cap220

May 01, 2009 at 8:52pm

 Yep..., it's good and Fast!

Been running build 7k x64 (legitimate) on a couple machines here and, aside from a little burp with updates which required a reinstall (23 minutes on a Q9450 w/4 GB DDR2) and AVG not being ready for it, all is good. Quick download of Avast fixed the antivirus issue and, while IE8 is great, Win 7 plays nice with Firefox too.

In response to some of these posts.  Yes, you can finally switch away from XP and, unless you're running some ancient Win 9x box that can barely handle XP, do yourself a huge favor; don't even contemplate x32 versions.  This is the 21st Century and there's plenty of x64 software and drivers out there (yes, the technology is maturing and stable).  Even your "2 Gig Lappy" will thank you.  And, yes, Vista x64 drivers work beautifully with Win 7.  And, yes, the nVidia x64 driver pack works flawlessly. And, no, there is no upgrade path from XP.

Please note that all the builds out right now are the "Ultimate" version - so we're all running the "top shelf" version.  As such, there is built in XP emulation that will require a download if you're not running Ultimate when this OS hits the streets.  Further, the "downloadable fix" for emulation will only be available to Enterprise and "Pro" editions.  The Basic editions won't be able to emulate anything other than Vista, as it were. And, yes, so far as has been published the "downloadable emulation pack" will include a legitimate copy (OEM) of Win XP SP3.  Can anyone say "virtual machine"? There isn't currently XP "built-in" to the betas it's just that everything I seem to run in XP runs well in Win 7. And, btw, x32 apps are handled completely separately in Win 7 x64.  Really, the only app I can't get to run natively in Win 7 x64 is an old copy of Wolfenstein 3D (x16) from 1995. Yeah, I know, I'll get over it! Can always use that copy of VMWare to launch XP to launch a DOS prompt...,

Finally, a word or two in regard to backward compatibility with aging hardware.  I decided I needed to print a quick screenshot to my networked HP Photosmart printer.  So, without thinking, I went to add a "network printer" fully expecting to be required to "feed" Windows the HP drivers (like,ready to go off to HP.com and download them), Win 7 found the printer, asked me if I wanted to add it, and then, in less than 30 seconds, added the drivers and I printed a test page. Too cool.  The MSDN blog states that there are in excess of 10,000 hardware drivers installed in Win 7 beta and more to be added prior to retail release in November. So, unless you're using some bizzaaro old HP LJ Series 1 laser printer (which, Win 7 probably has the driver for already) you should be fine plugging just about anything into it.  By the time it hits the streets for real the driver base should be deeper still.

Oh yeah, almost forgot, the best part of Windows 7? When you click on the orb and look to the right it says "Shut Down" (comes this way out of the box!).

The bottom line is this..., MS finally adressed what we, the market, wants. The MS Developer Blog and Forums have been a whirlwind of activity throughout the beta program with suggestions from users pouring in at a steady rate.  The miracle? The Win 7 Engineering Team is actually integrating our suggestions!

This OS is stable, intuitive and fast! And, yes, Vista is a dog in comparison (see quote below).

Congratulations to MS.  Windows 7 is actually the first OS from Microsoft since Windows 95 that I'm willing to pay cash for!

"Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes."

Mahatma Ghandi

Cyberdiver

May 01, 2009 at 8:27pm

Have not used MSDN in soem time. I did not realize you had to pay for the technet stuff :< So I have to wait for the publice release now.. I been runing the orignaly public release without any issues.

djfear123

May 01, 2009 at 5:51pm

just wanted to say:  I have been using build 7057 since it popped and I love it.  The only thing that will make me want to change right now is the release of the RC.  I dunno if it is posted anywhere here (I assume it is) but for those that are having driver issues, vista-64 drivers work for w7-64.  In fact, though some vendors have windows 7 drivers (nvidia) I am using all vista 64 drivers and have had no issues at all.  It's good to see the drivers actually work for once!

Vano

May 01, 2009 at 5:13pm

I've been testing W7 on my "TV" PC since build 7000 and love it. The only problem I'm experiencing is network via wifi. W7 doesn't remember login information for other computers on lan after reboot, especially if network wasn't established before the logon. Otherwords using network drives with wifi is out of question.
I kind of doubt it will be fixed in this RC1 version either.

dgourd

May 01, 2009 at 3:46pm

Personnally I can't wait for the public to get it.  Does anyone know a good torrent that doesn't have a trojan or atleast an MD5 checksum I could use.

killerxx7

May 01, 2009 at 12:31pm

Just got the e-mail today,

 

i will be putting the rc on all my rigs next weekend since the beta i have been testing has been sooooo good!

i have been running it for 2 weeks without a single restart and its only eaten up 40% of my 2gb ram!

jihnn

May 01, 2009 at 12:05pm

just sitting here thinking about stuff 

 

had an odd thought :  WHERE ARE ALL THE VISTA DIE HARDS  all the fanboy's that have told the rest of us  that xp is old tech  vista is the future   the best os ever  lol

 

what i am seeing in the forums is a bunch of vista fanboy's wanting a new os  gotta have w7

 

guess we were right

jihnn

May 01, 2009 at 11:42am

finally is this the one to replace xp with?   i'm looking to get x58 w/920 kinda soon just waiting on a mobo to get it right

 

what about gaming

 

how bout that 8 year old  laser printer that i love so much

errrrg   

 

if the botto0m doens't fall out  and every forum is saying holy crap w7 sucks i'll give it a go

guess this is ms saying vist really does suck   rip

habuza

May 01, 2009 at 11:40am

I can try it out on my new rig I'll have finished by then