The latest example: Last Friday's Windows 7 beta-palooza, which turned to mud when and shut down after a few hours.

The idea was that the first 2.5 million users who signed on would receive a free full-featured beta of Win7; anyone who downloaded it after that would get a version that worked for 30 days then locked up until you fed it a registration key. (Which you probably wouldn't get.)

Why stop arbitrarily at 2.5 million? Why create a false rush on your bandwidth when there's no logical reason to do so? Those are the questions somebody at Microsoft had to answer in what was probably a less-than-genteel conversation with Steve "The Mad" Ballmer. One can only imagine the volume and velocity of furniture being thrown.

To make good for its gaffes, Microsoft is over the next two weeks. You can . The same 30-day-use rule will apply to folks who download copies after January 24, though as Computerworld's Gregg Keizer notes:

People who grab the beta after Microsoft stops delivering keys can install the operating system, then run it under Microsoft's usual 30-day trial policy. By using the same "slmgr-rearm" command that gained notoriety after debut, they can extend that trial period to a total of 120 days.