Windows 7 Review: XP vs Vista vs 7 in 80+ Benchmarks
Posted 10/19/09 at 02:00:00 PM by Will Smith
Finally, Microsoft releases a successor worthy of Windows XP
For the Windows faithful, it’s been a tough eight years. With the launch of Windows XP in 2001, we thought we were poised on a brink of a new world of NT-based goodness—but two years and uncountable exploits later, the future of Windows was grim. Facing a never-ending torrent of new ‘sploits, worms, and trojans, Microsoft fired back with the single greatest operating system update of all time—Service Pack 2. In the single fell swoop of SP2, Windows XP went from Swiss cheese to secure, and once again we were poised to enter the promised land with… (wait for it)… Vista.
Of course, we all know how Vista turned out. Haunted by poor performance in everything from games to disk access to networking, Vista is widely considered to be Microsoft’s biggest failure. Nonetheless, Vista laid the groundwork for a host of new technologies, all absolutely vital to pushing Windows into the 21st century. Vista’s new, modern driver architecture was designed to move core functionality from the kernel (where any instability can bring down the whole system) to user space—an absolutely necessary development. Likewise, Vista’s proper enforcement of permissions for both users and applications enhanced security, even though UAC remains very annoying. And once vendors fixed their driver flaws and Microsoft squashed some underlying bugs, Vista morphed into an entirely workable operating system, even if we still wouldn’t describe it as “good.”
So, as 2009 draws to a close, we find ourselves testing another new Microsoft OS: Windows 7. Building on the now-mature technologies introduced with Vista, but with a renewed focus on performance and ease-of-use, Windows 7 seems poised to succeed where Vista couldn’t. We’ve finally received a final build of Win7, and have run it through the wringer in both the Lab and in the real-world. Here’s what we found.
New Features
While support for new hardware and improved security are perfectly valid reasons to upgrade your OS, the sexiest benefits of an operating system upgrade are all the new features. Indeed, from a completely revamped user interface to brand-new features designed to make organizing and sharing your files easier, Windows 7 delivers much more than some new wallpaper and a different color Taskbar. (Though there are lots of new wallpapers.)
User Interface Enhancements
The most obvious changes from previous versions of Windows to Windows 7 can be found in a redesigned user interface. Sure, much of the interface remains the same, but Microsoft has completely overhauled key elements, starting with the Taskbar.
The New Taskbar
After 14 years of nothing more than cosmetic changes, Microsoft’s redesign of the Taskbar combines the pure window organizing power of the classic Taskbar with the application-launching, multi-purpose convenience of Mac OS X’s Dock. In addition to showing the applications that you currently have open, the new Windows 7 Taskbar also hosts shortcuts to your most commonly used applications. Click a shortcut when the app is running, and it brings the most recently used window to the foreground. Click the same shortcut when the app is closed, and it will launch the app.
But that’s not all. Drag a file onto a shortcut in the Taskbar, and Windows will open the file using that app. Hover your mouse over a running application’s icon, and it expands to show live thumbnail previews of all of that app’s windows, floating just above the Taskbar. Mouse over a thumbnail, and Windows will bring that particular window to the foreground. You can even close individual windows from the thumbnail previews.
For anyone who regularly finds himself with more than 10 windows open, the new Taskbar is a dream come true.
Jump Lists
Another core enhancement to the OS comes in the form of Jump Lists. In short, Jump Lists put frequently used files in a convenient menu that’s a simple click away from the shortcut icon on the Taskbar or on the Start Menu. Apps that support Jump Lists will display the list when you right click on the shortcut, or when you left-click and drag the mouse up away from the Taskbar. Additionally, some apps will automatically populate their Jump List with files you recently opened.
New Shortcuts
Along with the redesigned UI elements comes a whole new world of user-interface shortcuts. There are really too many to get into here, but the best of the new shortcuts allow you to maximize a window by dragging it to the top of the screen, minimize it by dragging it to the bottom, maximize to half your screen by dragging it to either edge, or (our favorite) minimizing all other windows by shaking the one you want to focus on. Furthermore, enhancements to alt+tab let you immediately find lost windows, and you can use the Windows key and numbers 1 through 0 to launch the first ten shortcuts on your Taskbar. And when those apps are already open, you can cycle through multiple windows by pressing the app’s keyboard shortcut again.
Explorer Enhancements
Windows Explorer also receives some much-needed love. The changes since Vista are relatively minor, but they serve to make the left-column of Explorer the quickest way to navigate to any folder on your hard drive, network, or even in the cloud. Furthermore, you can arrange the different categories in any way you want, quickly add special folders to the Favorites section, and even hide sections you don’t use.
The other main place to access the file browser is the shortcut bar on the right column of the Start Menu. In Windows 7, there are more folders that you can choose to display there, including Downloads and Recorded TV. However, you still can’t place any folder you choose in one of those precious slots.
We Hope You Like the Ribbon
The controversial Ribbon, which replaced traditional menus and shortcut bars in Office 2007, is prominently featured in Windows 7. In the applets that ship with the OS, you’ll see the Ribbon featured prominently.
I really would agree with that
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Submitted by Mark_Spenser on Fri, 09/03/2010 - 4:15am
Great info. I like all your post. I will keep visiting this blog very often. It is good to see you verbalize from the heart and your clarity on this important subject can be easily observed..
Submitted by Mark_Spenser on Fri, 09/03/2010 - 4:13am
The same peeps posting here adamantly stating how much better Windows XP is over Windows 7, are the same folks that said the same thing about Windows 98 when XP was released.
