14 DAY TRIAL // The free Windows 7 ride will continue into 2011, at least for four additional months. Microsoft will keep supplying customers with free copies of the latest iteration of the Windows client for evaluation purposes. Following the release of Windows 7, the Redmond company began offering the RTM bits for testing, intent on reaching as broad an audience of IT professionals as possible, but not really restricting downloads in any way.
For this, the software giant had set up the Windows 7 Enterprise 90-day Trial site and associated downloads.
As 2010 comes to an end, Windows 7 Enterprise 90-day Trial downloads get another reprieve from Microsoft, as they were planned to expire on December 31st.
Initially, Windows 7 Enterprise 90-day Trial downloads were scheduled for discontinuation on March 31st, 2010, but the company prolonged availability for the entire duration of this year.
As the end of 2010 was approaching, the availability of the trial versions of Windows 7 Enterprise was expanded again, for an additional four months.
“The 90-day Trial is offered for a limited time and in limited quantity. The download will be available through April 29, 2011, while supplies last,” reads an excerpt from the website.
Customers can continue to download Windows 7 Enterprise free of charge from TechNet at least until the end of April of next.
The Enterprise SKU of Windows 7 is equivalent in terms of features and capabilities to the high-end Ultimate edition of the operating system.
The trial downloads offer the 32-bit and 64-bit flavors of the full Windows 7 Enterprise, which can be tested for a total of 90 days. “The 90-day Trial will shut down once every hour when you have reached the end of the 90-day evaluation period,” the company explained.
Windows 7 RTM Enterprise 90-Day Evaluation is available for download here.