Windows 7 Beta

[Bill Cunningham]

To bad that Windows NT was released BEFORE both CE and ME (Windows NT was relased 1993, windows CE was released 1997 and windows ME was released 2000)

So it should really be NTCEME (pronounced NutsyMe, or NotSeeMee)
Reminds me of the two sales taxes we have in Ontario, the Federal Goods & Services Tax (GST) and the 'Provincial Sales Tax (PST).. just put them together and sound them out, and you have the public feelings about these taxes!

[Tim Bateson]

MS had intended to limit the Beta release to 2.5 million copies. It seems after just a few days, they've already surpassed that and have removed the limit.
I really don't understand what all the fuss is about?

Oh wait a sec, I'm using Vista...uurrrggggggggg Win7 can't possibly be worse then this can it? Can it????

Did anyone tell MS they got it right (real close anyway) with XP? I may have to try Win7 for myself - do I really have anything to loose?

*Note - Trying it will be on a desktop I no longer use - You didn't really think I'd try it on my laptop I use for lasering!!!!

[Bill Morrison]

When you say "windows says", please keep in mind that microsoft has a pr budget almost as large as the pentagons. THe only lean OS microsoft ever had was DOS and Gates bought that from someone, he did not write it. I've got an HP with quad processors, 3 gigs of Ram and....Vista. I built another computer to run windows 2000, it has 1 gig of ram. Guess which is a lot faster.

Just my 2 cents. Now back to the regularly scheduled lasering.

Bill

[Tim Bateson]

I can't remember what it was called, but I actually used that version of DOS. Am I showing my age?
It was a great combination of MSDOS and Unix.

[Joe Cunningham]

I bought my Dell right before they made Vista mandatory. I also have a separate XP disk for any future machine I need to get, just in case Win7 doesn't work so hot either.

[Dan Hintz]

Windows needs to go the way of Linux, at least in the ability to add or remove components from the kernel. This is one reason many Linux systems are significantly faster... they simply do not support everything under the sun, and if you want support you have to add in a package to the kernel that does. Windows requires all packages to be laded, regardless of it being used or not, and that slows things down considerably.

[Bill Cunningham]

I used the first version of dos, right up to the last version. Sometimes dos commands made things so much easier than trying to do the same thing in windoz. Particularly batch file manipulations..Even now, I sometimes try to accomplish things using the cmd: prompt that can't be done with windows, and even some of those won't work anymore..

[Tim Bateson]

Test Results:
Laptop with dual core - Dual boot Vista & Win7 Beta

Claim - Faster startup and shutdown
Result - Only if you're counting the grains of sand in an hour glass

Claim - Faster processing
Result - Much, MUCH faster then Vista. Also, programs cache much faster - the 2nd time a program loads it's almost instant.

PhotoGrav 3.0 - Runs 10x faster and I did NOT have to set it to XP compatible as I did with Vista.

CoralDrawX3 - Runs faster. No noted problems, yet. Sending a large job to the laser was at least 10-20x faster then the same job with Vista.

Notes: Easy to load and seems like a cross of XP and Vista, but mostly Vista. A lot of the icons have been changed as well as the traditional look and feel of some Windows functions.

Conclusions: Microsoft is going to charge us $$$ for what is really Vista 2.0 However, one day of testing shows it's speed is light years ahead of Vista and very likely XP too.

Addition: My laptop overheats under Vista - after about 20-30min the CPU is around 201F, and at 220F the laptop shuts down. I've been using Win7 Beta for hours now and the CPU hasn't gotten any higher then 181F - currenty at 167F.

[Tim Bateson]

Photoshop CS - Starts faster then Vista or XP. approx 1-2min in Vista, 10-15sec in Win7 Beta. No noted problems, yet.

[Boyd Gathwright]

Tim,
.... When you installed you're WIN 7 did you start from scratch (Format the partition or Hardrive and install) or did you do an UpGrade?

Photoshop CS - Starts faster then Vista or XP. approx 1-2min in Vista, 10-15sec in Win7 Beta. No noted problems, yet.

[Tim Bateson]

I partitioned my current hard drive and did a fresh install. This beta copy expires on 1 August, so I didn't want to over-write my current OS. Also this lets me dual boot so I can do comparisons.
When this beta license expires I'll re-format that partition & give it back to Vista.
As of today, I think I'll setup a shared drive and use Win7 Beta full-time. It is so much faster than Vista - not a little faster, a LOT faster!

[Tim Bateson]

First Win7 problem - PhotoGrav images will not import into CoralDrawX3. I get an error: Unsupported Tag Value
However any PhotoGrav image processed prior to Win7 imports fine. All other images import fine as well - must be a problem with PhotoGrav. Tried changing the compatibility, but no luck.

I rarely see a need for PhotoGrav, so this isn't a show stopper. It can wait until PhotoGrav has a Win7 fix.

Another notable problem is the icons for CorelDraw show as blank in Windows Explorer. In Vista the icons where a miniature of the contents of page 1. A nice feature that I hope they fix.

[Anthony Scira]

Wow I must be the only Vista fan here !

I never had problems with the OS. And I must say I like it. I have had it since it launched and could not be happier.

The only thing I lost by using vista was that ability too run a couple older programs that needed to be upgraded.

As far as the XP thing goes XP was not quite as hated as Vista. And now its a great OS. But it has had years of tweaking.

I also believe the great marketing campaign by Apple has not helped public opinion.

[Tim Bateson]

Update... I have now loaded Windows 7 RC (Release Candidate) 64bit - replacing Windows 7 Beta. This is a free download and is good until June 2010. As with XP, expect some configuration/tweaking to make it run a bit smoother. I would suggest using Mozilla FireFox over MS IExplorer V8 - MS still hasn't caught up. I used MS Office as old as v2000 with no problems - other than Outlook didn't seem to work. Now using MS Live Mail.

It works better then the Beta & far superior to Vista. It's as fast as the Beta, but my overheating GPU problem is now back. I'll have to live with that until it burns up & I'm forced to buy a new laptop.

Both Corel & Photoshop are running great and much faster then they did with Vista. I'm all about saving time. I prefer the more advanced Epilog 32bit driver (used with my XP desktop), but the 64bit driver does everything I need. I don't know if it's Epilog's 64bit driver or the 64bit OS but large jobs transfer to the laser much faster than on my 32bit XP system. Again, I'm all about saving time.

Conclusion - It's not XP, but it's a close 2nd for the best OS they've produced. Still of course not in the same league as Linux.

[Rob Patterson]

I bought my Dell right before they made Vista mandatory. I also have a separate XP disk for any future machine I need to get, just in case Win7 doesn't work so hot either.

There is a little know feature that allows a person to downgrade your OS license to a previous version. For example: all of our new computers at work come with the Vista sticker on the outside but have XP loaded on them from the manufacturer. (that is the way we order them.)

So if you order a new computer from Dell (or else where) you have the option to downgrade from Vista to XP. So, it is still possible to get a new computer with XP.

Regards.