Windows 7 RC1 Trial lasts over one year

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Windows 7 RC1 Trial lasts over one year

Post by TronFAQ »

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/2009/ ... released/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So Windows 7 RC1 is being released to the public on May 5th. This time around, Microsoft is allowing people to keep using it for over a year before it expires. That's probably the longest trial period they've ever allowed on a beta version of Windows.

There's also word that Acer let slip the release date for the final version of Windows 7, which is late October this year.

I think this is the first time I'm seriously debating the installation of a release candidate of Windows. I'm not a big fan of Vista, even though I've slowly grown accustomed to it. Still, I'd really love to give it the boot in favor of 7. Everything I'm reading suggests it runs quite a bit better. Vista annoys me with how much it pages to the hard disk. There's always some HD activity going on, and it wasn't like that in XP.

Win 7 is even coming with a special "XP mode" to allow compatibility with applications that won't run in 7. It's not meant for games, though.
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Re: Windows 7 RC1 Trial lasts over one year

Post by Meatsack »

Then I'll be hanging onto my version of XP like I did with 98SE until XP-SP2 was released! I'm resistant to change. I like to stick with what I know works.
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Re: Windows 7 RC1 Trial lasts over one year

Post by TronFAQ »

Well, the "XP Mode" is meant for the few programs that won't run in 7. There's always going to be a few applications that won't run in future versions of Windows. But compatibility in 7 probably isn't any worse than it was in Vista. If anything, I'm hearing it's a bit better. Since, really, Win 7 is just Vista SE.

I still have XP installed on my second PC, and it will stay that way. But I'm using Vista on my main PC, and I'd be glad to get rid of it in favor of 7. I also want to keep up with the newer versions of Windows, so I have experience using them.

Win 7 might still be in the RC phase, but I've done a lot of reading of the various opinions out there. The majority say that the earlier Win 7 beta already ran better than Vista. And now the RC has only improved further. So I'm thinking of taking a chance on it. I can always fall back to my second PC if there's something that just won't work in 7.

If I get around to installing the Win 7 RC, I'll let you guys know what it's like.
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Re: Windows 7 RC1 Trial lasts over one year

Post by TRON.dll »

Cool, I've got a friend who's got the Windows 7 beta. He says it works like XP but it looks like Mac OSX. He says it works really good, and that it's approx. two-million times more ultimate than Vista. :D
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Timewaster Games = teh w00t :D
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Re: Windows 7 RC1 Trial lasts over one year

Post by TronFAQ »

TRON.dll wrote:He says it works really good, and that it's approx. two-million times more ultimate than Vista. :D
Well, I don't expect Win 7 to be two million times better than Vista. But I definitely want to check it out. 8-)

Win 7 already has limited availability from Microsoft, if you're part of their beta testing group or have a subscription (TechNet, MSDN) with them. Or you can grab it now if you know where to look. *cough*Torrents*cough*

I read a report that even now, MS can't keep up with the demand for Win 7 downloads. LOL. Just wait until it becomes available to the public.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=15020" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Windows 7 RC1 Trial lasts over one year

Post by TronFAQ »

I finally got around to installing the Windows 7 RC1 today.

You know how everyone is saying Windows 7 is so much better than Vista, and that this is the way Vista should have been in the first place?

It's all true. God damn, 7 is so much better than Vista that it's not even funny. With SP1, Vista became decent but I never really warmed to it. With 7 on the other hand, it's instantly become a joy to use.

Think of 7 as Windows with the speed and reduced memory footprint of XP, but with the eye candy of Vista. Finally, my hard drive doesn't grind away every time Windows reaches the desktop at boot.

I know, I know. Windows 7 is really just Windows Vista Second Edition. But it's turned Vista from a turd into a diamond.
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Re: Windows 7 RC1 Trial lasts over one year

Post by Load81 »

I haven't downloaded or installed the RC, but i've heard nothing put positive things about Windows 7. I agree that it's Vista Second Edition. However, if they were to market it with that name, it wouldn't sell to new people. This is the first operating system that I may actually buy as stand alone software, and not bundled with another PC.
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Re: Windows 7 RC1 Trial lasts over one year

Post by TronFAQ »

So, apparently the final version of Windows 7 was completed a few days ago. And now, it's already leaked on to the internet for download.

LOL. I knew it would probably happen soon, because there's a huge pent-up demand for Win 7. But I didn't expect it to happen quite that quickly. I'll be waiting to hear if it's really the final version (so far it looks real, not fake) and what people's experiences with it are. How the final version measures up. There are going to be plenty of people who will download it and try it out . . . of that you can be sure.

For the RC build I'm using, there's been some slight glitchiness on occasion but nothing major. It's been pretty rock solid. The only unusual behavior I've noticed is that if I leave an application running for a long time (all day, or longer) and then exit, there's a moment where the system kind of freezes up for a moment as the memory resources the program used is destroyed/reclaimed. I didn't really experience that in Vista. I expect this to disappear in the final version, because the beta still probably has some extra code or bloat that will be stripped out.

Other than that, it's been a way better experience than Vista ever was. Tron 2.0 and all my games run smoother and load more quickly. It was like upgrading my PC for free. Probably gave me something like a 20% performance boost. Which is a subjective conclusion, of course. I haven't done any kind of benchmarks or tests. But the difference has been noticeable.
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Re: Windows 7 RC1 Trial lasts over one year

Post by TronFAQ »

So, today is the day. Windows 7 is now available to the public at large.

