Windows 7

[Parapunter]

Anyone tried it yet?

I got build 6596 coming down the line ready to chuck on a spare box tomorrow, I'm hearing it is what Vista should have been but haven't seen it for meself yet.

[Gonzo]

I'd be interested in any responses too. I'm about to kick another desktop into life for use in my bedroom, so I'm thinking about using it as a Windows 7 beta machine.......

[green granite]

This month's PC Pro has an article listing the 30 best features of Windoze 7 but it's not on their web site yet. It sounds as though they have been listening to the moans about vista.

[preduk]

One of my mates had it, I personally think it acts and looks like VISTA but without all the issues.

[Parapunter]

Well, I got it on to a spare box & not long after it fell over! In fairness, I was trying to uipdate it using some dodgy Belkin software that has caused problems on other machines, so keeping an open mind. First impressions;

It looks gorgeous, much nicer than Vista. The boot screen is animated, the desktop can now be a slideshow. That is nifty although I imagine it'll get old quickly. The aero look is kept although the silly scroll window feature is gone. Gadgets can be detached from the sidebar & be placed wherever you like on the desktop. The taskbar keeps the window preview feature introduced in Vista but is improved with larger quicklaunch icons & grouping of open windows within the preview feature.

I've literally only messed about with it for half an hour or so and thus don't have too much of an idea how it goes under the skin, but...


it wouldn't/couldn't load drivers for a few devices, the internet connection was highly unstable & it hung on an update then refused to load until safe mode was used to complete a windows defender scan. It is beta & therefore these are observations rather than criticisms...:E

Media centre looks lovely with a much improved interface & most noticeably, navigation round the system is speedy, really good in fact. This is the biggest irritation in Windows for me - I don't care if it takes 30 rather than 20 seconds to remove a program, but it does annoy if I have to wait ten seconds to open my mail program - it seems that ms might be listening to that one.

Few random screenys:
http://i42.tinypic.com/3312ef9.jpg

http://i44.tinypic.com/10f4ck7.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/o76841.jpg

[BOAC]

Come on! Where is the BSOD pic?:)

[Parapunter]

It did that!

[Saab Dastard]

Parapunter,

Please can you re-size the pics to fit? 800x600 is the recommended size. I'm sure you can rotate a couple as well!

Thanks

SD

[amanoffewwords]

Did they include Firefox as standard? :eek:

[Parapunter]

They sure didn't ! Ok a couple of hours in and it's flakey! Terrible trouble connecting it to the internet, bsod's left right & centre when installing sound card & services failing to start all over. I've taken it off my main machine with the intention of having another play with it once I've put the baby to bed (literally).

I'll stick with the former comments though, the interface is very very nice & I've had time to play with media centre & that is much much improved over the Vista set up. I think I might persevere with this just for the fun of it.

[Parapunter]

Ok, I've been playing with it again all night & 2nd time around it droppped in perfectly, no problems at all. Not too much more to add save to say I've been messing with the media centre & took a few shots for those who like this sort of thing - Gonzo? Turin??

http://i44.tinypic.com/2wq4ihc.jpg
The image behind the album cover is all your other album covers & it scrolls downwards as the record plays. That is cool!

http://i44.tinypic.com/debeyu.jpg
This is new too. Keeping the left/right buttons held down whizzes through the music library & every few seconds a cover pops up to tell you where you are. Handy for a big library.

http://i39.tinypic.com/292sig4.jpg
The main menu interface has been made over & additional options added. A definite improvement.

All in all, I like it so far. Beta for sure & tricky in places, but if it keeps on like this, then it'll lay vista to rest as it ought.

[green granite]

Spent the afternoon installing it into a virtual PC (the sun one) the control panel has at least improved from vista, it now has useful things in it. Unfortunately it seems not to want to find the right drivers for the network chip or the video card at the moment so I can't get on line or do much other than have a look around the menus.

[Parapunter]

Yep, it wouldn't find my netgear router or let me havve any creative software without a bsod. On the bright side, uac has been toned right down.

[Gonzo]

Thanks for all that PP, I think I will have a bash in the New Year....

