Windows 7

[heatemyfather]

I'm downloading the release candidate (2.4GB) at work as we have a fast broadband line there that won't be used after 5pm. I'll be curious to see how well it installs on a typical business PC, and if it gets to a stable running state then how fast it is to use. I'm bracing myself for Blue Screen of Death, driver problems (i.e. total lack thereof), program incompatibilities, etc. You know, all the usual stuff one expects from MS Windows! Cripes, even IE was giving me errors while I was browsing the Microsoft website, how bad is that!?

[astral276]

Well if you suddenly go quiet at least we will know the reason why.

You are either brave or stupid. I'll go with brave for now but reserve the right to change my mind later.

[cpeuf1]

Good luck! My boss has it on his computer and when I need to use his machine I simply cannot do anything!! It is so frustrating, like having to learn a completely new program!! And as far as creating problems, it is simply number one! I hope I never have to have it on my PC...

[kengillam]

Doesn't sound promising, think I'll stick with XP, if it ain't broke I ain't fixin it.

[heatemyfather]

You are either brave or stupid. I'll go with brave for now but reserve the right to change my mind later.

Oh don't worry, I'll be installing it on a spare works PC. No way would I trust Microsoft with running my own personal computer. People who run Windows at home as their main operating system are the brave / stupid ones.

[astral276]

Oh don't worry, I'll be installing it on a spare works PC. No way would I trust Microsoft with running my own personal computer. People who run Windows at home as their main operating system are the brave / stupid ones.

Well I have tried two versions of Linux and failed to get on with it at all and ended up uninstalling it again.

It's not a case that I don't know anything but Windows. I came up through patch board programming, hex programming, assembler programming, various proprietary OS and DOS, plus GCOS on a Honeywell DPS6 system, before I even tasted Windows.

[heatemyfather]

Well I tried it. The install was fairly quick and painless, much improved over the one they had for Windows XP and previous versions (I haven't seen Vista install yet). I set it going and when I came back an hour later it was done and ready to use.

That was the best part.

I've only used Vista briefly, and from what I saw of it it seemed to be little more than XP with bloated graphics and everything moved around the place. Windows 7 looked exactly the same. I noticed nothing particularly new, just the same old things renamed and shuffled around. There was a Windows benchmark thing (called Windows Experience something-or-other - why not just call it a benchmark?) which could be useful to some, but for anyone who is remotely techy just dumbs things down even more and would be irrelevant.

If Microsoft really have re-written it from the ground-up, they've done a very good job of copying what they already had in XP. I was hoping for a whole new and different experience, not related to XP or Vista at all, with a learning curve that involved something other than finding where they've shoved the same old hotchpotch of bits and pieces.

I have read that there's a Windows XP compatibility layer (read: emulator), and that would be a useful and interesting feature if not for the fact that Windows 7 provides no real incentive for me and I'm sure many others to actually upgrade in the first place. Might as well stick with XP.

Just looks like another pointless upgrade to me... or should that be downgrade.

[cpeuf1]

Well all I know is when I need to use word and Excel I want to do it the same way I am used to doing it, and with Windows 7 I have to waste a lot of time hunting for what I need to do my work. I have used various programs in my work for sales & accounts and while they all have regular updates, they do not move everything around like Microsoft have done on this occasion.

[heatemyfather]

Well all I know is when I need to use word and Excel I want to do it the same way I am used to doing it, and with Windows 7 I have to waste a lot of time hunting for what I need to do my work. I have used various programs in my work for sales & accounts and while they all have regular updates, they do not move everything around like Microsoft have done on this occasion.

Yeah, I had the misfortune of trying to use Word on Vista once - oh sure, move EVERYTHING so that I can't find it.

Microsoft haven't quite grasped the key concept of what an operating system should be - it should sit in the background and not be noticed; it should not change the core applications that people use from day to day, and with upgrades and new releases it should become faster, more efficient, and easier to use. I have yet to be convinced that any of the changes made in Windows 7, IE 8, or the latest Office incarnations actually improve people's productivity.

[SalusLibrorum]

I've not used anything later than XP or office 2003 - which is what we have at work, we actually have to pay more to downgrade Vista back to XP, which I think is crazy (that we have to pay more to get "less", not that we don't want to upset all our systems). I was hoping that Windows 7 was going to be an improvement on previous incarnations - and the computer press seemed to be optimistic that it was.

It's very disappointing that you don't think it's any different, apart from not being able to find anything. Not that it matters to me, I'm on Ubuntu, and sticking with it. What problems did you have Astral that made Linux not worth the effort? (That isn't a sarky question btw, I'd really like to know, I've come to the conclusion that my Access database problem is going to have to be solved by running XP inside VirtualBox, that way I have Windows, but I'm not using it as a main OS).