Final Thoughts On The Windows 7 Beta

I imagine that my move to Windows 7 will be on the day that a peripheral – probably a multifunction printer, has to be replaced. The first time there is no XP driver will force the change.

Windows 7 is a disaster for me, as I absolutely despise the menu system. I have been telling others that Microsoft is alienating users with Vista, and 7 is helping finish the job. Perhaps someone will craft a different menu system for 7 to make it easier to take, and then I might change.

OTOH, I’ve been liking the overall usefulness of Fedora 10, so who knows.

[...] After four days of testing, Matt Hartley weighs in on Windows 7. [...]

Am i going to give Win 7 a try?Sure!To be honest i think that if it is half as decent as i predict it to be i will most likely have my geek dream come true in a few months,meaning that i will be running snow leopard and Win 7 side by side :D

Is it going to be my primary OS?Well that is a whole other thing…and i can say for sure that it’s not going to be.And here’s the simple why;MS still seems to not be giving users real productivity tools.I’m still unable to see,how the task bar hovering preview thing is anything more than an eye candy and until MS comes up with sm half as good as expose i can’t even consider going back.Multiple desktops would be nice as well and i mean native on Win 7.What i’m trying to tell here is that the so obvious better resource management that windows 7 seems to have,even in beta release,is not the thing to make users who switched to OSX go back to Windows -OSX is so stable that sometimes it’s like tempting you to try and crash it :P – What makes things even worse in my opinion is that no one at MS seems to be thinking that way too.I mean look at the keynote… here we are,ready to admire the glory of Win 7 and they’re talking about auto resizing windows when you drag them to the end of the screen,so that you get a better shopping experience online?!?!?!?!! Give me a freaking break.If that is MS’ perception on productivity tools then i’m afraid that more and more people will be making the switch to OSX and Windows 7 does not deserve that.
Meh anyway,this was just my opinion :D

Again,nice read :)

I will stick with Linux and OS X. The only reason I even touch Vista is that I have some work-related database files that are Access only. I’m sure Windows 7 will be the same. I drive Vista in its own container in VMWare in essence caging the beast.

Enjoyed your review, Mr. M!

I LOVE Vista and I’m sure I’ll upgrade to Windows 7 when I’m it becomes available.

Thanks for your insight.

Keep the faith and keep being you!

~Ronald
True Believer & Hope Dealer

Windows 7 = Vista RTM release.
Legacy hardware support has gotten worse. I installed on my laptop and it didn’t recognize the Broadcom Wifi card and the Nvidia GeForce Go 5600 (Vista at least recognized them but couldn’t find the video driver). Short story: wasted my time, had to remove it.

On the good side, Ubuntu 8.10 works like a charm and Compiz desktop effects with the same legacy video card leaves Windows 7 in the dust!!! Conclusion: Open source and Canonical have better programmers than Microsoft and its millions.

I ditched Windows over 10 years ago for Macs and Linux. I will NEVER use Windows in my house ever again.

After ALL these years they STILL can’t get it right.

Thanks for you review. I was a little curious about a fair review of Windows 7.

I’ve been a Mac guy for about 5 years and my last Windows-based computer was running XP. I’ve played with Vista a little bit and cannot force myself to spend any more time with it than what is necessary for work purposes. It’s less of a battle of company preference and more of a decision to use whats more fitting to the needs of a consumer. This consumer likes OS X and truly enjoys opening up is MBpro 50 times a day. I will not be considering Windows 7 for any of my personal computers, not even dual-booting. OS X has never hindered my productivity and I don’t care to be stressed out by an ugly GUI.

A year ago, I switched to OS X and I never looked back. For it has been like going from being a hired hand on a farm to being the owner of a wonderful villa in the sun with plenty of servants.

When I absolutely have to use Windows at work, which is very seldom thank God, I access it (XP) in Parallels where it loads in a fraction of the time.

