anyone who was going to get it has gotten it already

I'm already seeing hardware issues with windows 7, thought it'd be better than this but I can't really complain because I know how to get everything working fine on my old machine, just have to put in a sound blaster so I can get sound. Microsoft's onboard drivers for soundmax don't even work at all.

i call it "vista sister" - i still get the EXACT same minor issues with 7 as i do with vista (hardware/device manager x flashes with mouse over etc), and my creative sound card that works with vista laggs with windows 7 (creatives problem not so much windows 7 but odd at that)

what i do like is the xp mode

I hate trials; ive applied for it but when i saw that you had to reinstall xp or buy win 7 full price after a certain date, i decided not to install..

The worst part about trials like that it they usually tell you what YOU WILL HAVE TO DO AFTER YOU,VE INSTALL IT witch is a real pain in the neck.

How many times have i been trick into installing a trial. Don't worry i've used their contact us and told them how i felt about trials

good but their sound card drivers SUCK
and manufacturers are saying wait until Oct for new drivers.
pretty lame

I take it were talking about Creative? iv given up on them

If you dont already have it, then go for it, like 99% of those using RC/RTM, those MINOR issues can/have a workaround.

Dextermet, wow you sad person or wot, pick up a dictionary and then learn the meaning of 'trial software', dont blame MS for giving you a FREE key.

LOL at your complaint, seriously, dont like a TRIAL, then buy the real thing when it comes out instead. ALL trial softwares, let me repeat that ALL TRIAL softwares, hang on I dont think you quite got it, ALL TRIAL SOFTWARE RUNS OUT AFTER A SET DATE! I trust this will help to get in to your head?

All other trials last for about 1 month, or even less and they DO NOT give full features as part of their trials, yet MS chose to give the FULL PACKAGE, including all the extra's like Virtual PC, full features of their highest package aka Windows Ultimate, Windows Media Centre, etc etc.

Im sure MS will take your concerns seriously, NOT!

sorry to go all MS defensive, but creative sound drivers SUCK! they have the worst driver support i've ever seen! its not windowses fault if your creative sound card doesn't work properly. a more worrying trate of windows 7 was it download an update for my onboard network via windows update that DIDN'T WORK! I though the hardware had broken at first, had to roll back the driver, which to their credit was painless.

dextermat: you can just use a spare hard drive or create a partition for windows 7 leaving your windows xp section alone and saving files to a location both systems can reach so you can run 7 without the need for a reinstall after the thing stops working in other words your being a stubborn n00b.

Boxa786: your going the other extreme and i guess its even worse but what is to expect from some one writing half his post in caps ? ... The trial versions of software are so you can try it out before you buy it or if you don't like the trial you know you wont have to buy the full version.
If you dont like the trial and are still moronic enough to buy it you should be shot in one knee and fed to domestic cats in an airtight box made out of lima beans.
Specially if you really believe an RC edition is a trial.

I've been using windows 7 RC for over three months now, very stable and no issues. I have it loaded on two custom systems, one with a quad 6600 and Asus commando mother board and EVGA 8800GT, the other a i7 Core 950 with the ASUS P6T and the EVGA 285 Video card, a Dell 1705E notebook and the HP DV7 with 2.8GHZ processor.

Good thing I like the Windows 7 RC, because I wasn't buying Vista when a new OS is right around the corner.

My ga-p35-ds4's onboard sound works flawlessly on the device. But I suppose some drivers can be tricky indeed. Sometimes when I boot, my system takes 10 minutes to get to the loading my profile part, and when it's finally done it won't do anything. That's caused by kaspersky antivirus' filter driver fucking up at times though, and not really a microsoft problem. I suppose your sound problem's a bit of hte same. I've got issues with soundmax at work too. More specificly, if I deploy an xp mashine that contains soundmax hd drivers on a system that has an onboard intel ac97, it'll crash (without bug stop) as soon as it tries to play a sound. The problem is the soundmax control panel interfering with 'foreign' drivers business.

Soundmax/ADI are a bunch of idiots - every sound chip they make just about requires DIFFERENT drivers and NONE are available via them and only available from motherboard/oem manafacturers so there so out of date its not funny.

As for soundblaster - i got a SB live card that works with vista 100% and stutters with windows 7 - not to fear, Realtek knows how to make chipsets and drivers and what not - no issues to report after dumping a poorly supported product from a stupid company - gone are the days of SB16.

Just be like the rest of the world...
Torrent it.

Windows 7 is the first OS I have ever planned to buy on release.

I've been using it since the RC came out with no issue at all.

In fact, there is a high chance this will be an entire new system upgrade at the same time.

"good but their sound card drivers SUCK
and manufacturers are saying wait until Oct for new drivers.
pretty lame"

You mean it's lame that the new drivers only come out when the OS goes on sale? Come on...

lol @ ppl still relying on sound blaster

there are other choices!

I'm running Windows 7 RTM x64 (since late july) and I have a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Gamer Edition with the x64 drivers from Creative. I've got no sound problems. I don't know why others do, unless they have sound card hw issues. Why would one work but not another? I skipped ME, 2000 and vista altogether in the scheme of things over the last 10 yrs. XP has been my O/S of choice, but I'm now a 7 x64 user. Aside from radmin 3.3 not being compatible (3.4 with windows 7 support is coming out in the next week or two) due to the drivers it uses, everything else important works, few exceptions. I'm a happy camper so far.

I'm running the Final build of Windows 7 Ultimate, which is of course a leak I got off TPB. I personally haven't experienced any driver issues, almost all plug and play hardware is supported, including my motherboard's drivers, which is a G31M-S2C. I didn't have to install Lan, VGA or any other drivers.

I'm waiting for the SP1 version. Then I'll go out and get it.

caskachan - hehe. I haven't use a SB card in years.

i didn't feel like it hemelskonijn (my 500 go disk is almost full and didn't want to screw around with my data)

I know I should not be whining about it but i wish i could get a FREE copy of windows 7 lol or be a bit richer (so i could buy another hard drive and install it)

Let a man dream

No, I think its lame that when the new drivers come out at the OS release, they purposely disable features to force you to buy a new card that has drivers that include those features.

haha i got voted down for speaking the truth - reasons anyone?

When i bought my SoundBlaster Audigy, about 7 years ago, it was the most expensive piece of hardware in my computer. I still use it today, but i miss the old XP drivers when all the settings worked flawless...