Posted 11/23/2009 at 06:00:55pm

Just built a rig for a buddy of mine ... same CPU and MoBo but went with Win7 Ultimate 64 bit ... 6GB OCZ 1600 RAM, a 1TB WD Black drive, and a 22x DVD burner. He already had a monitor and the vid card and case we got cost less but with local sales tax it only cost him $925.00.  Where these guys come up with an extra 2 grand for time to build and 3 year warranty is beyond me.  I've been building boxes for customers for 10 years now and have never charged more than 20% above my cost.  Maybe thats why I'm not Bill Gates rich ?? LOL

Posted 09/27/2008 at 07:54:32pm

I've been "beta testing" Microsoft OS's since Windows98, and the only one that had that "WOW" factor was the first beta of Windows 2000.  WinMe was flat out pathetic, and XP with its rounded corners didn't impress me at all. Vista is Bill Gates' way of making money off hardware upgrades as well as the initial cost of buying the OS.  Making it a necessity to upgrade both your RAM and your Vid Card just to install an OS is flat out criminal.  If Windows 7 just slaps a new coat of paint on Vista's GUI and they lay a few tweaks on some old apps then MS is jus asking for another failure.  Somewhere along the line, something new and innovative MUST be added to Windows 7 to make its release valid and draw those still running XP to the new OS.

 With the success of the bazillion other games and apps and business OS's, I believe Microsoft can be innovative with this OS and divide it into 2 discs. Disc one can contain the OS, stripped down to its bare bones ... no games, no apps, no management tools ... just the naked OS ... and give it away for free.  If having $50 billion in cash isn't enough money for Microsoft then The Feds need to get off their fatcat behinds and investigate.  Disc two can contain all the apps and games and tools and interface toys, allowing the user to totally customize their install and clutter their hard drive with what they want.  If your install runs crappy then its your own damn fault for installing too much junk. Charging money for disc two is understandable, but a naked OS should be free ... no excuses.

Vista using 900MB of system RAM right off the top MUST be corrected in Windows 7. Sure, i'll be first in line to test this "new" OS when it finally goes beta, but i'm certainly not expecting miracles, nor am I expecting Windows 7 to impress me. So far, these "milestone" builds have shown me nothing.