Since I switched to Mac, everyone at work that become due for an upgrade in hardware wants one!

I’m actually trying to download it now. I’m going to Virtual Machine it but I do look forward to seeing the beta. Will I get it when it’s released? Probably not. I don’t have the money to be wasting on a new operating system and maybe I’m just not geek enough but Vista has never given me problems. It’s where I do all of my work on photos, 3D modeling, video production, and I only have 2GB of Ram with 1.8 ghz processor.

We’re not talking about a beast here. I’d go to OS X if I wasn’t so adept at breaking every Mac I touch. But that’s the world of computers for you, individual user experience. No one has the same experience. And personally I fear people will stay away from Windows 7 irregardless of what Windows produces because of an initial Vista problem (probably early on) and a bad attitude. May all people use what they prefer, but don’t dump on something just because you don’t like it. I don’t dump on Macs.

So if I could afford it, I would. But I can’t. Looks nice though.

As someone who represents the everyday user my take on Vista and Windows 7 is that it will ONLY be used when XP is no longer viable. I agree with other writers that once a Start Menu Layout is established and a Control Panel View you do not make changes that totally alienate your user base. Microsoft has effectively trained users to use menus , applications and decision tools a certain way since Windows 95 , most changes along the way have been improvements and not major overhauls. With Vista and Windows 7 that design interface has been blown out of the water and that comfort factor taken away. This will work for the geek community always harping about wanting this or that but for mainstream users who want ease of use , familiarity and blistering speed , getting only the speed improvement is not going to overly excite. When people have been educated to drive and have put in the effort to get their stripes driving its a bit rich when someone changes all the controls and suggests that they can now fly the car. And therein lies the rub , most are quite happy on the ground thanks very much. Planes always crash and with horrific results so the average user is not going to risk his hard won dollars , for a view that is literally to die for especially now and I feel certain most of my joe average clients just do not want to be encumbered with new learning curves , loss of familiar functionality and more damn issues to contend with. Many are frustrated with computing anyway so the constant churn and burn of hardware and software is beginning to kill the goose that used to lay golden eggs. Sorry Microsoft but you are killing my business and just plain losing most of us loyal XP users. All we wanted was a better XP. I am looking seriously at Ubuntu now for most of my PC’s and will have only one using XP till it dies. I seriously doubt I will fork out the money and I am actually now preparing to wind down and close my business after 30 years because Microsoft continue to adopt this attitude of screw you XP user.

Ken

IT Director

I’ve been tinkering with the Windows 7 betas, now v7000 in VirtualBox vm’s for a few weeks now. 7 seems fine, it’s pretty and fast even in a vm. However, I see no compelling reason to use it, or Vista for that matter. XP still works just fine for the most part. I won’t be taking part in the high dollar upgrade process until forced, most likely by hardware vendors under pressure. I split my work load between XP and various Gnu/Linux versions. Vista and 7 offer no game changers. 7 seems to be what Vista should have been. I feel badly for home users who will pay twice for high dollar upgrades and gain very little.

I use OS X, vista and xp pro. I’m not all that impressed w/vista… i have seen a copy of win.7 running and it seams to beat vista hands down… will i go to win.7 well I’ll have to see what the end product looks like. and what the boys at MS do to it before its released… just MHO… Bemer

I guess what some people are missing is that even if Windows 7 (beta) is beating Vista (Ultimate) to the head of the lne in some sort of turtle boot up benchmark, we really need to take this coparison with a big grain of salt. The beta that you’re testing is nothing but that, a beta. This isn’t even a release candidate (RC) as of yet. So, the fact that a scaled down version of a beta is beating a “production” OS that is probably loaded down with add-ons and probably a service pack doesn’t really seem to fly with me.

I use XP and OS 10.5.6 and am echoing a claim made by an earlier procrastinator: When a manufacturer has an MFD that I want to purchase and they don’t offer a device driver for Windows XP, I will then RELUCTANTLY move with the other lemmings up to present time. Until then, XP/SP3 and Mac OS 10.5.6 will be fine with me.

