Windows 7

[samureye]

Anyone tried it? Seems to be working mighty fine on a VM with me. Would like to get throughts from anyone else using it.

[davmoo]

Works fine on bare hardware (not on a VM) for me. From what I saw, I could happily use the beta on a full time production machine. But I don't have all my apps installed under 7, so I pulled that drive (I keep my OS drive in a removable sled so I can play "musical OS" at will) and put the Vista drive back in. Over the holiday tomorrow I am probably going to put the 7 drive back in and load up some of my apps and see what happens.

[samureye]

Yeah it is working quite well and is pretty responsive. You are not the only person to say they could use it in a production machine. I would like to know about the musical OS thing. Maybe I can do the same for the machine I want to build, installing different OSs on smaller, cheaper drives with actual content like movies, music on different drives.

[benjamin-7]

I'm currently Using Build 7000 as my main Operating System, So far no problems ;)

It's Vista but Fast and Stable with FAR better looks and the ownage superbar... What mroe could you ask for? :P

[davmoo]

the musical OS thing

A small rack with a slot in it is permanently mounted in one of my 5 1/4 drive bays. My OS drives are mounted in sleds that slide in and out of that rack. The advantage is that I can run anything on bare hardware and not have the limitations of a VM (for instance, a lot of the graphics "eye candy" of Vista and Windows 7 will not work in a VM) and not have to worry about it messing with my working OS (because my working OS drive is no longer in the machine). The down side is that the machine must be turned off to change the drives (even if you use a SATA rack with hot-swap capability, it is impossible to hot-swap the system drive of a running OS).

The mobile rack I use is an older IDE model that is no longer around. But it's very similar to this SATA rack at Fry's. (http://shop1.frys.com/product/5518310?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG) And if I were buying a rack and sleds now, obviously SATA is the way to go.

If you buy something like this, here's a tip I learned. Figure out how many extra sleds you need to buy...and then buy two more than that. By the time I realized I needed more than the 4 sleds I initially bought, my model was no longer being sold.

[drumthrasher109]

Windows 7 so far is pretty darn nice.

I made some little videos and took dozens of pics over at my site: http://drumsplace.co.cc/?p=169

[therage800]

Windows 7 so far is pretty darn nice.

I made some little videos and took dozens of pics over at my site: http://spam.com

You might want to change that link to a direct link to the videos and pictures otherwise it looks like spam...

[drumthrasher109]

Yeah but if you read the first line you'll know what the link is for.

[jmp2071]

I'm using Windows 7 on Boot Camp and I really like it. It seems a lot faster than Vista is and I have yet to come across any major problems except for some minor graphic problems. It installed with only one problem in Boot Camp, the volume wouldn't work. I had a hard time finding a solution but it ended up being some weird driver for my Macbooks speakers, but I found them no problem once I knew what I was looking for.

[therage800]

Yeah but if you read the first line you'll know what the link is for.

But still you linked to the front page... Which means you have to navigate to the content. I'm not accusing you of anything, but that just happens to be a common spam technique.

[rainierakarain]

I installed Windows 7 on my dv6000t machine. The best way to describe the experience is that it has the prettiness of Vista while it has the speed of Windows XP. I dig the new taskbar even though you can get practically the same taskbar in XP and Vista. I also installed Windows 7 on a Pentium 4 machine with 1GB of memory and it works like a charm. Definitely going to buy this when it comes out in late '09 or early '10.

[samureye]

Yeah but if you read the first line you'll know what the link is for.
It's spam. I edited the link. In the future put a link directly to the content, though in the future we may just delete the link altogether.

[davmoo]

Definitely going to buy this when it comes out in late '09 or early '10.

I'm hoping that Microsoft will learn from their mistakes with Vista and hold off until early '10 at the earliest to release Windows 7. I'd rather have good and bug free instead of released as fast as they can shove it out the door like Vista.

But since its still that jackass Balmer running the show, I expect them to rush it again.

