Windows 7 Beta to ship in early January

A number of sources were reporting a mysterious Windows 7 Beta download link that appeared on Microsoft's Windows 7 page. Of course, it would be fairly easy to screenshot a page, make a few edits, and post the doctored image as "proof," so I took the news with a grain of salt.

Now there's slightly more trustworthy evidence. The Microsoft Action Pack Subscription page, which Rafael Rivera of Within Windows captured, apparently had a similar link posted (which is now absent).

CES is also on the way, and Steve Ballmer is set to deliver his keynote speech on January 7th. It only makes sense for Windows 7 to be the star of the show, and CNET's Ed Bott is certain that the Beta will be made available shortly after Ballmer's demo.

Of course, builds 6801 and 6956 are all over the major torrent trackers, so it's safe to say you can easily get your hands on them there if you'd rather not wait.

[ via Within Windows ]

Tags: beta, osupdates, win7, windows-7