MS got where they are by failing to release source code, and trying to be the sole source, with fines to match. Anyone who suffered the pain of Windows ME will always be wary of MS products.

but the only real alternative is Apple and like Microsoft they're tighter than a duck's chuff but far more inclined to drop older products once the shiniest version is out the door :confused:

So what have they done with DX10 under W7? It was a fiasco in Vista, which is the biggest pile of dog poo ever to be released as an OS. Windows XP was so good I had started to warm towards Microsoft, then along came came Vista.

i don't think i've had a single issue with vista at all.

i don't think i've had a single issue with vista at all.

Me neither ....I put it on the PC and it worked and has carried on working very well.........dare I say the best so so far

Also most MS software needs a service pack to get it to behave right, in particular their operating systems.

Unlike Apple, Microsoft has to support an incredible number of hardware combinations. I know their stuff is not perfect, and I do believe Vista's main problem was a problem of perception and lack of software support, and still kinda is, but it works well.

Windows ME was a disaster. Windows 98SE was the last one that was not based on the NT platform. Be honest, XP Pro is a pretty darn good OS. I think Vista was released in too many versions to try to milk the market to the max. That, plus the price of it, made people ****ed off.

There are a few other things that cause frustration in Vista, but overall it is not bad, it is stable, and it works. I run most of my stuff on XP Pro SP2 or SP3 though, and our company will skip Vista more than likely, however it sure is not as bad as it used to be.

DX10 not on XP is a bit of a joke, it could be done, however the more recent games and hardware do work well on Vista now, it was a matter of drivers maturing.

Also most MS software needs a service pack to get it to behave right, in particular their operating systems.

Unlike Apple, Microsoft has to support an incredible number of hardware combinations. I know their stuff is not perfect, and I do believe Vista's main problem was a problem of perception and lack of software support, and still kinda is, but it works well.

Windows ME was a disaster. Windows 98SE was the last one that was not based on the NT platform. Be honest, XP Pro is a pretty darn good OS. I think Vista was released in too many versions to try to milk the market to the max. That, plus the price of it, made people ****ed off.

There are a few other things that cause frustration in Vista, but overall it is not bad, it is stable, and it works. I run most of my stuff on XP Pro SP2 or SP3 though, and our company will skip Vista more than likely, however it sure is not as bad as it used to be.

DX10 not on XP is a bit of a joke, it could be done, however the more recent games and hardware do work well on Vista now, it was a matter of drivers maturing.

XP was/is a good OS, at least it matured into one any way. I will also be skipping vista completely so fingers crossed they have learnt from their mistakes and windows 7 will be just as good as XP.

windows 7 is only a tweaked vista.

we have the 64bit version downloaded and the 32bit is still going but i'm not going to kill my current install so have bought a bigger/faster hard drive when it arrives i'll be installing it on the new drive but for now once its downloaded i'll be sticking teh 32bit version of windows 7 onto my laptop

Downloading now. Funny though.... download wouldn't kick off till I used IE. Guess the security in firefox wouldn't let the activeX downloader start.

firefox failed at something :eek:

you sure microsoft didn't make it on the quiet?

firefox failed at something :eek:

you sure microsoft didn't make it on the quiet?

Nah more like microsoft haven't signed their activeX plugin properly or something......

As an ex PC user who is now an apple user i will take on the mantle of slating Microsoft :P

Having recently just converted to the Greener grass im still in the honeymoon period with my MacBook Pro. However having had a windows OS for a long long time i really do wish i had made the change earlier. the only new operating system i will put on my computer will be Snow Leopard which will have theoretical support for 16TB of Ram :eek: only motherboards and chipsets are stopping this being available.

I reckon as with all microsoft products it will take around 3-4 service packs just to get it to work right at which point microsoft will release another operating system and start the whole process all over again

Carl

I downloaded the ISO using Firefox on a Mac

Apple has the advantage that they know exactly what hardware their OS has to run on. Microsoft has a huge variety to support, which can't be easy. Even so, Vista is just too bloated and resource-hungry and the lack of support from 3rd parties at it's release ruined it.

Whenever someone asks me at work what they need to do to run Vista on their PC, I ask them why they need Vista. They usually can't answer that and I advise them to stick with XP.

Windows 7 is very obviously a tweaked Vista, but in this Beta version, it's as fast, or faster than XP and it needs to stay that way IMHO.

Downloaded and installed it yesterday (only via IE though), looks good so far. It scurried off and found the software for my fingerprint reader which is good.

Looks much more responsive straight from the off, Vista always seemed sluggish.

Only time will tell...................

Be interesting this ...

I wonder if the hardware manufacturers will have got off their rears and made decent drivers for it by the time it comes out.

The inquirer is listing some links.

Windows 7 beta direct-download links from Volesoft- The Inquirer

But I was cut off at 300mb on the 32bit version.

Installed this yesterday, and everything has worked without one single problem.

Fast install, problem free, unlike the Vista beta I tested.

Everything works - Steam, Skype, Windows Messenger, Graphics Drivers (w7 beta ones from nvidia), realtek drivers for it too and a whole bunch of other stuff.

I think that half of it is down to the manufacturers getting software out for it already, unlike with vista which they seemed to ignore for a long period of time!

got it and installed it and tbh other thana few visual changes i can't see any differences at all.

I think there are two reasons - you are testing 32 bit, the market is growing towards the need for 64 bit with larger numbers of people using it.

Also Windows 7 = pretty much Vista 2 so most things should now work

no need to tell me that mate

but i am waiting for my new HDD to arrive before trying teh 64bit windows 7

I have to say this download is completely killing my internet connection...

could someone explain what this is? is it a new o/s like xp/vista etc or is it an add on? im confused!!!

It's a new OS version that is rumoured to be getting released late this year. Microsoft have released a test version publicly to get real-world feedback on it. So far, it's a good thing, lets hope it doesn't bloat out for release.

cheers

I've got it running on a spare hard drive on my laptop, gave the 64 edition a try. Seems ok, LOTS of software doesn't work on it yet including chrome & firefox causes it to run very slow BUT it is a Beta test version so this is going to be the case.

The operating system it's self seems ok, I'm not sure how convinced i am with them moving a load of stuff around AGAIN but it's not hard once you've had a good play with it to find out where everything has gone.

They've used a lot of the graphics from Vista and have also added some nice visual touches, i happen to like these touches so it's not a bad thing.

Just for the record I use Vista Ultimate and for the last 1.5 half years of running it I've not had it crash once yet, so as far as I'm concerned it's a good operating system so far!

The way i see it if you want these things to be better and have an opinion then get the test operating system and give it a try! There are options in every window to send feedback about what you are doing and how well it's working (although unless you have a spare HDD to try it on i wouldn't wipe everything off my normal daily one!). I will await the next edition of it and see how that goes.

my new 7200rpm 250Gb HDD arrived for my laptop today so windows 7 64bit is now installed and downloading updates.

I bit the bullet and have temporarily completely replaced my primary operating system with Windows 7.. so far so good!!

People reported Firefox 3 has problems on it but I'm running it fine!