Comments on: Seven things you may not know about Windows 7

CNET News' Ina Fried offers a peek at several features in Windows 7 that haven't gotten much attention.

[TheReaperD]

Though I consider some of what you listed as useful, unless two problems are resolved, I won't consider Windows 7 as a future operating system either. One, the built in DRM. Two, the fact that it requires two gigabytes of RAM, a dual core processor and a high end video card just of the OS to run smooth, to say nothing of applications.

Unless these core issues are addressed, I don't care what bells and whistles they add.

[sting7k]

Baseless hate.

[krushyou]

This is one of the many problems with Vista, wrong information and listening to people who never have used it.

The only DRM that exists in Windows is support for, you can download and play every single illegal program, photo, music to your hearts desire and nothing will come of it.

It allows you to play back content that the manufacturer themselves has included. for example you wouldn't be able to play back certain movies or files on Linux or OSX unless you downloaded the software to do so, thats all the DRM that is in Vista is.

Second, if you even bothered to read anything about Windows 7 you would know that its running on a Netbook with 1 gig of ram and runs well.

[maverick_nick]

Well it has been demonstrated that Windows 7 can run on a netbook with 1GB RAM. However, if you don't even have 2GB RAM in 2008, then I don't think that the OS is the problem here.

Get a job and quit complaining.

[Mark_Anderson]

@Repaer

And until you learn to RTFA no-one will take you seriously.

Actually, just forget about it. No-one is ever going to take you seriously.

[umbrae]

Actually, I have heard reviews of Win7 running on Netbooks with 512 mb RAM and a single Atom processor. DRM is a big concern, but MS removed most of the nasty DRM from Vista before it was released. All that's left is the checks they use to determine if windows is genuine, and that is easily defeated in most cases.

[Penguinisto]

To be fair, OSX has a bit of built-in DRM as well. Linux OTOH is perfectly free, and while it has hooks for DRM, it comes with none built-in.

The other point is perfectly valid. I spent this weekend toying with Vista (SP1 w/ all the patches), OSX (Hackintosh-style), and Ubuntu 8.10 on a new corp-issued Dell Latitude. All were x86_64-bit versions. 2GB RAM, Core Duo 2, and Intel GMA...

Vista ran like an amputated pig compared to OSX (which wasn't even built for the thing), and Linux (which was screamingly fast).

The real funny part was, Vista required the most time downloading drivers (for pretty much everything - vidcard, sound, wireless, you could almost name it - if it weren't for Dell's website the thing would have limped even worse and half the laptop would be unusable). OSX required a kernel tweak for 3d acceleration. Ubuntu required nothing - it all ran perfectly right out of the box.

All I can say is, for all you idiots out there that claim Vista to be the best, maybe you should try using other OSes, because you've definitely settled for crap.

Here's hoping that Windows 7 runs at least somewhat decently compared to its competition by the time it comes out...

/P

[this1!]

@ sting, how is that baseless hate, reaper brings up very good points, and well thought out argument.

he named 2 things he wanted improved/fixed. 2. not a tirade about how vista and microsoft suck etc, etc, etc...

we as customers/consumers have the right to expect products to improve as time goes on, all he's saying is we won't use said product until it's resolved to his liking, which millions of consumers do everyday with product ranging from coffee to cars.

[Renegade Knight]

@krushyou

This is just one of the many problems of the Vista Fanboys. Wrong information and listinging to people who don't know jack.
DRM was implemented in Vista. It's one of the key issues that made drivers (remember that issue with Nvidea cards?) harder to write and implement. This is DRM above and beyond the call of duty.

Then you complained about the guys lack of knowledge about ram requirments. 2gb hits the "Ok we finally have enough to let the dogs out" level. That laptop with 1gb is likely a dog, or stripped of all non essentialy startup and processes to it's less doglike.

Wake up and smell the coffee. Then pay attention to the OS and what it's realy doing.

