Windows 7 RC

Ross_Strachan

Windows v's Mac aside.

Just curious as to how may folks have installed the Windows 7 RC version ? I did it a couple of days ago (I previously had the beta too).

And wondering about peoples views on it so far?

For me it is possibly the best version of Windows to date. I put it on my old laptop and it is at least as fast and stable as XP Professional was. Even the funky Aero UI works and it's way, way better than Vista (Vista was slow and temperamental on this laptop).

Hopfully, MS have got it sorted, I'd like to make it my main OS on my production workstation.

Millionaire

I know which way this thread is going to go.:D Anyway..

I have Windows 7 RC installed. Love the new taskbar and features. Bootup and shut down are faster than Vista and overall it is snappier to use. The UAC feature is much better, In Vista it was becoming a hinderence.

Performance wise from tests I've seen its marginally faster than Vista, unless you have a SSD instead of a HDD. Then there are higher gains in performance between Vista and Windows 7.

Overall its a improvement over Vista but I still prefer OS X Leopard.

By the way don't forget we are using a clean version, just wait till the manufacturers get hold of it and stick their crap on.:rolleyes:

gaming_guy

i've just literally imaged it onto a laptop with 256mb ram (it needs 512mb to install from cd). i'll let you know how it goes

anyway, from using it in a VM it seems to be much better than vista and slightly faster as well probably because areo is disabled in VM's as they dont have good enough gfx drivers

spud17

I'm on XP and have only played with Vista on a desktop and a laptop with 1.8Ghz processor,1Gb RAM and Vista Basic.

However, due to rearranging everything after an unreliable motherboard, I ended up with a Duron1.6 processor and 768Mb RAM free.

For a trial I put on the RC, and was very pleasantly surprised.

Despite the below recommended spec, bearing in mind also Millionares comments, with Avira installed it was much faster than I'd imagined.

It was on a par with the above laptop which was also hampered by Norton.

With XP, I've not downloaded IE8, I use Firefox anyway, but with Windows 7, once it loaded the first time after booting, it seemed pretty swift.

One thing, like everything these days, do we need loads of options for every possible situation, but I suppose it is the Ultimate version.

I must say I'm considering putting it on my main PC.

Marty_J

I wasn't too impressed. It's not bad or anything, but it's not great either. The way everyone went on about it, I thought it was going to be blazingly fast, but it's not. UAC seems to be a lot less intrusive, but I hate the new taskbar for some reason.

The whole thing is a marketing exercise because Vista bombed so spectacularly anyway. Vista SP1 sorted out a lot of the early problems with Vista, and SP2 patched it up some more. But Microsoft are determined to get some money out of Windows users who don't want to use Vista.

Paradigm

I''ve had for a few weeks & it's ok but too much like Vista. I dual boot with XP & there is a big speed advantage to XP.

My thoughts are that it tries to do too much, has too many features that most don't need & as a result is a resource hungry bloated beast of an OS.

As far as I'm concerned XP was the best OS microsoft ever built!

Just as an aside, I checked my Windows 7 C: windows folder & it weighs in at 10.1 GB!!! OK thats with some add-ons but why on earth would an operating system need 10 gig of space?

Marty_J

An interesting article about why "Windows 7 is Microsoft's next Zune":

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2009/05/09/why-windows-7-is-microsofts-next-zune/

spud17

UAC seems to be a lot less intrusive, but I hate the new taskbar for some reason.

Agree about the taskbar, the level of UAC can be altered, rather than on/off as before.

hotkee

Tried it on my pc - hate it.

They have not changed much - the windows explorer is still as naff as ever - I have Vista and I use an alternative file explorer.

Windows 7 start menu is as cuckoo as it gets - classic menu option no where.

The task bar is the most annoying thing I have known.

The quick launch isn't even there - and trying to enable it is a piece of work (and only half possible).

Turn off the Themes services - its still the basic XP system with gloss - get with it Microsoft it, come up with something decent.

I have vista ultimate and configured it enough that it actually works quiet reasonably once you get rid of the glossy themes, aero and all the other junk which they are still trying to peddle with windows 7.

I put windows 7 on a laptop for my bro just coz we ran out of license for xp - and it will have to do for the next year.

Taken it off my pc.

Anyone want to try something windows7ish with linux then get ubuntu or debian and switch to XFCE or KDE.

Ross_Strachan

Agreed about the start menu and the left pane of explorer they are all too busy but apart from those I do confess to liking it and plan to put it on my main workstation when it's released.

Paradigm, yep, 10Gig is large - the irony is that they have supposedly moved a lot of stuff out too. I suspect the compatability features (running in various other window modes require the guts of other Windows versions hence the bloat)

I do like the task bar consolodate mode and jump lists though.

I've got various developer tools on it now, Avast, Asquared and a few other bits (flash, zip et al) but I imagine (like the beta) it'll gunk up in around 6 months. (I reinstall every year so not a huge issue)

Been using IE8 for months though without problems - I think it's also an improvement over previous versions. Having said that I am considering Google Chrome because it really is very speedy.

Thanks all for your thoughts.

Money_Grabber13579

gaming_guy wrote: »

i've just literally imaged it onto a laptop with 256mb ram (it needs 512mb to install from cd). i'll let you know how it goes

anyway, from using it in a VM it seems to be much better than vista and slightly faster as well probably because areo is disabled in VM's as they dont have good enough gfx drivers

Yeah I tried the same, only I had to hack it to get it to install. Not overly slow either!:D