Windows 7 Beta

[KJ94GT]

I just noticed that Windows 7 Beta has been released for public download with product keys in both 32-bit and 64-bit configs.

If anyone wants to download:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/

[fordracing19]

I would like to try it but I dont have Vista.

[Slowhand]

So tempted...

[AbecX]

Where is the new UI, start menu is terrible and needs to be scrapped, completely.

Where is the new file system.

Same ol' shit.

[Pokulski-Blatz]

So tempted...

So am i, I just dont know how easy it would be to get back to vista if it sucked hard dick.

[Tx Redneck]

Where is the new UI, start menu is terrible and needs to be scrapped, completely.

Where is the new file system.

Same ol' shit.

lolz, you won't like it till it's like linux will you?

[AbecX]

lolz, you won't like it till it's like linux will you?
I like windows its just a decade behind in the times.

[KJ94GT]

So am i, I just dont know how easy it would be to get back to vista if it sucked hard dick.

Load it on a Virtual Machine and try it out.

[Tx Redneck]

I like windows its just a decade behind in the times.

Who is current then? Apple....

[01svtboy]

Who is current then? Apple....

didn't you see the one button laptop:gay:

[ram57ta]

Think I might try the beta version out to get a feel for it. I have a spare drive.:fing02:

[Slowhand]

Who is current then? Apple....

Dude has a point. Linux OS's are constantly updated.

[Tx Redneck]

http://forums.pcpitstop.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=164218&view=findpost&p=1558502

[Osiris]

LOL! Someone likes redheads!!!:smileysex5::hump:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/whats-new.aspx

(Look under Jump Lists)

http://www.microsoft.com/library/media/1033/windows/images/windows-7/whats-new/screenshot_jump.jpg

[Hunt4m3x]

LOL! Someone likes redheads!!!:smileysex5::hump:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/whats-new.aspx

(Look under Jump Lists)

http://www.microsoft.com/library/media/1033/windows/images/windows-7/whats-new/screenshot_jump.jpg

lmfao.

[AbecX]

Who is current then? Apple....
At least apple is trying new shit, their UI is eons ahead of this start menu icons crap. Apple has a lot of faults too, I'm not saying they are the greatest either, their single minded view towards a single button mouse is stupid, but they have by far the best 'system' out there in terms of ideas and user friendliness, let alone software side of things.

I dont know, maybe some people like to drive around in a fox body chassis from 1979 - 2004 with a relabeled product name as its only real change. -_-

[ceyko]

Yup, looks like they gave the same functionality a visual improvement and called it a different name.

Exciting.

[ozzeran]

Why fix it if it's not broke?

Start menu is nice. Granted I prefer XP over any of there new stuff though.

[Rreemo]

Let's see....how many Linux desktops make up corporate deployments out there??....yeah, and how many Apple? LOL! If you want to screw around (or Dick around as the Onn put it), they are great options....but when you want to get serious about a mission-critical environment the market pretty much speaks for itself.

[ozzeran]

Let's see....how many Linux desktops make up corporate deployments out there??....yeah, and how many Apple? LOL! If you want to screw around (or Dick around as the Onn put it), they are great options....but when you want to get serious about a mission-critical environment the market pretty much speaks for itself.

Yup, i've been saying that for years. If you have time to dick around then Linux CAN be fun, but that's about it. Apple, meh, I used to WANT one bad when I was young, that was when they had a more proprietary hardware setup, now they use an Intel setup, then it's wtf? I'll pass.

[ceyko]

yeah, and how many Apple?

I hear what you're saying, but I'm starting to see more and more Apple/Mac environments then I've ever seen before in the small to medium corporations.

IDC too much personally, I just want something reliable that works. However, I just pointing out that some of these other OSs seem to becoming more and more popular.

[71chevellejohn]

<- just switched to mac in our office.
The computer works great until we have to get work done. Nobody really makes good accounting/invoicing software that does what we need it to do, intuit makes QB for Mac but even it isn't the same as the PC version that we were using, which worked great.