I’d like to imagine that in the future maybe ten years or so I might consider running Windows 7 or Windows 8 Beta if it gets there! =)

I use OS X and Vista and honestly I’m quite happy with both. OS X is vastly superior, but then it doesn’t have to support any legacy or non-Apple hardware, making Apple’s job much easier.

Vista isn’t nearly as bad as the press would have you believe, and since SP1 is every bit as fast and stable as XP. I use Vista for games, as I honestly can get all of my work done in OS X and my office is now completely Mac. Vista runs in Boot Camp (games are too demanding for VM) on my MacBook Pro and the performance is superb.

[...] who experienced no hardware incompatibilities and found Vista to meet with their expectations. As Windows 7 approaches, I believe that these individuals will be even happier with their experience once they [...]

I’ve used Vista SP1 on my mom’s new laptop and it seems to do better than some xp machines. I honestly can’t say how it will standup to my abuse as just about every windows machine tends to break after a year to so from me using it. I do have a copy of xp on this machine but I rarely use it because ubuntu is my primary OS.

I’ve never used windows 7 but I am considering to run it in a vm when I get my new machine built.

Vista: doesn’t work with some of my hardware, memory and hdd glutton, slow, cumbersome and ugly. A waste of space and time.

7: It appears to be just an improvement over vista. I don’t expect full hardware support for at least a year or two. I’ll keep an eye on it but hopefully one of the other options will be useable by then.

XP: Currently the only OS that I have found to do all that I need and support all of my hardware (with a bit of tweaking). Stuck with it for the moment.

Ubuntu: By far the most useable linux dist so far, but still suffers from major limitations, namely requires too much tech savvy to install and use. Until Vmware supports 3D gaming it is effectivly useless.
Will try it again around v10 or 11.

Fedora: Moved to Ubuntu when v4 was released since it would no longer install on the laptop. Stopped trying it at v8 when it still wouldn’t work with the older machines.

OSX: I’ll probably get around to trying it soon now that Ubuntu has been removed.

Still using DOS 6 for some of my older equipment.

Hi All,

Managed by experienced users, Ubuntu has allowed me to walk away from constant house calls from those who were unable to use XP safely. Let’s face it, there are some folks that simply need apps only available for the Windows platform. But at the same time, I have personally moved people onto Ubuntu with greater ease than most might suspect. The key is either being the expert or finding one to help you if the person in question is set on making the switch. For some, it is might be better to stick with something more contained like OS X.

See the reality is that most people outside of the geek world are not installing Windows, this is nonsense. Those that try are supporting the PC repair industry with driver confusion – trust me, I used to spend plenty of time working that racket.

Realizing that most people end up either buying Windows pre-installed or installed for them, this presents the usability factor. No iTunes or Windows gaming here in Ubuntu. And it is true that “some” Linux applications leave something to be desired with regard to their layout. Others might be perfectly functional yet rather bland in appearance. Again, no arguments there.

However for those using an email client, web browser and a word processor, Ubuntu is indeed as simple to use as Windows.

The key is a managed option when the end user is a newbie – something Ubuntu leaves the door wide open to for those wise enough to take advantage of it.

I am currently managing people remotely, securely, all running Ubuntu. SSH is my tool of choice, be it there are other ways of doing this. These individuals include people over 70 years of age using DSL for their connection. Using a secure connection, I can administer updates that I feel are appropriate for their system, clean up unneeded files, verify the firewall is up, in addition to sharing software discoveries I deem of value. All from the comfort of my home office.

Using managed Ubuntu boxes that I control actually has saved me massive amounts of time that was previously being wasted with the latest “shareware” junk application installing malware onto someone’s system. Some people just do better on a managed solution and Ubuntu has made this really easy for me.

