Is Windows 7 better Then Windows Vista

I like it better, personally. It seems faster and more intuitive than Vista. It still has some minor quirks, but overall, I think it is a definite improvement over any prior MS OS.

I can't really see how it could be "not near as good" when it's built on the Vista code base.

One word: Hell Yes! oh, I suppose that's two...

That Win7 is better, that is.

Vista was the worst OS that MS has released so far. Look at the video reviews from Bill Gates, he almost denies Vista's existence.

Everybody was disapointed. As ahslan has said, Windows 7 is a Vista that works somewhat correctly. Surprisingly, XP still has more support overall if I am not mistaken. Vista just has more memory support which means nothing since the OS itself has performance issues. Sure, Windows 7 is an improvement but nobody trusts MS no more since Vista came out. As far as software support is concerned, nobody cares at this point.

Otherwise, XP wouldn't be selling at a good retail value.

To answer the initial question, performance is better, the interface is cleaned up, as far as support goes, that is not clear.

XP SP2 is going to be around for quite a while, get use to it.

This has to be one of the largest piles of male bovine excrement yet. You obviously weren't involved in the WinXP release, were you? Or do you just have a short memory? It took XP what, three years to get the bugs ironed out after release?

My Vista install works just fine, thank you. My Win7 RC install runs just fine, thank you. Both are much faster in apps than my XP install, thank you, especially apps that need more than one thread. (Won't even go into 64bit support, or lack of in XP...)

I predict that XP updates will be non-existant somewhere around q4 2010.

XP versus Vista versus Windows 7:

Windows 7 is built on Vista and adds many improvements. It is essentially better in everyway except for a lack of drivers but that will be rectified on release. Due to the core Vista base many Vista drivers actually work or require little modification.

Vista and Windows 7 versus XP:
That's difficult. In many ways they are better (especially Win 7). However, significant driver or software issues occur for some people with older hardware. Most people comfortable with computers can easily jump from XP to Windows 7 but there are lots of people who don't like change.

There are lots of sites to find info.

I'm dual-booting Windows 7 RC 64bit and Windows XP. I'm really getting used to Windows 7's visual features but could quite easily go back to XP.

However, security, stability are much better in Windows 7.

Anyone upgrading from XP should get the 64bit version of Windows 7.

Updates in the form of service packs have already ceased - nothing beyond SP3 will be released for Windows XP.

Microsoft has committed to providing security patches and hotfixes for XP SP3 until April 2014.

I suppose Windows Me was the best?

Used them all at one time or another, and I have a couple unpopular opinions. The first is that (contrary to popular belief), XP is not God's Gift to Desktop Operating systems. XP at it's release was much worse than Vista at it's release, and that's a fact. Less driver support, more bugs, and issues with drivers (*still) can bring the entire thing down. The advantage XP had at it's release which Vista did not is that the OS's XP replaced were even worse - with the notable exception of Win NT. So (we) dealt with it since it was still an improvement in the (desktop) environment it was intended.

The second unpopular opinion is that if you can't get Vista working properly, then you need to turn whatever passes for your Technical Credentials in at the door on your way out. It's not hard. "Different"? Yes. But not difficult.


With that out of the way:

I've said it before: If you are looking for "XP 2010", then you are going to be deeply disappointed. Win 7 is not XP. Never has been, nor will it be.


As it stands now - I am using Windows 7 RC (build 7100 - not the leaked stuff), which I installed via an in-place upgrade of an image of my Vista 64 drive. It's been reliable and fast since install.

Likes:

I like the Action Center - It could be better, but it makes it easier to figure out what's going on with your system easier than in any previous version of Windows.

Superfetch has been toned down to be more polite about how it manages and caches data. It still does does it's thing, but isn't nearly as aggressive about it. Preferring instead to work in the background at a lower priority. The result is that the desktop becomes responsive much quicker on start up than it does under Vista. This is an easily noticable difference.

7 is better about how it handles multiple program windows - In earlier versions Windows keeps a copy of texture data for each window. Where possible, 7 uses a single version instead. So resource usage in situations where you have a lot of windows open is improved.

