Windows 7 Beta?

billbillw

Anyone else using the public beta for Windows 7?

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/

I've skipped Vista so far due to the widespread complaints and its reputation for being a resource hog.

I read a few things about this new Windows 7 starting last week and decided to give the Beta a try (on a separate partition of course).

Gotta say, this OS rocks! Its faster than XP, XP 64bit, and both Vistas. Bootup time is less than XP. Shutdown time is less than XP. Stability seems rock solid so far. No BSODs. Only a few soft program lockups so far. Driver compatibility with Vista, so out the door, it is well supported. Thus far, I don't have any hardware that isn't supported with drivers. I'm using the 64bit version and I really like it so far. Networking works great. File transfers are very fast, and not nearly as many annoying pop ups as Vista.

Software compatibility seems to be much like Vista 64 and Win XP Pro 64bit. The only think I haven't been able to use so far is CoreTemp and Itunes is acting funny. The 32 bit version probably works better in that dept.

This Beta is free until August '09. There will likely be more releases before the OS goes for sale (newer Beta's or Release Candidates). So far, I'm thinking this may actually be an OS that I'm willing to pay Microsoft for. Vista certainly hasn't been. This is the rightful heir to Windows 2000 and XP Pro. In the long run, I think Vista will be looked at much like Windows ME, a bloated piece of $hit that was not executed very well!

petrym

I'm DL'ing now, I'll give it a whack.

mhardy6647

After an XP desktop meltdown at home, I've gone to Ubuntu on one of the home 'puters. I don't think I'll ever go back...

www.ubuntu.com

polkatese

I am DL it right now. Damn, takes a long time and still going after an hour (48%) on my verizonDSL....

ben62670

I have no real complaints about XP. Vista= pretty/bloated/buggy/incompatible.
I hope 7 is a winner, and is compatable with my dual boot sata setup. What MB/sata chipset do you have? Raided?

Kex

mhardy6647 wrote: »

After an XP desktop meltdown at home, I've gone to Ubuntu on one of the home 'puters. I don't think I'll ever go back...

www.ubuntu.com

I much prefer W2K to Win XP. XP just seems to get slower and slower on startup and shutdown. I wonder if this Beta 7 will be the same: very fast initially, then slower and slower until it's almost painful.

I would really like to have another go at Linux, and I'm sure I will sometime this year on at least one of my machines, but unfortunately, my fingerprint scanner does not yet have a Linux based driver AFIK, so I can't forget Micro$haft completely. If Linux doesn't work, unless Beta 7 is really faster over time, without hogging resources, I am going to see if I can downgrade my XP laptop with the fingerprint reader to W2K. I'm starting to have a healthy dislike for the newer Windows releases.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Anyone know if Firefox runs on this beta?

Is it fairly easy to dual boot with Vista?

Fongolio

I'm dl'ing but will wait to hear some reports from you guys and gals about performance before installing. I sure hope this is better than Vista. I tried it and got rid of it after less than a week and went back to XP.

Face

I have both 32 and 64 bit versions downloaded, I may give it a try next weekend.

mhardy6647

Kex wrote: »

I much prefer W2K to Win XP. XP just seems to get slower and slower on startup and shutdown. I wonder if this Beta 7 will be the same: very fast initially, then slower and slower until it's almost painful.

I would really like to have another go at Linux, and I'm sure I will sometime this year on at least one of my machines, but unfortunately, my fingerprint scanner does not yet have a Linux based driver AFIK, so I can't forget Micro$haft completely. If Linux doesn't work, unless Beta 7 is really faster over time, without hogging resources, I am going to see if I can downgrade my XP laptop with the fingerprint reader to W2K. I'm starting to have a healthy dislike for the newer Windows releases.

The 'pute I am on right now (my daughter's former laptop, now handed down to me) is running Windows 2000. I agree, it's pretty good. Still bigger and slower than need be. I might Ubuntu this one too, soon :-)

AudioGenics

windows 7 delayed... Microsoft is teasing the market

mewisemagic

downloaded last night and installed on a spare drive. so far seems ok,downloading a free av for it now:)

ZOOPDOOP22

it can still be found all over the web through torrents.

Yes firefox works on 7. Anything that works on vista works on 7 also.

billbillw

Firefox works perfect with this. Just about any MB/drive combo will work. The hardware specs are actually less than Vista.

Ben, You shouldn't have any trouble. Are your drives set up as SATA in your MB bios or IDE emulated? If they are true SATA, you should probably get the Vista drivers for the SATA/RAID controller beforehand. Good think about Windows 7, you can load drivers with a Flash drive (Vista could actually do this too) instead of dealing with an archaic floppy.

