Microsoft has just quit its limit on the number of copies of the Windows 7 beta it plans to make available to PC enthusiasts after a surge in the download requests for the new operating system brought its servers to a halt over the weekend. Therefore, Microsoft officials took the necessary steps in order to ensure a good experience. This was announced through a blog post, on Saturday.

Many Windows and even non-Windows wanted to check out the Windows 7 Beta and Microsoft decided to remove the 2.5 million limit on the public beta for the next couple of weeks, meaning the limitless download period will extend through January 24. Last week, at CES 2009 in Las Vegas, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer raised expectations around Windows 7, announcing the availability of the beta version.

As Microsoft representatives are bragging, it would look like Windows 7 is the best version of Windows ever, being based on simplicity, reliability and speed. Compared to Vista, Windows 7 should boot more quickly, have longer battery life and fewer alerts, but it remains to be seen if that will really happen.

Furthermore, Windows 7 will have improved support for networking and multimedia content, as well as touch-screen capabilities. The operating system is expected to be released in its final form in late 2009 or early 2010 and Microsoft really hopes to gain back its customers which have been lost 'thanks' to Vista, that failed to catch on with mainstream computer users. Many of the customers have complained about Vista's intrusive security measures, hardware requirements and lack of compatibility with older applications.

Vista has also 'helped' Apple gain share against Microsoft in the computer OS market in recent months, as Windows' market share fell in November below 90% for the first time in years, while Mac OS had about 10%, according to the market watcher Net Applications.

In order to install the OS, users will need a DVD burner to write the Windows 7 beta ISO file to a disc, a 1 GHz processor, 1 GB of system memory and 16 GB of hard drive space. However, those who are interested in the download should keep in mind that Windows 7 comes with all advantages and drawbacks of a pre-release application.

The OS should not be installed onto a business critical system, as it will probably have many bugs and largely unavailable support. The software will stop working on August 1, 2009, and some sites even suggested that this date might be the date of the final release for Windows 7. Most importantly for now, reactions from users are generally positive, and some are really thrilled with the OS.