Windows 7 RC1

Andrew

Get it here. Discuss.

Sail

I'll switch over from the beta in a few weeks when I actually have time.

Vhdblood

Pretty close to the beta but with no bugs yet. Works absolutely fine for me, and I'm probably going to switch over to it permanently. Time will tell.

Apreche

Doesn't work nice in paralells.

HMTKSteve

I've been running the beta on an Acer Aspire Netbook for a while now. Works better than the XP that came preinstalled.

With that said I've been trying to make iso files out of some of my older games and running into a lot of errors when trying to make the iso files. I did manage to make an iso of Civ II and it sort of runs under Windows 7 if you use compatibility mode. I say sort of because it will not run at all in Windows 7 native but if you set it to Vista or earlier it will run and crash every hour or so.

I'm hoping that the RC version has fixed whatever bugs currently exist in the compatibility mode section. Not being able to run old software is a deal killer for many folks.

I tried downloading the 32 bit RC last night and it stopped at 73%. I'll try again tonight.

...

First Vhdblood notifies me off the RC no Suffice to Say, now this topic reminds me of the wget I ran. Will install later.

Omnutia

I'm holding off installing until I upgrade my hard drives. Downloading the RC ISO to keep around.

Techparadox

@ Omnutia: just remember that there's still a time limit on the RC and it'll quit working on you, so don't wait too long to upgrade those drives. Granted, I'd assume you will be buying the new drives well before 2010. ;D

Anyone else notice a surprising resurgence in the "I'm a PC/I'm a Mac" ads from Apple on TV in the last few weeks? Coincidence? Hmm...

Kiey

I just installed it on my Macbook. Everything seems to be working on it but the sound, I apparently need to get the drivers off the OS X disc but can't find it.

Victor Frost

Works great for me, in fact, I'm getting a 16.2% increase in battery life. Huzzah!

konistehrad

I'm holding off installing until I upgrade my hard drives. Downloading the RC ISO to keep around.

Same here.

Still, the amount of positive feedback regarding Windows 7 excites me. I've been craving a legitimately "modern" Windows experience for years, and from what I can tell 7 delivers in spades.

Apreche

Still, the amount of positive feedback regarding Windows 7 excites me. I've been craving a legitimately "modern" Windows experience for years, and from what I can tell 7 delivers in spades.

Windows 7 is the same thing as Vista. People are just stupid. The back end is mostly effectively architecturally identical, with bug and performance fixes. The front-end is just the same old, plus some shiny. I wouldn't even come close to calling it "modern", it doesn't even have virtual desktops aka "spaces".

These days, all three major OSes work just fine, including Vista. There's nothing seriously "wrong" with any of them. There are user interface differences, but most of them can be configured away. Most of the time, people are just sitting in Firefox, and it really doesn't matter at all which OS is behind the browser.

The real difference between the OSes is relatively much much smaller than it ever has been, it's only the perceptual difference that is very large.

konistehrad

The front-end is just the same old, plus some shiny. I wouldn't even come close to calling it "modern", it doesn't even have virtual desktops aka "spaces".

True, poor window management has always been my #1 complaint about Windows. It doesn't come close to offering what is presently offered by Expose and Spaces. (Or Compiz and every window manager out there, if that's your flavor.)

There's nothing seriously "wrong" with any of them.

Actually, there are glaring problems with all of them, and I'm simply trying to find the one that sucks the least. In my case: my work requires me to run the Adobe Creative Suite, leaving me with OSX and Windows. I can't necessarily afford Apple's hardware, and my hackintosh suffers from some problems; namely it lacks sleep and parallel port support (the latter being a restriction of the OS). This leaves me with good old Windows. Anything that Microsoft can do to bring Vista into a more-workable format is 100% fine in my book. I stayed upgrading to Vista simply because I knew they would have to push something better out, and Windows 7 simply seems to be that "something better."

Most of the time, people are just sitting in Firefox, and it really doesn't matter at all which OS is behind the browser.

Let me be the first to say that recently this has been more in front of Chrome than anything.

On a more serious note: I'll give you that for an end-user this is probably correct, but I'm pretty sure every developer (I'm including you, presumably) could go on for hours about the difference between MSVS, XCode and GCC/(Vim/Emcas)/make.

Apreche

True, poor window management has always been my #1 complaint about Windows. It doesn't come close to offering what is presently offered by Expose and Spaces. (Or Compiz and every window manager out there, if that's your flavor.)

Expose is ok-ish. Spaces is poop. I've been using a brand new Macbook at my new work for the past two weeks. The only thing I like are the multi-touch gestures you can do on the touchpad like using two fingers to scroll.

Let me be the first to say that recently this has been more in front of Chrome than anything.