Submitted by shimulh on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 1:01pm
These idiot UK law firms shoot out fake law suits like spam mail. There should be laws against this as well. Its no different than the emoticon debacle. Even if these stupid things did go thru a court good luck enforcing it! No one is going to fall for that crap even if these so called CRs were upheald in some UK court.steam cleaning
Submitted by PurpleHope on Mon, 08/16/2010 - 6:05am
Finally with windows 7 I don't have anymore problems with these engenius drivers. Until now I had many problems with XP, now it all works fine! I really really like W7.
Submitted by Rahul1111111 on Fri, 08/13/2010 - 12:00am
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I loathe Vista/W7. To be
Submitted by Gew on Wed, 08/11/2010 - 10:40am
I loathe Vista/W7. To be honest, it feels a bit like "same shit different name". I'm what you call a super user, and I'm used to reliability, stability, and last but not least — speed. The RDP service/client of W7 is incredibly slow, even with lowest settings. To make a long story short, I really hope M$ won't drop support for their XP fanboys just yet. Not like, err, not like ever!
hello, recently i have
Submitted by sourav18 on Mon, 08/02/2010 - 10:56am
hello,
recently i have installed vista ultimate x86 , and i am not at all satisfied with the performance . the explorer.exe gets hanged time to time . so i was thinkink wheather i should install Windows 7 or i should start using windows XP again my config: core2duo, 2 gb ram ,(250+80) gb HDD , 512 mb palit geforce 8400gs graphics
i am not so good at using softwares and i wont b able to afford much money if some problem arises like vista
i am counting on the reccomendation of other members thank you;
yours faithfully
sourav18
Submitted by razorchris on Thu, 07/15/2010 - 8:12am
Wowo BIg thanks on your feature for Windows 7. I thought Ultimate was the best. But as you said its best to have Pro instead. Well activating a license was a lot more difficult nowadays. Just like their Dynamics RMS. I called their support just to activate our license. And now with the new release Windows 7 I think i will have also a poblem activating it. Goodluck to me. Hope I can be happy with Windows 7 that from my previous XP.
Submitted by razorchris on Thu, 07/15/2010 - 8:20am
Is Windows 7 a universal OS that can run application such as Adobe CS4, and some other software?
Submitted by Caboose on Thu, 07/15/2010 - 10:57am
Think about what you just asked...
You know what, screw it.
No, Windows 7 is not a universal OS, and it can't run even the most popular apps available today. The only thing you can really run on Windows 7 is Calculator and MS Paint. You have to get a special version of Office that is Windows 7 only and costs about 8x as much as Office 2010 for Mac.
-- Sent from Firefox 3.6.6 on my desktop running Windows 7 Professional 64bit while running any app I please.
Submitted by razorchris on Thu, 07/15/2010 - 8:20am
Is Windows 7 a universal OS that can run application such as Adobe CS4, and some other software?
Submitted by devils on Sun, 07/11/2010 - 5:17am
The same adhd crowd that swallows the political marketing, no accountability, and now maximized world pulp are the same geniuses that think win7 is an os.
I am having to do this on one of my xp pc's since the fresh installs of win7 64 require me to wait an inordinate amount of time for it to boot, and then fight through continuous ie failures. 17 860, 4gb, 5870, etc.
For the over anxious fangurls and glad hands, twitching fingers poised over the kybrds,.. if spelling and grammar is all you know and think it adds credence to your spiteful fire backs, this is the same half formed thoughts and social inexpediences that were the norm over a decade ago.
Most of the unbacked comments are still of the coke vs pepsi, ford vs dodge, shallow requoting of paid for reviews. They pretty much all have the same motivation of self-esteem inflating, self congratulatory, ego centric contributions of having weighed in on a topic that has been marketed through a huge advertising machine. The same notions that make facebook and twit'erers imagine that everyone is so anxious to exchange meaningless - "i'm walking dowtown right now", "here's a pic of my dog" info that no one really cares about but are obligated to respond so that they can get themselves off on imagining people care an iota when they offer up their meaningless tripe. A state the world communication exchange was in a long time ago. (but I do not deny the great advantages in other contexts)
I got vista 64 bt with the win7 upgrade license last fall. The negative of vista was everything they said it was. Upgrading to win7 64 bit demonstrated that it was significantly slower and much more convoluted than vista and as well, my 46" samsung monitor now had 1" black border all around it and the display was out of phase leaving a smaller and less appealing display. Adjusting under scan in catalyst leaves much to be desired.
I adjusted a single, upfront menu in performance settings in "premium" (frgn joke) home edition and was presented with continuous bsd's upon the reboot. There is no safe boot to go back and adjust your preferences or recover from a bad setting. Auto recovery is more of a joke than you can possibly imagine. Of course rolling back to a restore point was utterly useless and leads us to one of many reinstalls.
As I mentioned inet explorer is now one of the slowest and most useless tools in win7 and even if there are no error msgs about it failing when any of my other 4 xp pc's are working fine, the wait times and having to close and reopen the app it makes it not an option.
Application opening, I am a gaming enthusiast and world class in some genres, is ridiculouos most of the time, having to reclick over and over again (new keyboard mouse - always as I wear them out and replace long before anyone else would have problems with them) and am not impressed with wireless. All my friends, associates and peers like mindedly stay on xp and do not own any other ms products like the burnout xbox, instead enjoying quality products like ps3, wii, etc.
I am amazed how people believe that when ms changes a bunch of crap in a new version of anything that it is due to "most requested features". I love now when expanding items - some are on the left side some on the right side all on the same page.
If win7 is the 'best ever' to you then you are not doing very much with your hardware. If it is 'easier' & 'simpler' then you do not know much about pc's and probably barely managing to do what most of the technical world was doing years ago.
