For those Windows users who downloaded the company’s release candidate version last year, your free ride may be coming to an end.
Before Microsoft releases a new version of Windows, it offers a release candidate version to the public for a free download in order to locate bugs and other glitches. Users are given the provision they may download the fully-working version for free, but it will only operate fully for a certain period of time.
As of yesterday, the Windows 7 RC will begin shutting down every two hours. These shut-downs will continue until June 1, when the software will begin shutting down even more regularly.
The RC will also mark itself as non-genuine, which will prevent users from taking advantage of any feature which requires a legitimate keycode.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
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