Windows 7 Beta Rollout Fails Without BitTorrent
Written by Ernesto on January 10, 2009Microsoft ran into major bandwidth problems when they released the latest Beta of Windows 7 to the public. The company decided to delay the release while they added some more servers, citing “very heavy traffic”. If they had only used BitTorrent, this heavy traffic would have actually speeded up distribution, instead of slowing it down.
With an official Windows 7 torrent, Microsoft would not have had problems at all. In fact, BitTorrent would have helped to get the Beta out faster than Microsoft servers are technically capable of.
The larger the demand and the greater numbers of people active on a torrent, the faster a file can potentially be distributed with BitTorrent, saving Microsoft money too.
This is not the first time that Microsoft has failed to see the benefits of BitTorrent though. This is merely a replay of what happened two years ago when the Vista Beta was posted, but obviously they haven’t learned from that earlier failure. At the time Microsoft said that “legal and privacy issues,” had prevented them from posting a torrent, but they didn’t explain why this was the case.
BitTorrent would have been the wise choice though. During recent years BitTorrent has proved itself as the ideal tool to get large files from A to B (C, D…) on the Internet. Linux distros all use BitTorrent, EA used BitTorrent to distribute the Warhammer Online Beta earlier this year, and even NASA embraced BitTorrent.
Although there is no official Microsoft torrent published, Windows 7 Beta is widely available on BitTorrent sites. And since people generally don’t like to wait for something that is already available elsewhere, many have turned to BitTorrent for this Beta, whether Microsoft likes it or not.
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73 Responses
@amit:
Fail.
What an uninformed and idiotic comment.
Twit.
I was able to download the 32bit version easy on Friday night, US central time, using a direct link. My only question is, where can I get a product key?
Microsoft is a bunch of old-schooler, they cant fit new age technology to their services. they will never use bittorrent, and my guess is that it is widely used by linux distros, and i dont think that microsoft want to be the same as linux distros at all. why? they have the money to get new server and more bandwidth for their releases, linux doesn't… or something like that
Bla, as already said, there WAS NO PROBLEM WITH DOWNLOADING, the server generating the product keys collapsed. Get your facts straight!
Admitantly your connection is fairly slow, atm I get speeds of around 700kbp/s and about 2mbp/s when downloading something like a Windows Update, and no, I doubt that the liscence key system would crash from all those users alone, it was a simple case that transferring a 2 to 3 GB file is pointless over HTTP.
They could easily put the ISO out over a torrent but still only given the key to signed up users or better yet, set up there own private tracker if there so worried about privacy
Heh, If you were smart you could have easily done a google search and found a direct download to the .iso on microsofts website (letting you download it without going to their site, therefore bypassing the main servers). I got it easily.
I wonder what would be the impact of having bittorrent as a default protocol on IE.
All those machines seeding 24/7 cause of people not knowing about it, would the internet slow to a crawl at the beginning, and slowly but surely get faster as time goes by cause of so much seeded content?
I'd like to see what kind of dumbass downloads Windows 7 from the torrent sites and later realizes that they don't have a key and the 2.5 Million keys already been distributed… Dumbasses.
No, he's correct, the downloads are up and going fine if you know the direct links: http://lifehacker.com/5127558/windows-7-beta-avai...I reached 2 MB/s (or close to 20 mbps) on the 64 bit one.
The key issuing servers completely flopped though. Nice going MS. :)
No, he's correct, the downloads are up and going fine if you know the direct links: http://lifehacker.com/5127558/windows-7-beta-avai...I reached 2 MB/s (or close to 20 mbps) on the 64 bit one.
The key issuing servers completely flopped though. Nice going MS. :)
@ Im a Mac
You DONT need a key dumbass, You can install and run the OS WITHOUT a key for 30 days and just use the available patches to activate and remove 30 day trial.
Shows how much you know, do you research before saying such uninformed things and making yourself look like a complete tool!
oh ok then, my bad, yeh, MS is showing how crap there server technology is if it can't keep a stable system running. If the Pirate Bay make there own OS I'd buy it, they can keep there services going even under the threat of police raids, lol
He must be a tool…..He's got a mac…
You can actually run it much longer by opening a command prompt in administrator mode and entering:
slmgr -rearm
This will extend the trail to 120 days.