Anybody planning on getting 7? Or thinking about it? Just curious to know how many people are considering using it now, instead of XP.

I'm still using the RC1 trial version at the moment. I'd like to switch over to the final release. But it would also mean doing a clean install, and that would take a lot of time. So for the moment, I'm going to remain stuck at the trial version.

In the last 4-5 months that I've been using it, there have been some minor glitches here and there. But nothing significant. I would attribute some of those to the fact that it's not final code. I'm still glad I dumped Vista, even though installing a beta version of 7 was something of a risk.
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Re: Windows 7 RC1 Trial lasts over one year

Post by cryogen4000 »

tronfaq wrote:Anybody planning on getting 7?
No! im running on vista at the moment///every program i use runs under it fine and anyway it would take me a very very long time to reinstall every program and to place everything where i like it///though if i build a new machine then i will no doubt try it out or if i buy a machine with windows 7 installed***but besides that its doubtful.. ::0
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Re: Windows 7 RC1 Trial lasts over one year

Post by zook_one »

Well I had a total meltdown of my XP OS today. How timely... perhaps MS planned this. I got a questionable email in outlook this morning. Had a PPT attachment but I didn't run it. Also had an email from Windows form earlier this week that announced W7. I've been on vista at work for like a year & liked it so I wanted to switch to 7 when it came out. I opened the Windows 7 email and went to the windows home of W7. I used the upgrade assistant. I clicked a link in the upgrade assistant that said something like see which devices will still work. After that my task manger was broken. I forced and reboot and have been trying every repair I can find for XP with no luck. I'm not sure if it was MS or Something else

All my data appears to be safe but I tried all day to get the OS operating correctly but can get past these really weird error message.

Since I have to start from scratch with a new OS install and Design Software all over again, I bought W7 to give it a whirl. I'll keep you guys posted...

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Re: Windows 7 RC1 Trial lasts over one year

Post by Divmontru »

tronfaq wrote:Well, the "XP Mode" is meant for the few programs that won't run in 7. There's always going to be a few applications that won't run in future versions of Windows. But compatibility in 7 probably isn't any worse than it was in Vista. If anything, I'm hearing it's a bit better. Since, really, Win 7 is just Vista SE.
I was kind of wondering about that. I mean, the general posters in these forums seem naturally far more technically oriented than visitors to general interest groups, & so this is probably a pretty intermediate statement I'm making in this pond, but heregoes: one of the first and foremost gripes the average users of Vista I've seen is its, of course, intermittent lack of backward compatibility with ware meant for XP. And so the supposed better functionality or fewer problems associated with 7 would be a complete misnomer for said folks unless what you're saying is true. I did notice my friend couldn't get Berkeley's BOINC number crunching stuff (for SETI@Home etc.) working on 7, but that's my first and only example, so far, to go by. I do like what was just said about Vista's mysterious hard drive activity vs. 7... Vista sure seems to be dying on the vine quickly unless I've lost track of time; I've got Vista 64 on my main machine & I'm starting to feel like I have ME with the turning of the tide already, but at least it works well enough with Cakewalk Sonar 8 for which this workstation was intended, and I've even got games meant for 98 running fine.

P.S.
Here's a completely unrelated observation & question not worthy of their own thread: weird to me how this forum's spellcheck doesn't recognize the correct spelling of the word "combinations", LOL, I'm tired and maybe I'm an idiot... perhaps it's spelled differently outside of the US? Of course I don't care but it was a momentary curiosity while writing my last post. I'll got to bed before I thirst for more meaningless trivia :D
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Re: Windows 7 RC1 Trial lasts over one year

Post by TronFAQ »

After running the beta RC1 trial version of Windows 7 for months, I finally installed the final retail version.

Ironically, my experience with the final version hasn't been quite as smooth as the beta. I've had the Windows Explorer (explorer.exe) crash on me a few times, which hardly ever happened in the beta. There's also at least one program I've tried to install: which would install fine on the beta, but now refuses to install properly with the final version no matter what I do.

On the plus side, the final version of Win 7 is even faster and more responsive than the beta. It really zips along. It's like I'm using XP again.

Has anyone else taken the plunge with 7 yet? I know zook_one did. How has it turned out for you, Z? You liking it? Or regretting the switch already? Did you install the 32-bit or 64-bit version? I've always gone 64-bit.
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Re: Windows 7 RC1 Trial lasts over one year

Post by TronFAQ »

Well, I think I figured out what was causing the Windows 7 explorer to crash. It turns out it was Firefox. If you set it to use Private Browsing mode, it causes explorer.exe to become unstable and crash on Win 7 64-bit. This continues to happen even after you exit Firefox. Turning off Private Browsing and rebooting cures it.

I never would have suspected Firefox was causing the trouble. Apparently, it's already been fixed for the next version when it's released.
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Re: Windows 7 RC1 Trial lasts over one year

Post by zook_one »

tronfaq wrote:
Has anyone else taken the plunge with 7 yet? I know zook_one did. How has it turned out for you, Z? You liking it? Or regretting the switch already? Did you install the 32-bit or 64-bit version? I've always gone 64-bit.
I installed the 64-bit version. I use an Autodesk program called Revit for work which can really use all the RAM you can afford to throw at it.

So far I haven't had any real issues. The sound driver won't recongnize the front and rear ports of my PC is the biggest issue.

Other than that I like the new OS tweaks, how the program windows stack up in the taskbar/dock and the 'right click' IE on the task bar to visit frequent site was a good idea. Show desktop button is great, as is having the date on the taskbar/dock.
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