I installed the beta on about 3 dozen desktops I have administrative control
over during the first week of this beta--back in January--and I haven't
regretted that at all.
That said, there have been a number of anguished pleas from users whose
experience has included data loss in these groups--this can happen either
due to issues with beta software, or the difficulties of removing spyware.
The losses of music files from Kazaa I tend to put in the first category
(i.e. a specific issue about this beta), and the situations in which someone
used the product, removed spyware, and then found they were unable to boot,
or had symptoms of worm or virus infection, I put in the latter
category--difficulties inherent in removing spyware.
There have been more than 20 million downloads of the beta product. A very
small fraction of those users post online with problems of one kind or
another. An even smaller fraction of those have issues involving data loss.
I feel it is safe enough that I recommend it to anyone--but the risk isn't
zero!