It was a bad idea not to use bit-torrent from the start. I guess those morons and MZOFT never realised how badly people wanted an escape from Vista…
I feel like I remember that they once gave the "slow the internet down" excuse with the Vista beta?
But capacity has greatly expanded since then. Also bittorrent is only a protocol to transfer files, it wouldn't work well as the default protocol. Opera though does have an internal bittorrent client built right into the browser though, I think thats the best solution.
You dont need a key for the leaked version.
"There are no serial keys included with this release as well and WinBeta claims that a CD-key is not needed for the installation"
- http://tinyurl.com/8zjh2g
Get your facts straight before you insult others.
@b3nw My bad, when I said a default protocol, I guess I meant a BUILT-IN protocol into IE, just like Opera, the problem with Opera is that the user base is so small we can't really tell what the impact would be of EVERYONE downloading files left and right with bittorrent (without even knowing it), My guess is that it'll be for the best.
Microsoft pulled half their new tech in vista from linux distros. The problem with using bittorrent is that they want to keep as much control over what's happening with their software as possible; a level of control that bittorrent just doesn't offer.
this is the "i h8 m$ – why ? – because !" type of guy. no conversation with such ppl will be ever possible.
This is all nonsense. Microsoft manufactured this debacle in the service of demonstrating a false demand for their new OS (aka, Vista Service Pack). They've been doing this crap for years. The answer to the question about how they could have screwed up something that was so simple is obvious: they have more to gain from the publicity about screwing up with a phantom hoard of Microsoft OS junkies than they do in getting it right. Microsoft never leads with getting-it-right…that's not their strong suit. Getting it sold is what they do.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people are so willing to walk blindly into Microsoft's dark night. I hope none of you play poker. Then again, if you do, let me know when I can get into a game with you.
My upload is better spent elsewhere.
True. Windows didn't become the dominant OS because of piracy, it became the dominant OS because Microsoft started forcing OEMs to preload Windows 95 on all the computers they sold via their monopoly-tastic software license, which among other things also prohibited OEMs from selling PCs running an alternative OS.
Do some research, AnarchyNow. Damn.
seems as if they've taken down the links but you can actually still find out how to get it here:
http://windows7center.com/windows-7-news/how-to-d...
Windows 7 beta 32/64 bit product key is at http://www.downloadwindows7beta.com
With BitTorrent, you don't get a personal product key, which is needed to submit bug report.
Bullshit, with a private tracker you have complete control on the downloads.
Lol troll bait
I just d/l'd the 64bit version of Win7, and I got around 2MBps or 16Mbps in internet speed terms. Your internet is either slow or you don't have your ports forwarded correctly.
Please donate your old boxes to a church-group or some needy student in these hard times! To comply with the law, and with Microsoft's leasing policy, you can now replace Microsoft OS with the free (download from the net) Ubuntu OS, which can be set to erase the hard drive of all traces of the illegal to give away Microsoft system, before donation! Now, explain to your lucky recipient that all the manuals they will ever need are available for free on the internet! Just ask for them in Google! OpenOffice, which is installed already is plenty adequate for homework assignments and with a little exploring, everything else can work well too! Happy commuting!
Yes, because listing torrents and say f the police makes them emminently qualified to write an OS…
We gotta learn how to use BitTorrent already.
First.
Btw what happened about their own file sharing protocol which they said would rrival bittorrent.
for those wanna grab it straight away here is a link to torrent and even rapidshare
http://www.filenest.com/applications/microsoft-wi...
You don't really need a product key to try out Seven. I didn't have one and the only thing I lost was the advanced report stuff thingy. Anyway, check the tutorial over at http://www.ditii.com/2009/01/10/download-windows-...to obtain your own personal key.
It's always fun to see people blame someone for stealing something from another. If it's successful, why not do the same, or even better? Microsoft isn't the first who have done this, Linux-distros does it as well, so why even bother complaining?
Anyway, also remember that some ISPs, like ComCast, throttles BitTorrent downloads.
