Windows 7

[Darren B]

So with windows 7 being released on public beta tomorrow, does anyone plan on installing it.

Seems to have new gadgets and they promote it being faster and more stable so it will be interesting to see. But im wondering if its going to be a much improved XP or a fixed vista

I also note that Dell have agreed to install windows live on every new pc including the windows live search. Does this mean alot of new users are going to end up using MS rather than google (i mean the people that do not know much about the internet) Dell shifts huge amount of equipment so it wont be one or two.

i think i have a system here that i can probably trial it on.

[Duncan Rounding]

When it gets to RC1 then I'll install it on an a test machine and have a play.

[fergusw]

But im wondering if its going to be a much improved XP or a fixed vista

It looks more like the latter than the former.

[RuralWeb]

It's very similar looking to vista but they have removed all the bits that make vista slow and hungery. It's what vista should have been IMO

[Darren B]

the pc i have only has partions on it running ubuntu and vista so no critical data on it.

Just be interested to see if the speed thing is true?

[Darren B]

Ah ha have you tested it already then Mal.

[CymraegKev]

I've been using W7 on the development pre-beta scheme (I'm allowed to say that now apparantly) and it is a LOT better than both XP and Vista (if you can imagine the best parts of both).

If the Beta they are publicly releasing today is the same as the dev version I've been testing then it won't be overly useable - but it may be a completely new build (hopefully).

Anyway - this is a marvelous blog if you are interested in a sensible discussion about the engineering concepts behind W7 :

http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/rss.xml (RSS)

http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/ (Blog)

Cheers

Kev

[fergusw]

I recently watched an interesting discussion, albeit hosted by Microsoft, where a panel of experts discussed performance and maintenance issues of Vista.
Worth a watch if you have an hour to burn.

Covers a few misconceptions about Vista and performance...... biased towards MS of course, but interesting nonetheless if you are a Vista user.

[Chunkford]

I've been using W7 on the development pre-beta scheme (I'm allowed to say that now apparantly) and it is a LOT better than both XP and Vista (if you can imagine the best parts of both).

This makes me want to hold off ordering a Laptop now.
Is it still on for release at the end of this year?

[Chunkford]

This pretty much answers my question http://www.winvistaclub.com/i7.html

[CymraegKev]

This pretty much answers my question http://www.winvistaclub.com/i7.html

I'm 100% (ok 99.9%) sure it will NOT be another three years. Typically, Public beta 1 to RC1 is nine-fifteen months. I would expect to see it RTM late 2009 or 1st quater 2010. But I may be miles off. Laptops are reletively cheap these days so I personally wouldn't hold off buying one to wait for software that will probably cost around £150 or so......

The interesting thing is there will be a lot of new tactile hardware tools being created and I can't see MS doing a public beta before the hardware vendors have had their go at the drivers etc. A lot of Vistas initial issues were that the hardware manufacturers did not develop drivers for their devices quick enough, making a lot of hardware uncompatible at first with Vista.

[fergusw]

The interesting thing is there will be a lot of new tactile hardware tools being created and I can't see MS doing a public beta before the hardware vendors have had their go at the drivers etc. A lot of Vistas initial issues were that the hardware manufacturers did not develop drivers for their devices quick enough, making a lot of hardware uncompatible at first with Vista.

A very good point made there, and one that should point some way toward people not to hold off getting Vista. A clean Vista SP1 install with current, optimised manufacturers drivers for associated hardware and firmware (BOIS etc) can mean the difference between a fast, reliable platform and a sluggish, poorly performing platform.
The hardware vendors are constantly releasing updates and patches to their firmware and drivers. Many of these are only now fully exploiting some of the IO features of Vista and delivering on performance and reliability in these areas.
I'm not flag waving for Vista (spent enough time swearing at it myself) but armed with an understanding of the platform it does stand up a bit better to the scrutiny recently thrown at it.

[CymraegKev]

I'm not flag waving for Vista (spent enough time swearing at it myself) but armed with an understanding of the platform it does stand up a bit better to the scrutiny recently thrown at it.

I flag fly Vista to my clients (being an ex Microsoft employee I think they must have implanted a chip in my head!). I agree with you, on a machine with the correct devices and drivers and enough pizazzzzzz abaout it (Ram etc.), Vista is awesome.

I can certainly understand peoples frustrations with it though and I have had them as well.

My key to a decent Vista life is to ensure you have quality hardware and quality software. All the problems I have ever had with Vista, or the problems I have seen at clients are down to either low quality device drivers or people actually not understanding the interface or the new (is it still new?) security models etc.

I recently benchmarked Photoshop CS4 Extended (whith Graphics Card acceleration) on identical machines, one XP and one Vista and Vista was markedly faster than the XP test...and the reason is that Adobe are (finally) implimenting some of the acceleration and graphics performers that Vista has that XP simply doesn't have. Of course, I still miss Worm in MS basic though....

Kev

[RuralWeb]

I would not wait for 7 either. As said vista works well now and especially as new machines are being fitted with lots more ram as standard which was the cause of most problems.

7 will be faster but all the vista stuff will still be there it's just that lots of it is switched off by default. The tactile stuff will not be fully developed for years and will I'm sure be expensive initially.

Laptops are cheap and only last a few years so by the time a new one is a couple of years old 7 and all the tactile stuff will be fully developed.

[CymraegKev]

Laptops are cheap and only last a few years so by the time a new one is a couple of years old 7 and all the tactile stuff will be fully developed.

Yep - exactly. I got a lovely 4GB Acer with HD Blu Ray from Amazon the other day for less than £400 - about three times the power and spec than my Sony Vaio that I bought this time last year for nearly £1200.....crazy world.