Windows 7 Beta

[CT Wolf]

The Windows 7 beta went public and for those of you that would like to try it, just give this a click and you'll be able to download if from MS. You will need a MS Live acct but if you use Messenger, you already have one. If not, you can get one for free.

I installed the beta on one of my other machines and after using it for the better part of a day, it does seem to run fairly well. I ran Photoshop CS4 for several hours without any issues except that when browsing my network, it was a bit laggy.

You'll need to either use a spare hard drive, create a partition on a drive that's in your computer or run it in a virtual machine.

Running in a virtual machine will impede performance - I tried it on a very fast machine w/8GB DDR3 and it did not perform all that well.

If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them here.

[CT Wolf]

Yes, it does. But by then, I'm sure there will be another build to replace this one.

I'm just guessing here but I think we'll see a release candidate around Sept/Oct with final code coming in November.

[BananaTreeClimber]

I'm also using the beta, think it said til August 09. So far I'm happy with it, couldn't stand Vista. This is running must smoother and much faster. It's still got some annoyances but give it a shot why not.

I got sick of Vista and had gone back to XP 64 bit and it was okay, we'll see how long I stay happy with this.

[CT Wolf]

I'm also using the beta, think it said til August 09. So far I'm happy with it, couldn't stand Vista. This is running must smoother and much faster. It's still got some annoyances but give it a shot why not.

I got sick of Vista and had gone back to XP 64 bit and it was okay, we'll see how long I stay happy with this.


The beta runs much better than Vista did when it was released.

Photoshop and Office applications run very well.

Other than slow network performance, 7 runs quite well.

I'll put a decent graphics card in the Windows 7 machine soon and will see how well it runs games.

You are correct about the August date. Thanks for the correction. :coffee2

[White_Is_Right]

So the next version isn't more bloated than Vista?

From what I've noticed so far, the next version of Windows has always been more bloated than the previous version.

[CT Wolf]

So the next version isn't more bloated than Vista?

From what I've noticed so far, the next version of Windows has always been more bloated than the previous version.

From what I've experienced so far, Windows 7 is less bloated than Vista. The UI has been somewhat revamped and is pleasant and intuitive to use.

The task bar is neat. If you have several Explorer windows open and you mouse over the Explorer icon in the taskbar, you see a small popup windows that shows a miniature version of the windows that are open. If you mouse over one of the small windows, everything on the screen will fade away to about 95% and the one window you are mousing over will show full size.

[myhouse]

The task bar is neat. If you have several Explorer windows open and you mouse over the Explorer icon in the taskbar, you see a small popup windows that shows a miniature version of the windows that are open. If you mouse over one of the small windows, everything on the screen will fade away to about 95% and the one window you are mousing over will show full size.

Sounds like more unnecessary bells and whistles. And the reason Win7 doesn't seem bloated yet, is because they didn't add all the junk to it. Also, they are moving towards the Windows Live, with mail, messenger, etc.

Still nothing written ONLY for Vista, and not many programs are writing for 64bit. (which is fine by me, I'm still stuck in AGP days).

[CT Wolf]

Sounds like more unnecessary bells and whistles. And the reason Win7 doesn't seem bloated yet, is because they didn't add all the junk to it. Also, they are moving towards the Windows Live, with mail, messenger, etc.

Still nothing written ONLY for Vista, and not many programs are writing for 64bit. (which is fine by me, I'm still stuck in AGP days).

The bells and whistles are useful if you keep a lot of windows open at once; they save time when looking for a certain explorer window.


Photoshop CS4 comes with a 64 bit version and it does run much better the 32 bit application.

I just came across this (http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/review/392/1050392/windows-7-is-enough-to-kill-linux-on-the-desktop) article/review of the beta and you might want to give it a look. :coffee

[assbeef]

i am using it right now-i like it!
my games run great on it as well!
my puter is a new build i put together at christmas.here are the specs-

AMD 9850 BLACK EDITION PHENOM X4.
ASUS MAINBOARD.
ATI HD4870 1 GIG DDR5 GRAPHICS.
4 GIG DDR2.
1.5 TERRABYTE RAID DRIVES IN RAID.
22" LCD,2MS MONITOR.

RUNS SWEET!

[BananaTreeClimber]

So the next version isn't more bloated than Vista?

From what I've noticed so far, the next version of Windows has always been more bloated than the previous version.

No it's just as bloated. My Windows 7 folder is 11 gigs 60,991 files, so plenty bloated. But unlike Vista, 32 or 64 bit, it doesn't run like crap on my $3,000 machine. Boot up and Shut down times are very fast, and everything just seems like it runs better. If I was running an older box it'd probably run like crap but it just feels like Vista the way it should of been from the start. Always hated Vista.

[myhouse]

No it's just as bloated. My Windows 7 folder is 11 gigs 60,991 files, so plenty bloated. But unlike Vista, 32 or 64 bit, it doesn't run like crap on my $3,000 machine. Boot up and Shut down times are very fast, and everything just seems like it runs better. If I was running an older box it'd probably run like crap but it just feels like Vista the way it should of been from the start. Always hated Vista.

Ya Vista and Win7 'try' to make the system respond faster by caching and prefetching everything. Check the \windows\winsxs folder, mine is like 6gig.

I prefer XP Pro, BUT, I recently put Vista on again, because of DirectX 10 and my vidcard performs much better in Vista than in XP.

I stripped down Vista, including services, and even though I'm connecting to a Domain (I run a full Windows Server 2003 server network domain in my home), I have about 35 processes running, and performance is great.

I have the Win7 beta 7000 but it expires in about a month. I will wait until at least RC1 to play with it again.

Hmmm, I wish I had a key for Windows Server 2008 wink wink.

[CT Wolf]

A wink back (http://www.filefactory.com/file/a020dgf/n/NT6WP_CTFORUM_zip)

[myhouse]

A wink back (http://www.filefactory.com/file/a020dgf/n/NT6WP_CTFORUM_zip)

Thanks, but I could have sworn by using the Vista Activation... the server would not run as a domain controller.

[Hondo]

I loaded up windows 7 build 7000 last night.
So far...it looks and feels like Vista..but slimmed down a bit.
Juries still out I guess.

I have a triple boot- Vista x64, XP Pro...and now Win 7x64.

Still....I love my MacBook Pro 17"
Mac Leopard has been so easy and trouble free for me.
Unlike Vista...which spends 24 hrs a day doing fucking updates on top of updates.