The real kicker is that I still have a PC on my desk so that I can access certain websites.

[AbecX]

Let's see....how many Linux desktops make up corporate deployments out there??....yeah, and how many Apple? LOL! If you want to screw around (or Dick around as the Onn put it), they are great options....but when you want to get serious about a mission-critical environment the market pretty much speaks for itself.
Mission critical falls on Windows? rofl... OMG I GOTTA GET MY QUICKBOOKS DATA UPDATED THIS IS CRITICAL ALSO NEED TO CHECK MY HOTMAIL

Firefox was once a browser no one used and everyone claimed it would never pass good ol' IE, it only took a few years for it to pass it thanks in part to better UI, security and usability. The same thing is going to eventually happen to Microsoft if they refuse to think outside of the box when it comes to their OS. NTFS is so dated using it in any sort of server environment with high I/O is just asking for weekly downtime to keep the drive performing at an acceptable level.

[71chevellejohn]

Mission critical falls on Windows? rofl... OMG I GOTTA GET MY QUICKBOOKS DATA UPDATED THIS IS CRITICAL ALSO NEED TO CHECK MY HOTMAIL



If your business is running on Quickbooks, then yeah it is "mission critical" that it works and the PC version of QB is a user friendly interface for a small business. Intuit just hasn't maintained the same interface/ease of operation in the mac version. The QBMac problem falls on intuit for putting out a mac version just to say that they have a mac version.

I really don't have any problem with the Mac, except that to do everything I need to do I still have to have a PC sitting next to it.


As far as hotmail goes, it works fine on the mac.

[Roliath]

I'm not too impressed, but it is a step forward I guess.

It seems as there is no innovation with MS anymore, its just the same old shit. I'm recently becoming more and more fond of Linux Mint + Enlightment as each day goes by.

[The Big Matt]

just installed the 64bit version on a relatively new M6300 that was running Vista Business.

Testing for clients at this point. So far so good, only one app didn't work. PDFfactory. Which really can be replaced now with Adobe Acrobat.

[AbecX]

just installed the 64bit version on a relatively new M6300 that was running Vista Business.

Testing for clients at this point. So far so good, only one app didn't work. PDFfactory. Which really can be replaced now with Adobe Acrobat.
Why wouldnt the applications work?

[Rreemo]

Mission critical falls on Windows? rofl... OMG I GOTTA GET MY QUICKBOOKS DATA UPDATED THIS IS CRITICAL ALSO NEED TO CHECK MY HOTMAIL

Are you really that much in the dark?....Quick Books and Hotmail?...Seriously you really think that's it? I said corporate desktops, again...not dicking around at home or playing with some mom & pop code.

Local, state, and federal govt. all rely heavily on desktops to achieve their daily business...ever noticed what those machines are running at your local tax assessors office? How about the machines at the courthouse when you go in to pay a ticket? Or what about damned near every public school system in the world? How about the USAF utilizing SharePoint to run scheduled supply drops in Iraq...food, medical supplies, ammo, pretty much anything that the troops need...they are accessing those SharePoint front-ends running on SQL back-ends through, you got it, Windows desktop clients.

....or we could discuss a little real estate firm called Merrill Lynch...I believe their last contract renewal saw close to 100K desktops....desktops that are used to access a whole plethora of mission-critical internal resources related to their business....web apps that run on IE, email through Exchange with Outlook as the email client, which of course runs on top of Windows desktop....and yes, email is considered mission critical to a company like ML, as that is the #1 mode of communication with a lot of their clients.....same as many many other big players out there....not just real estate, also big playing financial institutions like Fidelity, Ameritrade, Smith Barney, etc....law firms, universities, communications companies.

Some other big desktop folks are the oil companies...I happen to know that Shell uses a proprietary app for their drilling architecture and platform manning services...this app runs on Windows. (Although it used to run on Linux until they got fucked on that and ended up with a catastrophy that cost them roughly $100M over about an 8-week period).