As a business analyst it is truly terribly shocking to see how much effort and resources microlimp is putting into marketing and false information to get idiot execs to think, for example that "sharepoint" serves a 'business intelligence' niche. If you have any sort of clue about SEO and observed black hat practices over the last 4 years then you know ms is NOT your friend. E.g. you need a phd in semantics to get to real objective information, not clonesites that pretend they are a referential IT technical site or sommunities specifically set up to offer no true objective data. (OH oh and see the lovely chest fulls of medals, like the goons in the military, that "sr. < technical specialists>" sport on their avatar. Highschool drop out security guards wearing either the swat gear look or special forces admiral look. The extravagant 1960's russian military look. You even get 'boards' for attendence. - Maybe go to an art gallery and hang on the wall for a while.)
Like the mmorpg pleebs whose only strategy is to lurch ahead without any clear conception of what is going on, upgrades and new products versions are going to part you from your hard earned money for no real benefit.
DX 11 is a little better, but for all the problems and marginalized performance, XP is better, faster, simpler and much more capable than yet another attempt of ms to pander to the dmbaz crowd that prlly shoudn't own a pc.
To yet, put this to another test, i've picked up a vertex 2 extended ssd and another 2tb hdd and will triple boot - xp, win7 32 and win7 64.
Save your money, show ms you want real quality not glitzy gurlie crap, and enjoy xp.
If you're a pc and win7 is your idea, you're probably the same no-mind that watches tv on your pc or twits your friends where your fingers are.
I live in a federal gov't town that gives all its employees blackberries. The same reacharound crowd with faces buried in their little screens oblivious to the world, but stupifyingly satisfied to be boot licking the latest tardastic IT initiative emailed from the executive. The same executives that imagine any hundreds of millions of $ is worth being able to video chat with anyone else in the organizations because they just got a spyspace account, at taxpayer expense.
I imagine that in 5 - 10 yrs from now after the throngs grow bored with vain, self pampering technocentricities, there may be a return to good solid R&D. If you have any sort of measurments that indicate win7 performs better, then you are an ms tool.
Submitted by dracx619 on Mon, 07/12/2010 - 3:09am
i wonder why i never deal with any of these problems, replaced xp on my desktop, upgraded from vista on my laptop. after getting good drivers ive been solid (my only problems came with betas). im not being paid, im not being biased, blinded, or manipulated. im just a real user and tech enthusiast who has had nothing but good stories about 7. showed and trained my non tech wife, aunt, and friends win 7 and the reactions are all the same, "wow! cool! thats great!" and all love it and prefer it over xp now. must be just you and a few others....enjoy
Submitted by Caboose on Sun, 07/11/2010 - 10:18pm
another person who is going to hold on to Windows XP until they die.
as for your post, tldr...
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
Submitted by lacewigs on Tue, 06/08/2010 - 3:04am
be free
Submitted by wingyoo on Tue, 04/27/2010 - 11:52am
I personally think Windows7 is the greatest OS of ALL time.
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Submitted by dracx619 on Wed, 04/28/2010 - 8:53am
sorry, i got to say this
"im sorry windows xp, im happy for you, ima let you finish, but windows 7 is the greates os of all time, of all time"
Submitted by Caboose on Wed, 04/28/2010 - 11:23am
I LOL'd
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
Submitted by yur_maker on Fri, 04/16/2010 - 6:24am
The same peeps posting here adamantly stating how much better Windows XP is over Windows 7, are the same folks that said the same thing about Windows 98 when XP was released.
"The irony is almost comical."
Submitted by Kazabet on Mon, 04/19/2010 - 6:32pm
How is that ironic exactly? It seems perfectly logical.
Submitted by dracx619 on Fri, 04/16/2010 - 7:43am
iwould say +1 but its so spot on, i say +100000
Submitted by Rickh123456 on Wed, 03/31/2010 - 5:21am
I will move up to Win 7 64 bit when I buy a new laptop later this year, but gee whiz, I HATE ribbons! I bought MS Office 2007 and never use it because I can never find what I need! Hopefully the applets in Win 7 that have Ribbons will be easier to navigate.
I am already bummed out about the inability to use "classic" view in Win 7. Gawd, I must be getting old....
Submitted by aznyron on Wed, 03/17/2010 - 5:14am
I use 3 G novatell wireless net work out in my village in Thailand & I can not get the drivers for win / 7 so I only use my win/PC in town were I have ADSL iSP / In the village I use my Imac with snow leopard both are exceptionally good any suggestion would be welcomed thank you / Ronnie
Submitted by kevin000000000000001 on Wed, 03/10/2010 - 11:42pm
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Submitted by AtomicKitten on Fri, 02/26/2010 - 8:30pm
Windows 7 is awesome except the Windows Audio Feature that was crippled since Vista. In Windows XP, I could use the Windows Audio to record my sound card's 'What U Hear' in exact audio quality using any audio software. I think i'll just give up on Windows Classic WAVE audio recording and start using the ASIO feature on my sound card, though I still prefer using old software since they are lighter and the Windows 2000 and XP Mixer is equally good if you have a high end sound card. You can play many audio files at once and record a mixtape using any light audio recording software. Now with the restrictions and the cripple of Windows Vista's sound support, they make it difficult to do that, the audio quality isn't exact anymore. :(
Oh, another thing I forgot to mention is compatibility. Microsoft should have included all the compatibility with all Windows Vista drivers and software. My Sound Blaster X Fi Elite Pro seems to not install properlly like it would with Vista. I wish my original vista driver CD would still work on Windows 7.
The only reason why I still use XP is the audio recording dilemma. Plus, I don't have a licence for it at this point of time.