UAC is configurable, and the default is more polite to begin with.

Search - I've said it about Vista, and it holds true in 7 - I like the search. Indexed Results come up as fast as you can type the name. No More Navigating Menus and Sub Menus!

There's also a nice, and easy to use color calibration utility, better SSD support, and it Defrags itself.


I have a slightly more mixed impression of the new Taskbar - I don't like the defaults (icon only in a square box) all that much. Easy to fix using the context menu (right click). And if you're a Quick Launch junkie (like me), the defaults get really crowded, really fast. On The Other Hand: If you have a widescreen monitor - Try setting the Taskbar to the left or right side, open it up a little, and it quickly becomes superior to the older versions. Arrange your commonly used programs how you like, you'll have readable text instead of an icon, and the same program stays in the same place - always. So with a little practice, muscle memory becomes the rule when you want something. Nice...

You must be out of your mind. shake your medicine well when you drink it.

Yeah, I was really irked at this too. But I learned that you can still use the "classic" quick launch bar in Win7 with a little tweaking:

- Configure Windows Explorer to show hidden files and folders
- Unlock the toolbar
- Right-click the toolbar and select "Toolbars -> New Toolbar"
- Select folder: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\QuickLaunch
- Drag quick launch to the left end
- Right-click quick launch and uncheck "show text" and "show title"

I'm not going to scream and shout in caps lock about how much of a n00b you are,
I'm just going to say that it is only in RC at the moment so there is no way to tell for sure, but from what I gather the RC is much better than Vista

@ habitat:
lol what "professional" programs dont work with vista? If the company hasnt released an update to make it compatible by now i would throw that garbage away.

And obviously you have never used XP without a service pack... your first steps out into the internet would be like walking through the final level of chex quest with only the bootspoon.

EDIT: I guess my only gripe with windows 7 is that they stil have not brought back 3d space cadet pinball

It was a discrete piano creation music studio program why? Vista didn't support all of the features. A lot of the ones the person needed. What kind of professional app is used without the "tools" features? Yes, I found this to be a bit funny myself. Any discrete 64 OS was out of the question. I told him, "Get SP2". Refused to do that. Nothing I could do.

Actually, I find XP without a service pack snappier and more responsive thank you. For those of you that want to try this, I would not recommend it due to the fact that it does not play nicely with the newest hardware. If you don't know what you are doing, your going to end up installing the service pack anyway.

You can name one obscure program, and you go around spreading FUD about an OS?

@rgsaunders, in house custom software isnt really what habitat or my self were talking about...

"In house" custom software frequently has thousands of users in large corporate environments, in other cases in government organizations, the numbers may be smaller however these programs can be critically important and extremely difficult to have updated for new IT hardware/OS requirements. Some of the producers of these specialized products have warehoused "obsolete" hardware in order to provide customer support. An example of this would be some of the "ruggedized" mil spec computers designed for field use. These systems are also used by many civilian scientists for data aquistion and analysis in harsh environmental conditions.
I realize these are not normal consumer requirements, however they do represent a case for continued support of what are deemed by many to be obsolete or useless OS. Said support should however be on a fee basis once it is outside the normal support timeline.

What Are You Smoking??? Dude - You seriously need to put the rose colored glasses down.

...and perhaps you'd care to explain why/how is Microsoft supposed to be responsible for all that ancient stuff?? You know - Apps that Microsoft didn't write?? You don't have a support contract with the guys who wrote the stuff?? You don't have people who are capable of maintaining your custom code?? You don't have a relationship with the company who wrote your apps?? Sounds to me like you don't have a software problem - You have a Management problem. As in "Your Managers are Idiots For Allowing Your Systems To Be That Exposed and That Unsupported"

My company has a couple ancient AS400s running some custom (C!!!) code - Are we to believe that Microsoft is supposed to figure out how to make that run in Windows?? The guy who wrote it DIED 5 YEARS AGO!! It keeps running.... so they keep using it... they've been told "You know.. if this dies, we're all really screwed because there's no replacement..." Yet they turn a blind eye because nobody wants to pony up to replace something that should have been put to bed nearly a decade ago. It's not a software problem. It's a Management problem.