[compudoc318]

pen needs to learn how to use vista then, i use it side by side with osx with barely no speed differences and neither laptop has over a gig of memory.

[penguin_hfx]

About DRM, downloading a third party media player like videolan could solve the issue. But to a certain extent DRM increases the comfort level of music and media companies to deliver the content over internet at reasonable prices. I was a sceptic of Vista after trying out our site license in the pre-sp1 times. But the sp1 has solved some compatibility issues with lots of commercial software we have and is reasonably stable. I think Microsoft should improve display of the memory usage reported by Vista to point out how much of the occupied ram is cached that will get freed up when needed and that could solve most of concerns about the ram usage bloat complaints. May be a bit of explanation about reported memory usage as understood by common users could work.

In my opinion, both vista and OS X 10.5 are a bit bloated and initially buggy releases. The 5 point release updates by OS X and sp1 for vista solved lots of the bugs and both windows 7 and OS X 10.6 are supposed to cut on the bloat, with upgrades to those versions not expected to need hardware upgrades. Unfortunately Linux seems to be heading in the same direction of the other two. For example, an year or two ago a debian or ubuntu install with a full desktop running and without starting any extra applications like firefox, used to use <200MB of ram (not counting the cache, as Linux likes to use as much ram available as cache) But now with the latest Ubuntu, it seems to have crossed 250-300MB. Could be the bling bling in compiz and xorg is one reason, don't know!

I am looking forward to both Windows 7 and OS X 10.6, to see if they both cut the bloat. They both are great client operating systems.

[yacahuma]

So, I guess windows 7 means a lot more E-waste to china. Cool!!!

[sanenazok]

Nowhere near as bad as fashionable computers that change platforms every decade and are completely nonupgradeable.

[umbrae]

You must be confusing MS for Apple, who does not allow you to replace your rechargeable battery. Sure for a hefty fee you can send it back to have it replaced, but how many new versions of the product were released since then? For this reason alone iPod's are a big problem in e-waste: most PC stuff is very old and outdated and at least was in use for longer than 2 years.

[myles taylor]

umbrae, what are you talking about? With the exception of the Macbook Air and the iPod, nothing that you said applies to Apple. Macs last longer and hold their resale value better (or did until recently) than most PCs. Lately Macs have been failing sooner, but my dad still uses a G3 Wallstreet Laptop.

[Mark_Anderson]

Macs do not last longer than equivalent PC hardware.

[JonB.]

"by Mark_Anderson November 12, 2008 3:15 AM PST
Macs do not last longer than equivalent PC hardware."

I'm writing this comment on a Powerbook Pismo (2000 model) running OS 10.4.11. Run equivalent PC hardware and software. That's an 8 year old PC, with out problems.

[Penguinisto]

#4 and 5 are the only real useful features... the rest is only so much window dressing (s'cuse the pun).

#1 is probably not a good idea. Until mobile broadband providers stop having circumstances where rates can skyrocket without notice, confusing users between local connections and mobile broadband ones is going to lead to a lot of high bills and headaches.

...and until Windows Media Center drops the proprietary crap (or opens the specs), it's pretty worthless. VLC works just fine (even in Windows), thanks.

/P

[Renegade Knight]

Those are the key ones that I like.

[DrtyDogg]

Media center has added XVID and DIVX support

[Vegaman_Dan]

Penguinisto:

Do you have trouble determining the difference between a cellular modem card and a wireless connection? Are you saying people are so stupid as to be unable to tell the difference? I'm rather suprised you would believe that. If a person bought a cell modem, I think it's a pretty clear indication they can figure this out.

If you don't like Media Center, then don't use it.

If you don't like Microsoft, then go away. It's as simple as that.

There is no need for you to continue to insult people here. Your presence is no longer welcome.

[Penguinisto]

"Do you have trouble determining the difference between a cellular modem card and a wireless connection"

Me? No. A typical user? That's another story.

