Plenty of people downloaded the Windows 7 Release Candidate over the last six months or so. It made plenty of sense, of course. Since so many people hated Vista, there were not really any options for those looking to upgrade from Windows XP. That, plus the fact that Windows 7 RC was free to use made it a very attractive proposition for both those with technical reasons to upgrade and those looking to get Windows for free for a while.
Like all good things, this one must come to an end.
Starting on March 1, 2010, computers running Windows 7 RC will start automatically shutting down every two hours as a way to nag remind you to go out an pay for a real version of Windows 7 and upgrade your beta release candidate. In other words, the free ride is over.
For computer users willing to go on through the auto shutdown process for a few months, the Windows 7 RC operating system will go “Not Genuine” on June 1st. Even that isn’t the end of the world, although you will lose some of your personalization, like wallpaper, and a This copy of Windows is not genuine will be displayed in the corner of your screen. More importantly, however, the not-genuine version of Windows will start getting locked out of important updates and new features, so if you don’t feel like paying, go find a RTM version or OEM version out on some torrent site. (You pirate scum!)
You have been warned…
Have a nice day.