I would use Chrome more if it had extensions. I can go and build the fastest car in the universe, but it will have no radio, uncomfortable seats, no air bags, etc. Firefox may be slower than it was back in the day, but I still think they have the right philosophy. Performance and stability don't mean shit if you are missing essential features. The next version of Firefox will have a new JavaScript engine, and they are also working towards the one process per-tab concept. When they release it, Chrome will be down for the count. Chrome isn't even cross-platform yet.

On a more serious note: I'll give you that for an end-user this is probably correct, but I'm pretty sure every developer (I'm including you, presumably) could go on for hours about the difference between MSVS, XCode and GCC/(Vim/Emcas)/make.

Yeah, those things are very different, but they also do very different things. I'm more than happy to use XCode to make an iPhone app, MSVS to make some XNA stuff, and vim/bash for working with python. They aren't mutually exclusive things.

Heck, the OSes themselves aren't mutually exclusive anymore either. I'm pretty much rocking VirtualBox/Parallels all over the place.

konistehrad

Performance and stability don't mean shit if you are missing essential features.

Actually, stability counts for 99% of quality. I'd rather drive a Toyota Tercel (4-speed manual, no power options) that never stops running than a Nissan Altima (auto tranny, fully loaded) that's off the road every other weekend while I fix shit on it. Firefox is really only useful to me when the debugging tools work properly, and even then it's been lack-luster as of late. The W3C validation tool started freezing FF on refresh, and Firebug lost the ability to inspect XHR response contents for a while. (AFAIK this has been fixed).

EDIT:

Expose is ok-ish. Spaces is poop.

Spaces is poop? It's like every other virtual-desktop manager out there, except you can drag-and-drop between desktops, a feature that certainly did not exist in the WM's I was using in linux all-those-years-ago. (Though its lack of Carbon Window Group support is disturbing, to say the least.)

Josh Bytes

Installed RC today. Got it up and running pretty dam quick to. I've been using the beta for a few months now. So it was nice already knowing where everything is. The driver support feels more solid now. I didn't have go surf the webs for anything this time around. Windows detected and installed them all. There are some new cool themes now. With neat sound themes as well. The wallpaper has a slide-show option. Other than that I haven't noticed anything different from the RC version.

Sail

Well, I just got an email from Microsoft saying that if I don't update to the RC before next week, my computer will start shutting down every two hours. So I guess the time to update is now.

Josh Bytes

Windows 7 pre-order upgrades are being sold for half off. The special does not include Ultimate. Now can you upgrade from the RC version? I wonder.

HMTKSteve

Windows 7 pre-order upgrades are being sold for half off. The special does not include Ultimate. Now can you upgrade from the RC version? I wonder.

No. If we are lucky the upgrade will only ask for a quick check that you own a previous version and not look for a complete install of an earlier version. This is how versions prior to Vista worked when upgrading, just throw in the old CD-ROM and it would install.

(I don't know if Vista had the same feature because I never tried to upgrade to Vista)

Apreche

They fucked me. I have Vista Ultimate. I can upgrade to Home Premium or Pro for $50 or $100 respectively. But if I want to go to Ultimate, I have to pay a fuckin' fortune. I might just pay the $100 for the professional. With Vista, Ultimate was kind of necessary to get the right features. It seems like Professional Windows 7 has everything I need. Even so, Microsoft has pissed of all the Vista Ultimate users big time.

sK0pe

For those that have used Windows 7 -
Is the BitLocker function useful and effective or would it just be fine to use something like Truecrypt for encryption? (I'm trying to work out if I can get away with using Premium rather than Ultimate).

I also shelled out for 64 bit Vista which is working great but obviously want to get something with similar functionality with Windows 7.

Victor Frost

The back end is mostly effectively architecturally identical, with bug and performance fixes. The front-end is just the same old, plus some shiny.

But it's those very same bug and performance fixes that make it so much better. Pray tell, Scott, Why do you suppose Windows 7 works better on the same hardware than Windows Vista? The back end, while largely the same, has been refined, tightened down, and thus made better overall. They've gone back and optimized the code a little here, a little there, a little bit everywhere, to make it take less CPU cycles to perform the same tasks. Not only is it faster now but it extends battery life because the hardware doesn't have to work as hard. It is those same bug and performance fixes, which you seemingly dismiss, that make it better.

Like how a tuned Lamborghini has a plastic engine window instead of glass and a carbon fiber bonnet instead of a metal one, You don't have to make drastic changes to get a drastic benefit, just a bunch of little ones.

I could go on how the new user interface has been tightened as well, made more efficient, and how the new taskbar is actually quite good in its design and functionality, but I would be wasting my breath. You are a spartan, Scott. Hold your head up high, beat your chest, and grunt, friend, for you are immune to the effects of refinement and beauty.