I did, and I also obtained my own private key a couple of minutes ago by just using Google. But it was of course really hard, as in I got to spend approximately ten seconds of my lifetime to find it.
But you can still get one easily of the internet, without downloading the ISO from Microsoft's servers.
You're a dumbass. Its a public beta so there are no unique keys. There are 5 keys for each version (x86 and x64). Everyone will get 1 of those 5 keys depending on which url they use to obtain a key.
You don't need any patches. You open a cmd promt and type "slmgr -rearm" and the 30 day period will be extended for a further 30 days. You can do this up to 5 times, by which time there will be a beta 2 or RTM version.
wow microsoft has billions of dollars and they cant even have enough servers for people to download from, its really pathetic when you think about it…
Yes, I remember all of those Microsoft thugs running around and pointing guns at OEM's, thus "forcing" them to preload Windows 95. It was quite the travesty, and I also remember the police standing by while the same Microsoft thugs shot those OEM's in the head who refused the preload Windows 95. Such force should be prohibited.
Oh, yeah, right, I forgot: it already is.
Must have been something else that gave Microsoft the ability to convince OEM's it was in there best interests to sign the voluntary agreements. Maybe it was the fact that the market demanded Windows 95 that did it.
I’m surprised they didn’t distribute Windows 7 on floppy dfisks.
Of course, the last time when Fedora 10 came out, I downloaded the BT and the direct link simultaneously, and the direct link finished quickly and the BT trickled along. It wasn’t that fast.
Or they should add more servers -.-? With torrents it’ll be epic speed with 10k leechers and 3 seeds 2 of them at 150kb/s
vfdvdf
As I said, public and shared CD-key won't be eligible to upgrade if you submit bug reports like on the WIndows Vista Beta.
It would make perfect sense for Microsoft to have generated this problem themselves as a publicity stunt, after all it's a beta version. Create a problem claiming unprecedented demand or some such reason and everywhere gives their new OS publicity which reads that the world+dog wants to download it but they can't supply to demand. Everyone starts talking about windows 7, thinks wow this must be great if so many people want to download it and forget completely about how poor vista was.
who gives a shit about an terrorist company that never did anything good at all and now their shitty servers can't get a load, bad publicity, any website running on windoze is slow and unfunctional, they're so desperate to keep people into slaves using their shitty excuse of an OS that they rather keep on the piracy that made them unduly #1
There's actually no problem getting the ISO for Windows 7 from Microsoft – the problem is that the servers that deal with handing out valid product keys for it went gone down too, BT wouldn't have helped with that
I got my ISO direct from MS using a direct link, the speed averaged 250Kbps, a speed I would never have reached using the torrents. I'm all for promoting BT (and having MS servers seeding a torrent would have been a major advantage) but the problem here wasn't the download, it was the validation servers (which were only supposed to serve the firs two and a half million people anyway)
Why not start an MSDN private bittorrent tracker, Microsoft?
“…he faster a file can potentially be distributed with BitTorrent, saving Microsoft money too.”
Now cmon what would Microsoft do with that saved money anyway !!
Youre memory is rather, well, selective. What I recall is the United States Department of Justice successfully prosecuting Microsoft for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act in violation of restrating of trade. In effect, they were adjudicated as guilty of aggressively blocking existing and potential competitors from operating within competing markets. That's a crime, and they were found guilty. Live with it.
Microsoft would not be so good at doing this were it not for a customer base so fond of wearing blinders. And, oh, their customers and apologists are very adept at tolerating just about anything but the truth.
What they did was, in order to sell windows at all, you had to pay for a license for every computer you sold. So you basically had to sell windows only or go out of business. Nice, eh?
Yes: to sell Windows at all. They could have always chosen another operating system to sell or, like Apple, made their own. Of course, people wanted Windows, because at some point (well before Microsoft could get people to sign such agreements) Microsoft had done a really good job of getting people to write software for its operating systems and, in a variety of ways, outmaneuvered the competition.
OEM's weren't _forced_ to do anything, although certainly they were _required_ by the market to sell Windows. In short, they all sold millions of machines giving the market what it wanted. You can't blame Microsoft for doing a good job of convincing people they wanted Windows.
