Bypass Windows 7? Here are Totally Reasonable Assertions For It

My problem is I got sucked into buying Vista Ultimate with the idea I was going to get all these extras. WRONG! I feel Microsoft owes me. I had no real issues with Vista, I just feel Ultimate was a farce. I would like some compensation for what never materialized with Vista Ultimate. Maybe a discount on Windows 7?

Actually…. yeah. The main reason I’ve ever bought an upgrade for Windows is to stay up-to-date with drivers, DLLs, and everything else that comes out /as a direct result of the latest upgrade/. If Windows 7 can promise that it will run pretty much anything I can throw at it, stay stable even during catastrophic events, and DO WHAT I NEED IT TO, then I’ll happily buy it.

I may end up buying it anyway, because the world will roll on without me if I don’t, but I won’t pretend to be happy about it.

Your comments are absolute analytical diamonds.

Spot on , totally accurate and incapable of being argued against at least using pure fact rather than the marketing drivel and writing bloc crap doing the rounds at present.I have 6 PC’s myself in a home network using XP Professional. I test drove Windows 7 and found they have removed the favored and loved classic start menu , what an astonishing marketing coup that is Microsoft and have NO effective and usable repair / restore option. Microsoft there is an old marketing law , don’t change what works , do not aggravate your customer base and change should be done by addition of new features , not total rewrites and throwing the baby out with the bathwater. You are becoming a very uncool and rather aggravating organization (at least from my perspective) and I represent the thoughts of a lot of your clients who are happy with XP and will not be shifting to Vista or Windows 7 or paying you for another piece of software until we get it served up to us in a form that is familiar and unbelievably fast and thoroughly reliable. I think I will still be waiting in 2015 .. that’s my bet. In the meantime expect Microsoft’s financial fortunes to nosedive even further as business figure out that XP will last until 2014 at least. And even if they wanted Windows 7 business won’t have the money to pay for it - expect piracy to get worse not better in the current financial environment.

Ken
IT Director

I’m no fanboy, and I have an iMac, Ubuntu laptop, and use Windows at work. My philosophy is to use whatever tools are available.

That said, I haven’t had any issues with Vista at all. Every USB device I’ve hooked up have worked. I hope that Windows 7 brings more compatibility for the people who have had issues though.

I would think the main reason to switch is to have something you’re more comfortable with. I like Vista better than XP in some respects. But for the people who “hate” Vista for one reason or another … that alone might be reason to switch. Especially if the perception is that Windows 7 is better than Vista.

I’m a geek though, and tend to install an OS just for fun …

Windows 7 is a waste of money. I have no reason to go out and buy Windows 7. I just bought Vista like 60 days ago. And now there is a 2nd operating system coming out?? I love all these websites on line stating that Windows 7 is going to be the down fall of Ubuntu and all Linux operating systems. But for reall… how? I will leave Windows if they stop supporting Vista in one year. I will… All my other computers in my house have Ubuntu or Puppy Linix running. And they run great.

I tested the Windows 7 and haveing a quad core 3.2 and 8GB ram ( i know useless in a 32bit. ) And two crossfired 4870×2.. I have to say that Windows 7 is shitty. I know it is in beta but the 2nd beta of Vista ran better then this. And how close are they??

In other words:

Ubuntu>(Windows XP>(Mac>(Windows Vista>Windows 7)))

Thats what I think!

I loaded Vista Ultimate beta on a Compaq Pretty sorry O laptop 4 +or- years ago. Microsoft didnt recomend it Compaq said it would not run on that platform. Still runs great with all the most popular software on the market including AutoCad.
The only TRUE problem I have found with Vista in all the offices i have installed it is users dont want to learn the changes. I have no idea why Microsoft had to move everthing! I hate that but the OS is great.

It seems to me that the article writer either has some out-of-date or some not-very-well supported equipment. If he wants to stay in that environment, then fine. There’s no need to upgrade if it all works.