Health care industry is another huge place where Windows desktops serve in mission critical environments. Baylor Healthcare, Calgary Health, Cambridge Health, Cardinal Health, NHS covering all of greater Europe (just to name a few)....medical staff uses Windows clients to access and update patient records, RX, etc, etc. If their client failed, they may not know when to give you your next shot of hormones, or that dose of Ritalin. :)

The thing is, you have to remember that the term "Mission Critical"...is not always going to be just your servers running in the back end, it's dependent on the individual business and end resulting impact that can be caused by any one aspect. We have famous authors that consider Microsoft Word as their Mission Critical app. :yup:

Hell, a month or so ago I dealt with a Crisis situation that was all based on Windows Mobile....yes, Win Mobile was the "mission critical" app for this customer. It was a high-end Limo/Towncar service...This company utilizes a combination of Win Mobile and GPS to track drivers and dispatch all over the place....without Windows mobile they are screwed.

[AbecX]

... I know what dominates the desktop market, thats not whats at dispute here. What I see eventually happening, a new system ( probably something with a linux/unix background similar to macintosh ) taking over in the home market which will eventually transfer over into the business world, similar to how Firefox did. This will probably occur around the time homes start to become more automated and people begin to depend on their computer to handle things ( next 8 - 15 years ). Without proper innovations and change this antiquated operating system is going to get left in the dust. Governments will not continue to shell out tons and tons of money on something that can be recrafted to work on a cheaper platform. Applications will change to web based interfaces which will convert the needs of the OS. All I'm doing is harmless theorizing here, but in my view is a fair assessment as to whats going to happen. Business dont need people with quad core machine to input numbers or to look up records, once they become smarter things will change as they will save thousands of dollars a year on licensing.

[Rreemo]

... I know what dominates the desktop market, thats not whats at dispute here. What I see eventually happening, a new system ( probably something with a linux/unix background similar to macintosh ) taking over in the home market which will eventually transfer over into the business world, similar to how Firefox did. This will probably occur around the time homes start to become more automated and people begin to depend on their computer to handle things ( next 8 - 15 years ). Without proper innovations and change this antiquated operating system is going to get left in the dust. Governments will not continue to shell out tons and tons of money on something that can be recrafted to work on a cheaper platform. Applications will change to web based interfaces which will convert the needs of the OS. All I'm doing is harmless theorizing here, but in my view is a fair assessment as to whats going to happen. Business dont need people with quad core machine to input numbers or to look up records, once they become smarter things will change as they will save thousands of dollars a year on licensing.

Now I can buy that....b/c if you think about it, that's really how it all evolved with Windows in the first place. Without the IBM platform it would never have taken off the way that it did....it was really a hand in hand deal....the software (OS) drove the population of hardware, as did the hardware driving the population of the Windows OS, and especially once it became a more affordable option....and if you think back, it all started in the consumer market. Once that consumer market was so saturated (successful), the technology became better, and then started bleeding over into the corporate space, replacing all of the previous antiquated (and proprietary) stuff that had been the norm for years. The rest is history.

Another item to support your theory.....this economy that we are living in right now! If/when someone comes out with a cheaper solution, something that perhaps doesn't require the cost of seat-licensing, nor the amount of administration, the market is in a state to accept it.

You never know.....but I certainly don't disagree with your theory. Hmmm....maybe there's and opportunity in this somewhere *scratches chin*. ;)

[The Big Matt]

Why wouldnt the applications work?

not sure... It's the 64-bit version which was working on Vista , version 3.18

I downloaded 3.38, it installs just fine, but gets an internal error. I've sent this to PDF Factory's support team. We shall see

[ram57ta]

well I just installed it on my desktop on a spare drive. It looks a lot like Vista but does seem to run faster. On a side note....would you believe there is a seller on Ebay that is already selling copies of Windows 7 beta for 50 bucks:23:

[ozzeran]

My copy decided to freeze at expanding files, at 0% too.