That's the essential difference between economic power and political power. One is gained by selling a produce or service that people want (Windows, Wii, Google, etc.), the other by using a gun either by yourself or, in the case of "antitrust," getting government to do it for you. The very fact that lately Microsoft has been losing market share to Apple because of the problems with Vista is evidence that Microsoft isn't–and can't, legally–use force to stop others from selling products.
I'm well aware of the notion of "antitrust," which is based on specious premises. I also don't like government taking my money to make up for people's horrible choices in buying homes they couldn't afford, something that many in government think is just fine and dandy. Perhaps you agree?
Bottom line: just because government defines something as the truth, doesn't make it so. There are plenty of people locked up in jail right now for committing "crimes" that many people don't think are crimes at all.
Not having much luck locating a proper product key. Any tips?
"The very fact that lately Microsoft has been losing market share to Apple because of the problems with Vista is evidence that Microsoft isn't–and can't, legally–use force to stop others from selling products."
Your statement doesn't make any sense. If you're saying that Apple's gaining market share at Microsoft's expense means that Microsoft cannot LEGALLY inhibit competetion, well, yeah, that's what the antitrust case was about. In effect, the antitrust case stemmed Microsoft's ability to stifle competition. The fact that this changed as a result of the ruling does not mean that Microsoft never engaged in the illegal practices for which they were prosecuted; the very illegal practices which gave them a huge and unfair advantage over everyone else who provided similar products and services.
Your bias is obvious; your logic is screwed up.
Bottomer line: Just because there may be innocent people in jail, that doesn't make it right when Microsoft or anyone else breaks laws that are in place to protect free trade, all your dubious rationalizations and ridiculous reasoning notwithstanding.
I'm very much aware that there are thousands of people who lost much or all of their life savings investing in Microsoft. It comes across loudly and clearly, if only in the tremendous level of denial regarding Microsoft's considerable failures. It's not my problem that you people lost your shirts, hoping against hope that MSFT would return to the salad days of 20% returns on your investment. It also comes across in the anger and venom that MSFT investors demonstrate in forums such as this one: everyone else is wrong when they criticize obvious flaws in Microsoft products and in their business model and management decisions. We're all just Microsoft "haters" and "bashers." Right. So that makes a shitty product like Vista a great product because people with the ability to think critically don't like crap.
It's time to move on; time to grow up. Time to put away the whining and temper tantrums of a child and live in the adult world of personal responsibility and accountability. When something sucks, it sucks, no matter how much you want it not to suck. Vista is great? The Zune is great? Windows 7 is great. Sure. You can piss in a tall glass with shaved ice and a bendy-straw, and you can call it lemonade, but I'm not drinking it.
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Could say the same about the fanboi browser – FireFox. Every feature is pretty much lifted from Opera. The only thing uniquely Mozilla are the hundreds of bugs (it's had more bugs than IE and Opera combined over the same timeframe) and the (very quickly swept under the carpet) official distribution of trojaned software (happened with mozilla in May 08).
I talked about getting a key from Microsoft themselves, through the TechNet website. I wouldn't say that those are public nor shared, since you're needed to login to a website.
More here also http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/01/11/free-unl...
spam=fail
please leave. :)
Actually, I agree with Mark. THe fact is that Microsoft was not threatening these people with guns, they could have easily told Microsoft to stick it and if they didn't like it, they wouldn't put Microsoft OS's on ANY computers they sold thereby destroying Microsoft's OS share.
No 'personal product key' is necessary for Windows 7. There are a grand total of 5 keys for 32-bit and 5 for 64-bit, according to ZDNet.
This is actually what Microsoft should be doing: no 'personalized' keys for WIndows 7, just ONE small pool of keys.
Hey, they underestimated demand for this…. it happens. Nothing they can do about that, in reality.
^ WTF? You're on a torrent site – we're from the future – we don't watch TV we download the episodes…
Microsoft have always blundered like this, look at the publicity just from this article. If people report that this new OS is _so_ popular that their servers are clogged, people will want to know what the fuss is about, am I right?
Read the article and then try again.
dumbass
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