Dell's Early Windows 7 Impressions

[Marcus Yam]

Millions of users have been testing Windows 7 thanks to the release of the public beta earlier this year. Now let’s hear what Dell has to say about its experiences.

Dell's Early Windows 7 Impressions : Read more

 

[yingwuzhao]

no, I don't like Vista, nor Win7 that I tried out. After all the time I spent on testing win7, I went back to linux, where I have the full control.

I am thinking the only reason people don't use linux is they do not know how and the learning curve is slightly long, what if most people understand linux, will there still be anybody use windows? I doubt, seriously.(by then suppose all games are perfectly compatible in linux)

 

[B-Unit]

Been running the Win7 beta exclusively on my main machine since its release. There are a few oddities, mostly caused by being 'beta' (Your current operating system is not supported) but beyond that rock solid and very user friendly. Boot times are also amazing.

As much as I hate to give M$ any more money,(already bought 2 Vista licences) I think I'm gonna have a copy of Win7 on day 1.

 

[jhansonxi]

It's better than Vista but not revolutionary in any sense. Reminds me of the XP -> XP SP2 improvements. I know one developer that is using the beta regularly (MSDN) but I don't know anyone else that is planning to upgrade (even Vista users).

 

[lexspecialis]

i'll definitely upgrade to Win7 from my current XP. It just so happens that i'm about to upgrade my machine too, so, all the better..

 

[Guest]

Honestly I have had a much better experience with windows 7. I have been using it since a motherboard swap was done on my Asus G2s and everything has been running not only smoothly but even better than it did with Vista. I haven't had the chance to update it to the leaked 7070 Build yet but even so the official 7000 build is still many times better than Vista and I would even say a great improvement over XP.

Prior to the beta release I knew I would upgrade to atmost the Premium version, but now after actually using just this Beta Ultimate release I do see myself purchasing the Official 7 Ultimate

 

[erikstarcher]

[citation][nom]yingwuzhao[/nom]I am thinking the only reason people don't use linux is they do not know how and the learning curve is slightly long, what if most people understand linux, will there still be anybody use windows? I doubt, seriously.(by then suppose all games are perfectly compatible in linux)[/citation]

What you fail to understand is the utter lack of user knowledge. Mac's advertise that you don't need to know anything, and with Linux, you need to know way too much for the average user. Windows Vista and "7" are moving too much (IMO) towards the dumbed down Mac OS. If most people knew enough about the operating system there would be a lot less windows issues, because most of the issues are user inflicted. Asking users to become smarter to use a computer is never going to happen.

 

[tayb]

[citation][nom]yingwuzhao[/nom]no, I don't like Vista, nor Win7 that I tried out. After all the time I spent on testing win7, I went back to linux, where I have the full control. I am thinking the only reason people don't use linux is they do not know how and the learning curve is slightly long, what if most people understand linux, will there still be anybody use windows? I doubt, seriously.(by then suppose all games are perfectly compatible in linux)[/citation]

I will paraphrase this comment for you.

"I have looked at video footage of Windows 7. I am a linux fan boy. I will not try Windows 7. I love linux."

 

[deminicus]

One thing I would like to point out is that the move from vista to 7 will be easier than xp to 7. A lot of this has to do with what experience the user is accustomed to. Doing things the xp way is not the same as in vista. Some people don't want to change their ways and therefor will have the most issues with a switch. I still see some people use vista like it was a win 98 machine.

Another thing is that vista and 7 is that they are version 6 and 6.1 respectively. That's much less a difference than xp to 7.

So basically if you are still using xp you will have to flex your abilities to adapt a bit more than if you had vista.

As for me, once I retrained myself to use vista I would never go back to xp. Probably will be the same with 7.

 

[halcyon]

+1 Well said, one of the best comments here.

