Windows 7 RC to Have Shutdowns on March 1 '10

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It's still 10 months.

Last week the news made the rounds of the Windows 7 RC having a longer than average trial period. Stated clearly by Microsoft is that the Release Candidate install will remain valid until June 1, 2010.

What wasn’t so clearly publicized is the small detail that starting March 1, 2010 there will be bihourly shut downs of any installs of Windows 7 RC.

As Microsoft details on its partner site regarding the shutdown schedules for the beta and RC:

To avoid interruption, it’s recommended that you and your customers rebuild test machines by using a valid Windows operating system before Windows 7 Beta and Windows 7 RC expire. Windows will automatically notify you that the expiration process is about to begin. Two weeks later, your PC will shut down every two hours. For Windows 7 Beta, the bihourly shutdowns will begin July 1, 2009. The software will expire August 1, 2009. For Windows 7 RC, the bihourly shutdowns will begin March 1, 2010. The software will expire June 1, 2010.

So there you have it. While Windows 7 RC will be useful for 13 months as we all thought last week, it’ll be more useful for the first 10 months.

If there’s any confusion regarding what bihourly means – if it’ll be shutdowns every 30 minutes or 2 hours – it’s the longer of the two options, though probably still annoying enough to make one want to upgrade to the final version.

Windows 7 RC is set for a public launch tomorrow. Look forward to it! (Unless you’ve already downloaded it.)

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
35 Comments Comment from the forums
  • deltatux
    I'd rather Microsoft just shut down the RCs On March 1st than to annoy the hell out of ppl.
    Reply
  • bardia
    deltatuxI'd rather Microsoft just shut down the RCs On March 1st than to annoy the hell out of ppl.
    You make no sense whatsoever. Bihourly shutdowns is perfect. It's long enough to get something done if you need to use your computer, but still allows Microsoft to prod people towards purchasing a real copy.

    What's "annoying" is people possibly loosing data when it completely dies on a date they may or may not have known about.

    Reply
  • hillarymakesmecry
    3 months of annoyance is a little too long.
    Reply
  • laserlight_2
    @bardie
    Lol...and I'm sure that it will be cracked, to stop the shutdowns. What normal user will put RC on their computer?
    Reply
  • hakesterman
    This site needs to commit suicide. Seems they have very little content as of late and
    what little they do have it's related to Windows 7 and most of the news is meaninless.


    Reply
  • buzznut
    normal..hmm well I must be abbynormal. Its running on my lappy with no problems.
    I think allowing free downloads of the rc and the use of it for a year is great business, it builds customer confidence and makes microsoft look like less of an all consuming money making juggernaut.

    However, I worked in the food service industry for many years, especially in the casinos, and one thing I can tell you is this: when you offer people something for free (food, drinks, etc) you get a lot of complaints. This is human nature, when you give something for free, people do not see the value in it and perceive all kinds of negative things (this drink must be watered down, the bread tastes old, no wonder this is free) whether those things are actually true or not.

    Anyway I like the beta even though I've had some issues I couldn't fix, and I'm sure the RC will run great on my machines. And if I have a few stumbles along the way, I'll happily remind myself that I didn't pay a dime for it!
    Reply
  • bill gates is your daddy
    laserlight_2@bardieLol...and I'm sure that it will be cracked, to stop the shutdowns. What normal user will put RC on their computer?

    Already has been
    Reply
  • kyeana
    DONT DO IT! DONT JUMP! LIFE IS WORTH LIVING!!!!!


    ahem...yea..anyways...
    Reply
  • laserlight_2
    bill gates is your daddyAlready has beenI was pretty sure it had been, but haven't touched seven yet. Might grab it this weekend.
    Reply
  • laserlight_2
    buzznutnormal..hmm well I must be abbynormal. Its running on my lappy with no problems. I think allowing free downloads of the rc and the use of it for a year is great business, it builds customer confidence and makes microsoft look like less of an all consuming money making juggernaut. However, I worked in the food service industry for many years, especially in the casinos, and one thing I can tell you is this: when you offer people something for free (food, drinks, etc) you get a lot of complaints. This is human nature, when you give something for free, people do not see the value in it and perceive all kinds of negative things (this drink must be watered down, the bread tastes old, no wonder this is free) whether those things are actually true or not. Anyway I like the beta even though I've had some issues I couldn't fix, and I'm sure the RC will run great on my machines. And if I have a few stumbles along the way, I'll happily remind myself that I didn't pay a dime for it!Abnormal is buying a vista laptop for the better hardware. Then making a XP install cd with sata raid drives for my laptops hardrive. Creating two partitions, and installing XP on one. And then finally installing a "special" version of vista on the second partition.

    I might override the vista partition, with seven now that it's RC.
    Reply