Windows 7, so who's tried it?

[Shawn]

"Due to very heavy traffic we're seeing as a result of interest in the Windows 7 Beta, we are adding some additional infrastructure support to the Microsoft.com properties before we post the public beta," the message explains.

The post does not give a definitive time for when the Windows 7 beta will be made available again.

"We want to ensure customers have the best possible experience when downloading the beta, and I'll be posting here again soon once the beta goes live," it says.

Looks like I'll have to ask this again: Why is eveyone and their grandma so interested in this? Most people took others' word that Vista was no good, but everyone is rushing to download a limited, incomplete version of Seven which you won't be able to use for anything.

[matt2000]

I'm expecting it's because this is supposed to be what vista was supposed to be.

I still think those look like HD wallpapers, which they may well be. I don't think my vague understanding of HDCP helps. I assumed that for full HD on a monitor you needed HDCP, which I now have, and I can see a difference (in my opinion). But now I'm reading that HDCP is something different entirely.

But now the wallpaper I have looks so much brighter and vivid... I'm confused.

Sorry to go off topic.

[Shawn]

HDCP is for playing protected HD content, such as Bluray discs.

Like I said, for you computer to display high definition content all you need is a monitor that can do 720p (though 1920x1080 will give you full HD). This means even computers from 8 years ago that run at 1024x768 could show you the lower quality HD content (not 1080i). You do need a rather powerful GPU to be able to smoothly play high definition videos, but only a monitor with a high enough resolution to show high quality pictures.

It's just that HD usually refers to videos. Even though a 10mp digicam will take pictures much larger than 1920x1080, nobody really calls them high definition shots, and they don't appear as 'crisp' as moving HD content.

Anyway, I'm nearly certain those wallpapers are just playing tricks on your eyes.

[FATMOUSE]

Yeah, as far as still images go given enough time any processor with software will give you a shiny looking still image to feast your eyes on at any resolution. All you need is time and a nice monitor.

[cvrefugee]

Why do people keep saying 7 is what Vista was supposed to be? Apple has been releasing the same old-ass OS X for nearly eight years, adding a few new features here and there, polishing the interface, and charging $130 every two years or so. Yet when Microsoft appears to be doing the same thing as Apple in releasing Windows 7, they're a terrible company for doing so.

[Hidden_Hunter]

I just installed it on my laptop, seems fairly good for an early beta.

[Shawn]

Originally Posted by cvrefugee

Why do people keep saying 7 is what Vista was supposed to be? Apple has been releasing the same old-ass OS X for nearly eight years, adding a few new features here and there, polishing the interface, and charging $130 every two years or so. Yet when Microsoft appears to be doing the same thing as Apple in releasing Windows 7, they're a terrible company for doing so.

While I would tend to agree, and as much as I like Vista, they are kind of right.

If you remember Vista was supposed to come out way earlier than it did, and it was supposed to have a lot of features that didn't make it into Vista. So this kind of is what Vista was supposed to be, and given the bad PR Vista has gotten I guess Microsoft doesn't mind people seeing it that way. Remember, Blackcomb was announced as the successor to XP, even though it eventually became the successor to Vista under the name Windows 7.

Plus, like you say it's not normal for Microsoft to release a brand new OS only two years after the last (while XP lasted so long), so people are seeing it as an updated Vista in the same way as the different versions of OS X.

[WillDAQ]

Originally Posted by Shawn

Looks like I'll have to ask this again: Why is eveyone and their grandma so interested in this? Most people took others' word that Vista was no good, but everyone is rushing to download a limited, incomplete version of Seven which you won't be able to use for anything.

For me it's simple, do I bother upgrading to Vista or wait for 7. I get a free copy of both but the hassle of a reinstall is to be avoided if possible.

[Shawn]

^ Sure, but people are all abuzz for the beta copy, which if memory serves stops working in 90 days.

I don't even care, just curious why everyone is so into it. I'm sure not many people tried out Whistler or Longhorn.

[Adunaphel]

Originally Posted by Breznikov

I have the BETA downloaded in 6 minutes. But I can't install it because Microsoft decided they want to wait to give keys. Not that I'm dying to find out what it's like, I might just delete it tomorrow

You don't NEED to enter a key to install it, you can run it for 30 days before entering a key.

Originally Posted by Shawn

If you remember Vista was supposed to come out way earlier than it did, and it was supposed to have a lot of features that didn't make it into Vista.

