14 DAY TRIAL // December is the last month that customers will be able to download Windows 7 free of charge from Microsoft.
The Redmond company has been offering the Windows 7 Enterprise 90-day Trial for quite some time now, but the plan is to discontinue downloads at the end of this month.
This is what Microsoft’s Stephen L Rose announced back in March 2010 when he revealed that the availability of Windows 7 Enterprise 90-day Trial downloads had been extended considerably for no less than 9 months, until 2011.
“Due to popular demand, the Windows Enterprise Trial program has been extended. This means you now have till Dec 31st, 2010 to download and evaluate the trial version,” Rose stated back in March.
Time is now running out for free downloads of Windows 7, and users should make sure to grab their copy while they still have a chance, as the software giant is bound to discontinue availability at the end of December, per the initial plan.
For the time being however, free trial downloads of Windows 7 Enterprise continue to be offered to IT professionals via TechNet.
The trial release allows IT pros to test Windows 7 Enterprise SKU, the corporate equivalent of the Ultimate edition for a total of 90 days.
Because the activation mechanism for Enterprise differs than that of other editions, customers will not be able to rearm this copy of Windows as it the case for the other SKUs.
“The Windows 7 Enterprise 90-day Trial is designed specifically for IT Professionals, so that you can test your software and hardware on a final version of the product,” Microsoft stated.
“In addition, it provides the opportunity for you to become more familiar with the key improvements over previous versions of the Windows operating system, and experience firsthand how Windows 7 can make your PC environment more productive, secure, and manageable.”
But who knows. It already happened once, so there’s a precedent and the possibility that Windows 7 Enterprise 90-day Trial downloads could get an additional reprieve.
What do you think? Should Microsoft prolong the availability of Windows 7 Enterprise 90-day Trial, or have you done all the testing you need? Please leave a comment below.
Windows 7 RTM Enterprise 90-Day Evaluation is available for download here.