom, the two Office 14 graphics you see there are opened in MS Paint and the freeware application Paint.NET, respectively. Yeah… freeware. I love the fact that Microsoft are on track with updating at least the looks and some of the functionality in their timeless applications, but can a loyal and avid user/fan of MS Paint get a little PNG support, PLEASE!? =)

-Stephen

EDIT: Oh, and layer support to some degree! That’d be fan-freakin’-tastic.