That were the original plans, but a few VERY nasty security holes in XP (and win2003) surfaced aound those times (blaster anyone?) and Microsoft decided to first fix their current OS as good as possible (XP has an inherently flawed security design, which i won't bother going into right now) before focusing on it's successor.

PS.
Yes, i have tried the Windows 7 beta, it's surprisingly mature for a prerelease OS, and most of the features work pretty well already. Wat has stopped me from making it the default OS on my work laptop is the fact that mstsc.exe has a habit of crashing on me when i log off a remote desktop session. And since that is 75% of what i do at work, it's kinda sub-optimal.

[MadCow809]

Originally Posted by Shawn

^ Sure, but people are all abuzz for the beta copy, which if memory serves stops working in 90 days.

I don't even care, just curious why everyone is so into it. I'm sure not many people tried out Whistler or Longhorn.

I tried the very first beta version of Longhorn when everyone was still moving from 98/ME to XP. The very first buggy version that ran WinFX.exe.

Anyway, I will install Windows 7 as my main OS once its fully released, it's much nicer to run a new OS instead of dwelling in the pages of history.

XP is a dying product, Vista has already proved to be miles better than XP, and I'm sure Windows 7 will do the same.

[burnsy]

Originally Posted by Shawn

^ Sure, but people are all abuzz for the beta copy, which if memory serves stops working in 90 days.

The Beta will stop working on August 1, 2009. To continue using your PC, please be prepared to reinstall a prior version of Windows or a subsequent release of Windows 7 before the expiration date. You won’t be able to upgrade from the Beta to the final retail version of Windows 7.

If my math is correct, that's 200 days to have, basically, a free OS.

[Spectre]

[geeman]

I can't get the stupid ass download to work
What the hell is wrong with having old fashioned, but perfectly working direct download urls?!
I am tired of having to install million and one plugins and solving over 9000 captchas to download one fucking file.
Tried in Firefox and IE.

[MadCow809]

yawn*


BT FTW

[ViperVX]

Installed the 32-bit version it 2 days ago, it's simply brilliant. It can see and use all 4 gigs of Ram and X3 (doubled) gfx cards.

Overall it uses about 700 Ram to run itself, 1gig with Symantec Antivirus, Opera, Utorrent, mIRC, QIP and a few other features running.

What they redid (for good):
1. New taskbar, with certain features from OSX.
2. New Network settings/setup is great, intuitive, very simple to use.
3. They redesigned control panel a bit, also made it a little bit more intuitive and easier to navigate into.
4. A little bit of a redesigned Windows Explorer, better looking, faster (surprisingly) with more personalisation options, i really like it.

Performance is perfect. It feels exactly like Windows XP felt when it came out. I tested about 10 different 2d/3d games, including CS:Source, Fallout 3, RA3, GTA 4, You get about +5-7% fps gain in comparison to Vista and XP.

What doesn't work correctly:
1. There are problems with certain drivers, including HP Printers, Creative soundcards and ATI Video.
2. Certain "Vista-ready" applications refere to non-existing system files, like mIRC and a few others.
3. There's an unknown problem with dotnetfx, which results in Winamp's media library not working correctly.
4. A major problem with STPD, therefore Daemon/Alcohol software doesn't work at all.

As a result, i simply love it. It's fast, beautiful, intuitive, everything you want OS to be.

[wasil]

When will the final version be out?

The reviews seem to be good.

[ahpadt]

Originally Posted by geeman

I can't get the stupid ass download to work
What the hell is wrong with having old fashioned, but perfectly working direct download urls?!
I am tired of having to install million and one plugins and solving over 9000 captchas to download one fucking file.
Tried in Firefox and IE.

Can't you just download it from a torrent site and get the key later? Without a key you can still run it for 30 days.

Originally Posted by wasil

When will the final version be out?

The reviews seem to be good.

Not much earlier than Q4.

[awdrifter]

I haven't tried it myself, but from the reviews it seems like an updated Vista with a lot of the annoyance/bugs fixed. So it seems good. I might try it when it officially comes out.

[chaos386]

Originally Posted by geeman

I can't get the stupid ass download to work
What the hell is wrong with having old fashioned, but perfectly working direct download urls?!
I am tired of having to install million and one plugins and solving over 9000 captchas to download one fucking file.
Tried in Firefox and IE.

I had the same problem, so I just wrote down the product key it gave me and used the direct links posted on DailyTech:

32-bit ISO

64-bit ISO

The download isn't going particularly fast, though, so you might still want to use the torrent.