Submitted by banklaptopiran on Mon, 02/22/2010 - 8:29am
Excellent Review.
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Submitted by slowride81 on Thu, 02/18/2010 - 8:12pm
I read a few posts below about windows 7 taking away some of the GPU power for the system and I have to agree fully. What a load of shit. I tried out benchmarking in passmark with both os (xp-32, win7-64) and while on xp it will show full gpu usage, windows 7 showed capped at 80% and it wouldn't go higher. What is this crap microsoft? Aquamark did the same thing except hitting 84% for a second. That would explain why i'm getting less FPS in games with win7 over xp. I play resource hungry games that need all I can give them and windows 7 just isn't cutting it. I like how it looks but that's just a cover for its poor overall performance.
Submitted by flammewerfer on Mon, 03/08/2010 - 7:09pm
After 5 minutes of Google searching I found a potential answer to your problem, along with the guy below. I won't know for sure unless you post back with your system specs, but I have a suspicion that you're running an nVidia card. nVidia hasn't released good drivers for Windows 7 yet.
Anyone running ATI graphics doesn't seem to have your issue.As
proof, I'd like to point out this article written by a professional
overclocker and benchmarker. I recommend reading the introduction,
then looking at the Aquamark scores (especially since this is the benchmarking tool you said you used). After displaying a graph where Win XP falls behind all of the newer OS's, his analysis is:"One important thing to note about Aquamark3 in particular is that there
is a heavy dependence on graphics drivers. These results only look this
way on ATi GPU’s, like those used in this test. On nVidia GPU’s, XP is
actually slightly ahead of the others. You’ll have to take my word on
that since nVidia results aren’t included in this roundup, but
curiously enough, running ATi in Windows 7 scores about equal to a
comparable nVidia setup in XP."You can find this article here: http://www.overclockers.com/windows-showdown-8-operating-systems-6-benchmarks/
Submitted by Caboose on Fri, 02/19/2010 - 7:23am
You know, I'm still trying to figure out where you guys are getting this information that Windows 7 "caps the GPU". I've yet to find anything that states otherwise. And no one that spouts these clames is able to provide anything more than "Well I did it, so it must be true!"
So... where did you get this information? I'd like to read it for myself! I've noticed an IMPROVED performance from my PC when I switched to Win7 from WinXP, as many others have, and many benchmarks and reviews have also stated...
I KNOW! Microsoft is paying EVERYONE off to say good thing about Windows 7. That must be it... right?
Or maybe not...
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
Submitted by slowride81 on Wed, 02/17/2010 - 8:30pm
In my opinion windows xp 32bit is still king for gaming. I have dual boot xp sp3 x32 and windows 7 ultimate x64. In all my testing and trying games it appears my entire system performs around 25-30% LESS with windows 7 than xp. I don't know where this article gets its results from but they are a joke.
Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P
AMD Phenom X4 925 Quad
Gskill 4gb 1600mhz DDR3
Antec 650w PS
EVGA GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked
Here's a summary for you...
Submitted by Lhot on Thu, 02/11/2010 - 2:00am
I have three comps...one has a pentium proc and 96mb ram (HP Vectra VA), the next has an Athlon X2 2.6Ghz OC'd to 3.2Ghz w/2GB DDR2 1066 RAM, The third, has a Phenom II X4 955 OC'd to 3.7ghz w/4GB 1066 DDR2 RAM...both the 2nd and 3rd comps run an EVGA 280GTX (one each), PC Power & Cooling 750w PSU, and 300GB Velociraptors (not RAID).
Now here are FACTS:
1. I can install and run XP on the HP Vectra...it ain't pretty or fast, but it does run (YES! even with 96MB RAM)
2. I have full retail versions of XP VISTA and WIN7...all three in 32 and 64 bit flavors.
3. I do a little of everything on my comps...aka surfing, gaming, audio / video editing and conversions, etc etc.
4. I own all most every consumer available benchmark and game benchmark available.
5. Win XP 32 bit....will simply smoke any other available OS...in any task.
6. Vista is simply cr*p...nuff said.
7. Win 7 has ABSOLUTELY nothing going for it...EXCEPT a much more up to date set of installed drivers.
8. The ONLY time I ever BSOD....and I do mean EVER....is when I'm trying to get that last 200-300Mhz by tweaking my over clock, badly.
9. Number of viruses and/or trojans in past 8 years on XP 32 bit.........ZERO !!
10. Norton Ghost 2003 is still the best backup software ever made. Incremental backups are foolish for the simple reason that any cooties you have get backed up when you're NOT paying attention to pre cleaning, like a 2AM Sunday night incremental backup.
11. My primary partition has approx. 10gb of data on it, (page file, music, pics and videos are on separate HDD.
12. With my lowly AMD proc, no RAID, and Norton Ghost 2003, I can make a complete (after cleaning) Primary partition IMAGE backup in 3 minutes....I can restore from ANY NG 2003 backup in 2.5 minutes. Try THAT on Win7 with any backup software, including Win 7's.
13. MOST people hailing the wonder that is Windows 7 are comparing it to an XP install thats probably years old.
14. MOST people don't keep their systems (w/e they are, neat, trim and clean)...they think they do...they don't!
Sure in 4-5 years, with a few Service packs, and many more 64bit apps, Win 7 may beat XP...but then MS's new flim-flam, aka Win 8 will be out. Here's the real deal when it comes to computers and the internet......
