I hope that DirectX 11 cards will also be available by then, else I don't feel that compelled to upgrade ...

I find it strange and unnerving that M$ has a product that may sell itself. It's not a marketing ploy, Windows 7 may deserve this hype and enthusiasm - unlike anything from that fruit company...

I meant upgrade my PC, i'll definitely pick a copy of Win 7 when it ships.

It was almost 100% that it was coming this year. I'm just look at the RC,, it's practically done.

I'm using the RC as my main OS and do plan on buying a copy when it comes out.

With it being great now I can't wait for actual release.

Back on schedule for MS it seems. They had Win95 in '96, Win98, ME & 2000 in '00, and XP in '01. Took 5+ years for Vista, but now 3 years later we have 7. Unfortunately, we still don't have all the wonderful things we heard were going into the original Longhorn (now Vista).

I might upgrade my XP machine to 7, but if I had already installed Vista, it might be a hard sale. Anyone planning to move from Vista to 7 (and I mean by purchasing a legitamate copy)?

......Yet the company made it.

Who is the fruit again?

At least they don't totally outright LIE TO YOUR FACE like Apple.

Notice a particular expression in the sentence: "“With early RC testing and extensive partner feedback we’ve received, Windows 7 is tracking well for holiday availability"

This can mean two things: It will be available by Christmas time - what most people are saying, OR, by summer time. In my humble opinion, we could very well be looking at a late August release date.

Let's see, we are in May, and we already have the Release Candidate. If the 23rd of October date is correct it means that it will be more than five months before we see it. They needed four months to put out the RC after the already stable, high quality Beta, why should it take that long for it to go gold ? The end of August would mean more or less the same time it took them to go from Beta to RC.

They have everybody in the bandwagon. This time Nvidia isn't sleeping nor is ATI, and like they say, they have a high rate of drivers which means compatibility is already very high.

Why am I thinking August ? Well, consider this: Windows 7 is probably going to be a major success and is going to be a hallmark.. the last consumer operating system from Microsft to be 32-bit, even more successful than the first... Windows 95, released on the 24th August 1995. Makes some historical sense doesn't it ? And it's a Monday this year.

everyone do yourself a favor and WAIT FOR SP1 if you want ot pick it up

Does anybody know the timeline for DX11 and cards that will be DX11 compliant? I am wanting to build a new rig when W7 comes out, but I will hold off on the purchase of a good video card if DX11 will be out around then.

I'm in no hurry, I currently run Vista 64bit Ultimate. I've tried a couple of the betas and I liked them, but not enough to just jump as soon as its released. I'll wait a bit and see how things play out. Also with DX11 coming to Vista as well, so there is even less reasons to rush.

I find the enthusiasm for Windows 7 from those so vehemently against Vista interesting, because most of the arguments about XP being sufficient and more than powerful enough still apply. What does Windows 7 truly have to offer to the majority of consumers using XP?

Also, I am still a 64 bit user (2 machines at home with 8 GB ram so I can use virtualization) but 64 bit support is still lackluster. Good Blue-Ray and HD-DVD player software? 32 bit only. Cisco VPN client for my university? 32 bit only. Available of drivers? 64 bit support still iffy.

Thus, who cares about Windows 7 as it still has all the same issues for me due to poor 64 bit support.

My-Oh-My!!! Look at all the M$ fanboys drooling all over themselves like they slam all the so called fanatics for. I guess you never see the three fingers pointing back.

While I agree 100% with you, I just hope that W7 64-bit supports 32-bit applications well. As long as I can run the applications that I want, whether its 64-bit or not, I will be happy. I guess its time to test Nero and its functions.

I'm running Win7 RC x64 as my primary OS. PowerDVD8 works beautifully, just as it did on Vista x64 for me. All of my devices from my network cards to my Samsung laser printer all have native drivers in Win7 RC x64. Prior to Win7 beta/RC, I was running Vista x64 since its inception. I have never had an issue with drivers or software compatibility.

i knew about win 7's release since dec 2007, when the admitted vista was doing terribly

Sounds like OS envy to me.