"There is no need for you to continue to insult people here. Your presence is no longer welcome. "

Whatever, Dan... I realize it probably hurts your feelings that not everyone loves your employer, but that's something you need to deal with - not the rest of us. We're the customer base for your employer (even those of us who don't use Microsoft's products at home)... maybe you and your employer should listen to us for once instead of unleashing you and your cronies unto the Internet in a fruitless defense of what is essentially indefensible?

/P

[AppleSuxLeo]

Apple...king of the throw it all out and start over system with no regards for backwards compatability.
Macs are waste as soon as they leave the store.
I just built a new PC with parts I salvaged from my 5 year old PC because I wanted to upgrade to Quad core. Even the original Windows XP Home disk was re-activated by MSFT when I told them I did a system upgrade. I got many new parts at a discount and built a PC that will smoke any iMac and I did it all for $600 and it is rock solid and plays Crysis well.
PC`s are the ultimate in keeping parts out of the landfills and in value. These are the reasons why I would NEVER consider any Mac. Jobs locks you in and rips you off. Keep drinking the Kupertino Kool-Aid Mac dweebs. Gaming on a Mac ? Bwahahahahaha ! We can go hand pick a triple SLI board from Frys. Even Quad SLI too ;)

[BigGuns149]

While I agree with you that the iMac is an ewaste nightmare (tons of monitors that the consumer might be perfectly happy to keep using getting tossed merely because you have to toss it to upgrade) I don't think that Apple is that bad about backwards comparability. While Microsoft likes to pride itself on backwards compatibility I remember applications that worked in Windows 2000 that didn't work in XP nevermind talking about the number of applications that worked in XP that don't work in Vista.

I will agree with you that the standatd ATX or micro-ATX boards with a chassis with full height slots does a better job of keeping stuff out of landfills because for the most part it is amongst the most versatile form factor, but ultimately whether stuff goes in a landfill or not depends upon whether the end user sends their components to the landfill.

I fail to see the relevance of triple never mind quad SLI. Save for 30 inch displays there are plenty of SINGLE cards that perform well enough. Furthermore, because you never get even close to twice the performance with two cards nevermind three times the performance with three cards so you would have to have to select a card that had significantly better performance per dollar than simply buying a higher end card because between buying a more expensive motherboard that actually supports triple or quad SLI (these boards aren't cheap) and taking the overhead of crosstalk between the cards into consideration. It seems rather hypocritical to talk about the environmental issues with AIO computers while not talking about the wasted energy of running three or four graphics cards when one high end card would provide performance that is hard to differentiate from far more power wasting SLI setups.

Considering that the article was about Windows 7 I fail to see what ranting about Macs and Mac OS had to do with the article to be honest.

[ddesy]

Waste as soon as they waste the store? You are a troll, but I may as well feed you.

I have a PowerMac G4 Quicksilver that was made in 2002, and with a processor upgrade it runs Mac OS 10.5 just fine. Would a PC of the same age run Vista fine? That's a big no.

And yes, I have used Vista.

[AppleSuxLeo]

Apple dweebs who doubt the power of SLI apparently don`t read much...
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTU4MCw0LCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

[Mark_Anderson]

"and with a processor upgrade"

Your argument just exploded here.

[DrtyDogg]

@ddesy: Yes a 2002 era PC can and does run Vista.

[Motyoj]

But you still run a crappy OS. Don't get too drunk on the Redmond rum.

I went with more ram. 4GB -- don't use most of it, so there isn't any bogging down. Added built in wireless cards. This notebook was finding any highspeed connection in a 3 story apt building. Including neighbors who were trying to piggy back on my signal.

I imagine the notebook would run on 1GB of ram. Though a person would be cheating him/herself of a lot of what Windows 7 is capable of. A person could easily operate a business, on the road, catch all his/her favorite tv shows, movies, and convince the world the business big and booming.