[computoman]

It is so refreshing to hear some speak their mind about MS. As for the Emballmer, I am surpised that he makes some of the decisions he does, considering he allegedly has a master's degree in business administration. Hypothetically, I wonder how many free copies of Microsoft software does it take to get an MBA from Stanford University. I am glad my daughter did not want to go there. I only have a batchelor's degree in business administration. Who am I to judge the management of Microsoft.

I would like to tool around in MSWindows 7. Considering my views on MS, I am sure they would never let me hava a beta copy just to test. They ought to though. to get some real criticism. I have a beta of windows 2k8, but I have never installed it. I may play with it this weekend.

I hope you are listening, Mr Gates!

[fishtoprecords]

I hope you are listening, Mr Gates!

Silly boy, billg doesn't care. He's retired. Already made more money than god. I expect that W7 will be better than Vista, or will be if they control the feature creep.

But Windows 7 will be the last Windows that anyone cares about. Windows in three or four years will be forgotten, like DOS was in 1995.

We will all be using our Google iPhondroid....

[davmoo]

I am sure they would never let me hava a beta copy just to test.

Actually its supposed to go in to a freely available public beta in another week or so. Ahoy matey, it already be posted in the place where folks with eye patches and parrots on their shoulders hang out.

Or there's the other way. Even if you have gripes about Microsoft, it pays to be buddies with some of their sales droids and tech people. Every time I see one I usually leave with an interesting disc or two in my pocket, which is how I got the beta copy I'm running.

As for Windows 7 being "the last Windows", everyone's been saying that since Windows 98. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard "this is the last year for Windows", "this is the last version of Windows", or "this is the year of widespread Linux on the Desktop", I'd have more money than Bill Gates. The only company that's reinvented itself more times than Microsoft is IBM.

[pianoplayer88key]

davmoo, is the one at p****e b** the same as the one they'll be releasing to the public, or is that a pre-release beta build?

Anyhow when I can get my hands on a beta copy I may be tempted to test it.

My system:
dual-core AMD Athlon 64 x2 4000+ (2.1GHz)
2GB DDR2-800 RAM (dual-channel)
ATI X1250 video on-board (works ok for playing TFC and TF2 and CS:S)
DVD burner (no blu-ray yet - BD-RE burners aren't down below $75-100 yet)
80GB, 250GB and 750GB HDDs, with about 110GB free, and rapidly declining.
Windows XP Home (SP2, haven't updated to SP3 yet)
I also have Ubuntu Linux installed as a dual boot, but it's probably an older version as it's been on here several months.

Should I try it when the public beta comes out?

[davmoo]

To be honest, I don't know. I'm not even sure if the one I got handed by a Microsoft employee is the actual "beta 1" that is going to be released to the public. I ask different people, and I get back different answers :mad:

[computoman]

Actually its supposed to go in to a freely available public beta in another week or so. Ahoy matey, it already be posted in the place where folks with eye patches and parrots on their shoulders hang out.

I know about such things, but try to avoid such sites. It is too easy for the MS community to point and say the nix users are all nothing but a bunch of pirates. Besides I will wait for my brother who gets the msdn to let me try it under his supervision so to speak.

[davmoo]

It is too easy for the MS community to point and say the nix users are all nothing but a bunch of pirates.

Its my firm belief that Microsoft itself leaked the damned thing. What quicker way to get people to try it out than to let them think they're getting something they aren't supposed to have.

[computoman]

I am sure you are right about that, but in any case I prefer to tread lightly.

[davmoo]

I am sure you are right about that, but in any case I prefer to tread lightly.

Oh, I agree entirely. If you're going to make an error, better to do it on the side of safety. Not everyone has a "junk room" with 6 or 7 PCs laying in it that they can fire up to use as test machines. I'd *never* put unknown software on my main and most important production machine.

[spazmatic]

Just FYI, they will be opening downloads (2.5 million copies) today at 12 pm PACIFIC time.

https://partner.microsoft.com/us/40084742

[davmoo]

And it just barely made it out of the gate before they stopped because of server infrastructure problems.

[davmoo]

This is courtesy of Andy Walker and Twitter:

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/01/09/direct-download-links-for-windows-7-beta-iso-surface/

The links on that page go direct to Microsoft. And as of when I'm typing this (um....7:57 PM EST), they do work.