The more information that any person or company has about your computer, will cause two things:
1. You will get infected soon, and probably already are.
2. They will make wads of money selling that information to the highest bidder!
THIS IS WHY MS releases new OS's...well that and their bottom line. MS is not out to make YOU a better, faster, more secure OS. They are in fact doing the exact opposite, for the sole purpose of making more money and watching what YOU are doing on your computer. To diguise this fact, they flash up the GUI with pretty colors and pics, then get the Billy Mayes of MS (Ballmer) to explain how MS is only looking out for you and the ease of your computing tasks.
No, I'm not going to cite proof, I made my own proof. The big difference here, is that I have NO vested interest in the outcome or benchmarks and such. I am retired and own no stock in ANY software or hardware company. I do NOT receive "freebies" for good reviews. At my age I have no ego to cater to...I just want my OS to work fast and flawlessy, w/e I throw at it.........speed, security, compatability, GUI....thy name is Windows XP Pro 32bit. Heck, it even over clocks easier and faster.
I'm not dissing anyone elses opinion here, the above are simple FACTS that I have spent years (Vista), months (Win 7) testing. If I was NOT retired and was still making money, hand over fist, I too would probably throw it all at the latest and greatest....as reviewed, but since I am on a fixed retirement income, I have to use my brain instead of my wallet. More importantly I have to THINK, test, retest etc., and then go out and buy what WORKS best.....not what someone TELLS me works best.
In short, buy w/e you want, this is a free country...sorta. :) I on the other hand will buy and use what works BEST.
Final Note: You all, of course remember Windows ME....now ask yourself....did MS (with their 20K, 6-7 digit salaried coders, truly THINK that ME was a GOOD thing. The same can be said for Vista....maybe Win 7 will be different, who knows....but until it can out do XP in ANYTHING.....I can wait on MS to go back to the days when they cared about the users, more than they care about their bottonline and watching everything you do on your computer. I think the "honor" left Microsoft when Bill Gates stepped down, so to speak.
P.S. No need to waste time and space refuting what I have proven to myself. I have degrees in electronics and physics and KNOW how to run unbiased tests.
Sorry for the long post and may everyone be happy with whatever OS they choose to run.
Little fact for you to think about: Did you know that when you uninstall Google Earth that it leaves behind, over 50K registry entries, and ONLY JV16 Power Tools seems to be able to remove them and even it can't get them all. That, requires a manual registry search & destroy mission.
Oh, almost forgot....UAC stands for USER account control....I did NOT know that Microsoft was a "user" on my computers.....funny that :)
The "CLOUD" is the biggest mistake this country has made...EVER !
Submitted by theohai on Mon, 05/17/2010 - 11:28am
It's always amusing to read the replies of rabid Windows fans claiming "It's the best because it's new". You did a great job outlining your experiences, hopefully some will actually read and understand what you presented.
I've had similar experiences with Vista and W7 and have gone back to XP in every case. XP works and is stable plus it runs all the SW I use, works with virtually any version of windows, and no problems noted with Linux or Macs (all on a network). With enough service packs and "maintenance releases" W7 may eventually be something useful. The new explorer is terrible and that has been one of the primary reasons I have kept XP, the rest are well noted in your post.
I have been doing IT work from the days of Win 3.0 and seen all the variations and there have been many dead braches on the Windows family tree, Anyone remember Win3.0, ME, NT4 SP5 (tended to kill Exchange servers)? All caused more problems than they fixed, and good to see MS doing beta testing on the users dime, how many of you bought Vista or W7 or got it on a new system (price included in the cost of course)?
W7 should have been a free upgrade to ALL Vista users, and not just a home premium version, but Ultimate. The idea is right for W7, but implementation is still severly lacking.
Submitted by Jas-pdx on Fri, 04/30/2010 - 2:36am
I have many years of QA and software design under my semi-retired belt, and agree with your assessment. The only benefit that I see is with 64 bit processing.
Thanks for posting the details.
Submitted by racecar56 on Fri, 04/16/2010 - 4:32pm
So true.
Submitted by Caboose on Fri, 04/16/2010 - 6:14pm
No it's not. he's a goddamn moron
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
Submitted by dracx619 on Fri, 04/16/2010 - 7:54pm
lol...guess ghot couldnt stay away long enough...ahhh trolls
Submitted by CyberHeat on Thu, 01/21/2010 - 10:20pm
Windows 7, 64 bit Ultimate ROCKS! As for you die hard dogs stuck on XP.... Keep it, just don't whine about it when others are ready for 64 bit computing. However, if you are ready for a new lively experience with real security, stability, and the added advantage of running 64 bit applications with 64 bit hardware and have more than 3.5 usable gigs of RAM for your OS, then Win7 64 bit is the right stuff. When comparing XP to to Win 7 or Vista you really need to compare the 64 bit OS. It is time to dump the 32 bit OS and move to the more robust 64 bit OS and take advantage of the 64 bit CPUs. If you are using the 64 bit flavor of Vista SP2 or Win7 then run it with 6-8 gigs of RAM. You will see the OS strutt its stuff. 4 gigs of RAM on the 64 bit OS just doesn't take advantage of the 64 Bit memory advantage. Which was overlooked by MaxPC. I realize they are trying to compare objectively.... but Vista64 and Win7-64 are no way an a 32 bit dog it's a 64 bit beast. So don't cripple the OS with 4 gigs of RAM. I am running 12 gigs of RAM and am loving it.
Additionally, you can try Win7 for free and if you dont like it.... then stay with your antique/obsolete 32 bit dog if that makes you happy. Eventually you will come around.
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Submitted by stanley752 on Sat, 01/23/2010 - 9:18am
I HAVE THREE COMPUTERS
ONE WITH WIN 7 PRO 64BIT: QUAD CORE 64 BIT CPU , 8GB DDR3, 2-VELIO RAPTORS IN RADI-0, 1792MB GTX 295, GIGABYTE MB, CORSAIR 850PS.