Having gone from a 35 degree "computer room" 7-11 hertz , 8 bit, 16 bit 32 bit and now a 64 bit. Web surfing was for 16 bit machines. 64 bit machines may still use the ram chips as my 750mhz notebook. Add steroids to those reliable ram chips, and rocket boosters to the "web surfing" .

Call it windows 7 or Vista Ultimate -- Microsoft put it all together in time for the holidays. Be the movies the ones played on the dvd players attached to the tv -- they start as soon as the dvd is in the drive. Or downloaded from your own favorite p2p site -- go for it.

Oh, I'm used to DOS -- I like DOS. I can do things in DOS that can't be done on an NT operating system. Think rocket boosters and steriods -- to an already quick piece of hardware -- and go with whatever the learning curve is -- and have fun with it.

Fingerprint reader? Yeah, ok. It's there. Good idea -- if it would read my fingerprints. Never mind. Lojack was included. What Lojack, Dell and Microsoft can't handle if the local law enforcement is ever called over one missing notebook computer -- can be handled some other way.

Someone mentioned that the notebook has an overheating problem. Huh? This computer doesn't get turned off, except when the updates are installed and it's necessary.

It seems to backwards compatible with XP software. Though not all of that software due to it being a 64 bit machine.

Now if I could figure out how to get it to make coffee, cook applesauce pancakes and do the laundry -- oh - never mind -- that would be the "robots" wouldn't it?

As for E-waste to china? One of the questions was "is this computer going to leave the United States?" China may have Walmart - but they can't get the same computer encryption that we have.

It's less than 60 days old - and I'm still figuring out what it'll do.

[sal-magnone]

I found Penguinisto's comments interesting (not claiming they are untrue just strange). Even on my pretty exotic Alienware hardware VISTA installed over XP (total blow away) with minimal driver requirements. The webcam was the only driver required. It did need catch up patches, SP1, etc, but not drivers other than the webcam.

Also my wife runs VISTA on allot less hardware, 1GB Sentia - it runs pretty well.

I don't use Unbutu, but previous attempts to get SUSE and RED HAT installed have been nerve racking.

[DrtyDogg]

Penguinisto is full of bias. I too have compared all three of those OSes on the same machine and find Ubuntu to be the fastest, while Vista and OS X are comparable in terms of speed. Granted OS X seems to run just a tad faster on my mac book than it does on this PC(I'm actually booted into OS X now). I've also seen very few driver problems, as far as I can remember the only issue was Ubuntu didn't support my old POS webcam.

[Penguinisto]

...did you have wireless right out of the box? How about 3d video acceleration?

[ferretboy88]

they should just change any title to say its the thoughts of the high and mighty Penuinisto. Might as well change cnet to penguinnet

[DrtyDogg]

No wifi: desktop system w/ ethernet. Thinking back I did have to install video drivers for each system. OS X was the only pain(to be expected with hackware), and only just slightly.

[Vegaman_Dan]

You have to realize that Penguinisto has his own personal agenda to tweak people. It really doesn't matter what the subject is. If you read his comments on Slashdot and other security sites, you'll learn more about his activities. He has been pretty open about it there.

There are people who live to hate. It's sad, but it's true. Those people have closed minds and simply cannot accept that there can be any alternative to their own set mindset. The best you can do is ignore them or point out calmly the misinformation as being what it is.

People aren't nearly as stupid as he would like to believe. They can see him for what he really is.
The only person he is fooling is himself at this point.

[Penguinisto]

I realize I'm not loved much by the MSFT crowd, but seriously, folks... don't hate the playa, hate the game.

[heygrimey]

@Penguinisto,

Actually, it is your "game" that people don't like. It would be nice to be able to have unbiased discussions about products for those of us that don't equate our self worth with what Operating System we prefer. It is so childish. Your posts just waste space and annoy those looking for real, fair opinions and critiques.

