Yeah, bittorrent is the way to go for files like these. Microsoft would have to release some kind of small "ISO checker" program that people could download to verify that the torrent is complete/legitimate after it's finished downloading.

Actually, I wish MS would release something like this for all their CDs. I really want a Vista w/ SP1 ISO (since slipstreaming isn't supported any more) but I can't find anyone with a real (pressed) copy and I don't trust non-official torrents for software I've actually paid for.

The page now says:

Thanks for your interest in the Windows 7 Beta. The volume has been phenomenal -- we’re in the process of adding more servers to handle the demand. We’re sorry for the delay and we’ll re-post the Beta as soon as we can ensure a quality download experience.

Oh cool! I got all the way to the registration page! At some point they even sent me a "confirm this is your address" e-mail.

What I did was logged in over at live.com, because the first time it looked like it was going to hang there.

I actually got a different error the second time I tried, and it actually had the words "productkeys" in it... exciting!
After hitting continue I either get the screenshot I posted above, or this...

Which apparently has some secure and some nonsecure items, it only stays up for a second, at which point it changes to this...

So, 7 minutes to go and the RSS feed doesn't really work. I wonder if there's any reason to think we'll be able to actually download the ISO tonight...