TWO WITH XP PRO 32 BIT: BOTH HAVE THE SAME AS THE ONE WITH WIN 7 PRO 64BIT.
I LIKE HOW YOU SAY HARD DOGS WHINE, WHEN YOU ARE INCOMPETENT. YOU SAID HOW MUCH ALL YOUR STUFF HAS BUT THE FUNNY THING IS YOUR VIDEO CARD WITH ALL THAT IS CAPPED, MY MACHINES WITH XP WILL GET BETTER FPS THEN YOU COULD EVER GET ON WIN 7 ULTIMATE. WITH LESS RAM. NOW THATS FUNNY. MY ANTIQUE 32 BIT XP OS ON TWO OF MY PCS I HAVE BET AND WON AND CHALLENGED ANYONE AND WHEN I GOT OVER 30% MORE FPS THIER MOUTH DROPED. AND TWO OF MY PCS WITH XP COSTED LESS. TRIED COMPARSION AND CHALLENGES ON OVER 50 GAMES.
YOU TALK ABOUT WHINEING BUT ONLY PEOPLE I SAW WHINEING WHERE THE ONES WIN VISTA AND WIN 7, THEN AFTER BEATING THEM REPEATLY, I GOT SILENCE. ONLY REASON ONE OF MY PCS HAS WIN 7 PRO IS MY WIFE WANTED THE FLARE, THE SPARKLE. PLUS IF YOU WERE SO SMART DID YOU KNOW 12GIGS OF MEMORY ON WIN 7 ULTIMATE 64 BIT DOES NOT UTILIZE ALL 12 GIGS SHERLOCK. YOU CAN'T USE ALL 12. PLUS WIN 7 64 BIT OS'S DONT UTILIZE ALL THEIR MEMORY. HERE ARE LINKS YOU MIGHT FIND INTERESTING THAT PROVE WHAT I AM SAYING.
MEMORY PROBLEMS WIN 7 64 BIT LINKS BELOW
http://weblogs.asp.net/owscott/archive/2006/11/07/Is-64_2D00_bit-computing-always-better_3F00_.aspx
OTHER LINKS BELOW OF MUTIPLE WINDOWS 7 PROBLEMS
http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/17376-acpi-problem-one-more-time.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-debugging/57782-bsod-windows-7-ultimate-x64.html
LINKS TO PROBLEMS BELOW WITH GAMING ON WIN 7 32 BIT AND 64 BIT
http://www.sevenforums.com/gaming/3282-battlefield-2142-doesn-t-work.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/gaming/57694-battlefield-2-always-getting-kicked.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/gaming/57165-game-need-speed-shift.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/gaming/57583-windows-7-not-too-good-gamng.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/gaming/5700-oblivion-crash-startup.html
Submitted by XIII. on Wed, 02/10/2010 - 5:15am
CAPS LOCK IS CRUISE-CONTROL FOR COOL!
Beside, typing in capital letters doesn't make you right.
There are chords in the heart of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotions
-Edgar Allan Poe
I AM PLAYING CITY OF
Submitted by nekollx on Wed, 02/10/2010 - 11:17am
I AM PLAYING CITY OF HEROES AND STAR TREK ONLINE IN WIN 7 PRO 64BIT RIGHT NOW SO CLEARLY I'M RIGHT.
Cause everyone knows if you use caps your never wrong, but I can play both games without a hickup on my win 7 laptop
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
Submitted by shaneofdevon on Thu, 01/21/2010 - 12:37am
Win xp file handling some way faster than 7, new icons in folders are hard to sort visually. Looks like a mac!
Games run 11.5 % slower far cry 2 had to turn resolution down to get back playability. In XP I could find files way faster as I could see the different icons better.
Going back as the system aint ready for serious users yet, I am not the easy to please 'ooo that looks nice' brigade, I use my comp for extensive filing and cataloguing handling and manipulating vide for storage and retreivel... nope it just likes to do what IT wants.
I will try again when they fix the damn thing
Submitted by Caboose on Thu, 01/21/2010 - 12:15pm
I'd like to point out that that file management can still be performed and set to look just like it did back in WinXP/2000. As for your games. I believe that Far Cry 2 is a DX10 capable game. And Win7 supports DX10, DX10 can also be taxing on your GPU if it's a mid to low range card, and if you're running DX10 enabled settings at high on your mid-range GPU, then yes, you will notice a performance decrease!
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
Submitted by stanley752 on Sat, 01/23/2010 - 8:26am
ONE COMMENT WAS DX10 IS BETTER ON VISTA, THATS A LAUGH. VISTA TAKES SYSTEM MEMORY TO BUFFER VIDEO SO YOUR VIDEO CARD IS SLOWED BECAUSE IT IS BUFFERED THROUGH SYSTEM MEMORY. WHERE AS DX9 ON XP IS NOT BUFFERED AND IS NOT LAGGED BY VIDEO BUFFERING. EVER NOTICE ON VISTA AND WIN 7 WHEN PLAYING A GAME EXIT TO WINDOWS AND YOUR FREE MEMORYS GONE, WHERE AS XP ITS NOT. EVER HEARD OF BOTTLE NECKS IN SYSTEMS ANY TRUE GAMER WILL TELL YOU USEING MEMORY FROM THE VIDEO CARD IS BETTER THEN HAVEING IT CONNECTED WITH SYSTEM MEMORY. ONLY VISTA AND WIN 7 CONNECT IT WITH SYSTEM MEMORY. IT BOTHERS ME WHEN SOME PEOPLE DONT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT REGARDING DX10 VISTA AND DX11 WIN 7 PRO. AND NOW WITH WIN 7 PRO THEY CAP YOUR GPU(MEANING LIMIT IT) I RUN A GTX 295 ON ONE PC AND 5870 ON MY OTHER. WITH BOTH QUAD CORES AND 4GB MEMORY AND BOTH HAVE 2-VELIO RAPTORS IN RAID-0. SO NO MINE IS NOT SLOW.