Also dual boot is no problem. I loaded it alongside of my XP install with no hassle. Just need a clean partition.

mantis

Hey ahhh Good luck with that. While you guys are failing with 7 I mean testing out 7, I'll be down the road still using my OSX.

Dan

ben62670

Can't be installed on ntfs?

jmwest1970

ben62670 wrote: »

Can't be installed on ntfs?

I've installed it on a NTFS partition on my laptop to play with. The OS seems ok, but IE8 is really getting under my skin. Every time I change pages on the Polk site it crashes. I'm going to try FF to see if it's any better.

jmwest1970

FF3 seems to have corrected the browsing issues. Hopefully no other nasty surprises will pop up.:rolleyes:

ben62670

I'll let you guys play first. Plus I need my wireless to work;) Worst thing is not having the right network driver:(

Airplay355

anyone know how I would go about setting up a dual boot setup with my intel mac?

AsSiMiLaTeD

mantis wrote: »

Hey ahhh Good luck with that. While you guys are failing with 7 I mean testing out 7, I'll be down the road still using my OSX.

Dan

and while you're staring at your pretty mac I'll be playing Fallout 3, good luck with that or almost any of the other 40 programs I have installed running on a mac....really, do we have to do this again.

Why is it every time someone starts a thread about Windows the mac fanboys start in???

Airplay355

Not a fanboy. I wanna dual boot so I can play games too and why not? I just don't have $200 to spend on an OS, so if this is a free one...

billbillw

Airplay355 wrote: »

Not a fanboy. I wanna dual boot so I can play games too and why not? I just don't have $200 to spend on an OS, so if this is a free one...

Only free during the Beta period. It WILL expire after approx 7 months. If that's your idea, find an old copy of XP somewhere if ya know what I mean.

Ben wrote:

Can't be installed on ntfs?

Ben, AFIK, it runs on NTFS, just like XP, Vista, etc. As far as drivers, if your network car/wireless has a vista driver, then you are all set.

Like I said, I just installed mine on a clean partition that I had (made with XP Pro). Most of my system is about 1-2 years old and just about every piece of hardware was working after the install. I think the only things that weren't working were my webcam, my soundcard, and my scanner. A few other things were updated just to be current (video card, etc.)

All in all, it was the easiest install that I've ever done.

polkatese

I just finished upgrading the machine from Vista; nice interface. One major issue (that I attributed to my carelessness for not doing my research), is Workgroup file-sharing stop working. My Mac can't find this PC anymore. Windows 7 replaces Workgroup with Homegroup, that requires ALL other PCs in the network to have Windows 7. Well, I have 2 Vista (one after this upgrade), 2 XPs, and 1 Mac OS X. I guess I can go back to SnickerNet to transfer files between Mac and Windows 7 (which unfortunately is the main hub for all of my files). Oh, Well.

Kex

Airplay355 wrote: »

Not a fanboy. I wanna dual boot so I can play games too and why not? I just don't have $200 to spend on an OS, so if this is a free one...

Well, considering that Mac is generally quite a bit more expensive than PC, I'm not sure most other frugal users will be choosing Mac ... a Linux based O.S. is the only frugal choice IMO. Mac OS is not free, by any means. YMMV.

Shizelbs

I'm considering installing it. But, then again, not sure I want to reinstall everything on my computer (take the time that is) when Vista works just fine for me.

ben62670

moving data into a folder now...

Kex

ben62670 wrote: »

moving data into a folder now...

Ha! You just could not resist the temptation! I knew it!

ben62670

Kex wrote: »

Ha! You just could not resist the temptation! I knew it!

I am reporting to you from W7 beta. No I can't resist. IE sucks real bad. I had to go chrome for now. I did the performance tweaking to get rid of animated fluff... runs real nice for now. Drivers were a breeze. All I did is point to the system folder in Vista, and I was done in minutes. I started the install at 1:15 It would have gone real fast if I installed to one of the striped raids, but I had data there I did not want to sort through. Again the driver thing was a breeze. We shall see what happens:eek:

billbillw

Ben, I told you it was easy! I like the IE8, what don't you like? I also tried the windows live essentials. The new Live Mail is pretty sweet.

FYI: On my system, that stupid ClearType stuff made everything look fuzzy. If you have that problem, I recommend disabling it for the clearest display.


Slight problem with my setup, all my fault though. I ignored a virus warning on something I thought would be safe. Doh! I immediately ran a full scan, but it didn't find anything. Two days later, it reared its ugly head (trojan horse).

Easy fix though. Boot to safe mode w/networking. Run online Ewido scan, cleaned and back to business.

polkatese

Guys, any suggestion for (a) course of action in opening up Homegroup file sharing with any other OS/platforms or if you could point me to any resources?

TIA