[green granite]

Managed to sort the network out and typing this in the IE that comes with W7 which I assume is IE8 beta, I hate to say it but it's fast.

The diagnostic stuff to sort out problems is much much better, it actually tells you what the problems are and gives you some in-depth information.

All in all, so far, I'm favourably impressed with it.

[piggybank]

Any truth in the rumour that MS will give big refunds on Vista when we upgrade to the new Windows. I am using Vista right now and really thinking of upgrading to XP.

[El Grifo]

Yeah right !!!

When I see you flying piggy boy, I may believe it :cool:

[Guest 112233]

Did some one say refund ? OK lets start here. In my humble opinion, Windows 7 ? may be, what Vista should have been from the start.

For what its worth, many people (like me) waited for several years to upgrade their computer like devices, in the hope that a well known provider of operating system software, would produce a system that was more secure, more reliable and better able to utilise the performance advances in chip (processor and graphics ), RAM and disk speeds that had occurred. We got Vista. Many prople had to fork out hard earned cash;to pay extra to have XP Pro installed, £60.00 in my case.

A lot of people may have bought in good faith, P.Cs that were marketed as being capable of running the new system - I know this is still under scrutiny, so lets see what the outcome is ?.

Finally when the new System arrived - it seems for some, that its release was premature and because of changes made, some hardware would not work. Troublesome but understandable.

#finally can we have a discount on the cost of upgrading from XP to Win 7,hardware min specs permitting please ? - CAT III.

[Parapunter]

Build 7022 is leaked and available for those interested. Given that 7000 was a decent iteration, this should be better still.

Word is that build 7048 aka RC1 is released to beta testers tomorrow. One feels sure it also will find it's way to a wider audience.

[BladePilot]

I,ve just started using Vista Ultimate with SP1 and everything you have described (including the screen shots) appears to be available to me, and I'm still finding new stuff ecery day! The system is stable and working beautifully. I have been able to load all my well used software and peripherals with no apparant problems or issues.

All my programmes open in the blink of an eye including Acrobat 8 Pro and Outlook 2007 which I use for my POP3 mail.

If I can get all this is it still worth having a look at W7?

[Parapunter]

If you're happy, why change?

[Jofm5]

windows 7 is not due till earliest august - most poople will not adopt it for a year or so - if your happy with what you have dont move for the sake of changing

[green granite]

If I can get all this is it still worth having a look at Windows 7?


Yes, It's much better than Vista, I almost never go back to XP now.

[BladePilot]

I'm Happy I'll stick:ok:

Green Granite what version of Vista were you running? I have Vista Ultimate 64Bit SP1 and it seems pretty good moved on from XP Pro which I really liked but to be honest it took SP1/2/3 to iron out all the bugs and still there were the odd one or two even in that OS.
No point in me jumping to W7 if it doesn't gain me a whole lot me thinks be interested to see how its accepted by the masses when it is released to market later this year.

[Parapunter]

7 should be called Vista-sorted. It is good, but in reality no less than what Vista users should have expected in the first place. It's also beta and so not really available unless you like to tinker about with pc's.:)

[green granite]

I believe it's home premium, it's on my wife's laptop and it's an utter pain to administrate and set up. It is however relatively stable.

I've been running 7 as a dual boot system for a while now and it's superb, everything is relatively straight forward and functional. And what Parapunter says is true.

[Keef]

My home desktop is dual-boot XP and Win7. I've not booted it into XP for many weeks, and I've switched the "default start" from XP to Win7. It'll be a pain in the neck if the Win7 expires before there is a released version.

Vista I tried, and went back to XP.

No contest!

[green granite]

It'll be a pain in the neck if the Win7 expires before there is a released version.


We should be offered a copy of the release candidate to test before the beta expires (hopefully) and that should run over though the release period before it dies.

This is quite a useful blog on 7 http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/

[Parapunter]

There is software widely available that will activate build 6596 through 7000. Most of the windows watcher sites link to it.

[green granite]

Incidently SP2 for Vista is imminent

February 25, 2009 (Computerworld) Microsoft Corp. today announced it has wrapped up a near-final version of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2), and has posted it to a pair of subscriber-only services for download.

