New Post-Beta Windows 7 Build Leaks to Web
A post-beta version of Windows 7 that has leaked to Internet file-sharing sites includes an updated version of Internet Explorer 8 (IE8), according to searches at several BitTorrent trackers.
With Microsoft Corp. halting new Windows 7 beta downloads on Tuesday, and blocking all downloads as of noon (EST) Thursday, users are again turning to illegal sources to get the new operating system.
A search on the Pirate Bay tracking site, for example, found multiple versions of Windows 7 Build 7022, an .iso disk image date-stamped Jan. 15, making it the first leaked build that was completed after Microsoft launched the public beta.
People who downloaded and installed Build 7022 confirmed in comments on Pirate Bay that it is, in fact, a working version of Windows 7. Several also noted that among the changes from the beta was the inclusion of IE8 Release Candidate 1 (RC1), which they demonstrated was part of the build by posting screenshots.
Because of the timing of its release, Windows 7 beta included an interim edition of IE8, somewhere between the Beta 2 of August 2008 and the RC1 distributed in late January 2009 to users of Windows XP and Vista. At the time, James Pratt , a senior product manager on the IE development team, declined to talk about a schedule for bringing IE8 RC1 to Windows 7.
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