 

[Greatwalrus]

[citation][nom]yingwuzhao[/nom]no, I don't like Vista, nor Win7 that I tried out. After all the time I spent on testing win7, I went back to linux, where I have the full control. I am thinking the only reason people don't use linux is they do not know how and the learning curve is slightly long, what if most people understand linux, will there still be anybody use windows? I doubt, seriously.(by then suppose all games are perfectly compatible in linux)[/citation]

Yeah that's pretty much exactly what I did. Left Linux as main desktop after about a year for a couple months to use Vista, then Win7 came out and I used that for maybe a month before I yawned back to Linux, where I have full control - like you said.

Honestly, I don't care if some people don't use Linux. I'm perfectly fine with the number using it now. I just wish it were more known and respected

 

[Guest]

I have a computer running XP, Windows 7 and Ubuntu, I still like XP the best, but wouldn't mind upgrading to Windows 7. I do like Ubuntu also, but as time goes on I use it less and less. My sons friend once infected his computer (while checking his on-line email) with a virus that took days to remove, the next time he wanted he wanted to I booted up Ubuntu.

 

[jtsx1]

I recently built a computer and decided to try Vista 64, since Win7 isn't out yet. So far, I haven't had any compatibility issues and boot time is very fast. I don't see a need to upgrade when Win7 comes out, but I also didn't try to run Vista64 on a slow single/dual core CPU either. Upgrade your hardware or go back to XP.

I7 920, 6Gb Ram etc...

 

[Petesonic]

I have been dual booting Vista Ultimate and Windows 7. Overall I have had a good experience with both. I built my own rig and made it beefy, at least for when it was built a few years ago. (Q6600, 8 gigs of ram, 2600XT) I have added a new video card (Radeon 4850). I am probably one of the rare few who have had not too much trouble with Vista. The only problem I had with vista with getting my drivers for my printer to work properly, but to be fair my printer is probably over 15 years old now. Windows 7 however surprisingly identified the printer immediately (Something I have not experienced before). I am also running XP on two Laptops (Compaq R3000, Dell Lattitude D520) -Both are pretty old now. But XP still runs fine, I just had to uninstall a lot of the bloatware. I also have a tablet running vista ultimate (lenovo X61). I use this computer quite a bit and vista has had very few problems. It is sometimes slow to return from hibernation, but I tend to be running a lot of programs when I hibernate so quite a bit must be stored onto the HDD. It also has 4 gigs of ram. I also have a linux box, I've tried a variety of distros including redhat enterprise , fedora, slackware, and i'm currently using Ubuntu. Ubuntu is nice because it is much easier to use than the others in my opinion, also a lot of drivers were preinstalled which made things easier on me. But as for my impression of Windows 7. I really like it a lot. Mostly the little things that they have done to improve the interface I have appreciated. Like the little box on the bottom left for the desktop, being able to maximize windows while dragging. I have a 3 monitor set up so it's useful when i'm moving my windows around. As for linux, it is nice to play around with and have full control, but realistically it is not effective to have to be playing around with these things when you are trying to be productive. Windows XP is nice for the lower power computers, but Vista hasn't been a burden on me.

 

[Tindytim]

I have a computer running XP, Windows 7 and Ubuntu, I still like XP the best, but wouldn't mind upgrading to Windows 7. I do like Ubuntu also, but as time goes on I use it less and less. My sons friend once infected his computer (while checking his on-line email) with a virus that took days to remove, the next time he wanted he wanted to I booted up Ubuntu.

Odd. I too am running XP, 7, and Ubuntu (technically Ubuntu Studio 8.10), but more and more I'm using Windows less. I'll probably buy Windows 7 on day one, get rid of XP for good, while still only using Windows 7 for testing code, gaming, and the occasional app that only works with Windows.

 

[nukemaster]

I personally had no issues with Vista 64. Lets face it too many companies tried to sell cheap systems with 1gig of ram and vista.

My personal system is a Core 2 Quad 3.0 machine with 8 gigs of ram. as such vista's super fetch does great things.

 

[randomizer]

[citation][nom]jhansonxi[/nom]It's better than Vista but not revolutionary in any sense. Reminds me of the XP -> XP SP2 improvements.[/citation]
Not really, I think it is more Windows 98 -> Windows Me (minus the shameful instability). It looks a bit different, and XP SP2 looks the same as vanilla XP except for the Windows loading bar going from green to blue.