Unfortunate for me though, I had to upgrade. It seemed that running DX9 on DX10 hardware natively was sluggish at best. I put Vista on my machine, and the machine took off and displayed graphics like never before. Of course, the overhead required by Vista (it took up around 5-7% of my processor power on average in idle, not counting third-party apps that run in the background; and my processor is a 2.5GHz Quad-Core) forced me to install an XP partition for my productivity apps (Sony Vegas, FLStudio, that sort of thing). Now I have no overhead in Windows 7, so I’m on a one-partition setup again, and I can run all of my games in beautiful 1920×1200, and they run better due to the no-overhead thing listed above. I had absolutely no issue with any of my USB devices (I just got a generic USB Wireless-N adapter a few days ago, and had more problems with my Linksys WUSB54G than that), and there’s even a media server, with legacy hardware, at my neighbor’s house that I’m allowed to connect to (it also runs Windows 2000 Pro).

All the IT guys I know can’t stand the fact that Windows is getting less “nerd-friendly”. But to me, being able to hook up a wireless adapter and having Windows automatically communicating with it is a pretty nice feature.

I’ve been running Windows 7 Build 7000 on my main PC since it was publicly released. The only problem I’ve had so far was when I upgraded my GPU, the nVidia Drivers for Windows 7 didn’t work too well. But once I installed 181 for vista; it was fine. Other than that, I’ve had no problem with Windows 7; even my USB Wireless adapter still works (Installed using XP Drivers). And RAM usage seems to be less than Vista was, will probably be the first Microsoft OS I buy.

My critical apps work fine on XP Pro. Why pursue complexity for it’s own sake?

I am very shocked that that user had so many driver issues. Saying “none of my USB devices have Vista drivers, my digital camera isn’t compatible and has no Vista drivers, my video card is not Vista capable (Dual VGA output, dual screen), my customized Windows style keyboard does not have updated drivers” I would like to know what kinds of devices he is using!??

I have an old HP printer and Vista x64 Ultimate and I was able to plug it straight in and it didnt even need me to download or install drivers. A keyboard not working?! Did you build it yourself!? Now I must say I am not a Windows fanboy, I spend most my time in Ubuntu because it is most efficient and effective for me.

My view of Windows is that its still assuming the user is a single task person. The new Peek feature gives you a look at a single window at a time and there is no such thing as multiple desktops unless you have the monitors for each. I would like them to be multi-tasker friendly which they have not for any release given me. Also Windows should have the ability to install drivers automatically because most hardware company’s make sure that their hardware is compatible with Windows and make the drivers, yet Ubuntu has better automagic driver install.

In the end I see each OS serving is purpose for different users. With the release of Vista it could be assumed that it was honestly built for high end machines (3.06 GHz processor isnt good unless its dual core). Windows 7 is an improvement of Vista, in my opinion its what Vista should have been, a better version of XP.

With Windows 7 so far it seems its aimed at general public with just single tasking needs.

I went to a Windows 7 install fest held in the Vancouver, B.C. area on January 17, 2009 and installed the Ultimate beta build 7000 on the laptop I’m composing this comment on. Specs: Dell Inspiron 1501 (second from the bottom of the line when I ordered it in Nov. 2007), AMD 64 Athlon X2 TK-55 (1.8 GHz/512KB cache), 1 GB DDR2 533 MHz RAM, 120 GB HD, ATI RADEON Xpress 1150 with 256 MB HyperMemory. I’m dual booting with Windows XP Home on C: (the original and my primary OS) and Win7 on the D: partition. Windows 7 is very good on this computer - almost as good as XP.

The install went smoothly, and Win7 had drivers for everything except the video card, and that was downloaded when I visited Windows Update. At the install fest I also installed Avira AntiVir Personal Edition Classic antivirus, GoogleTalk, and Railroad Tycoon II Platinum (gotta have that game!). All those apps work OK (the AV updates properly, GoogleTalk chat and voice works, I could start RRT II) but I haven’t tried an AV scan or playing a game in RRT II yet. One oddity was that Win7 didn’t assign a drive letter to the WinXP partition - I had to assign it in Disk Manager (I gave it B: as Win7 - like Vista - calls the system partition C:).

