Now that the premature leak of Microsoft’s Windows 7 beta is over, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made the operating system officially available Wednesday — but the release has a hitch. Ballmer announced at the Consumer Electronics Show that Microsoft was making the beta available immediately to MSDN, TechNet and TechBeta subscribers and to the rest of the world on Friday.
“Windows has become the language that over a billion people speak at every country and culture around the world,” Ballmer said during his CES keynote speech. “I believe Windows will remain at the center of people’s technology solar system.”
Vista, the company’s most recent operating system, has received a lot of negative feedback since its release and has been the target of many of Apple’s commercials poking fun at the OS. Microsoft is serious about Windows 7 and Ballmer said the company is on track to deliver the best version of Windows ever.
“We are putting in all the right ingredients — simplicity, reliability and speed — and working hard to get it right and get it ready,” Ballmer told the audience.
But did Ballmer forget to add product keys to those ingredients? Just one day after Microsoft released the beta there were problems. Users are reporting no problems with the download, but say they are receiving errors with product keys.
“We can confirm that we are having trouble distributing Windows 7 beta product keys right now,” Microsoft posted on its Web site. “Since Windows has a grace period built in before a product key is required, please don’t hesitate to download and use the beta without the product key. We will post information here as soon as this is solved.”
Windows 7 beta includes a cleaner interface, according to the company, which will allow customers to click through faster in order…