Windows 7 ...anyone download the beta yet?

[scotaku]

I'll be building one at home and one at work. In my profession, it pays to stay ahead of the curve and I've been on the bench way too long. I'm not expecting much and I will be looking under the hood for development and security issues. It's what I do. :\

On the Mac tip, I'm a realist. Not one thing with an Apple logo on it has ever left me feeling like I got my money's worth. "The Job" so rarely requires the absolute most expensive shiniest tool, especially when it largely comes down to just snooping for information and having fun.

It's the same with my track days... I don't need a Porsche 911 GT3 to have a hootin' weekend at the racetrack camping out and having fun with my paddock buddies. In fact, my meager little Volkswagen has caught and passed Porsches, at speed, for a fraction of the expense. Why dole out my hard earned cash to Apple when it's Pachtalk that provides the content, no matter how expensive or stylish the machine is I use to get there?

No, no Apple product has ever made me feel it was worth the price. Plenty of their owners though... they continually leave me feeling snubbed. But that's okay. I still have money in my pocket for other things in Life.

[daverob]

Windows anything is going to be a rock-solid disaster.
...
Dump the PC and get a real computer!

I'm half with you Tulsa, the Vista experience put me right off Windows on my new machine and seeing as I couldn't get drivers for Win2k to work on the new hardware I opted for Linux instead.

It took a bit of getting used to the changes, but I suspect the same would have been true with Vista. I now have it up and running how I like it, with the added bonus of having my old Win2k setup running as a virtual machine for all my legacy applications, while I work out how to replace them with native Linux software.

I think that Vista has caused quite a few users to jump the Microsoft ship and defect to Macs or Linux boxes, the question is whether Windows 7 can tempt them back. I might have to download the beta (and run it as a virtual machine under Linux ) just to see if I think they have any chance.

[Tulsa]

I have one question tho why would a devout mac user keep a lap top with windows on it ?

A. an aplication is needed that apple doesn't support .Nah that doesnt happen ...

B. Need it to be compatible with customers . Nah that doesnt happen...

C. Closet Windows user . must be that !!!

It's provided by my company, I have no choice but to dwell in the ineptitude that is windows during my working hours. Businesses still buy cheap; read "modular office".

[alstonj1]

so i take it the answer is D all of the above ...

[Tulsa]

Yep, right up there with the Beatles are getting back together too.

[alstonj1]

eventually they will when their all dead so i guess its confirmed then .

[alstonj1]

One of these days, the entire computer industry is just going to have to abandon the way they're doing things and move on (hardware and software) - lose the backward compatability. That's a good portion of what slows things down. How hard is it getting to make things work faster? Of course, the problem is, no one wants to spend the bucks necessary to implement anything if it won't become the national standard. I think systems we're working with now will work for a while, maybe shorter as internet stuff gets more complicated, but for other uses (other than gaming - what power hogs! Pong forever!), what we have now is fine.

no reason for that at all . eventually you wont have a pc at all just a glorified dumb terminal to access the internet (probably part of your entertainment center or tv ) or what ever network they develop and rent your programming from as well as store your data on .Will be no need to upgrade processor or OS or memory but then again gates will have access to all your data . It will also eliminate pirate software since you wont own it or have acess to the actual programming . (this is being done already by some businesses . our matenance records for our trains are now being accessed via the web and stored on a server off site ) what ever emulation is needed to run your program will be available to run it via the server somewhat the same as on line gaming is done today .I'm sure even the dreaded apple will be supported and probably over priced even then .

[Tulsa]

eventually they will when their all dead so i guess its confirmed then .

I can only surmise from this you're a new Messiah armed with the knowledge of our final destinations.

So, are they all going up or down?

[alstonj1]

No Messiah everyone dies sometime unless of course your the new messiah... As for the up or down part doesnt really matter their still reunited in death either way ..

[hanabi]

Seems Microsoft just didn't anticipate the huge demand for a Beta version
and now they are offering unlimited downloads for 2 weeks, until 24th January'09

BBC NEWS | Technology | Windows 7 now 'available to all'

[alstonj1]

they didn't anticipate the amount of people ...there's a surprise ...I just loaded it up windows ultimate 7 is ok it responds well will take a bit of getting use to I may even get to like it . So far i'm not very crazy with the apple type backgrounds and was never a fan of the bubble design but this does operate well and im not using the full amount of memory recomended i'm useing 768 instead of the 1 gig just to see the diffrence its suppose to work down to 512 but i thought id split the diffrence . it seems to be doing well although its empty right now will have to see what it does after a month of web browsing ...

[slothappy144]

I hate Vista it is an OS of bloat code.
I just built a few new machines to interface with milling machines, to operate as dedicated DNC terminals. I used Tiny Xp platinum, it looks like Vista, with the Aero glass windowblinds built in.

I made a machine for my nephews, old hardware I had in my basement plus mame & winkwacks = hours of fun and hundreds of games. No internet browser or connection so we can let them have at it for hours without having to watch them like a hawk.

One side note the Aeroglass theme is pretty, but causes viseo issues when remotly controlling the PC. I had to disable the Aeroglass on one machine I have installed inside a milling machine cabinet, it does not have a keyboard , mouse nor a monitor. It only has a power cord, network cable and serial cable attached to it. We access it VIA remote desktop to transfer files from the server to the CNC controllers hard drive. fun stuff.

[Youngjedi]

I'm using windows 7 now...I am running it in a VMWare environment on my PC. Works Well!

[alstonj1]

Ive been using it for a few days have now set it up on a test machine with Pentium 4 with 1 gig of ram and a nvidia 256 meg video card . it operates nicely have had a few issues with it .Ive installed it on 3 different systems and have found it does suffer the same problems with drivers as vista .if your equipment drivers were good with vista they'll work on 7 ultimate . i tried an older 32 meg video card it couldn't find a driver for it so it loaded a generic driver which worked well ,the response rate was excellent on the net despite the small card .I then swapped it out for the 256 meg and of course it ran even better but i was amazed it didn't run like a dog with the undersized card . It had an issue with a sound blaster live card but once the vista driver was loaded it worked fine . in a nut shell once its set up with working vista drivers it runs well .It has a new gadget section on the right hand side of the screen on the desktop . you can add modules to it for a variety of things from monitoring all sorts of machine functions to different types of clocks and slide shows to weather forecasts .its a very interesting addition to the desktop.The system has a xp feel to it but is definitely a vista hybrid but in my opinion is a vast improvement over vista .Its what vista should have been had they finished it .If anything vista was the beta for this system . I will definitely keep this machine alive and may even convert my main system to it as well if it pans out over time .

[FTKServices]

Great job Jeff. I wanted to test it but I don't have a spare machine here right now. So thanks for the review.

[alstonj1]

Ftk its worth the effort the public hacks are available all over to re-enable the crippled beta so im sure you'll have no problem with it .

[FTKServices]

That is true. But right now everything is in TN all over the garage. I only have 1 computer up here & I don't want to take any chances with it. I had my XP deactivate about 6 months ago & it took 2 days to get it working ( had to call Microsoft to clear my key ). I don't want to take any chance with all my data. I am looking into buying a 1tb or 1.5 tb usb drive to put everything on, just in case. Waiting for them to go on sale.

[luckydog]

I've read some reviews on the larger drives, failure rate is higher then 500gb or lower.

I got a 500gb western digital usb drive for under 70.00 on sale at target.

[FTKServices]

I am looking at a western or seagate 1tb. between $109 to $129. they both have good reviews so far.