Windows 7

[MrBounty]

Has anyone else checked it out yet?

What do you think of it?

Comes across as just a Vista upgrade to me....

[ChuckFickens]

I've had a look at an early beta and being a beta was naturally a little buggy in places (and a couple of bits were in Polish... nuff said!!!) but that aside it seemed OK. Though they have taken the opportunity (once again) to slightly move a few things about a little so you have to hunt down some settings! (still it wouldn't be MS if they didn't do that)

Microsoft them self do describe it as an incremental upgrade to vista though and it does use the same driver model as vista (which isn't a bad thing as they have pretty much sorted the problems on that level now)

The main thing that impressed me though was it is noticeably faster than XP and vista, especially at start up but is going to need a pretty meaty computer to run it properly if you use all the "pretty" effects..

I do think that the later versions of windows are actually starting to get it right in a lot of areas where traditionally they have been rubbish and the OS level security has been far improved (though don't get me talking about licensing and CAL's in particular!)

and as a side note, having had to install several new windows2008 servers over Christmas I am impressed with 2008 as a server OS (even if its hugely expensive!)

But you know what your best bet would be don't you? ;)

........

install Linux :)

[VHG]

Microsoft spend millions of dollars, and many years, rewriting major parts of Windows to get Vista out (remember how late it was).

They are hardly going to throw away all that development money and time for the next release of Windows, it was always going to be a minor upgrade rather than a major upgrade.

They have probably heard the major complaints about Vista and will try to correct them, plus of course look at ways of improving performance.

With more of a challenge from Linux on netbooks I wonder if they will look at a "lite" version of Windows.

[rojash]

I've got a DVD waiting to be installed, but first I'm going to install a second hard drive and set it up as a dual boot. From what I've heard the changes are mostly in response to complaints from commercial users and IT professionals, so better performance (some things, like batch file copying across a network, were just appalling in Vista) more consistent user interface, less intrusive user account control, etc.

I'll let you know how I get on...

[MrBounty]

It's always about the Linux with you Chuck, isnt it? ;)

[rojash]

I've now installed the Windows 7 Public Beta. The installation was probably the quickest of any MS operating system since DOS.

It detected my dual monitor setup no problems

It's definitely faster than Vista, at least subjectively.

However they seem to be going further down the "Your computer as a toy" and the "change for the sake of it" route. In Vista I run the grownups (or Classic) menu. 7 has only the children's menu

Along the same lines, the Explorer status bar has been replaced by the detail pane. This gives the same info, but takes up more space, and, of course is turned on and off via a different route.

UAC is definitely lass intrusive.

It found my network and connected to my other machines without the need for any user intervention, which was quite impressive.

There is a major bug in the login screen which means it takes around 15-20 minutes to log in - but then it is a Beta version.

Some tasks are even harder to fin than they were under Vista, but others are much easier.

Keep in mind that these are only preliminary observations - I've been using it for a couple of hours. I would say that at the moment, I'm a bit disappointed, but there is a general feeling that it's improved in some ways.