Activating Windows 7

Now that the Windows 7 Beta and RC are out, and the official general availability date has been announced, it's a great time to talk about Windows activation and how it's going to work. For customers who are already familiar with activating Windows Vista this will feel pretty familiar and, as far as the user experience goes, it's not to different from Windows XP. Of course as I discussed in a previous post Windows Activation Technology is pretty different from it's predecessor in Windows XP but this post is about the customer experience and making it easy to understand.

Activation is the initial process by which a Windows running on a PC is determined to be properly licensed and genuine, and it's really quick and easy.   A lot of folks don't realize that activation is required, so our team decided to put a little video together about Windows activation to help explain what it is, why it's required, and how to do it.

Check out the Product Activation in Windows 7 video below and let me know what you think.

Just a little bit of housekeeping before I forget:  if you are running the Windows 7 Beta on your PC, read helpful information about expiration and moving to the Windows 7 Release Candidate.  If you are running the Windows 7 Release Candidate on your PC, check out some frequently asked questions for the Windows 7 RC, including how to locate your product key for activation. 

 -Alex Kochis, Director, Genuine Windows