Like any desktop Linux distro, Ubuntu is an open book. Either take it and customize it to meet your needs or find someone who is already selling this as a service. For everyone else, there are the other two perfectly great operating systems to choose from. Different strokes for different folks. ;)

I currently have four PCs, one running Vista, one XP, and two Ubuntu. Will probably wait to try Win7 when I buy a new PC.

After four days of testing, this is all you come up with? A story that mainly consists of references to other beta testers, and some speculations about the ‘driver side of things’? Followed by a comment that is actually longer than the article itself, about Ubuntu mind you and therefore completely off topic? Frankly I found some of the comments from readers more insightful than your ‘Final Thoughts (sic) On The Windows 7 Beta’.
Sorry to say this dude, I don’t mean to be rude. But this really did not do it for me.

Roelof: Uh, there is not really a lot to it. It’s Windows Vista with some new dressing and better speed. Sorry, but it is difficult to dress up something still in beta that is really lacking anything all that compelling to share. That said, you are more than welcome to share your own experiences here. Otherwise, you are out of luck I guess.

Not to be a Win7 party pooper but when i loaded Win7 over a copy of WinXP it was so buggy that it drove me crazy.

I decided to remove it and found that WinXP repair wanted the password and found that even though i had used the same password in both programs WinXP could not read the Win7 version. and refused to let me run the tools to partition and format the HD.

I inserted a dumbed down version of XP and got the new partitions and format of drive zero.

Loaded winXP on drive zero then put in the Win7 DVD and booted from it. Win7 ran without a hitch but worried me no end since it did not indicate that it was formating the partition.

By the way putting in the DVD while running WinXP will not format the drive but will load if the drive is already formated.

Win7 does not include Outlook express so you will need a mail program to read your eml files. Plus you will need a mail program.

After doing the load this way Win7 seems to be solid as a rock. Time will tell.

This is a follow on to my preceeding blurb.

Win7 will not upgrade WinXP it will only upgrade Vista.

My computer is an exact match for the absolute minimum requirements for Win7.
AMD Athlon one gig
128 meg Video
one gig memory

[quote] It’s Windows Vista with some new dressing and better speed (…) It is difficult to dress up something (…) that is really lacking anything all that compelling [unquote]

Well, if that is the case then we know what we’re in for. Nothing new from Redmond I guess. Everyone thinks Vista sucks, so let’s give it some new dressing and leave it at that.

Maybe for the next ad campaign they can hire another retired comedian, like Charlie Chaplin. Oh no, wait, he’s dead. Mmm, might be appropriate.

I have a love hate relationship with Vista but will move to Windows 7 in a wink if the BIG question is answered in the affirmative. Can you run FrontPage on it?
Web Author in Waiting.

Trever: I am sure you can. While I may be hard on MS at times, I believe they provide backwards compatibility for their own software.

FrontPage wont run on Vista!

I finally got around to installing and running win7 and well after hours of running I find it to be Vista lite..
this is not anything new it is just Vista with part turn off or re-made or deleted.
If you turn off half the eye candy in vista you get a faster system but XP still beats it.

Windows 7 right off screamed at me that it was still Vista but with out some of the back ground BS.. it still ask me ever dam time do anything if I really want run this or let this program go online…

Window & has IE 8(out of beta?) and Windows Media Player 12 (beta??)wow they update ever thing in one big OS download..

I am still loading and getting it to talk to other computers in the house but so far its not acting like an out of the box Vista system. A fully load system from HP or Dell. Vista will bog down as they will come with all the 3rd party software as well as the software from the PC company to spiff out the computer with more blot.

16 gigs of space take (ya I know most computers have 100 plus gig drives but 16 become 40 very fast..)

The new tool bar sucks .. it just qucklaunch in over drive please let me turn it off ….

I still have testing to run as in geting it to crash and recovery and data recovery I have few more torture test to do as I have done with all windows OS over the year .
I crash and burn system to find answers Win7 will get what I did to Vista will get tested to the death of the drive.