[AbecX]

I really wish people would stop classifying me as a windows hater. Just because you harp on the cowboys leadership and how shitty some of the players are doesn't mean you hate the cowboys.

[Rreemo]

I really wish people would stop classifying me as a windows hater. Just because you harp on the cowboys leadership and how shitty some of the players are doesn't mean you hate the cowboys.

But I do hate the Cowboys. ;)

[The Big Matt]

I really wish people would stop classifying me as a windows hater. Just because you harp on the cowboys leadership and how shitty some of the players are doesn't mean you hate the cowboys.

I know you secretly dream of a three way with Gates and Balmer, you ain't gots to lie!

[usmcluke]

I am having problems understanding what about the Windows UI is antiquaited (sp). Gnome and KDE seem to be doing their best to create a "Windows" like experience. Linux in CLI form is powerful but requires a learning curve at all support levels that most enterpises won't touch much less a SME with limited IT resources.

I challenge you to meet the performance, supportability, and security of a Windows 2008 Server/Vista environment with a RedHat/Ubuntu environment on identical hardware.

I agree that as SaaS and "cloud computing" begin to mature there could be a serious shake up in the business desktop landscape. But there are some things that simply can't be "put in the cloud" yet and servers in house are still very much a requirement. He who owns the server.....owns the desktop.

[AbecX]

I am having problems understanding what about the Windows UI is antiquaited (sp). Gnome and KDE seem to be doing their best to create a "Windows" like experience. Linux in CLI form is powerful but requires a learning curve at all support levels that most enterpises won't touch much less a SME with limited IT resources.
I'm not talking about the Windows mirroring desktops. KDE and Gnome are very old themselves, but the other window managers and applications that enhance them are incredible. Beryl for example makes multitasking a joke with multiple desktops, a feature thats lacking in all Microsoft environments. Sure, you can live without it, but the fact of the matter is that Baby Boomers are out and the smart intelligible people that can learn new shit are in. You give something like this to a bright person and they increase their productivity by a large margin, from developers, to an accountant.

I challenge you to meet the performance, supportability, and security of a Windows 2008 Server/Vista environment with a RedHat/Ubuntu environment on identical hardware.
Performance, security and supportability are already addressed in Ubuntu and Redhat. Windows support is just like Redhat vendor support, its per incident and it costs money, and there is just as many documents out there in the open source world ( probably more ) than there is in the closed source world. Security is still heavily in Linux favor due to a closed first mentality. From a environment standpoint I have seen more compromised Windows machine than Linux machines, granted these are for any number of reason from poor security, terrible coding, or whatever else. For the most part, any OS based attack Microsoft has always been worse as they are extremely slow to get a patch out to resolve issues and the end user is dependent on others to come up with a temp fix in the mean time.



<embed id="VideoPlayback" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=2690866008461615113&hl=en&fs=true" style="width:400px;height:326px" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"> </embed>

[usmcluke]

I'm not talking about the Windows mirroring desktops. KDE and Gnome are very old themselves, but the other window managers and applications that enhance them are incredible. Beryl for example makes multitasking a joke with multiple desktops, a feature thats lacking in all Microsoft environments. Sure, you can live without it, but the fact of the matter is that Baby Boomers are out and the smart intelligible people that can learn new shit are in. You give something like this to a bright person and they increase their productivity by a large margin, from developers, to an accountant.


Performance, security and supportability are already addressed in Ubuntu and Redhat. Windows support is just like Redhat vendor support, its per incident and it costs money, and there is just as many documents out there in the open source world ( probably more ) than there is in the closed source world. Security is still heavily in Linux favor due to a closed first mentality. From a environment standpoint I have seen more compromised Windows machine than Linux machines, granted these are for any number of reason from poor security, terrible coding, or whatever else. For the most part, any OS based attack Microsoft has always been worse as they are extremely slow to get a patch out to resolve issues and the end user is dependent on others to come up with a temp fix in the mean time.

Beryl is cool but other than the "cubing" I don't see where that is revolutionary above the Windows button + Alt.

