Experiences with the Windows 7 Beta download process.
The Windows (tm) 7 (R) Beta (C) download is rather interestingly broken.
Within Firefox all is fine and properly functional until you get to the download page itself, as clicking the "Download Now" button simply results in the page reloading. No signs of error are notable, either from Microsoft's or the user's perspective.
Within 64-bit Internet Explorer, things go swimmingly until the Download Now button - the clicking of which results in the "Information Bar" asking if you want to install some form of download helper. Confirming that you do, in fact, wish to perform this action results in the page reloading... and then being asked the same question again, as nobody apparently bothered to check if the 64-bit version of IE can actually handle the blob of code in question.
The end result is that the software can only be obtained by using the 32-bit version of Internet Explorer, which is in no way suggested or intimated anywhere during the process, and is apparently to be inferred by the use of magic.
Within Firefox all is fine and properly functional until you get to the download page itself, as clicking the "Download Now" button simply results in the page reloading. No signs of error are notable, either from Microsoft's or the user's perspective.
Within 64-bit Internet Explorer, things go swimmingly until the Download Now button - the clicking of which results in the "Information Bar" asking if you want to install some form of download helper. Confirming that you do, in fact, wish to perform this action results in the page reloading... and then being asked the same question again, as nobody apparently bothered to check if the 64-bit version of IE can actually handle the blob of code in question.
The end result is that the software can only be obtained by using the 32-bit version of Internet Explorer, which is in no way suggested or intimated anywhere during the process, and is apparently to be inferred by the use of magic.