I have it install in system that is 2.0 ghz CPU 3 gigs of ram and Duel Video cards and this OS gave it a 2.0 rating and Vista said 4.0?? go figure that.

Will Vista get the boot and Win7 take its place? Will XP be put out to fade away? who knows .. MS will keep trying and we’ll keep testing it ..

The download for this Public beta was one of the worse how could anyone think that half the plant would not try to get copy? As for getting key it was so easy the download manger kept giving me more than one it would reload to a new key and try to start the download over and over.

My rating for win 7 is 6 out of 10 and that’s being nice Vista was a negative rating.as not only did we kill it less that 3 hours we killed the drive as well .. the drive died from a redundancy checks from the write back for some reason so Vista killed it by check it for errors to many time.

Windows 7 seems to be lacking that part(good for it) but it still too much like vista it trying to give you eye candy and performance at the same time but you get this lock up that fades a program and all you can do is kill it to state over .
Testing for speed and programs testing old and new programs lets you see how it handles and so far I haven’t had many programs give the system problems .. yet that is as I have just stated with testing but Yes the system under Win 7 runs faster but as I said this due to less running. MS seem to have thought this out but heck they only had this under wraps since before Vista came out.. yes Windows 7 was in the works at the the same time but they let Vista out not win7.. why don’t ask me ask Bill and all those that seem to think that eye candy is better than productivity. I work with small business people and companies and they listen to my advice on getting their system running when one of them got systems with Vista I told them it was not a good move as half the system they had were XP and Vista didn’t play well .. but going over the systems I have them running fairly well but one of the vista system was screwed up as the office manager for some reason didn’t think a brand new vista system had IE in it.. he downloaded it.. IE beta 8 and in stalled it…found he could not get it to work and some how downloaded and installed over IE 8 beta with IE 7…
It took me a day on the the phone with MS support to get the files back to working. They were even amazed that he was able to do what he did and he did damage the whole install as not just IE. The system now think there is no net work but it is connect to the internet and all the printer but said it can not see the network router is but work fine getting on line…MS said We need to re-install the OS but there is no recovery disc.. so more$$ out

So I will be testing Windows 7 for crashes like this one to see if I can get the system to be broken and still work fine?

I still thing this is a WIP OS still if it is running less and running well leave it be and release it but MS has this idea that it must add things and I get the feeling they will do just that.. and not tell us.. I was cut out of the finals on Vista after me and many of the people I work with yelled at MS on some of the security or the lack of issues and we still seen that Defender is in it place in Win 7 and I hate it .. it lets gaping gobs of stuff get in and MS said it works fine..
Some even went to the DOJ to fight Vista.. I am not sure we will see this with win7 but then again I still have some testing with attacking and just over all testing to blow the system off the net with out killing my hardware.

Ok now there are things I like ..
The OS knows what Motherboard I have it loaded driver for both Video cards(2 different ATI cards) it knew to load the right sound drivers as well something XP need help on so this made me happy somewhat. .. It didn’t like my KVM switch but i made it like it.

I had issues with finding the options for letting open folders in their own window and un-hide system files.
(I like seeing everything) I had to play with the tool bar for an hour to get to work they way I wanted it wasn’t just turn this on turn this off and you are done..

Speaking of turning thing off MS finally and I mean Finally figure out whe we want turn the dam system off we just want an off button and not have to go through 3 layers of menus to get to it.. just click off and walk away.
I got 1.450 calls in one day asking how do i shut down Vista really people hit the start/vista logo and were lost.. MS fixed it in win 7 and that was very good but I will still bet the day it is out I will still get calls.

