I got the below mail from MS. They accidentally announced some wrong dates regarding Windows 7 pre-RTM dates. Note that the beta build will start to auto shut down every two hours on July 1st of this year. This is MS’s way to get you onto the RC build and eventually to buy the RTM build.
“Because you signed up to test the Windows 7 Beta, we recently sent you mail about the expiration dates for the Beta and Release Candidate. Unfortunately, we made a mistake.
We said the Beta would start shutting down every two hours on June 1, 2009. The correct date is July 1, 2009.
The rest of the dates in the mail were correct. Here’s a quick summary:
| Version | Starts Shutting Down Every Two Hours | Expires |
| Beta | July 1, 2009 | August 1, 2009 |
| Release Candidate | March 1, 2010 | June 1, 2010 |
We apologize for the error and any confusion it may have caused.
Thanks again for helping us test Windows 7.”