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Want to Test Vista? Better Act Fast

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

June 29, 2006, 4:00 PM

Microsoft UK .NET platform product manager Ian Moulster wrote in a post to his personal Web log that the company will cut access to Windows Vista Beta 2 on Friday, as the company has reached the number of testers it was looking to give access to through its Customer Preview Program.

Moulster gave some tips to those who want to beat the cutoff and ensure they have access to a copy of the Vista beta and Release Candidate builds. Users should start their downloads today, as Microsoft plans to maintain download servers until July 14, which means the download could be stopped and restarted later.

Additionally, users should ensure they have a product key, and activate their copy. "We may be able to provide people who have activated copies with future...stuff," Moulster wrote. "I'm being vague because I need to be, just trust me and make sure you activate."

Microsoft has been "blown away" by the amount of interest in Vista Beta 2, Moulster said. He also said that the company does not have a planned cutoff for the Office 2007 Beta 2, but access could be cut to that product as well in the future.

A spokesperson for Microsoft has confirmed Moulster's comments, saying the end of the Customer Preview Program would occur "shortly."

Add a Comment (20 Comments)

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By degrootm@home.nl

edited Jul 11, 2006 - 5:35 AM

How can I get a serial nr to activate windows Vista?

Score: 0

By paulm

posted Jun 30, 2006 - 1:46 AM

Activating it means you will be allowed access to the release candidate version. I doubt it will mean a discount on the final version. That would be nice, but MS arn't known for their generosity!
It's a pity those that are running an activated version of Beta 2 arn't allowed to download future interim builds like build 5456. From what I've read, it's a noticeable improvement on beta 2.
But I guess RC1 is only a couple months (at most) away.

Score: 0

By smarterthanyou

posted Jun 30, 2006 - 3:06 AM

Activation in Vista is 100% anonymous just like it is in Windows XP. How will Microsoft know who activated their copy of Vista Beta 2 and who didn't? Microsoft also has NOT made any announcement that beta testers have to be running Vista Beta 2 on their computers just to download RC 1. As long as you've registered to get a copy of Vista Beta 2 you can be running Windows XP and still download Vista RC 1 when it's available.

Score: 0

By Galway

posted Jun 30, 2006 - 7:15 AM

serial numbers were emailed to you, im sure they are able to cross reference activated serials to emails. Im sure you can work the rest out.

Score: 0

By ladylust

posted Jun 30, 2006 - 1:03 AM

I have it, love it, some of the best software I have ever seen. Very smooth and id put it up against any Mac OS. Its a bit different then the windows we all use, but the features in Beta 2 area already great - cant wait to see the final.

Score: 0

By hardgiant

posted Jun 30, 2006 - 12:30 AM

bt + 5456 = better......still some bugs though.

Score: 0

By gawd21

posted Jun 29, 2006 - 7:39 PM

Don't waist your time with this alpha they call a beta!

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Jun 30, 2006 - 5:30 PM

waste, dude. waste.

a waist is your abdomen.

Score: 0

By paulm

edited Jun 30, 2006 - 2:08 AM

Rubbish gawd21!
It's certainly at a beta (albeit fairly low ) level. Maybe Beta 1 rather than beta 2? Build 5456 should have been beta 2. Room for improvement, but that's what a beta is for. Speed is faster than XP, although a clean install of XP would improve that a little. Stability is fairly good, although I do get an occasional crash to a black screen with the LCD monitor cycling on and off. Which is a worry if I was away from the PC, because the monitor switching on and off every few seconds would probably cause damage in a short time.
But as my GF4 Ti4200 card isn't up to scratch, chances are that is the cause?
A GF4 should be driver supported other than the 2002 dated driver that's in Vista as I don't game, and turn off all the annoying animations and effects, and the desktop looks OK to me.

Score: 0

By AlexBR1974

posted Jun 29, 2006 - 7:56 PM

Hey gawd, stick with Linux and openOffice... hahahaha stupid!

Score: 0

By Araxen

posted Jun 29, 2006 - 6:23 PM

Kind of hard to install it when Vista crashes while trying to load the installer.

Machine Check error is the suck.

Score: 0

By csamaha

posted Jun 29, 2006 - 5:31 PM

Well I downloaded vista beta 2, but some of the software I use does not support it yet. So if I don't install vista right now does this mean I won't be able to activate it later? That doesn't seem right.

Score: 0

By compm375

posted Jun 29, 2006 - 7:11 PM

Well, I installed it on a spare hard drive and it doesn't support my wireless card, so I can't even activate it unless i get a 100ft lan cable.

Score: 0

By computershack

posted Jun 30, 2006 - 3:08 PM

So you're confirming that you're actually one of those people unsuitable for using BETA software seeing as you didn't even do the rudimentary checks first.

Score: 0

By compm375

posted Jul 5, 2006 - 11:21 AM

Did you read my post? I used a SPARE hard drive, so it is not like I lost anything, and I did in fact look online about drivers and a few websites said to use XP x64 drivers which didn't work. I have no problem with a beta not working properly, but I do with one requiring activation if there will be such problems.

Score: 0

By streaky06

posted Jun 29, 2006 - 6:27 PM

I think what they are implying.. is.. that maybe they are thinking about anybody that has activated might get access to future betas..

but don't quote me on that, it's just a guess, can't think what else it might be..

Personally, i'm trying to get in the games beta program - I'm dying to test flightsim X

Score: 0

By whitedragon

posted Jun 29, 2006 - 6:18 PM

I think what was meant is if you activate it before the cutoff date, you might be eligible for...stuff from MS. You should be able to activate it at any time.

Score: 0

By csamaha

posted Jun 29, 2006 - 11:05 PM

Now that you mention it, that does make more sense than just not letting you activate it at all. Thanks a lot.

Score: 0

By paulm

posted Jun 30, 2006 - 1:44 AM

Activating it means you will be allowed access to the release candidate version. I doubt it will mean a discount on the final version. That would be nice, but MS arn't known for their generosity!
It's a pity those that are running an activated version of Beta 2 arn't allowed to download future interim builds like build 5456. From what I've read, it's a noticeable improvement on beta 2.
But I guess RC1 is only a couple months (at most) away.

Score: 0

By UKHacker

posted Jun 30, 2006 - 6:03 AM

Hope this doesn't mean that I can't activate vista after this week, I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive..

Score: 0

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