Windows 7 Beta

[MikeSel^]

Has anyone else tried Windows 7 Beta yet?

If so what are your thoughts?

I have just installed it on my old laptop, and I am suprised at just how fast it seems to be performing.

 

[NHN]

ye the guys over at cnet did some recent tests on beta before general release & it did well on 99% of things against xp & vista, very well with only I think 1 test it came 2nd on, got iso but havnt written & installed yet, any great GUI changes but more importantly is it better than vista at all or just a makeup job?

 

[MikeSel^]

Seems to be much quicker then vista was. On my old 1.5ghz laptop.... So that's better.

Just cosmetics as far as I can see.

File copying seems to be faster then vista.

I intend on posting a complete review on my site after a few more days of testing and tweaking..

 

[MikeSel^]

One other thing, I installed it via a virtual drive. So no need to burn it

Obviously mines on a seperate partition, actually currently the 3rd os on my laptop lol

 

[aragorn]

People forget that exactly the same thing happened with Windows 2000 and XP.

2000 was the first version of the new architecture (NT5.0) and when it was released nothing worked and it was ****** slow.
XP is NT5.1, basically Win2k with a new face, and by the time it was released, the compatibility issues were gone, everything had sped up nicely (partly because hardware had moved forwards and partly due to refinements).

Same story with Vista. Its NT6.0. You get the same compatibility issues etc all over again, "Windows 7" is infact NT6.1, so it is just Vista with a new face, and lots of refinements.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, Win2k wasnt aimed at home users, so the issues were never seen by the general public, and corporate machines were all generally standard enough not to cause issues, Vista however has been hit twofold, once becuase it was released to everyone at once, meaning everyone takes the compatibility hit and you get the correspondingly pathetic news reporting, and twice because the hardware manufacturers got in a huff with Microsofts minimum requirements, so MS reduced them to appease Intel etal, so you end up with Vista shipped on low end machines that really dont have enough RAM to run it properly, just so they could sell the hardware.

 

[MikeSel^]

hmm well all looks good to me, and if you’re running vista, I can't see any issues with this.. Like I said, it seems quicker then vista and it's still in beta so all seems good so far.

I am a heavy user, and required it in order to test the applications I am developing ready for commercial shipment. So I don't class my self as a home user.

Anyway, I guess you’re entitled to your opinion.

Out of interest, what OS do you use?

 

[NHN]

Cant argue with your POV TBH, I mean vista & drivers have been right royal pain in ****, the worst culprits were nvidia some 6 months later they release a fully compatible set of vista drivers, previous ones were absolutely shocking & you know the latest trick from nvidia about there crap chipsets overheating or whatever it was, they're saying buy newer ones to fix your olde rones, uh they dont work properly in the 1st place why am I buying new one to correct old ones faulty hardware, feck of you can pay for the replacements, jokers these large companies & overall I'm finding ATI(AMD) are far more reliable & drivers are alot better aswell

 

[aragorn]

Out of interest, what OS do you use?

I run Vista on my Desktop, which incidentally is an ancient PC (built it in 2001) but thanks to me buying a dual Athlon XP setup back then, and installing plenty of RAM (3gb) and a fast hard disk (WD Raptor) in more recent years, it runs it perfectly swiftly. I dont tend to use that pc very often, unless i'm doing a task that requires the hardware (like dvd burning) or doing something where you really need a proper display, keyboard and mouse, like photoshop work.

My laptop which i use day to day i normally run ubuntu on, however i've just got a replacement at christmas, and its still running XP. I'll be installing ubuntu onto it eventually, just not got round to it yet.

 

[AlexStanley]

I get involved in all the early (pre-Beta) builds of Windows, and I have to say Windows 7 is much much improved

 

[NHN]

Ye but prebuilds arent really to be believed as what it will be like tbh as things change so quickly on builds, apps in/out, speeds up/down, RC1 is a good one to go by as feature complete is near enough to that given coding

 

[Olly P]

If you want a good interface and reliability just buy a mac!

I've tried the windows 7 beta on my work PC. It seems like a better looking version of vista, which was useless!

I've reinstalled XP now!

 

[AndrewUkR6]

I found Vista worked fine as part of my media center in the living room - very stable and performs fine. Xp is still in the office.

Windows 7 is less of a resource hog, sure I will change my MC to it when available.

 

[Khufu]

been playing with it for a week & its not too bad. So far only one program called Bonjou 4 that doesn't seem to work. Will play for a while longers but if is compatible with the software I use I will consider moving up from XP (Vista is sitting on the shelf lol)

 

[NHN]

If you want a good interface and reliability just buy a mac!

I've tried the windows 7 beta on my work PC. It seems like a better looking version of vista, which was useless!

I've reinstalled XP now!

Vista wasnt really useless, it was mostly a driver/software issue as many a time proved, you've only gotta look at Nvidia who took 6 months or more to actually release a stable driver after Vista released, so lets stop the barrage of Vista bashing, alot of the errors, BSOD's have been down to bad programming by driver issuers & software programmers, not so much MS

but I will say Vista did seem like an XP facelift overall was bit let down it didnt have alot better functionality & tweaks to play with, networking was a pain in assse for sure open 3-4 windows until get to the network connection window unless you shortcut to desktop, but alas

Havnt installed 7 Beta yet but will try soon on split drive

 

[Khufu]

i know what you mean with Vista. I was trying to work out why my mate was having problems and couldnt find the network device to check the bindings to.

 

[Sanj]

I installed Windows 7 on my desktop and it wouldnt like most of the drivers need for my audio, video and more importantly wifi.... eventually got on the net with a usb stick, i like the way you can minimise all the windows by clicking on the only window u want up, and shaking your mouse! but yeh, seems to be pretty quick!
Need to test more extensively tho......

 

[Caesium]

Downloading it now and will try running it on virtual pc to have a lookie