[jypeterson]

Interstingly, Apple is one of the few electronics companies who will recycle any PC/Laptop item which is brought into any one of its stores when you purchase a new Mac. Another item of note is the fact that all of Apple's current desktop/laptop lineups are all built with glass and aluminum, two very recyclable materials. The battery issue is a mute point because you can take any iPod/iPhone into a store (or send it in) and if it is under warranty, Apple will give you another one and recycle the old one.

Regardless, Apple is one of the greenest manufacturers out there now. They didn't used to be, but they are moving quickly to being the greenest that you can be as a manufacturer.

[frankwick]

Do you realize MS doesn't make computers?

..and it's a MOOT point, not MUTE.

[ferretboy88]

Apple was in the top 5 offenders last year for poluting the earth. They are a little better this year but not by much. Al Gore is on the board and they still stink.

[Goodbye Helicopter]

yawn
this sounds like a list of MS marketing info.

[i_made_this]

#3 Ina - beware! While Microsoft's intentions are noble in trying to notify you of hardware updates, more often than not, their hardware info is wrong and they won't pick up the tab for crashing your machine by taking their hardware update to heart. We ran into this over the weekend on our Windows laptop which runs an ATI GPU - the Win7 troubleshooter joyfully notified us to download an "important update from ati.amd.com" when there was no such laptop update available - it was strictly for desktops. There's a similar doodad on Vista, and in Windows Optional Updates as well. Microsoft should stick to software, until they've figured out to scan your total system like Belarc or the hardware companies do.

[frankwick]

i have never seen windows identify wrong hardware. I have seen it not be able to id something and simply call it "generic USB device" or something similar, but never wrong. IMO, Ms is not aggressive enough with pushing out hardware drivers via windows update. MS seems to pick the last stable safe release and leave it there. You can often go to the manufacturers website and get a newer driver. (I'm not saying newer is always better, use your own judgment)

[BigGuns149]

We are talking about an alpha here so Windows 7 isn't exactly something you should be running on anything where uptime is critical at this point. I could double check, but I am pretty sure that in the install they forewarn you that these builds are for testing purposes only. Even if they didn't I would think that anyone who knew anything about developmental software would realize that at this early point in development there are going to be blue screens and other really major issues that nobody would tolerate in a business environment.

[ddesy]

I too have seen Microsoft fail at driver updates. I have seen them result in a network card not working in some cases, a sound card in others, and poor video performance from improper drivers in others.

[bama3]

you should realize that when a driver update fails, it is the party that owns the driver making the update and not MS. If the update failed then you need to understand who built the driver update. MS generally points you to the update or downloads and update from the 3rd party.

[ddesy]

The updates download from Microsoft's servers, and their software detects what updates it thinks you need. Microsoft isn't exactly guilt free here.

[bama3]

@ddesy...
you opt in to get updates that are not from MS. If you do not want the updates then you do not have to choose this option. I am not saying MS gets it right all the time but when a driver is updated let's lay the blame where it is which is the company that built the driver.

I am all for targeting MS or any company when they make mistakes but do not join the other fan club here and blame 1 company for everyone else's problems.

you want us to go backwards and go find every update we need from every vendor without any assistance? Most people would not be know then needed and update with out the notification.

[pritchet1]

Is this another wish list beta where Microsoft will send out the golden version of Win 7 with 1/4 the new features? Been there already. That is why I went all Mac. I don't like empty promises masquerading for mindshare. Or the "guilty until proven innocent" strong-arming. MS took enough of my money already.

Former MCSE.

[jessiethe3rd]

If you watch closely the talk coming out the emphasis is delivery versus dreamware. They have kept out items like WFS and other dreamware that didn't make it into Vista on purpose. Of course you have to put a bit of trust into what's being said but nil has there been a time when Microsoft made a mistake and then repeated that same mistake more then 1 or 2 times. They did this with XP and Vista - lots of promised featuers and many that didn't actually make it in. I would be suprised if they don't include all these features.

