Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service, Monday, January 28, 2008 2:28 PM PST
PC World

NEW YORK -- Reports surfaced over the weekend that an early version of Windows 7 has appeared on the Web, but so far only a couple of users claim to have seen the OS, and Microsoft won't confirm such a version exists.

Several bloggers report that Windows 7 Milestone 1, which reportedly was sent out to OEM (original equipment manufacturer) partners earlier this month, has appeared online for download via the BitTorrent protocol. While most reports said the torrents that are supposed to be the milestone do not actually contain the OS software, a couple of Web users claim to have installed and used the software. A member of the Neowin.net user community, who goes by the online handle "Kenipnet," claims in a post to the blog to have installed Windows 7 on his laptop, though the user claims he was "disappointed" by the OS because it didn't work very well. Neowin is an online community for technology enthusiasts....[Comments]