Others won't get their hands on Vista SP2 Release Candidate (RC) until sometime next week, however.

[Parapunter]

Do you know what's in that GG?

[BladePilot]

I can't wait.. Mmmm Vista SP2 Oh! the very thought sends my hard drive into TURBO mode:cool:

[green granite]

Do you know what's in that GG?

From ZDnet. Probably a reasonable guess.

SP2 contains Blue tooth 2.1 feature pack supporting the most recent specification for Blue tooth technology
•Ability to record data on Blu-Ray media,
•Adds Windows Connect Now (WCN) Wi-Fi Configuration to Windows Vista SP2,
•exFAT file system now supports UTC timestamps, which enables correct file synchronization across time zones.
•SP2 provides support for new form factors, such as ICCD/CCID. new form factor support –example USB form factor as opposed to PCMCIA).
•Support for the new VIA 64-bit CPU
Security

•SP2 includes all previously released security updates, and builds on the proven security benefits of Windows Vista
•Secure Development Lifecycle process updates, where we identify the root cause of each security bulletin and improve our internal tools to eliminate code patterns that could lead to future vulnerabilities
•Reliability
•SP2 addresses previously released reliability updates, as well as addressing crashes, caused by Microsoft code, discovered since the launch of SP1
Performance

•Resume performance when Wi-Fi connection is no longer available after resume from sleep
•Inclusion of Windows Search 4 for improved indexing performance, improved relevancy in search, broader indexing scenario inclusion, as well as new Group Policy integration for Windows Search,
•Improvements to the RSS feeds sidebar gadget to improve update performance and responsiveness
Application Compatibility

•It is our goal that applications that run on the Windows Vista Operating System today and are written using public APIs will continue to work as designed on Windows Vista SP2.
•Previously released Application Compatibility updates are included in Windows Vista SP2.
•Spysweeper and ZoneAlarm now working with POP3 email accounts
Administration and Support Improvements

•Customers installing .net framework 3.5 service pack 1 will notice shorter download and installation times with Vista service pack 2 or Windows 2008 service pack 2 already installed,
•Service Pack Clean up tool (Compcln.exe): This tool helps restore the hard disk space by permanently deleting the previous versions of the files (RTM & SP1) that are being serviced by Service Pack 2.
•Single installer for both Vista & Server 2008
•Ability to detect an incompatible driver and block service pack installation or warn users of any loss of functionality
•Better error handling and providing more descriptive error messages where possible
•Better manageability through logging in system event log
•Componentization for Serviceability of the installer
Some Specific Fixes/Additions Include:

•Inclusion of Hyper-V
•Event logging support in SPC
•DNS Server now listens over ISATAP address
•Fixes DRM issues from WMP upgrades
•Windows Vista Feature Pack for Wireless
•Reduction of resources required for sidebar gadgets
•Improved power settings for WS08

[green granite]

For Info it looks likley that the first RC build release may be on April the 10th

From neowin.net
At this time, Windows 7 RC is internally being tested and the official release date is set for April 10, 2009. The Windows team is right on schedule with development, and if there are no significant problems over the next few weeks the April 10, 2009 release date will remain intact.

Not much information is available at this time. We're uncertain if the release will be a world-wide, and Microsoft is expected to do more testing before releasing a RC build to the public. With that in mind, TechNet and MSDN subscribers should be the first to receive the RC build. A recent email conversation between Paul, over at GeekSmack, and Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft Senior Vice President of Windows, revealed that there have been over 500,000 suggestions since the public launch of the Windows 7 Beta.

[Parapunter]

7048 x64 is already leaked & available. I'll await the x86 version. This is touted as a milestone build, not sure what changes will be in it, but hoping for a resolution of the dual path tv tuner problem thus far seen in every beta release which quite honestly is all that's stopping me using it full time as an htpc build.

FWIW, I've been running build 7000 as my full time main office pc for a month now & it works pretty good. The one issue from an office productivity point of view is with printng, I print an excel form to fax & am used to clicking, print>fax & off we go. Now with 7, it inserts multiple page breaks that can't be removed, so as a workaround, I print the page to pdf, then print that to fax. Otherwise, it's as smooth as silk.