[Lerianis]

True, jessie. The fact is that most of the 'dreamware' was left out because there were other, better OPEN-SOURCE OR NON-MICROSOFT ways to do them, period and done with.
The best thing you can do is to NOT get your hopes up for different features, unless they have them in, at least, an M3 build or Alpha-build.

[Heebee Jeebies]

Not a single thing listed does any thing to make Windows better. A light sensor? What are they morons? Give me a break. How about a Start Menu that isn't ugly, a screen hog and a host to a bunch of crap that is just worthless. How about a Quick Launch bar that can be undocked and moved where you want it without having to play around with workarounds. How about User Account Control that makes you not want to kill off other users. Come on Microsoft if you really think what is wrong with Vista is that it doesn't have light sensor control then you really are one big f*cked company.

Robert

[BigGuns149]

Better built in support for hardware doesn't make an OS better? Give me a break, because that is what I think everyone expects a desktop OS to do. Ideally virtually everything you plug in should have at least basic functionalitity. Perhaps a driver may be needed for the full benefits of the device, but I disagree that more included drivers isn't a useful feature. The more drivers that are included the quicker it will be to install the OS and get to work.

I will agree with you that UAC needs some refinement, but while this list doesn't list it I know that WinSupersite's reviews of some of the builds have noted that Microsoft is refining UAC.

Some of your other criticisms seem more questionable then the stuff on this list. The Start Menu in Vista is a screen hog? How do you figure? They eliminated the cascading menus so that you could see more stuff in the background. I've seen a lot of requests for UI refinements, but I can't say many people are clamoring to revise the start menu. Furthermore, how do you propose to improve it? The launch menus in Gnome and KDE will cover more of the screen so those aren't the answer. It is easy to say that MS should do something new, but unless you have a substantive idea I don't see your point. In that respect you seem more of a moron than M$.

[bama3]

In some of the other articles published by Ina, these things have been addressed. you can totally customize the Start MEnu and Quick Launch bar. You can also adjust the sensitivity of UAC.

[monkeyfun14]

A light sensor could be used to dim screens in laptops to save power maybe you should think a bit before you post.

[rudieih]

Argh! It's still gonna crash and whatnot. No matter how many features they pack in it.

MS should focus on actually making the software more stable.

Go Linux or Mac. Much better.

[jessiethe3rd]

Sorry.... I am a serious power user (Office platform of product, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc etc etc) and I can count the times my Vista machine has crashed on one hand... 3 times in the last 3 years. I hammer my machine by the way. On the other hand - my Mac I have had less then 1 year and I have had 5 crashes already. There is obviously something wrong with my MacBook Pro right now but the crashes do happen which suprises me as most of the people I talk to seem to take your same approach to Macs... they never crash - bullshizzle

[ddesy]

I am also a power user, but I can honestly say I've had more Windows crashes than OS X crashes.

When something is stable for one person, it doesn't guarantee that it will be stable for everyone. That's why there are so many complaints of Windows crashing and you still have people claiming that it doesn't.

[jessiethe3rd]

We're talking Vista here... not WXP.

[Lerianis]

Sorry, but I have NEVER had my system 'crash' unless it warned me that it was going to crash beforehand, like when I was installing an older game with StarForce DRM. The Manufacturer's website WARNED ME that it would crash out, and to just install an update after my system rebooted. That's the only 'blue-screen' I have ever system on Vista 64-bit.
I have had applications crash from time to time, but that is simply going to happen from time to time.

[disenchantres]

Does anybody find this to be disturbing?

6. Windows Biometric Framework
According to a press release from fingerprint sensor make AuthenTec, the operating system features improved biometric support that should enable a more standard way for fingerprint management applications to work with fingerprint readers in Windows 7

[rapier1]

Not really. A lot laptops already come with biometric readers after all.

[Vegaman_Dan]

And these fingerprint readers are pretty easy to bypass. It's a feel-good thing and by no means meant to be a replacement for a proper secured login method.