I first tried Office XP before eventually installing Office 2003 (I didn’t have access to my Office 2003 CDs at the time). I wanted to get Outlook working so I could use the same .pst file as in WinXP which has Office 2003 Professional.

I had some oddities which I believe were related to file and folder permissions. I could not create a new .pst file in the default folder in Outlook XP (I didn’t have sufficient rights) and I couldn’t open a .pst file that was in the root of the Win7 partition (again, insufficient rights). I got it working by renaming the .pst file in the default Outlook folder location and then putting my .pst file there.

It would receive mail to my .pst file but couldn’t send (it might have been damaged - I had a bit of trouble with it in WinXP the previous week and performed a repair January 24). After the repair I didn’t try it again in Outlook XP on Win7).

I attended a Q & A with some Microsoft folks on Monday Jan. 19 that was put on by VANTUG (the local MS user group with ties to MS) and found out that the permissions between XP and Win7 are different even if the user account in both OSes is a member of the Administrators group. I got my Office 2003 CDs back and uninstalled Office XP and installed Office 2003 (the oldest version of Office that’s supported on Win7) and updated it at Microsoft Update.

I gave my user account (which is an Administrator account) the rights to the .pst file and the folder it was in as well as Outlook’s default folder for the .pst file but am unsure if this cured the issue I had in Outlook XP, if the installation of Office 2003 fixed it, or even if there was an issue with Outlook 2003 opening my .pst file. Office seems to work OK - at least Outlook, Word, and Front Page are fine. I haven’t tried Excel.

I’m very impressed by the speed of Win7 and the quality of the beta - both are far better than the Windows Vista Release Candidate 1 I tried in 2007. I have turned off most of the Aero effects as I prefer plainer window title bars, Taskbar, etc. This computer’s Windows Experience was 3.0 overall and ratings for components were: processor 4.2, RAM 3.9, graphics 3.0, gaming graphics 3.2, and HD 5.1.

I’m going to play with it some more and try to use it as much as possible - that’s why I wanted Outlook working (otherwise I’d only use Win7 for games - there’s a mahjong game with it that’s addictive).

Dislikes: I don’t like that the Quick Launch toolbar has been dropped (instead, you can pin an app to the Taskbar - it’s not the same). I don’t like the double height Taskbar and changed it right away. Maybe that makes sense on a 17 or 19 inch monitor, but not on a 15.4 inch laptop screen. I couldn’t find where to make the Desktop icons smaller at first - Google told me to hold the CTRL (Control) key down while moving the mouse’s wheel would change their size. I don’t like that the equivalent of the Show Desktop button is on the very right side of the Taskbar and I can’t find a way to move it beside the Start button/orb where I and my muscle memory are used to having it. I don’t like that Windows Mail has been dropped - but with lots of people using web mail or mail on their phones/PDAs I guess that it makes sense.

Vista RC1 on my previous laptop was bog slow and took between 7 - 10 minutes for the hard drive to stop working after booting. I hated it and rarely used it but I’m considering using Win7 as my primary OS.

Paul, you aren’t alone in your feelings. Many people felt that Vista was not nearly as Ultimate as promised.

Now, 7 changes some things that many of us liked, breaks other things, and will still have a number of flavors. There will still be an Ultimate, but the idea of what that represents has been scaled back remarkably.

For you, there is no reason to switch, because anything that you might like about 7, such as the ability to hover over the taskbar items, and get a small picture of that window, has already been made available by 3rd party applications. Microsoft has said there is no new technology in 7, compared to Vista, which strictly isn’t true, but there is not much. Any amount of zip that people see when comparing the two can be ‘tuned’ into Vista.

If you’re considering bypassing Windows 7 because you’re on Vista now, you’ll be sorry. Win 7 is FAR better - I was reminded of that just yesterday when I rebooted my roommate’s HP Vista laptop to set up his wireless internet - it took forever.

My opinion is that Vista is the one to bypass - like Windows Mistake Edition (ME) was. The combination of Microsoft having to pull employees off of Vista to help write XP Service Pack 2 and discovering that the XP code base was unusable (Vista was written from scratch) meant that MS released a typical first effort - not bad, but the second version (Windows 7) based on the first code was far superior.