Will I get it? will I tell others? .. Hmm well as I need to test and re-test I may do my best to keep this beta alive for an bit longer but I will need to do more so I guess yes I’ll get a copy.
As telling other it will depend on how the final version looks and test out I still say XP Pro works keep it but I say if you working with an OS that works for you keep it.. and yes I still see system running 95 and 98 out there and the people are happy with it and their system seem to run well and fast and do what they need it do.

AS a tech I do my best to always get people into the OS that fits their needs be it a X86 or OS X I worked on both heck i was re-work tech on the line at Apple I work on ton of the system and can say I have work on thousands of them. I now own one of them after someone saw I like macs the gave me their G4 733mhz video editing system
that came out after I was there but those system were in beta during my time there(many nightmares and many stories ask me later)

Can Vista or Win7 beat a MAC.. NO they are the same both are PC(Personal COMPUTERS) but its like 2 different types of screwdriver you use one for one job and the other when needed.
MS want to be both ..it can’t Mac wants to be both.. it can but you have to lose some what makes a mac a mac.. I don’t think any one should have to give up what they need to make a deadline. Win 7 will work like it is now but in full release no. right now win 7 is trying to do that but it has to be adjust then the system will work..
tools and system you have should be as flexible as you need them to be.. but will MS screw with it .. Should we all get a Mac? No not all of us seem to work in the mind set that let you use the OS.. Sheeple just don’t move that way. Should we move to Linux yes but in small steps..It is still not for everyone and Live CD are great for testing and all but again not all can work in this as too many business people need program that work in Windows or OS X still and they can’t just drop one for the other or change full out to Linux . Many of you reading this are techs you know the non-tech people those people you get calls from at 1A.M. and ask you why their system just crash after the hit the power button a bunch of time.. we all have clients that call asking why this is going on and we know if you change their OS or system you will get even more calls and never get any sleep…why my hair is not all gray by now is that think ahead of the curve and plan out thing I will get questions and even get surprised by a new system with vista for Home on the desk of my clients office and them asking me to make it work for their business. I got tons of people with hot fast XP system and find they have media edition not Pro Or better a Gaming center that had their system built by some group that load them with XP home (21 system under power and dying video card) Would I let them use Vista in any form? NO would let them switch to Windows 7 No. XP Pro works for many why kill it? same reason they killed 98 after ME and XP MONEY.
XP got them a new foot in the door and MS is still trying but Vista was just so bad they are still paying out some lawsuits that MS settle out of court. Dell as of last week was still selling system to small business with XP Pro and i ask them when they will be ask to move to Vista they said no one knows for sure but it could be soon and i asked on Win 7 they said it is coming soon(this was before the public beta release) I feel this will be let out as soon as they get all the reviews in and we will see it for X-mas this year.. and many will see XP get the boot from MS support.

what am I hoping for?

I am hopping MS does not ad anything more . I think keeping it lite makes it work but it can still used some changes.
Drop Defender let the 3rd parties do that work. Anti-virus support need to be some thing more than McFeed and Symantic both are just as bloated in Vista and keep performance and over kill many system and make it harder to set up a system out of the box. let more companies get in the mix give people a chance to choose what they want. Let Firefox be in the there as well as other browsers give people more freedom stop trying to lock things down.

Sorry for the long post but you can’t just say little on testing a beta like this one there are layers to this and I seen many saying they like this with out saying the truth about this being Vista lite and I still think they showed this on those MS ads with Vista being shown Windows Mojave and it was really Windows 7. I showed people Vista on very fast system and let them play with it all hated it but you see people liking Mojave but then they are told it is Vista.. I bet we find this out later it was win 7

Well back to work and sorry for bad grammar and all but I am just an old tech with 30 years plus in computer 20 plus in networks and security and over 40 plus in electronics so I don’t type that great these day and spell check can’t read my mind… yet lol

GC

WOW you guys are killing me – you are still complaining about Vista on old PCs and etc when the average PC now is beleived to be a Quad Core with 2 GB RAM. Anything bellow is LEGACY and should run a legacy OS (XP I mean). Now my impressions – Win 7 is better than Vista mainly because of way better interface and lower resource usage. Vista, however is way better than XP – on my PC (Q6600, 8GB RAM, nvidia 9800 GST) Vista boots about 7 sec faster than XP and outperforms XP in every aspect (~3000 more point in vista than XP on 3D Mark). On my work i7 XP is like a 90 year old granny in a Ferrari – it just can’t ‘drive’ it.
So, stop complaining, get a real PC (it costs about $500 now) and enjoy the rest of your life.