[i_made_this]

6. Is only one of the "new" features which isn't in the slightest new. That Microsoft should continue to promote such stuff as new in Win7 is disturbing lol.

WBF was adopted in Vista, as it will be in Win7, as an optional install when setting up the o/s. You can opt out. It's mostly used by enterprise users, not home users, in order to secure confidential or proprietary corporate info - in case an employee loses their laptop.

Microsoft does not consider it a breakthrough - so much so, that they buy the product from www.authentec.com and charge users a few dollars for its inclusion in the o/s.

[DrtyDogg]

@i_made_this: It is new for an OS to offer API's associated with biometrics without 3rd party software.

[Gayle Edwards]

Actually, according to Microsofts "security" white-papers (including one of Microsofts latest on "Identity" protection -which actually advocates a comprehensive "legislative" requirement, as part of its final implementation)... computer-users would be required to use a biometric ID-card (and associated biometric-scanning technology) before they (computer-owners) are allowed on the Internet (or, eventually, simply to use a computer).

And, its rather obvious that, all of this ties-in quite directly, both, with Microsofts eventual goals of individual-user-licensing, and perpetual-payment "Software as a Service"... and, quite a few politicians demands for the absolute ability to track virtually everything that is done on computers.

Kinda, makes you wonder where we are being guided... and how well (and for how long) this has been planned... doesnt it..?

[ggirton]

I must admit I wasn't aware of a single one of these seven, so from that standpoint, this story is a big success. And on the same hand looking forward to 2010 when Wnidows7 "outs itself" I can see myself putting in a DVD, having it start to play immediately and not saying "gee it's about time". In fact I kind of like the option "start playing where you left off" "memorize that place so you can look at it after looking at the DVD menu" and "show dVD menu" that I have become so used to.

One thing I would like to see in Windows 7 is this: Service Pack 1 comes pre-installed, so you don't have to read through a list of the ten reasons why your SP1 installation has failed, over and over again, trying to see why it won't install, like you do on Vista. I say wrap that SP1 into the OS and be done with it.

[BigGuns149]

I remember working with an outfit that sold Windows boxes after Vista launched and people said when does SP1 arrive. Quite honestly, I don't think I am as concerned into when SP1 arrives as I am into when an OS reaches the point that most of the major issues with the gold release are resolved. In Windows NT that took until ~SP4, but back in those days M$ was releasing service packs more frequently.

If you don't want to have to deal with installing service packs why don't you just wait until at least after SP1 comes out. Most recent releases of Microsoft Windows always seem to feel like betas until ~SP1. After SP1 most anything that really should have been resolved before launch has been resolved. Many businesses have had IT policies for years that they don't upgrade to a new version of Windows until at least one service pack. They don't want to be public beta tests so to speak because Microsoft has a bad habit of pushing out Windows releases out several months before they are really ready.

[frankwick]

Having used Win7 (build 6801) I can say two things:
1. It is an evolution of Vista (but more than a simple service pack as some claim)
2. It is also a new OS with new features

It feels as smooth as Vista does but there are some UI elements that need tightened up. You would actually be shocked to see how well it runs considering it is not even in beta stage yet. For those of you who skipped Vista because it isVista, Win7 will probably tempt you to finally upgrade.

One of the major new features which I cannot test is the evolution from single touch to multi touch. This is basically the MS Surface technology now in the core of Windows.

Of course, Media Center is awesome and it is better in this version.

One last note to rudieih, have you actually used Vista for any period of time? i have two Vista machines and they both run smooth and don't crash. One has 1 GB of RAM, the other has 2.5. The early days of Vista were plagued with crashes but MS has smoothed much of that out and so have the device makers with better drivers. One good thing about Win7 is that Vista drivers will work so hopefully we won't go through the same pain as we did before.

