Windows 7 Beta Reviews

News on Windows 7 since couple weeks back sound mostly positive. Today the beta version is officially launched. It will be publicly available this Friday. What surprise me more is the OS could be released between July - Dec 09, much earlier than i thought.

Windows 7 Beta Review on Neowin

Win7 is not a big change from Vista, but what i like so far:

1) Less demanding on hardware - run on netbook
2) Faster than both WinXP and Vista
3) Very stable in Beta stage

Vista will have a similar fate of ME.

I think I wrote this somewhere earlier, but people didn't believe me.

I still believe I'm right, however.

Originally Posted by Remus
. What surprise me more is the OS could be released between July - Dec 09, much earlier than i thought.

That would be nice, but I would be shocked if it actually happens. I think it's far more likely that it will be released in 2010.

I actually just purchased a copy of Vista Ultimate. I got it for a really good price, but I'm still wondering if I should have just waited for Windows 7.

My greatest feature wish is a more stable copying system. Vista did improve this somewhat. In Windows XP if something goes wrong with a copy of a large amount of files you really have to start over from scratch again because you barely know what's copied and what isnt, and you do not get the option "skip & continue with the rest of the files".

Also the "remove program" feature is quite bad. I would like to be able to browse exactly what changes a program have made so I can reverse the installation in case the uninstallation of that program fails (which is why I still do not bother about the uninstall feature most of the time, I simply delete the folder instead).

I believe my recent reinstallation of XP trashed my vista partition, so I might check Windows 7 out once it's available.

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
Vista will have a similar fate of ME.
I think I wrote this somewhere earlier, but people didn't believe me.
I still believe I'm right, however.

Most of Vista's problems was due to being new. Most of ME's problems was due to being old. Vista was an untested update that spent more time blocking the customer than helping them, while ME was a remake of w98 when w2k was already released. w2k was much more stable and far more efficient than ME.

Originally Posted by JDR13
That would be nice, but I would be shocked if it actually happens. I think it's far more likely that it will be released in 2010.

I actually just purchased a copy of Vista Ultimate. I got it for a really good price, but I'm still wondering if I should have just waited for Windows 7.

The rumor now is that you could choose free Windows 7 Ultimate upgrade option starting July this year, but unfortunately only with new rig. At least it's much cheaper if you upgrade instead of buying a new one. I intended to get a retail copy as currently using Vista Home Premium OEM.

Originally Posted by Remus
The rumor now is that you could choose free Windows 7 Ultimate upgrade option starting July this year, but unfortunately only with new rig. At least it's much cheaper if you upgrade instead of buying a new one. I intended to get a retail copy as currently using Vista Home Premium OEM.

"Free"? Microsoft and the word "Free" just don't go together.

How much did your copy of Vista Home Premium OEM cost you over there?

Yeah ME was like the last shot in the wrong direction (building on Win98) where as XP was the first main stream shot in the right direction (building on WinNT4.0).

Vista isn't ME. It will likely have a shorter life than XP, but Win7 is based on the architecture that underlies Vista.
That said, I'm looking forward to Win7, but I doubt we see it before the end of 2010. In the meantime, I'll be running Vista on most of my machines (Dual boot with XP on my gaming rig).

I remember reading somewhere that today Balmer said that the beta version of 7 would be available to public,if anyone finds where to download it please post a link.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/

Originally Posted by Pladio
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/

I don't see any download button.
Instead I found this

Originally Posted by JDR13
"Free"? Microsoft and the word "Free" just don't go together.

How much did your copy of Vista Home Premium OEM cost you over there?

Last time i bought at 107 USD (RM380). The retail copy currently cost about 150 USD.

I got a great deal on my retail copy of Vista Ultimate. I purchased it from a guy on Ebay for $130, it was a brand new factory sealed copy.

Vista Ultimate generally goes for about $270 in a store, and it includes both the 32 bit and 64 bit DVDs.

Well here Utimate OEM sales for 200 USD and retail version goes for 330 USD. And the U.S PC products now becoming more expensive as USD starting to appreciate more against our currency.

Originally Posted by Kostaz
I don't see any download button.
Instead I found this

even with the iso you still need the product key from Microsoft to extend the trial period beyond 30days.

btw, a big boo for Microsoft for not deploying torrent downloads which would have taken so much heat off their servers. however the download link at their website is available again.

It doesn't look at all different from Vista and some people like to call it Vista SP2. I hear its a lot faster though, which is a first for a Windows product in spite of their claims up until XP. I hear it boots up almost instantaneously.

From what I've read this really due it being stripped down, such as the removal of a number of embedded applications such as Media Player. I have not actually confirmed this for myself however and I can't see how the lack of applications such as WMP could do such a thing considering the -N versions of Vista don't ship with it either. However, I suspect there's a lot of behind the scenes apps removed and code has been more streamlined and optimized. It sounds like what Bill testified (advertisied) about a stripped down Windows during the trial. I wouldn't be surprised if it was something similar to Pocket PC (aka Windows CE) or what they used to put in toys and refrigerators.

I also hear that the WinFS still won't be a reality.

If it is Vista SP2 this would be a good marketing move for them because the drivers will be available on most available hardware already. The OS will be launched in a "mature" state with most of its kinks worked out. In fact, the reviewers I read said W7b looks like its already to launch.

Plus, instead of releasing it for free they will make some money on it and finally migrate people off XP.

As I understand it it's really Vista with a big SP. They'll rename it because (a) the name "Vista" is burned (educated users hate it and a big part of the professional customers refused to upgrade their IT infrastructure) and (b) they can make several billion$ with a "new" OS.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win…-download.aspx

I think this is only going to be available for a few weeks. I installed Win. 7 for a few days just to check it out, and had some trouble with it particularly with games. It installed in about 20 minutes with a minimum of hassle, boots VERY quickly and the interface has a nice 'feel' to it. The 'Start' menu is different and takes some getting used to. I had no problems with drivers/hardware detection. Overall, I'd say I'm impressed but it's just not quite ready for full time use. I burned the .ISO and wrote down my password, I suppose I'll try it again in another month or so and see how its progressed. For now, I'm going to stick with XP Pro, but I'm pretty sure I'll use Windows 7 when it's released.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I got a great deal on my retail copy of Vista Ultimate. I purchased it from a guy on Ebay for $130, it was a brand new factory sealed copy.

Vista Ultimate generally goes for about $270 in a store, and it includes both the 32 bit and 64 bit DVDs.

Vista ultimate was like 150€ before xmas. People were buying it like bread. I skipped though since it didnt really have anything Id need and som gave it som pretty bad reviews and w7 is so near. I bought premium64 instead (cheap) but after installing both old xp and vista64 into dualboot I have found myself using xp more.

Originally Posted by zakhal
Vista ultimate was like 150€ before xmas. People were buying it like bread. I skipped though since it didnt really have anything Id need and som gave it som pretty bad reviews and w7 is so near. I bought premium64 instead (cheap) but after installing both old xp and vista64 into dualboot I have found myself using xp more.

I doubt it could have been the same package, I've never seen Vista Ultimate(retail box) for less than 260$. I'm going to install it on a seperate hard drive, I don't even want to take the chance of trying the dual-boot setup. I mostly wanted it to take full advantage of my video card, and be able to play my newer games in Direct X 10. I will still be doing the majority of my gaming with WinXP Pro.