Earlier this week Microsoft made public the release candidate for their next OS – Windows 7. It is available as a free download from them, which will be good until March of 2010 (with limited usability for a few months after that)… so like many other tech enthusiasts I downloaded it and gave it a spin.
In a word, I love it. I was a big Vista fan already, though I know that ran against popular sentiment, but 7 improves upon Vista is just about every way. So far RC1 is running on two of my four personal systems, and the other two will soon be onboard as well. Once I've had some more time to play with it I hope to post another blog or a longer article, especially on the improvements to Media Center (my coverage of the original version of that is getting quite antiquated). Until then, though, you can try it out on your own by downloading it here.
We've also elected to offer the Windows 7 release candidate as an option on new Puget computers! This is exciting, as it lets our customers who were waiting for Windows 7 get a system now with the OS before it comes out for sale. You will have to eventually purchase a copy and reinstall when it expires, but this is an opportunity that I don't think any other system builder is providing right now. If you'd rather not jump on a pre-release OS, but need a system now, you can also take advantage of our Windows 7 Upgrade Program while it lasts.