Comments on: Windows 7 beta: First impressions

A new version of Microsoft's operating system, bringing back that nebulous "Windows XP feel," won't wow anyone but will satisfy them on a much deeper level, ZDNet Australia writes.

[emoruzzijr]

I just wanted to say that vista is a good os if you know how to use it. vista will run older windows 9.1 and windows 98 software that windows xp will not, I have 8computers 2 with vista, 2 with linux and the rest windows xp, the only computers that give me problems are the xp machines, if people learned how to use vista they could get any app or game or for that matter any hardware built after 2001 provided that you have at least one gig ram, and take the time to learn about how to use it, sorry as much as microsoft should supply an instruction book, sadly they don't so we consumers are left to call microsoft or research their web site to learn hou to use vista properly, hopefully they will fix that problem with win7

[Philstera]

Finally an article not full of hype and bias. It only took a non American to perform this amazing feat. Make her a senior writer NOW.

I will be getting the beta as soon as it comes out. Amazing that Win 7 runs on 512mb of ram.

[tm_anon]

Ubuntu runs on 512 and it feels like several gigs. XP runs on 128 and it's no slouch. It's only amazing that MS actually dropped the system resources enough that 512 will run. I mean, with the bloat from Vista, I thought surely Windows 7 would require no less than 2gigs.

[firefoxluva95]

As much as I'd like to beta test, the only computer I can do it on is a productivity machine and that's out of question right now. I guess I'll just have to grab an OEM copy from Newegg wh

[jemiller0]

Does it still chew up like 700 MB RAM right after startup? I hope they did something about that.

[dangtrade]

in the gallery - what happened to screenshots of the new supertaskbar, and grouped menu items - those are the big changes from vista to windows 7

[jdoog1234]

haha I like how dumb people are sometimes... You have to close internet browsers before installing ALL of Adobe's Products. It's not because of the OS.

[tm_anon]

I'm surprised people even install most Adobe Products anymore. Foxit is by far a better PDF reader, smaller and more capable. On Linux, Gnash is being created so the Flash Player hopefully won't be necessary for much longer. Take just about any Adobe product and there is another product already created or in development that will replace it more reliably.

[Porschepuppy]

Problem here is that people need to form their own opinions. Most of the Vista haters are simply regurgitating what they have read on someone?s blog and taken it as gospel. Moving across to another system requires time and patience, the real enjoyment comes from tinkering and getting the system to work the way you want. Vista is working great for me, no hang-ups or any issues encountered, so unless you like to be spoon-fed learn the system before sounding off on every forum.

[ggurev]

This is one of the dumbest, paid posts I have ever read. Come on, are you really going to publish this? Letting this text post as a lead article is slipshod.

[Worf101]

Well, well, the King is dead, long live the King. If Win7 is half as good as its protrayed here, then it may be time to show my venerable copy of XP-SP3 the door. However, if they manage to fumble or stumble at the goal line AGAIN then Win7 will sit in the draw right next to my current uninstalled copy of Vista Ultimate. Either way it's up to MSFT to get it right not me to "make it work". And before you start screaming, I've been building my own rig for years and I'm not anti-MSFT wog, I tried Vista twice and never was able to get all my gaming hardware to work correctly under it. Soooo don't accuse me of being and idiot or a luddite. Vista could not and will not satisfy everyone.

Da Worfster

[wrupp]

Well, All I can say is congratulations for Microsoft finally getting it's head in the game. On the other hand, this still isn't going to persuade me from switching from my mac, which I am more happily pleased with. I don't think I'm yet ready to take another risk, much like I had with Windows Vista.

[fooldog01]

Ive been running Vista for over a year and I have to say I much prefer it to XP Pro on my work computer and Ubuntu on my secondary rig. Ive had only one issue while running Vista and it turned out to be a software conflict of my own doing. I suspect the vast majority of Vista critics are either perpetuating a self fulfilling prophecy or are blaming Vista for other hardware/software issues they can't troubleshoot on their own. Just a theory. Either way, after a bit of hands on, Windows 7 looks like it is going to be an excellent OS.

[tm_anon]

Which version of Ubuntu do you have installed? I'd like to know what reasons you have for not liking it as much as you like Vista. Currently using Ubuntu 8.10 with no trouble so if you're using an older version, you may just want to install this one and give it another go.

[scythie]

"Microsoft appears to have an antivirus package installed under the hood; when downloading new software with Firefox, we were told that our downloads were being scanned for viruses. "

For real?!

[tm_anon]

It's firefox, not Windows. If it's a Windows antivirus installed, anyone using it may want to get rid of it and fast if Windows Onecare is anything like it.

[awolfe91]

Firefox always says it's scanning a virus on a download. Right? It's always done it for me before installing any AV on any system. XP, Vista, Win7 Beta

I don't think there's a behind-the-scenes scanner here. They're gonna offer one for free as a separate download.

[perspectoff]

My Windows Vista locks up every 2-3 hours (despite all updates), and I am an IT professional. None of my other Windows systems (well, at least since Millenium) did that routinely. Because of the many, many modules that access the Internet constantly, security is very difficult, and Vista does not play nicely with independent security software.

