The anticipation building around the public availability of Windows 7 Beta downloads is right on par with the deafening silence from the Redmond company. Still, indications reveal that the software giant is closing in on the official release of Windows 7 Beta bits. With the kick-off keynote address at the Consumers Electronics Show 2009 in Las Vegas, Microsoft chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer is expected to announce the public availability of the first Beta for Windows 7 client and of Windows 7 Server (Windows Server 2008 R2). The company is reportedly planning to start offering Windows 7 Server Beta to the public on January 8, with the Windows 7 client Beta planned to follow the next day, namely on Friday, January 9, 2009.

Microsoft has yet to officially confirm any of the Windows 7 release dates (via Mary Jo Foley), but this aspect will certainly change today with the debut of CES 2009. “Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft, and Robbie Bach, president of the Entertainment & Devices Division, will deliver the pre-show 2009 International CES keynote address at 6:30 p.m. PST Wednesday, Jan. 7, in the Palazzo Ballroom at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas,” Microsoft informed at the start of the year.

Windows 7 Build 6.1.7000.0.081212-1400, a release identified as the first Beta of Win7 signed off in the first half of December 2008, has already been leaked and made available for download through BitTorrent websites, ahead of the end of the past year. Microsoft did not confirm that Build 6.1.7000.0.081212-1400 was the next milestone of Windows 7 following M3, but it will not be long until the company indeed starts talking about the Beta of Win7.

On January 6, Michael Benko, a member of the MSDN team, yet again pointed out that Windows 7 Beta DVDs would be offered to participants at the company's MSDN Developer Conferences. While this information is old news, Benko no longer indicated that MDC attendees would have to wait for their Win7 Beta DVD, in case the bits were not available at the events. “Attend an upcoming MSDN Developer Conference, and you will receive a Windows 7 Beta 1 DVD. Register today and you’ll get the best of the PDC in your own backyard, and hear all of the exciting announcements around the Azure Services Platform and Windows 7,” Benko stated.

Of course, the MDC website continues to specify that all participants will have Windows 7 Beta DVDs shipped to them, in case that they will not receive the build at the conference. However, the public availability of Windows 7 client and server Betas means that any users interested in test driving the operating systems will be able to grab the bits straight from Microsoft, and not the releases leaked to torrent websites, and thus get an idea of what the platforms will have to offer. Even though there is information that the public Beta will be preceded by a private release aimed at selected testers, and that the client release could slip as much as one week after that of the server variant, which is planned for this week, fact is that Windows 7 Beta is just around the corner.