Once again, Mac people make me laugh.

I am using 7 RC for my gaming rig and my HTPC and can tell you that the media sharing has been improved greatly. I use Media center on my gaming rig even though I never installed a tuner or set it up. I have access to all 5 TB of my HTPC. Hey Puddleglum..... I never paid $300/TB either. I think the last 1.5TB I bought cost $149 CAD.

I am still dual booting with vista 64 but have not had a reason to boot Vista since May 5th.

There is an interesting topic on the msfn forum:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=127177
For those who aren't members i'll post a part of a replay that i find relevant.
"Once again Microsoft has forgotten the KISS principle. Keep It Simple, Stupid! I have seen comments about Windows is evolving. Into what? A MAC?
Where should I start?
First the Classic Menu... what is its value? " credits to the user DeathNACan

His arguments I find valid in regards to windows 7. MS made a good stable product with Vista and 7 but in the process focused to much on the competition (even though they compete from 2 different angles) and less on the consumer. Indeed what Longhorn promised was truly a OS that i would have enjoyed fully, as a simple user and as a power user.
I'm not out to bash windows 7, I'm just saying that they made compromises where they shouldn't have, filled 15GB of space with nothing tangible, and still the install process isn't modular.

Awesome, we got a firm date on the release.

Why make only 20 billion of profit each 5 years when you can do the same every 2 years.

And sure Microsoft will not pay any taxes, etc.
All will be in Paradise Heaven.

And Windows 7 is same than Vista.
But now majority of computer are able to run Vista.
Just that.
But people will say Microsoft Windows 7 is wonderful.

Yo mister I can't spell. Have you even tried windows 7?
Vista is like a windows xp with a nicer layout and more idiotproofing. Windows 7 is like a completely new system merely based on vista drivers and feedback. It isn't perfect, but it's probably the most refreshing windows release since we went from 3.11 to 95.

To me most of the changes between Vista x64 SP1 and Windows 7 RC1 seem pretty minor, there's the new Taskbar and new media streaming, that and the new WMP which plays a lot more out of the box (welcome) but still seems half finished. Nothing else seems earth shattering from an everyday use point of view.

You are obviously somebody who has no idea of the workings of an OS or who has every tried Windows 7 and Vista... believe me, whilst Vista post-SP1 is good, 7 takes the cake (especially performance/boot times)


lol +1


um, unless the application you want to use requires you to load application specific drivers, any 32 bit software should work on a 64 bit OS (whether is be Mac, Linux or Windows) under the 32 bit emulation


Yeah cause ME/00 was worth it... I dont think I know anyone who stuck with those OSes (i.e. unistalled and went back to 98/95)
I have Vista (SP1) installed on 3 machines (with 2 licences), and yes I do plan on making the switch on at least two of the machines... Whether I'd do it straight away is another question...

Oh how the truth hurts. Sorry, to disapoint you, but I don't use the system you like to slam so much.

I find the tracking system really great. I'm using a lot of media on my system, and I really like the stuff where I can just click on the arrow to the right of media player classic in my start menu to open one of the recently used files - a feature that works in most programs actually.

I don't like the msn that no longer can be simply sent away to icons hidden like daemon tools and kaspersky - but I'm sure there's a way I just haven't bothered to find yet.

In all it's an amazing jump from an xp with a facelift and overprotective security. It's not just a new vista with squared buttons.

I had to stick with ME but only because it came on my new computer, and I didn't have any install media to switch backwards. However, I also stuck with ME even after XP came out just because I didn't want to update my computer to a new OS, nor spend the $200 on an upgrade version. I guess it just depends on why you need to upgrade, for me the issue was eventually new hardware unsupported under ME. I assume that eventually MS will stop supporting Win 2003 (Xp Pro x64) and I'll have to move up.

I can't wait to see the reviews of the full copy...

http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=3198
According to this the mainstream support will cease 2 years after Service pack 3 for win 2003 64bit. However, there'll probably be another 18 months of extended support (security fixes) after that.