Microsoft Releases Windows 7 Beta as a Free Download

Microsoft's excitable CEO Steve Ballmer showed off Windows 7 the slick, fast, user-friendly successor to the much-maligned Windows Vista and said it will be available as a public beta on Friday.

Unveiled by an intense Ballmer during his keynote address on the eve of CES 2009, Windows 7 will offer better performance on underpowered machines such as netbooks, support for multitouch interfaces, and simplified home networking.

Ballmer said that this would be the "best version of Windows ever" and pointed out features that implicitly acknowledged the problems with Windows Vista.

"We are putting in all the right ingredients simplicity, reliability and speed and working hard to get it right and to get it ready," said Ballmer.

Read more at Wired