Windows 7

[noonehereyet]

Ok, so I've been waiting to see what Microsoft was going to do about the train wreck Vista....(the reason I now run Ubuntu) tomorrow they will release the beta for Windows 7 free for all to download. Having been following all this does anyone else notice the similarity to Linux in the way things now open and end up on the task bar or desktop? or how about the windows themselves.... kind of weird the way Vista was originally made to look similar to apple graphics wise and now it seems they've chosen features from Linux to emulate? Take a look at some of the videos and you tell me...

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-videos.aspx?vindex=8

 

[Ageless Stranger]

I have two machines running Vista, one I hardly use and is sitting in the corner twiddling it's virtual thumbs in anticipation of something new to do. I'm waiting until the beta is out, and will give it a shot. However, a lot of people seem to be keen on doing the same thing as me, and the microsoft servers are having an asthma attack trying to keep up with the traffic, it is so overloaded I can hardly do anything on their site.

perhaps they should be running apache

 

[Deleted User]

Beta of Windows 7 is out today http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/01/microsoft-relea.html

 

[Ageless Stranger]

grrr I got as far as microsoft sending me an email telling me to validate my account, then the servers tell me "the site is currently borked, please come back in the next business day"

so close, yet so far

 

[Deleted User]

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/dd353205.aspx

 

[Ageless Stranger]

I managed to get as far as them about to issue a key and the ISO link

Think I might go play TuxKart instead

 

[Deleted User]

TuxKart? Linux game?

 

[Ageless Stranger]

That's the one

 

[noonehereyet]

Figures Microsoft would take a huge crap on there own CES statements.... and they wonder why more and more people are moving to Linux and Apple.... you can't say you releasing something today and then change your mind and pull it off the site because you didn't realize all the Vista users would test it before buying it this time around..........

 

[Ageless Stranger]

There is talk of Windows 7 being a free upgrade for Vista users, but non Vista users would have to pay for it. Just like cupcake, I am unsure of the validity of this until I'm told directly by Microsoft.

 

[punkzanyj]

Can someone explain to me what's wrong with Vista?

I've had it for over a year and have zero complaints.

 

[Ageless Stranger]

It is resource hungry?

It is the pacman of operating systems, windows 7 will be worse you wait and see. There was a point in time when memory was expensive, and operating systems considered memory and processor clock cycles as valuable resources. Now memory is cheap, and bigger and better faster processors are coming on the market, operating system designers don't give a damn about whats on the market today, they are designing everything based on what is available tomorrow.

Bill Gates once said "640k is enough for anybody", he was in fact talking about his salary

 

[Ageless Stranger]

Some of the best games I have ever played were less than 48k in size, I admit the graphics were pale in comparison to todays standards, but thinking retrospectively they were good enough at the time, but most importantly the game play beats anything you get today.

Bring back Jet Set Willy, Manic Miner, Sabre Wolf etc etc ad infinitum ad nauseum

 

[Ageless Stranger]

The windows 7 download has started

edit: I hope it doesnt screw over my grub bootloader

 

[punkzanyj]

It is resource hungry?

I understand what you're saying, but....as I stated, I have no complaints. resource hunger is only bad if it interferes with other operations, if there's unnecessary slowdowns, lags, halts, I've experienced none of that. I'm not a Microsoft defender, but honestly I find Vista a heck of a lot more smooth than XP ever was for me on any of the computers at any of the jobs I've had.

And being a resource hog....that's what spawns comments like "train wreck"?

I'm not being a dick, I'm just honestly curious. People act like Vista is covered in HIV and dipped in Celine Dion's foot fungus. It was buggy when I first got it, but a few updates later it was smooth. Yes, it's a resource hog, but with nothing open (yet 85 processes running in the background) it's faster, smoother, and less of a pain than my Dell XP. I have not had to once yank the battery because it locked up on me, and I can't say the same for XP.

 

[noonehereyet]

I understand what you're saying, but....as I stated, I have no complaints. resource hunger is only bad if it interferes with other operations, if there's unnecessary slowdowns, lags, halts, I've experienced none of that. I'm not a Microsoft defender, but honestly I find Vista a heck of a lot more smooth than XP ever was for me on any of the computers at any of the jobs I've had.

And being a resource hog....that's what spawns comments like "train wreck"?