Server 2008 has taken the closed first approach and to take it step further you can deploy the CLI only version for added security (Remote Office Domain Controller).

RedHat/Ubuntu has taken large steps to supporting Linux in a business enviornment I personally don't want to leave my infrastructure to a couple of guys with a fetish for penguins....ok ok cheap shot. I haven't seen enough skilled professionals with the talent to manage everything. You have to look at it from desktop to server. You need desktop techs, server techs, etc. Microsoft has made great leaps to improving the time to deploy desktop clients. We can roll out 100+ workstations a day and the only physical intervention is the physical act of plugging the PCs in. No CDs, flash drives, Ghost, etc. Built into the Windows Server 2008 OS.

[AbecX]

Beryl is cool but other than the "cubing" I don't see where that is revolutionary above the Windows button + Alt.
This is just one example upon many. Beryl is not just about the 'cool' factor its also about productivity. Anyone remember that video of the guy playing halo and flipping around desktops to help a customer. Yeah, you cant do that kind of shit on a windows box if you tried. The reason he is so quickly able to do the things he needs to do is because of simple stuff like multiple desktops, same reason tabbed browsing is better. What Beryl offers is a way to glance at shit quickly from other desktops. There is many other advantages too, such as alpha blending which was tried and done poorly on windows, transparent applications are a huge benefit.

Server 2008 has taken the closed first approach and to take it step further you can deploy the CLI only version for added security (Remote Office Domain Controller).
Yeah welcome to 30 years ago, Unix has been doing this since the day it was born.

RedHat/Ubuntu has taken large steps to supporting Linux in a business enviornment I personally don't want to leave my infrastructure to a couple of guys with a fetish for penguins....ok ok cheap shot. I haven't seen enough skilled professionals with the talent to manage everything. You have to look at it from desktop to server. You need desktop techs, server techs, etc. Microsoft has made great leaps to improving the time to deploy desktop clients. We can roll out 100+ workstations a day and the only physical intervention is the physical act of plugging the PCs in. No CDs, flash drives, Ghost, etc. Built into the Windows Server 2008 OS.
This is nothing new either, you can tftp a linux install for a god knows how long and deploy it to a network with not much issue. You can also run update servers inside your network and just change your repository so people can use the default tools built in, instead of having to deploy login scripts or other junk to do patching. Linux has way more advantages on a server side that its not even fair to really compare.

Like I said earlier, the current status of Linux desktops is still off, but as soon as someone puts it together its going to be a big problem for Windows to try and keep up. Ubuntu is already heading down the path of easing the pain off a new user, but I dont think they will be the one.

Desktops is one problem among many, whats your answer to still using NTFS and its notoriety for being a fragmented file system. Have you ever seen a Exchange file system that sends/receives over 100k emails a day? yeah, its pretty fucking disgusting, whats their fix, to create mini partitions for each mail addy by allocating a filesize on the disk? Wow, grats on wasted space.

[ceyko]

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/windows_7.png

[Osiris]

Fuck you guys. That easter egg was funny as fuck. :banghead:

[Way Cool Jr]

I tried installing it today and could not get my USB Wifi adapter to work. I would load the drivers, but Win 7 would say that my drivers were not signed and would not load them. Kept getting a "Code 52" error in device manager. I tried all the command line BCDEDIT commands. They would take, but when I restarted the computer I would get the same error.

Since I could not get the network card working, I just gave up and deleted the partition. :(

[Red Shadow]

Right now, Im installing it on a VM. I will be playing with it the majority of the night as this is my once a month over night shift til 8am at work and i will be bored as shit.

[ceyko]

Right now, Im installing it on a VM. I will be playing with it the majority of the night as this is my once a month over night shift til 8am at work and i will be bored as shit.

Bringing this up from the dead again. One big thing I think I'll like (looking at it in a VM) is the NFS support. That'll be slick to have.

[ozzeran]

When is Windows 7 due out?

[Tx Redneck]

When is Windows 7 due out?

I've read early as third quarter 09 on boxed pc's.