DDD You do know that REAL WORLD testing of an OS is base on what REAL companies have at hand and on the desk tops?. No one goes out and buys a bunch of new system in a business unless they are just starting out and even then its one they do on the cheap side. It’s just not the way things work ..
Old or new an OS need to perform to a users NEEDS not some pre-set idea.

I test on systems that would be current to an office running say Delll’s or HPs and I test to see what kills an OS and I will say so far Win7 has lasted longer than Vista did. So far. This is beta and I hope that some things are changed as what killed Vista was it not being very flexible in work in multi-OS office set up unless they spent more money and time and in a business that is not what they want.

Any time I go in to a office set up I need to know what is need what will they need and how much money are willing to spend to get there.this is Real World not a lab test you have to look at what will this OS do in a office of 5 to 5000 and what problem other than hard ware will it have.
Game Testing on PC is really a no way to see if an OS is good .. 3D testing is more to the video card and MB then the OS the has to make all work and that is a driver issues and again this has NOTHING to do with an OS.as it is out of the box. the Diver that come in this Beta work well but REAL WORLD what divers will be out there for the current and legacy cards and Most again as no want to spend an extra $500 per system(an office of 5 people or 5000 or more). Yes memory is down but so is economy so no Business is going to spend the fund are not there.

We still have yet to hear on the cost of Win7 for those that want to change over and dump Vista(I have yet to fix any one dumping XP to go to Vista)
(I hear it will be a free ugrade for vista users wow what an apology from MS to those users)

Sure Vista and Win7 run faster on the new system but look at the hardware its not the legacy hardware of 3 or 4 years back and Vista only be out for what a year or 2 and is still looked as not usable in business? Having Vista forced on people by taking XP off the store shelves to get people to buy something they didn’t need..

Windows 7 Beta is better than what saw in the Beta for Vista but it is still Vista-lite it has many thing turned off or taken out and if Vista was SO GREAT then why come out with Win7? to make up for letting beta go as a full os Vista should have never been released it was not done and has too much stuffed in it to work right in the real world computers with out having to take a lone to upgrade at the time.

Now Vista did do good for some business I should say

Intel and AMD got to build fast chips and companies making memory got to make 3 to 4 gig sticks for the first time(and seen some 5 gig DDR3 sticks coming soon) and motherboard makers they got more demands for new boards. Oh and Hard Drives let not forget them. I have seen system now with 200 terabytes now.
(the cost of that just makes me ill)
So we the people go hit in the pocket on having to Upgrade or fall behind the Uber Geek standers.
Vista and Win7 still miss what everyday people want .. an Os that work out of the box with no eye candy that over loads the brain and the pocket book. Or slows down the office productivity.
I will say i have work with companies that have gotten those new $500 system and those system are Crap.. just like when XP came out all those $500 were under power they need more memory or a video card or some thing to make it work better
Companies letting Vista out seem to think they can add their software and it wil work just as it did in XP..Wrong ACER ,HP DELL if you reading this TURN OFF THE GARBAGE!!! too much stuff running in the back ground and Vista just dies. Security software ,updated ,software, Ad software Annoyware(yes HP and DELL and ACER you know that Nagware you add is just that so STOP IT)

To give you all a better understanding how may states do you thing are running the lasted greatest hardware in their IT department? NONE the State of California is till using COBOL and some are using even older stuff and yes some have drop all Ms to got to Linux as it works just fine for them .