For those that STILL can’t get drivers for Vista, I feel your pain. I’ve spent hours tracking down drivers for obscure hardware during various computer repair jobs, and Vista drivers not being available for current and popular hardware is unconscionable. If I had that problem, I’d be contacting the support 800 number or email EVERY DAY until I received assurances that I’d get a Vista driver. If it didn’t show up in a week I’d start writing or phoning every day AGAIN and not stop until I got one that worked.

If your Vista computer is slow, try the Win7 beta on it - it’ll be faster. It’s still available from Microsoft as of February 2, 2009 (or you can try a torrent):
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-download.aspx

Minimum recommended requirements are:
* 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
* 1 GB of system memory
* 16 GB of available disk space
* Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128 MB memory (to enable the Aero theme)
* DVD-R/W Drive
* Internet access (to download the Beta and get updates)

Dave III, the basic problem that I see is your attitude. Please don’t take offense - I will explain. You are EXACTLY the kind of customer that Microsoft counts on.

Any idea that the world will roll on without you reinforces the Microsoft-think. The breaking of that is exactly why we see Windows 7 so quickly after Vista.

The problem is that Microsoft has not made changes that satisfy many of those who support them the most.

Right now, small business hates Vista and 7, people who want some amount of control over their software hate Vista and 7, and the only ones who like Vista and 7 are those who either become glassy-eyed when they see Aero, or large businesses that feel they absolutely stifle the employees’ abilities to personalize their machines beyond a certain point. Even then, a lot of large businesses can’t see the benefits of Vista or 7 if they have 3rd party additions to XP Pro, which make it very usable, and safe.

If enough people bypass Windows 7, Microsoft will again ask why. Perhaps then they will do some actual testing of people who use their operating system daily, and can be identified, rather than some apocryphal group of people who seem to think that every change Microsoft puts forth is a gift from God.

I have a real problem thinking that any group of people (over the age of 5) that got a look at the Windows 7 method of running programs, after seeing how adding those programs works, was happy. I have made comments like this in many places on the internet, yet not one Microsoft ‘beta tester’ or test group subject’ has ever replied. This leads to my belief that many times, they simply don’t exist, outside the halls of Redmond.

Ken McAvoy, if enough of us let Windows 7 pass by, Microsoft will respond.

I am not looking to change now, after running the x64 beta and absolutely hating the lack of control I have over the machine - for no apparent reason. The control can be had, and so-called safety items can be bypassed, but to keep doing so on a day-to-day basis is simply crazy.

Since malware can do the same thing as what I can do through the elevation of privilege, what is making it more safe, and not simply more annoying for me? Microsoft screwed the pooch on this one - in a major way.

I’ll be waiting for Windows 8, or whatever they might call it, and to satisfy my needs on the couple of machines that have over 4GB of RAM, I’m thinking that Fedora 10 looks better and better. In the mean time, on my other machines, Windows XP Pro, Home, or Windows 2003 Server set up as a Workstation will do the trick.

Backlin, your experience is what matters to you, but to the rest of the world, it is what as known as anecdotal.

The ability of your adapter to hook up quickly and completely can be attributed as much (or more) to the correct writing of the install routine for it. It does not necessarily point to any wondrous capabilities of Windows 7.

You see, for every one of your ‘miraculous installs’ I am sure I can provide a less than satisfactory install or support of a piece of hardware. The ATi video on the machine I installed the x64 beta shows that there are still problems here and there. I am hearing as many complaints as I have in the past 3-4 years with any MS operating system. (Major changes happened about the time of Service Pack 2, and I personally, and professionally, have not had a real ‘nightmare’ with a hardware install since the advent of SP2.)

Huxu, you fail to see how difficult it is to write drivers for a device, and why the people who do it are widely sought and very well compensated. They are the people who actually get ‘the rubber to the road’. The driver is what makes things work.

Simply because a USB device hooks up and is recognized is only part of the story.