Windows Vista is extremely, extremely slow compared to XP, and an incremental increase in speed might be great for the new boxes coming out with 3-6 Gb of RAM installed, but, you know, not everyone has the budget to double their computer capacity every 3 years just because Microsoft wants to incrementally improve an OS.


The drivers and software compatibility issue has never disappeared. An organization not only has to commit to Windows Vista (and its successor Windows 7), but also must commit upgrading every piece of hardware and software, in order to become compatible with it. That is a major investment, and is the reason 80-85% of Windows users stay with XP. You may note that one of Microsoft's pitches is "Why wait to upgrade to Windows 7 -- start upgrading your hardware and software (to Vista) early so you'll be ready!"


(This goes for the .NET framework, too, but fortunately enough, that is free. )


Each version of Windows often takes out a lot of useful features. As a small example, Windows Vista crippled Windows Movie Maker, taking out the ability to digitize analogue video. This was important to our small company. (Fortunately, there are free open-source alternatives that are better and run on both Linux and Windows).

We discovered that the major committment to transition from XP to Vista (and subsequently Windows 7) was the same commitment to transition to Linux (Kubuntu/Ubuntu), where software and upgrades are free, and support is everywhere, through infinite forums and user groups (which is easier to access than expensive tech support from a proprietary company).


Kubuntu/Ubuntu Linux is far faster, easier to customize, and has far more compatible software than Windows Vista. Software companies are now writing software that is compatible with all three major platforms (Windows, Mac, and Linux), and with virtualization, we can run Windows anyway (through Linux virtualization) if we decide to upgrade our PCs to super-powerful boxes.


So there is no advantage to committing to Windows 7 (or Vista). It is better to commit to Linux and then use Windows 7 in a virtualized instance on a few powerful boxes, should we really see a need for a Windows OS in the future.

[D3vildog699]

Your an IT professional, and Vista locks up? right....

[tm_anon]

@D3vildog699

As has been stated many many times before, each persons experience is his own. Vista may have problems working with his hardware or with some of the software he needs for daily use. Or, as most people believe, Vista just wasn't ready to be released. In any case, he's now using an OS that works for him and subsequently, it's the same OS that works for me and very nicely.

[crusadex]

I Installed windows 7 on a 2001 laptop.Install was quick.Ran faster than i have ever gotten XP to run.Could not find driver to work with pre vist wifi card though.So far i am very impressed.

[tm_anon]

Funny, I installed Ubuntu on a Pentium IV computer with a wifi card and very little RAM compared to a newer machine, only 512 Mbs. No driver issues, install was quick, runs faster than XP on the same machine with more graphics acceleration using the same graphics card. Might want to give it a shot just to see. Kind of useless to have a laptop that can't connect via wifi.

[topgunb2]

Funny, I installed Ubuntu on a Pentium IV computer with a wifi card and very little RAM compared to a newer machine, only 512 Mbs. No driver issues, install was quick, runs faster than XP on the same machine with more graphics acceleration using the same graphics card. Might want to give it a shot just to see.

I have to work from home and have to work on bespoke applications build in late 90's, i'm sure there are millions of users like me and for me windows is the only choice.

I do use ubuntu and am writing this post from it, its said there are not as many software as I would like. I do miss photoshop and gimp is certainly not even close to it.

[tekwiz4u]

Does anyone know if Windows 7 will come in different versions (ie Windows 7 Home, Windows 7 Pro, etc)?

[Dalkorian]

Does anyone doubt it will? My prediction (based on absolutely nothing of course) is they will have 7 versions:

Basic
Home
Gamer
Business
Pro
Ultimate

Unfortunately, the person who counted all those versions also wrote the code that caused the Zune 30's to reboot and lock up whenever it encounters a leap year.
;-)

[coldacid]

Seriously, you got good performance on a "modest 2.8GHz Pentium 4, which has only an 80GB IDE hard disk and 512MB of RAM"?

I'm currently using a P4 running at 2.4GHz, with a whole gig of RAM, and yet I've had lacklustre performance with XP and Vista. (Nothing to complain about, but not all that good either.) And here you're saying a sad little computer like mine will handle Windows 7 smoothly.

I don't know if you're sipping the kool-aid, but I sure hope you aren't. This is great news to me, if it's true!

[daedbird]

It sounds like MS has finally awoke from its long slumber, and will have a product that works out of the box, not service pack reliant. I am a huge Mac guy, so this won't sway me to switch, but it isn't suppose to. It will keep some people in the Windows family by giving them a streamlined core OS that you can add. Integrating everything, becoming bloated (the exact thing that found MS in court) caused all these problems with versions of Windows, and I hope Apple takes a look at iTunes to see if maybe that is getting bloated. The other thing Microsoft really has to watch is what they say are compatible systems with W7 - part of the reason Vista was so maligned was they tried to squeeze every computer on the planet as compliant, when many lower-powered machines just don't have the juice for that "resource hog." That is another page they need to take from Apple - only the newest or fastold machines are compliant, the rest should stick with XP

[Gromit801]

I wonder what driver issues come this this one. My boss STILL cannot get Vista drivers for his laptop in our shop, while I merrily chug along with a Mac and Leopard.

[tebull]

It is sad that the person writing this article isn't informed enough to know the virus scanner in question is part of firefox and has nothing to do with Windows 7.