think of the cost to change an whole state the size of California or even Texas? Or New York to Vista?

the cost just upgrading to real system with the right amount of power would be bad for a state budget in any of those states. Even Big companies know what they want on their workers desk and it not a system that can play the latest 3d game it is a system that network and gets the job done and dose not die due to a need to add more memeory or upgrade in 6 month. they want cheap but they want it to work(ya I know everyone want cheap) But do the CEO’s and head people running the companies understand that cheap is not going to do what they want ? No and they don’t care that why the get people like me and tell me just make it work with out costing them more.. And That is the real world of Tech we deal with people that have no idea what makes a good OS or a fast OS they just want to turn it on and go.

I see MS going the darker road and killing off XP sooner now and pushing Vista and Win7and I see them doing this by Oct this year so all those with Vista system will see their whole upgrade as another fire drill from MS .. (Look everyone its NEW OS VISTA isn’t woo isn’t Shiny !!! Let get everyone buy it) and now it will be like Oh look vista isn’t shiny anymore.. Oh but wait look another shiny OS it windows 7 everyone look how shiny it is…

As some who lives a real world of computers I just want an OS i don’t have to spend a ton of and runs the apps and all I need to use as does anyone. I don’t like tell my clients they have to upgrade a system they just got 3 month ago when it is running fine it make me look like I the one trying to milk them for money and that is how you can lost a client(Hey I just got the new your OS is going to be dropped so you need to upgrade and install Vista on all 1000 system or you won’t have support from the XYZ Maker of your computer ..How much will it cost don’t worry it will give you great write off at tax time..(if them don’t go broke upgrading )
It isn’t the home market the keeps Dell and HP and all going its the Companies and small and large business that keeps you into your $500 power box Gaming market in PC is down so Video card makers will slow more and more and Game boxes are taking over the market so the PC gamer could see more power going there over the next years of so but PC need power as OS like Vista demand it but heck i am now seeing 1gig to 5 gig cards in the works as stander in some smaller system for next year.
and i see day where the latest desk top will need 2 terabytes or ram to boot the os but I hope that very far off as why do we need small super computer in homes?

The CPU that is out last moth is old today buy buy the new not the old it too slow at 3.40 ghz..(ghz what lame way to check the speed of CPU no real tech even looks at that is made up numbers)
Ya I am old school heck I just old and seen the days when 90mhz was fast and we had no windows anything yet. It was start of all thing new and we had some very high hopes but all we got was Vista?

Sorry DDD but your home system sounds great and all but its Home system you built but an off the shelf system a business is going to order from Dell or HP you got a great deal to as the to me of the line quads I seen listing are $199 for the CPU(try that time 20 or eve small as 6 in small office setting the cost isn’t that cheap) memeory and video cards..not in business system you get built in video and sound not extras so again your system rocks for you but go to and business system and you would cry at the lack of power.

Ok back to the Real world for me again .. today’s testing attacking the win 7box with ever know virus and malware know to tech and watch it go boom!!

Later all

GC

After Vista come, I tried Linux and I like it. I don’t think I’m ever again try something from Microsoft. Ubuntu and it’s derivates have all that average user needs and much more. Stability and lack of viruses is biggest advantage. My personal choice for OS is LinuxMint.

http://www.linuxmint.com

Vista was a bad experience. Windows 7 is faster, however, it still seems like Vista with ‘Band-Aids’. I’m not too thrilled about the requirements, nor the incompatibility with current business software. We are not going to spend money on new programs just to run Win7. Especially after we discovered that we can use Linux to satisfy those needs.

I tried Ubuntu and liked it. I put it on every PC and laptop we own. I also put it on PC’s at our office. Now we are considering Ubuntu Server edition for our business.

I don’t think I’ll go back to Microsoft. I now see that Microsoft is a strong arm tactic; mean spirited company. I don’t trust them any more.