[d.gallea]

Windows Biometric Framework... Well, then maybe the Microsoft Fingerprint Reader will allow a biometric domain logon, like its competitors (APC, etc.) do! And also allow tooltip popups to work in Outlook email.

[yipcanjo]

Only on CNET could an article simply claiming some lightly discussed features of Windows 7 derive so much negative press -- and, as always, from the relentless windbag, Penguinisto.

Why hasn't he been banned yet?

[Vegaman_Dan]

Penguinisto is a member just as anyone else here and is allowed to make whatever post they want as long as it is not a personal attack, contains profanity or other abusive content.

He has the right to have and post his opinions. Just as it is everyone else's right to think he's an idiot. Let him rant. The more he does, the more he embarasses himself and the less anyone will take any comments seriously. And that's a shame too because some of what he posts is very thoughtful and has useful content. It's just lost amongst the hatred and bile that is normally spouted.

[Penguinisto]

Love, love love... :)

[kwhsy82]

I wish CNET would ban any comparison between Mac and Windows on these forums unless the topic was explicitly comparing the two. Ditto Linux.
a. A Mac story does not the standard "crap" about Mac's being proprietary compared to Windows. Whatever I happen to think about that POV, I've heard it 1000 times.
b. Ditto MSFT articles that talk about Vista being incompatible and/or requiring hardware, and/or MSFT monopolistic traits.
c. The wonders of linux. Yes, a computer from 1742 now calculates global warming scenarios in 0.02 seconds, thanks to Linux.
d. the inevitable rebuttals to same.

[ddesy]

Just say no to censorship!

[BigAl35540]

You Linux people gloat about your OS, but the install applications are tricky and can destroy effortlessly a dual boot system because you can't see the partitions directly. I threw Ubuntu 8.04 off my drive after it corrupted the Windows partition for the THIRD TIME! To many applications require incomperhensible command line operations to install. You can't log onto a secured wireless network easily with the KDE4 interface without dealing with this KDE Wallet thingy which is a major pain-in-the-ass! The Gnome interface is so simple it can't do very much! For a lot of us COMMAND LINE SUCKS and that's the only way Linux works any good and the GUI's available just don't cut it!...Sorry!

[illegallydead]

BigAl35540: I'm pretty sure this guy's point was to NOT hijack these articles to slam on one thing or another.
So, in other words, shut up about your gripes wiht linux and bring them to a related article of some sort!

[kpurdu1]

Just a note on that directv item mentioned in the article. Those with a networked HD DVR are now able to watch what is on their dvr on any windows based pc's on their home network using a free piece of software available directly from Directv. The software is not integrated with windows media player, and it only works on recorded items. Still it works well and if you're like most people I know 90% of everything you watch is DVR'd first anyway.

Also, if you want to watch anything live, the trick is to have set those shows to record ahead of time, then play them back on your pc while they are recording, you might be 30 seconds behind the live broadcast but that's no big deal. I did this yesterday so I could watch two nfl games at once. One on my big screen and one on my PC.

Google DIRECTV2PC and you'll find the software.

[yourpcbytes]

I had an opportunity to test Windows7 (build 6801) over the last weekend.

One thing i see omitted so far is one big feature that i would like to point out.
I wanted to test Windows 7 on a known working but bad hard drive. I tried to install, and guess what...
Windows 7 installation pointed out that it cannot install because the hard drive is about to fail.

So it has good hard drive detection and monitoring built in!
I could not install on this known bad drive, so i installed it on my spare box as a dual boot config with XP. Ran great about half the day, then it gave me a different message saying that my good hard drive was going to fail. I backed up the little data i needed, and guess what! a day later that hard drive had a head crash!

Another thing to point out, is Windows 7 is more streamlined many things i disliked about vista have been simplified. It's running quick with 1GB of memory on an older P4 1.2Ghz box. Boots faster than Vista too!

[AppleSuxLeo]

That is impressive. It must have built in software that moitors SMART on the HDD.Very cool indeed.