Brave techies can try Microsoft's new Windows 7

LAS VEGAS -- Microsoft is opening up its new Windows computer operating system to anyone brave enough to download it early.

Trying out the software this soon is risky for all but the most tech-savvy. Beta software tends to be buggy. Moreover, the program will expire in about six months, while the for-sale versions of Windows 7 aren't expected until late this year or early next. So testers must revert to Windows Vista, XP or some other alternative.

Ballmer told USA TODAY that a range of people will want Windows 7 now (to be available at www.microsoft.com/windows7). "Certainly a lot of techies will, a lot of corporate IT people will, my 14-year-old son. … He'll go out and get one because he's a PC enthusiast."

Pundits have criticized Vista as bloated, overly intrusive and requiring powerful hardware to make it run properly. "Microsoft will do everything it can in 2009 to get the market away from focusing attention on Vista and really driving Windows 7 as the future," says analyst Michael Gartenberg of Jupitermedia.

Microsoft has sold 180 million copies of Vista. It's a "very successful product that's been perceived as a failure in the marketplace," Gartenberg says. Microsoft says nearly 90% of its Vista customers are satisfied.

The latest operating system promises the kind of multitouch capabilities Apple has in the iPhone. "Windows 7 is definitely a big step forward in user interface, simplicity, the integration of touch, better integration of handwriting …" Ballmer says. "We focused on the basics: performance, reliability, speed, power management."

Of course, Microsoft is spreading the Windows 7 gospel at a time when the economy is reeling. "Our job has got to be to continue to innovate," Ballmer says. "There will be some things that probably don't make as much economic sense because the market has contracted. But by and large none of the things that we're excited about change because the economy is down. We may sell less, but still enough in most cases to make very good money doing it."