SO BEFORE YOU POST COMMENTS GET THE FACTS RIGHT. BECAUSE BY NOT DOING SO YOUR JUST INCOMPETENT. BUT HELL MICROSOFT LIKES THAT YOU KEEP THEM RICH.
Submitted by stanley752 on Sat, 01/23/2010 - 8:16am
amount of games out that are DX10 only 40 total
amount of games out that are DX11 only 1, which is dirt 2.
amount of games out that are DX9 hundreds.
to come out in 2010 is only 14 DX10 games and 2 DX11 games.
plus all DX10 and DX11 games will still support DX9.
have you ever seen the benefit in percent from DX9 to DX10 only 12%
DX 11 is 25% better over DX9
but thier is a catch almost all video cards on the market are DX10 at most and the DX11 cards have not matured ati has DX11 cards but they are crap ati's drivers for thier video cards are junk anyone that owns a 5 series card will agree with that. i own ati 5870 video card and nvidia gtx 295 also and graphics on the gtx 295 has better graphics and is alot faster on win 7 pro and xp. plus ati DX11 video cards over 80% have had overheating issues , plus most games run like crap on them. regarding dx10 thier is not much difference verus dx9. now dx 11 is different, but nothing supports it yet. but everyone wants the newest and they are feeling the pain for getting it.
one big thing no one sees WIN 7 VIDEO IS CAPPED AND USES VIDEO CARD GPU TO BOOST SYSTEM, WHICH IN TURN . WHERE AS A GTX 295 OR ATI 5870 GET 25-30% LESS FPS THEN ON XP. AND IF YOUR SO SMART ON THE NEWEST AND SUPPOSEDLY THE BEST SEARCH THE WEB AND MICROSOFT FOR CAPPED GPU AND EVEN TRY YOURSELF, YOU WILL SEE.
Submitted by Caboose on Sat, 01/23/2010 - 12:58pm
Ok, you may have (attempted) to hold a few valid points, but with your poor spelling and grammar, and the fact that 75% of your post are in all caps makes me (and I'm sure everyone else) ignore what you've typed. It's very difficult to read (and take someone seriously) when they use all capital letters. It's like being yelled at. People will see you as a douche and ignore you.
Out of curiosity, why are you running 8GB in a PC with a 32bit OS? The OS can't address the other 4.75 (approx) gigs of RAM, unless you do the workaround/hack/whatever, and even then it's not properly addressing it.
Your = posessive, you're = you are. Use them properly and you'll make much more sense.
Ok, i'm going to attempt to read your comments.
What are HARD DOGS? Are they statues of dogs?
You said that the only reason you have a PC with Windows 7 is because your wife wanted the FLARE. Were those signal flares, road flares, emergency flares? I think the word you wanted to use was FLAIR! For a programmer, your spelling is horrid.
I've got a Quad-Core system w/8GB of RAM, 2 3870's in Crossfire and a 1TB RAID1, and haven't noticed any slowdowns in Windows 7. My G15 Keyboard with SirReal's Panel running doesn't show that my free RAM has dissapeared after I exit a game. I get all my RAM back once I exit a game, or finish my video editing.
That first link you posted was from NOVEMBER 2006. Which would have been Windows XP 64bit, unless the blogger had a VL edition of Windows Vista, or a... wait for it... BETA version. And as we all know, that was a failure. Driver support was very limited compared to now, and yes, there were issues. So your first link is moot as it is for a decade old OS. 64bit computing has come leaps and bounds for the end user market since then. Plus, when Vista came out, the amount of drivers released for it were very vew and far between as it was a brand new OS. Windows XP drivers didn't work. You know what, when Windows XP was released, it had a lot of driver issues. Users were forced to either wait, use beta versions of drivers, or make Windows 2000 drivers work. Lack of drivers, is the fault of the driver manufacturer. NOT the fault of Microsoft.
That second link, appears to be specific to a motherboard/video card combination, along with an RTM edition of Windows 7. Your 2nd link also fails to make your point.
Let's keep going shall we?
3rd link is with the ACPI power settings on a Dell PC after a BIOS update. How's that the fault of Windows 7? In addition with the user usin Build 7100 of Windows 7 which is the RC build, Build 7600 is the RTM build. So he was STILL using a beta OS. And that's 3 failures in a row.
The 4th link, was dealing with a driver. User updated to the latest driver from the MANUFACTURER's website and the problem was resolved. Again, how is that a problem with Windows 7 64bit? That could EASILY have happened with Windows Vista, or Windows XP. And there's failure #4
5th link is dealing with a 4 year old game. Battlefield 2142 has it's fair share of issues in XP as well as Vista. Now couple that with attempting to get widescreen to work properly, and you've got a recipie for disaster! Plus the user is also running the RC build of the OS. I run Battlefield 2142 in Win7 Ultimate 64bit retail build, and haven't had any problems. Heck, some of my games built for Windows 95 and Windows 98 in Win7 Ultimate 64bit JUST fine.
You do realize that when you're running a beta, even an RC build of an OS, you are bound to have a lot of issues as they're still being worked out and the bugs being squished. But I degress. Let's continue on your walk of failure!
