Windows 7 Beta

Discussion in 'Computer Science & Culture' started by Stryder, Jan 13, 2009.

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  1. Stryder Keeper of "good" ideas. Valued Senior Member

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    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7825111.stm

    It's gone un-noticed here, however it seems Windows 7 Beta has been unveiled and already caused the download servers to be crushed by the shear weight of wannabe beta testers (or people after something for free)

    Originally it seems Microsoft had limited the number of downloads, but because of the shear number of enthusiasts wanting to either get a new OS or just spam to their mates how they are betaing a different OS, they've allowed "unlimited" downloads until the January 24th Deadline.

    http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-download.aspx
     
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  3. Challenger78 Valued Senior Member

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    I did make a thread about this. I'm reluctant to beta anything atm.
    Might want to merge them together, As they're pretty much the same thing.
     
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  5. Stryder Keeper of "good" ideas. Valued Senior Member

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    Aye, but what I meant there has been no song and dances made about it being available. (No fanfair's or rapture)
     
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  7. Challenger78 Valued Senior Member

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    I guess they don't want to hype it up since Vista turned out to be a big fail.

    So all I can ask is. What's new ?
     
  8. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    It will be just an update of Vista I'll bet!

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  9. orcot Valued Senior Member

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    I yust hope it will be faster
     
  10. river-wind Valued Senior Member

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    It looks like it is faster, and the taskbar has seen improvements 10 years overdo. A few of the taskbar changes (such as previews of windows when you scrub over taskbar icons with the mouse) are nice features that IMO outdo OSX's implementation.

    The UAC has been toned down, but still only asks for a click from the user, which I think instantiates bad default "click without reading" behavior in the user.

    Hiding windows and free-placement widgets now exist, but unlike OSX, window hiding acts via window transparency (which I like), and the widgets exist on the desktop and not in their own Dashboard environment, which I don't like.

    I'm going to install the beta in a VM later this week, I'll report back once I do.
     
  11. Syzygys As a mother, I am telling you Valued Senior Member

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    Not reading the news? MS servers couldn't handle the requests so for a day the download wasn't aviable.

    The general reception is VERY positive and everybody seems to like it. It is faster than Vista and less intrusive on the memory.
     
  12. ashura the Old Right Registered Senior Member

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    I wouldn't call Vista a big fail.

    And, demand was so overwhelming they've removed the download limit entirely.

    http://www.dailytech.com/Microsoft ...nlimited Windows 7 Downloads/article13918.htm
     
  13. draqon Banned Banned

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    it probably looks exactly like Vista...*yawn*
     
  14. river-wind Valued Senior Member

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    not *exactly*. different skin, but there is lots more shiny than in xp.


    also, Win7 has "libraries", which are basically smart folders from OSX and linux - instead of a physical location in your file system, they are a state folder - the contents are defined like this "everything on the hard drive that is a movie with the string 'beach' in the name or metadata". So you have a folder linking you to all your beach movies, no matter where they are actually located.
     
  15. vslayer Registered Senior Member

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    from what ive seen it looks like its going to be what vista was supposed to, in improved version of xp, rather than a shiny new resource hog with all the same problems.

    i'd test it myself if it werent for the fact that im using a shitty old laptop with a 20gb harddrive thats already full.
     
  16. BenTheMan Dr. of Physics, Prof. of Love Valued Senior Member

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    Is there anyone here who is actually testing the new Windows?
     
  17. nietzschefan Thread Killer Valued Senior Member

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    Libraries huh? I think i'd give it a couple years after virus writers wreak havok and they plug that leak up.
     
  18. w1z4rd Valued Senior Member

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    I have being running Windows 7 for a couple of weeks now. Its as quick as XP... and being a linux and FOSS advocate....I cant believe how much I like the desktop.

    Well done to MS on this product. Its what Vista should always have been.

    Im running it on two machines.. mine and my gfs. She doesnt have a high spec computer but it runs fine on her hardware.
     
  19. Dr Mabuse Percipient Thaumaturgist Registered Senior Member

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  20. BenTheMan Dr. of Physics, Prof. of Love Valued Senior Member

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    That's encouraging. Maybe I'll partition my hard drive and dual boot it---it should be easy enough, but has anyone tried this yet?
     
  21. river-wind Valued Senior Member

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    my initial impression of Win7 beta is this: I created a new VM image, and booted form the win7 .iso. After I agreed to the license, it asks if I want to "Upgrade" my current install of windows (the default), or "Custom(Advance)"

    Ignoring the lack of consistency in the English structure of those two choices, why do I have a choice? There's nothing to upgrade!!

    I picked "Custom(Advance)", and it gave me one option, which was to install a new Windows instance on the blank HD. Not exactly advanced, but fine.

    The install process was fairly quick, and very pretty compared to older versions of windows (I have not done a Vista install, so the visual difference may be more and XP/Vista change).

    It handled all setup steps by itself, rebooting two times. All told, the install took ~30 minutes from the initial boot from the .iso to reaching the first login screen. Pretty impressive for windows, especially since it's in a virtualization environment running off of an external USB2 drive!!

    http://members.arstechnica.com/x/riverwind/desktop.jpg

    edit: a few moments after I took the screen shot, windows announced it had downloaded some updates and had to reboot. So 3 total reboots within a 45 minutes time frame from start to a running system.

    edit2: the "show desktop" function is no longer an icon, but an unlabeled button on the far right of the taskbar. The start menu has an interesting structure - the right side is a list of common items; the left is a vertical view of the start menu contents. I click on "all programs", and the entire pane is replaced by a list of apps and folders, along with a "back" button to return to the initial view. expanding folders provides a sub-listing of folder contents; it's sort of like a hybridized list view.
    http://members.arstechnica.com/x/riverwind/start menu.png

    edit3: it just blue screened. i've installed flash player, had video on cnn.com running, and was looking at the start menu. it rebooted in only 39 seconds, at least.

    edit4: final update for now, I need to get back to work. With a base install of Win7 Ultimate (beta) and Flash player 10, the system is using 7.5GB

    edit5: I lied, one more thing. I opened a sample picture in paint (which has finally seen some updates of its own), and scribbled all over it. I saved the changes, and verified that they had been saved. Right-clicking on the file in explorer, I selected "Restore to previous version". this brought up a text-based list of restore point for that specific file, with dates. There was only one, 12/12/08, but by selecting it, I was back to the un-scribbled-on file. Nice!
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2009
  22. swivel Sci-Fi Author Valued Senior Member

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    I'm now running Windows 7 on my home PC and my tablet as the primary and only OS. This is the most mature and stable Beta I have ever encountered. Every Vista driver just works, I was able to do an upgrade and retain all files and programs, it was painless and perfect.

    It seems faster than Vista, the Start Bar is better, it is really an amazing OS. Even my tablet drivers and touch work better than before.

    Windows Media player still chokes on my massive music collection, and IE will never work as my standard browser until spell-checking is built in, but the OS itself just can't be beat right now.

    If you are running Vista, you shouldn't hesitate to upgrade.
     
  23. Rick Valued Senior Member

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    hmmph, Will give it a try on my mac bootcamp, can't risk my desktop for a beta. Thanks.

    Rick
     
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