The anecdotal version:

I ordered the student priced Windows 7 home premium for $30, and this morning received an e-mail with a link to the download. The problem is they don't give you the option to download the ISO—your only choice is an .exe file for upgrading, which means you can't do a clean install. I've been on the phone with Microsoft's tech support for nearly two hours going back and forth with Digital River, the company that distributes Windows 7. Everyone is in India which adds to the frustration.

Our variously mistaken protagonist tells a cautionary tale, and an instructive one. Also instructive: Microsoft Windows 7 netbook download page, which explicitly states that the download is intended for upgrades primarily from XP (though XP upgrades are, by nature, clean installs). It's priced exactly like the physical media upgrade, and labeled "Upgrade."

It's an extremely helpful option for the legions of users with faceless 1.6GHz/1GB/160GB/XP netbooks itching to upgrade, but it's a half-measure. Microsoft has comfortably seeded millions of ISO downloads for the Windows 7 beta, all of which depended on timed licensed to thwart piracy, and they're giving some users (though evidently not students, who on top of it all seem to be having problems with said .exe) the option to download as an image file, so they could just as easily do the same for Windows 7 full retail. Why they didn't, I have no idea.

UPDATE: For anyone stuck with the .exe, here's a guide to building a bootable (though still upgrade-only) flash drive. [Microsoft]

You have to start downloading Windows 7 before Feb. 10, but you have until Feb. 12 to finish it, and product keys will be available after Feb. 12, though they don't say for how long after. Which essentially means you now have all the time in the world to install Windows 7. You can download it from Microsoft now and get a key way later, or, from the way it sounds, you could even grab a torrent after Microsoft stops offering downloads and then still get a key from them.

So yeah, it really is kind of like a free upgrade, at least until it self-destructs on Aug. 1. [Windows Team]

The beta expires July 1, 2009, and from what we read, it's a bit more stable than the versions people have been playing with for a few months. Hit the links below to get a copy, if you're OK with the fact that you're technically not supposed to have this just yet. [My Digital Life via BlogsDNA via Technovedad via Download Squad]

Update: ZDNet also has a look at the beta over here, and they concur that it's pretty good:

# This beta is of excellent quality. This is the kind of code that you could roll out and live with. Even the pre-betas were solid, but finally this beta feels like it’s “done.” This beta exceeds the quality of any other Microsoft OS beta that I’ve handled.

[ZDNet]