Ok, do you actually read the links you post or do you just do a generic search for "Windows 7+can't game" and take all the results as problems WITH the OS? The 6th link is an issue with PunkBuster and Battlefield 2. The user most likely was running the version of PB that comes on the BF2 disc. Updating PB fixed the issue. Sooo care to explain how that's a problem with the OS and not a problem with Punkbuster and servers rejecting old versions of the app?
In the 7th link, the thread hasn't been updated and there's no additional information. For all we know, it's either a pirated version of the game, the guy's using a NoCD crack, or hasn't even updated the game. You've heard of game updates before right? You know, the ones that at times can add compatibility or fix issies that the game has when running on certain OS'? Wow, you're batting 0 right now!
8th link. Ok, you're not trying at all are you?
And we'll finish this tour of your failure at Link number 9. Oblivion crashing in Windows 7. Where to begin with this one? First off, that thread is ALMOST a year old. At that time, Windows 7 was, I believe, still in the early beta stages. Plus with the fact that the poster didn't provide any additional information, OR post anything after the inital post, makes this your last and final failure for this little adventure.
If you are a programmer, as you so say you are, you'd realize that research is pretty important. Unless you have all of the information you require, you are unable to build the application properly. The same goes with troubleshooting. All of the links you posted either pointed to issues with the app in question, or the fact that the user is using a beta version of the OS. And as a programmer, you should know that Alpha, Beta and RC builds of an app are never the same as the final build. They have bugs, issues, etc that need to be resolved.
I did a search for Windows 7 capped gpu, and you know what I found? I found a link pointing to this article of your incoherient rantings, and... nothing else that even comes close to what you're blathering on about. There was a link about nVidia drivers capping the refresh rate to 87Hz, but that's it. I don't know what you're talking about, a capped GPU.
You mentioned that almost all the GPU's on the market are DX10. My last count was ALL GPU's on the market today are DX10 cards. All. Even the onboard ones (unless you consider Intel's pathetic attempt at graphics). As of late, ATi is ahead in the GPU market in terms of price, performance, and power. Plus their drivers are much nicer than nVidia's drivers. Mind you, both are using a unified driver so you're not hunting through a million and one drivres for your card. If you want to talk about too much heat, let's talk about nVidia. They seem to be getting a rep for building very small, and expensive space heaters. Normal temps for video card using the stock air cooling is in the 70-80C range. There are some that experience lower, and some higher. Which can be attributed to how good the airflow is in your case, how packed it is, air or water cooling, etc. The only point I'll give to you, is that DX11 isn't widly used right now, and that is because... it just came out! Be patient. You'll see more and more DX11 games. Why is it when something is JUST released, people bitch and complain and whine that there are no games that will use it... when it just came out, or a month later, etc. How long does it take to develop a game? And if a game is on it's way to release, and a new DX version comes out, a developer isn't going to hault production to make it a DX11 game. It'll be released as a patch later. Just like what happened with Company of Heroes!
As it's been said by myself, and many others before me, across many other threads to the many conspiracy theorists, and the people that just don't have a clue, site your sources! Properly. Randomly googling stuff and posting the links without actually READING what the post is about, isn't siting your sources.
So to you, I provide you with this:
www.ratemyeverything.net/ImageDatabase/PostImages/7739/Large/Star_Wars_FAIL.jpg
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
Submitted by common on Sun, 08/01/2010 - 2:12am
Actor Gary Sinise and his Lt. Dan Band will perform a free public concert Friday at Fort Leavenworth as part of its Military Spouses’ Appreciation Day.
Custom Logo
Submitted by stanley752 on Sun, 05/02/2010 - 10:58pm
For one in my article, I was describing major differences between xp, vista, and windows 7. Where you seemed more intent on worrying more about my spelling. I stated that 8gb can be ran on 32bit os effectively. But really unless you are running windows 7. 8gb is not really necessary. You stated Battlefield 2142 had its fair amount of problems in xp. I personally find that amuseing. never once had a problem in xp. As a lot of people never had porblems with it on xp either. Just google it, thats the proof thier. A lot of games have many issues on vista and windows 7. Even the new ones. Just google it or talk to your local gamestop worker. Plus Still as of this time more businesses prefer xp, because of cost and still windows 7 does not support most software. Plus you stated you have a Quad-Core system w/8GB of RAM, 2 3870's in Crossfire and a 1TB RAID1. Know why is it in benchmarks, file sharing, gaming, overall system performance of my computer with xp 32bit wins hands down. now why is that. Simple have you ever noticed windows 7 uses twice the processes then xp, and even with windos 7 64 bit operating system uses more. I could go on and on how a computer transfers data and the inner parts of xp and vista and win 7. But why? you apparently dont know what you are talking about. I spent less then half on my pc with xp 32 bit then you did on yours, for one. and also its faster and 100% compatible with anything. Where as windows 7 still has many issues which by the time and release of service packs to get to be faster then xp. Windows 8 will be released. Plus one last thing to ponder over you metioned almost all video cards are dx 10 yes and thier is dx 11 video cards. But go to gpureview.com and compare nvidia gtx 295 video card to the new fermi gtx 470 video card. 470 is slower. now why is that? plus you metioned you use 2 3870's in crossfire with windows 7. then why with the links below 2 3870's in crossfire, for one get low performance, and for second have many issue. "HAVE YOU EVER CHECKED OUT AMD'S FORUM" regarding problems with thier drivers with windows 7? and why is it on every release notes with amd many issues metioned with windows 7 not xp?
http://forums.amd.com/game/categories.cfm?catid=262&forumid=11
http://www2.ati.com/relnotes/Catalyst_104_release_notes.pdf
http://forums.amd.com/game/searchresults.cfm
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