I agree with Petesonic too: Linux is nice and all, but I have spent far longer trying to tango with it than actually doing anything useful. I have Vista for work

 

[jeg0007]

Now that multi-core systems are becoming the norm, I think the single most compelling reason for me to upgrade from XP to Win7/64 is it is finally time to go 64-bit and get past the 3GB RAM limitation.

 

[outacontrolpimp]

People dont like vista because they dont know how to use it. I had vista until the windows 7 beta came out and it was fine. Rare crashes, glitches ect. Service pack 1 really helped out vista alot. But not ive moved on to windows 7, at first i was just amazed how easy it was. Then i noticed start up time, reliability, compatability everything. Its just that easy. I love windows 7 never switching back.
Only thing i wonder is, some games, programs ect require vista xp. How long will it be until windows 7 is compatible with those. That should have been changed a long time ago

 

[Tindytim]

[citation][nom]outacontrolpimp[/nom]How long will it be until windows 7 is compatible with those. That should have been changed a long time ago[/citation]
You're asking why a piece of software, still in it's beta stages without a Release Candidate (it may not even release this year), doesn't have the full support of all the software you like to use?

 

[belardo]

[citation][nom]outacontrolpimp[/nom]People dont like vista because they dont know how to use it. [/citation]

Er yeah, thats why MS has extended XP for retail... You don't own/run companies with dozens, hundreds or thousands of computers. A properly setup XP computer is just as weak or strong as Vista... in a sense, vista is more idiot proof - to a point.

I really need to start using Linux...

 

[jimmysmitty]

[citation][nom]yingwuzhao[/nom]no, I don't like Vista, nor Win7 that I tried out. After all the time I spent on testing win7, I went back to linux, where I have the full control. I am thinking the only reason people don't use linux is they do not know how and the learning curve is slightly long, what if most people understand linux, will there still be anybody use windows? I doubt, seriously.(by then suppose all games are perfectly compatible in linux)[/citation]

That or the fact that since it is a free OS and there is no support people don't like it. No patches and you have to either rely on someone else for drivers (stability not guranteed) or yourself if you know how to write them.

Then again if Linux took off I am sure it would have become a non free OS and it would be just like Windows. Not as stable and people would complain. Then maybe it would be Windows that would be free and better.

 

[randomizer]

Linux doesn't need patches, it's perfect remember.

 

[Tindytim]

[citation][nom]jimmysmitty[/nom]That or the fact that since it is a free OS and there is no support people don't like it.[/citation]
Wow, right off the bat, it's obvious you have no idea what the **** you're talking about. Ubuntu has daily updates.

[citation][nom]jimmysmitty[/nom]you have to either rely on someone else for drivers (stability not guranteed) or yourself if you know how to write them.[/citation]
How is that different from any other operating system? I have to rely on Nvidia to create drivers for my Video card regardless of my OS. Their Linux drivers are pretty good.

[citation][nom]jimmysmitty[/nom]Then again if Linux took off I am sure it would have become a non free OS and it would be just like Windows.[/citation]
Linux isn't an Operating System, it's a Kernal. You can't sell Linux, you can sell an Operating System based off of Linux, and there are already distros being sold for money.

True, most Linux distros find safety in their tiny niches, much like OSX. But their general security scheme is better managed (I'm not encouraged to run as the administrator at all times). Not to mentio most of the people that get viri are those that are ignorant.

Now, I'm not saying Linux is ready for the mainstream. It would be great if everyone was comfortable with compiling code from source, installing drivers without a GUI, and using a terminal. But they aren't. But that's the benefit of most Linux distros, some of them try to be user friendly, but it doesn't get bogged down trying make it idiot proof for ignorant users.

 

[TheZander]

Windows 7 & i7 ... you think these guys may have coordinated that on purpose? Hehe. Anyways, Win7 looks quite promising. I will be extremely interested to see how well it optimizes the abilities of 4 i7 cores with hyperthreading compared to Vista.