As for the comment about keyboards - how long have you been using a computer? Have you not seen the extra keys that many keyboards have? That, I’m sure, is what was being spoken of. Look around, there are many things that came out during the time XP was the OS that Microsoft was pushing (some of them being marketed by Microsoft) that were immediately made obsolete by Vista. I have several of them. My Microsoft Fingerprint Readers, and the Wireless Mouse With Fingerprint Reader, are not supported in Vista. Or 7. What is more strange, Microsoft did not do this to simply sell another newer product. They don’t sell a FPR anymore.

Not sure, but you sound as though you haven’t been around the planet as long as some of us. When you have been, and have a piece of software, or hardware that you use daily, and for which there is no replacement, you may understand.

Thanks for the comment.

Marc Erickson, thanks for your comments.

I agree to a point. If someone has been using Vista, and thinks it is alright, then a change to 7 might be ok. On the other hand, if you have been happy with XP, and you’re not a dolt (if you are, why are you reading this, you probably can’t comprehend what is being said anyway) then unless there is some piece of hardware that you have, that will not be supported in XP, you will want to go with XP.

The fanboys and (compensated) writers speak of how much less time Windows 7 takes to install. I put it to you that unless you are an idiot, you will probably only install the operating system every time you change the machine you work on. So saving a half an hour to be annoyed for two or more years? No way is it worthwhile.

In the same vein, those who write for a living see these things differently than the average user. They rarely ‘get comfortable’ with anything, as their systems are always changing. You, as a home or business user are not going to be changing nearly as often.

Remember, an annoyance now is a major pain in the butt later on - it is like a sliver of wood in the finger, not so painful at first, but when it festers in 2 days, you really need to get it out.

I have had similar problms with the introduction of Vista. Several incompatibilities both in hardware and software.

My advice would be to go for Windows 7 if the purchase of a new machine is required. In my home network we have a machine that is nine years old. I did install Windows XP and have been using it. However, the RAM is limited and the machine is slow.
Thus I will purchase a replacement with Windows 7 installed.

To overcome any incompatibilities I can transfer files to another machine on the network and use all the available peripherals. Obviously I am assuming that there will be no problem in connecting the new Windows 7 machine to the network. (Thumbs crossed)

Harold Wexler, when replacing that machine, especially in this economy, why not do a motherboard/RAM update, and keep the XP?

Believe me, you will save a lot of frustration for whomever uses that machine.

If you don’t feel comfortable doing that, you could also get a refurbished Dell, Gateway, or HP, that runs XP very inexpensively. There are enough problems with networking XP and Vista machines (this would include 7) that for many, the trouble is not worth it.

The approach I would take is that if you intend to keep your network up and running yourself, I would stick with XP. If you pay for your support, then 7 might be okay, if you can get past the interface changes.

Thanks for the comment.

More and more articles are popping up concerning the change to Windows 7 or newer hardware. Some people don’t stop to think about how sometimes older works well enough, the same, or in some cases, better.

Here is a link to one of the latter instances.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2009/tc20090130_044544.htm?chan=rss_topStories_ssi_5

You make your overall judgment of Windows 7 about a year too early.

You don’t do any background research, find out a few things about the system first, and see what Microsoft has done to improve the Windows Experience.

Here are just a FEW things done:

Better utilization of multi-core CPUs
A revamped task-bar for multi-tasking
Most computers are show pieces, so a better looking GUI is in place.
Windows 7 takes very little to no time to boot/shutdown.
Windows 7 in it’s current state is faster than XP (not final though)
A few speed user features such as Aero Peek, and Aero Shake
Built for better performance in lower end machines
Excellent touch screen support
Less annoying UAC

There are alot more things… but I don’t want to sit here and list everything.

Each OS has it’s purpose among certain people. Windows XP is good on older machines. No point in running XP with a 64 bit multi-core machine.

It’s 2009 for crying out loud, step up. Windows 7 still has an ENTIRE year of fixing, tweaking, and various other changes to go before it’s release in 2009/2010. So don’t judge Windows 7 as if it is a finished product.

BTW, no one put a gun to your head and said stop using XP. Also do not judge an OS that you have not personally used.

Also, those having issues with Vista and drivers, remember one thing. Microsoft does not make drivers up out of thin air, blame the manufacturer of the product for not submitting their drivers to Microsoft for certification.

