Exciting news over on The Windows Blog: the first and only release of the Windows 7 Beta will be available for download here this Friday, January 9.  The full details are here, but I'll share some highlights:

• The beta will only be available for a limited time, to the first 2.5 million people who download the software.
• The software will be available only via download, and only in an ISO image.  You'll need to burn the ISO image to a DVD in order to install the Windows 7 Beta.
• The software will be available in five languages -- English, German, Japanese, Arabic, and Hindi.  All languages except Hindi will be available in 32- and 64-bit versions.  For the Beta, Hindi is only available in a 32-bit version.
• All versions of the Beta will expire on August 1, 2009.

There's much more information here.  If you want it, on Friday you can go get it!

     -wp