It is an absolute impossibility for any software company to support everything, indefinitely. And it is absolutely Asinine to trot out all the specialized Apps and scream the the OS sucks because it isn't infinitely backwards compatible.

The world has moved on - MSFT are not responsible for catering to your "Special Needs" - Get Over It.

@habitat
Dude your seriously biased... im unbiased in the sense of i didn't need to pay for my xp and vista licence, work pays for that thanx to the MSDN partnership, so i have no obligation of staying with vista if it was bad...
As for the "i had one of the first licenses" guess what.. so did i... I had to learn the OS to be able to support our clients, took me a whole week, yes it was sluggish, yes it was on an old celeron, but i saw the potensial.
I went back to XP after i knew most of the main problems and how to fix them.
Waited for SP1 to be released as i did with XP... I accepted that some old app's wouldn't work, but then i had to do the same when i went over to XP back then.

+1 Scotteq

Microsoft admitted that they made a mistake taking so long to release a new OS(vista), people are scared of change, they like routines, XP was just a very long routine, as for the user friendlyness, vista is great, but people are lazy, dont like to read, they like pictures, thats why they like W7, thats why they say its more intuitive.

There is my last 77cents...

The way i obtained my copies only was in response to your "Your probably one of the few that are mad they paid money for Vista".

Did you even read the whole reply? Your biased in that you had a few bad experinces with vista and now its the devil, its bad ect ect.

"And anything is almost more intuitive then Vista."

As i posted, people are lazy and dont like to read or think for themselfs.

As for the whole program support goes. Read scotteq last post last line.

Looking at this thread I can't wait till win 9 comes out and everyone screams how awesome win 7 is.
O wait i can see a preview above
or when win95 came out
or when xp came out

get over it you'll all end up using it no matter how much you love or hate it. windows owns the market and sadly it's not gonna change anytime soon.

I still use windows 3.0, everything else can suck my ballz. F***, I cant believe I just wasted 5 minutes of my life reading this argument.

Inspector71:

I recently downloaded W7 rc build 7100. I consider it as a upgrade from Vista x64. The rc runs more efficient, boots quicker, uses less ram, and gaming fps increase (though could be from newer drivers). I liked xp, I liked vista, and I like W7 rc. If you are running Vista, I would suggest downloading W7.

It's always great to see when people go to extremes and exaggerate things in a debate. This usually means their feelings are hurt or they feel they have lost something, but the results are, a smart person learns from it, a moron (a real retard) doesn't.

I'm out of here...

Actually Windows ME is the worse release to date.

Whine and Cry Piss and Moan. Geez! Don't any of you guys read? MS told you to run Vista your machine needed to be 10x the machine needed to run XP, win 7 is even more demanding. Maybe you should take a note here:.... I found, beside a dumpster, a PowerSpec boat anchor with a ECS P4M800PRO-M v2.0 MB... otherwise it was gutted I took pulls and made a box with Socket 478 dual core 2.0 Ghz , 2GB ram, 40GB sata, and 100& 120 GB IDE drives. I put Vista Ultimate on the 120GB, XP sp3 on the 100GB, and Windows 7 on the 40GB sata. I am using the integrated S3 video. My ONLY problem is that WIN 7 does not load a Driver for the Realtec AC'97 audio, other wise it runs smooth as silk on ALL the OS's!?!? No glitches, no freezes, no hangs, EVER. Vista and Win 7 are really fussy about using integrated video, they like a nice video card to do all the graphics work and this is BECAUSE? they do not like to share memory! Yet if you know how, and obviously I do, you can make it work nicely. It is more about tweaking settings than anything lads, take it from a guy who spent 7 years of his life helping to invent the Internet for the Department of Defense. Get compatible hardware if you want to do gaming and other high end applications, but both Vista and win7 work just fine for me on this old discard. Now I am off to make a driver for the sound in win 7 for my old boat anchor motherboard and when I am finished I am going to run tomb raider revelation on win 7 LOL! BTW my total cost for this machine and all the software was under $30.00 eat your hearts out newbies.