Orlando, wow, I usually try to be conciliatory, but you seem to wish to attack without reading.

I have stated in several places, I have had the 7000 beta on a machine since it became available - although I am ready to tear it off now - so I do know of what I speak.

Got that?

Now - if YOU have been reading, doing any homework, checking what the ‘talking heads’ say, as I have, not only for this column, but because I will have to be repairing computers with Windows 7 on them, you would see that

1] Microsoft really doesn’t care about anything except what it cares about - the so-called user experience trials have yet to produce a single person willing to confess that they are responsible for the mess. This is why I believe that the users Microsoft speaks of are all found residing daily within the halls of Redmond.

2]boot times. shutdown times, and Aero features don’t mean a thing to me, as I only boot up once per day, if that. Aero looks can be very well approximated with Window Blinds.

3] Microsoft continues to change things for no apparent reason - and yes - I defy you to explain, with any semblance of intelligence, why the original menu system of Windows 95, so well known by so many, had to be removed from Windows 7.

4] again, I refer you to the idea of reading before shooting off your mouth. I have the x64 bit version running on an Athlon64 machine, so I believe I am in 2009, as you put it.

5] I have never said that I am not aware of the underpinnings being better in some situations. However, think about this.

If I take from you a finely tuned sports car, that works very well, and tell you that you must, in order to remain competitive, use something that, instead of looking like your beautiful Ferrari, looks instead like a garbage truck, and handles like a Massey-Ferguson tractor, would you really care that it has 10000 hp and goes from 0-60 in 2.9 seconds?

Oracle:

I think you think I’m a prophet for Microsoft, but I’m not– I’m one of the sheep. I don’t have a voice that they will listen to, not even my dollars will attract much of their attention. Thus, my only choices are to quit Windows and buy a new system (and I’ve been using Windows since 3.1, so that’s not a light decision) or quit computers altogether (I don’t think so).

True: I know that continuing to buy their (broken) systems does not encourage them to actually improve anything, but unless you have an option for me that is actually practical and useful, I don’t know how else to keep up with the world– and being a (causal) gamer, that’s something that is actually important to me.

Dave III, I think you miss my point. So many people are already deciding to not buy 7 that it will make a statement to Microsoft.

On the other hand, Linux is making strides everyday in gaming. The big problem has been video drivers. About a month ago it was released to the public that the source code for the ATi drivers was made available to the public. You can bet things will start to change soon (within 6 months).

With XP having support from Microsoft until 2014, and lots of game developers not wanting to jump through the hoops that MS requires for certification on Vista and 7, you will still see many games for XP.

Oracle:
Yeah, that’s a safe bet that I missed your point– mainly ’cause I’m not really interested. You’re talking about statements and Linux… I’ve already said I’m neither an activist nor interested in changing OSes. I’m an End User, full stop. I haven’t seen a reason to like or dislike Win7 aside from the apparent opinion that it’s ‘what Vista should have been out of the box’.

I’m happy with Windows, and feel no urge to change. I have no reason (relevant to me and my situation, that is) *not* to buy Win7, all I ever wanted to say was that I feel moderately /compelled/ to in order to stay current with drivers, etc. And for THAT I’m annoyed with Microsoft. That’s it though. I don’t give a flying leap about “statements”, and am mildly confused as to why you assume I do.

I happen to think that as far as the user is concerned the OS should NOT EXIST. I’ve stripped everything out, totally gutted XP. It boots in about 15 secs and shuts down in 3. Everything is, like Steve Jobs says “BOOM!” right there, immediately. It boots on 19 MB RAM in a VM, everything I need (printer, LAN, audio, video, games works.) The screen is usually black, I only see something when I click or make a gesture. I don’t want no UI, no shell, no animations, no shiny buttons and panels, no nothing. I want an experience (media, game, web, communication) or I need to use a tool (gotta actually work sometimes). That’s all. The less OS there is, the better.

zeroOS, while I get your meaning, your terms aren’t quite right.

You would have LOVED DesqView - it was a competing multitasking environment in the days of Windows 3.1. It was very lean, and worked very well.