I'm not being a dick, I'm just honestly curious. People act like Vista is covered in HIV and dipped in Celine Dion's foot fungus. It was buggy when I first got it, but a few updates later it was smooth. Yes, it's a resource hog, but with nothing open (yet 85 processes running in the background) it's faster, smoother, and less of a pain than my Dell XP. I have not had to once yank the battery because it locked up on me, and I can't say the same for XP.

Honestly man you are one of the lucky ones.... I bought Vista the day it came out and have had nothing but issues I downgraded back to XP waited for SP1 upgraded again... still had problems for me it has been MUCH less stable than XP with more glitches with driver compatibility with all sorts of things from my USB drives to my internal drives... locks up constantly video driver sometimes just crashes for no reason... wiped it out reinstalled same result... now I am a windows fan won't deny it but I got so frustrated with all the problems I was having I actually switched to Ubuntu.... I am anxious to see if this system is really better or not because I really liked XP... I honestly wish I had the same experience you've had with Vista but if I said I did It'd be a lie.....

 

[punkzanyj]

Honestly man you are one of the lucky ones.... I bought Vista the day it came out and have had nothing but issues I downgraded back to XP waited for SP1 upgraded again... still had problems for me it has been MUCH less stable than XP with more glitches with driver compatibility with all sorts of things from my USB drives to my internal drives... locks up constantly video driver sometimes just crashes for no reason... wiped it out reinstalled same result... now I am a windows fan won't deny it but I got so frustrated with all the problems I was having I actually switched to Ubuntu.... I am anxious to see if this system is really better or not because I really liked XP... I honestly wish I had the same experience you've had with Vista but if I said I did It'd be a lie.....

Now I get it, thank you! I was getting so frustrated. My boss at my last job (IT Consulting Firm) loved Vista and had no problems, he's a big PC gamer, and said he also didn't understand why people hate Vista so much. Honestly, the people I know in real life who have Vista, none of them have had the issues you describe, or anything close. I had USB issues all the time with XP, -- like really, I was getting so pissed -- It really made me mad that "plug n play" replaced the driver-install practice because half the things I plugged into my Dell XP weren't recognized, from music players, to phones, to my PSP. Hell, at least once a week I'd turn on my Dell and XP would say I had a new printer and needed to install the software for it.

Just out of curiousity, what's your hardware? I have a Vaio laptop, and the baby has been smooth. I need more ram because of the Adobe software I use for graphic design can be slow when I have Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign open while playing music and having 5 tabs of Firefox open, but I could barely have half those things open with XP.

 

[Ageless Stranger]

I am now triple booting on my desktop between Ubuntu (default), Vista and Windows 7. From the onset Windows 7 seems faster than Vista and has the eye candy appeal of the new KDE or gnome desktops. So far so good, Windows 7 seems stable and quick but then I havent installed all my apps yet or played any 3d games, only time will tell.

Tip for anyone wishing to try Windows 7, install on a fresh partition and do not attempt to upgrade, or you will be b0rked when it comes to the end of the trial period.

 

[noonehereyet]

Now I get it, thank you! I was getting so frustrated. My boss at my last job (IT Consulting Firm) loved Vista and had no problems, he's a big PC gamer, and said he also didn't understand why people hate Vista so much. Honestly, the people I know in real life who have Vista, none of them have had the issues you describe, or anything close. I had USB issues all the time with XP, -- like really, I was getting so pissed -- It really made me mad that "plug n play" replaced the driver-install practice because half the things I plugged into my Dell XP weren't recognized, from music players, to phones, to my PSP. Hell, at least once a week I'd turn on my Dell and XP would say I had a new printer and needed to install the software for it.

Just out of curiousity, what's your hardware? I have a Vaio laptop, and the baby has been smooth. I need more ram because of the Adobe software I use for graphic design can be slow when I have Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign open while playing music and having 5 tabs of Firefox open, but I could barely have half those things open with XP.

The machine I originally had it installed on was a p4 2.8ghz 3 gigs ram (PC3200), NEC DVD/CD, Sony DVD/CD, NEC 19" widescreen, PNY GForce 6200, creative labs 7.1

 

[Mormegil]

Looks like a similar pattern.

Windows 7 will likely be to Vista what Win98 was to Win95 - a very welcome evolution from a big OS upgrade. More stable, and more user friendly.

I'm personally happy with Vista 64, but I did have issues with my 8 year old Sound Card not being supported (had to upgrade that).