Windows 7: What does it mean for us?

[brandondrury]

I see that Microsoft has plans for a late 09 release of Windows 7. As a person who has never made the move to Vista, I have to say that I'm skeptical of yet another new operating system.

I guess I'm not the right guy to get wound up about operating systems. I look at them as a shell or framework which I load my programs of choice. (Cubase, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Firefox, etc). It's rare that I interact with an OS unless I'm installing something new or moving some files around.

So it seems to me like we have yet another tech support headache on our hands. Based on the questions we get in Solving Technical Problems, it's safe to say that Microsoft never really got Vista right....at least not for audio recording.

So are they abandoning Vista and starting from scratch or is Windows 7 a clever alias for Windows Vista Fixed?

Brandon

[richiebee]

You should try Windows 7 RC. I downloaded it this weekend. It rocks. Very fast even on my 3.5 year old Pentium D920. It runs fine with my audio interface, runs with all my computer hardware, runs Cubase just fine.

It's a winner. XP has been great. Vista took a while (until SP1) but is fine now (those developers that haven't caught up are at fault for products not working under Vista). Windows 7 will be a winner from the day its released.

The problem with keeping Vista going is that some many people just can't see past its disastrous start. Microsoft are right to market afresh. I doubt people who currently use a fully up to date version of Vista will be rushing out to buy Windows 7, since most will find that Vista is now fine, but when its time for a new machine, or if you're looking to upgrade XP, people will buy it.


R.

[fortyseven]

In my opinion, MS are hoping that Windows 7 will be the OS that Vista attempted to be but wasn't. In other words, I believe it will just be 'Vista fixed' all wrapped up in a neat little Microsoft package called Windows 7. Hopefully they succeed.

[brandondrury]

You should try Windows 7 RC. I downloaded it this weekend. It rocks. Very fast even on my 3.5 year old Pentium D920. It runs fine with my audio interface, runs with all my computer hardware, runs Cubase just fine.

It's a winner

This is highly encouraging! It seems that as hardware becomes infinitely faster software becomes infinitely slower. That has been my experience in most cases anyway. If they have actually made the operating system lighter on it's feet, this is a HUGE step. It's a step that I find exciting.

My not-so-pleasant views of Vista have stemmed solely from my experience in answering tech support threads here. Admittedly, you don't come out heralding any product a hero once you've answered a few zillion threads so that isn't the most fair place to judge a product.

So maybe there is hope yet again!

Brandon

[C. Hanson]

I've never had a problem with Vista Home Premium which runs on my laptop. Mind you, I would never have upgraded had my old XP-loaded laptop not been fried in a lightning strike.
7 is supposed to be new, but is also said to be everything Vista should have been. I think they're keeping a lot of the look & feel of Vista, just making it better--is that how you see it, Richiebee?
I also read that it will run XP-designed software quite easily.

From my point of view, I'll be due for a new machine in about 12 months, by which time 7 should be in wide circulation with plenty of tech support (hopefully!).

[richiebee]

Yeah, I think they've gone a long way to get Vista on the right tracks, and Windows 7 is definitely related.

As I said, I think much of offering a new version so soon after releasing Vista is that Vista has left a bad taste with so many people, that its a necessity.

I'm trying to figure out whether to get my machine now (well, a couple of months) or wait for Windows 7. I'll be ready for it on day one and can run the RC until then.

[brandondrury]

I've been doing some homework and it looks like pretty much everyone has high hopes (and initial success with RC). The overall buzz is excellent. The major gripe with Vista was the lack of time 3rd party developers had to adapt to it. They've clearly solved that issue with this one so maybe our driver issues will be cleared up (if non existent from the beginning).

Brandon

[gg.gamble]

Originally Posted by richiebee

You should try Windows 7 RC. I downloaded it this weekend. It rocks.

I like the sound of this. Can you tell us how many process' it runs just after start up?
my xp is something like 22 and my Vista is around 55, would be interessting to see if they've realised 50 process' just to get the os running is rediculous.

[richiebee]

Windows 7 is running 33 processes. I think I could reduce that if I turned off some services, but thats how it runs with a default installation.

[gg.gamble]

oo i have to admit i was expecting more than that.
I saw a demonstration of the 'shaker' thing where if you have loads of windows open and u grab one and shake it all the others minimise. This is the type of crap i would be turning off, sounds like a rediculous feature to me.
are there many things like this?