Windows 7 - When!

I want it now.

Published on January 10, 2009 By ins11 In Personal Computing

So, after being rather 'lax' when it comes to "closely" following Microsoft betas for the past few years... (ever since I started working with their software as a fulltime job really...) I decided it was time to get up to speed with the recent Windows 7.

And lo and behold, I discover that January 9th was the day that build 7000 (beta 1) would be made available for Joe Public (or user in this case).

I happily click the most prominent link I could find, only to discover that I was too late, and the site had crashed already.

Now I am stuck with a RSS updater trying to get a 'thunderbirds are go!' message from The Windows Blog as well as checking the TechNet site, where the download link was previously posted.

Luckily with some GoogleFu I was able to find a download link through HardOCP

But as it turns out, the 32-bit version from Microsoft must be heavily used, as the download gets interrupted repeatedly. Luckily thanks to Opera (The #1 Browser.. if only it was as stable as Google Chrome) I am at least able to resume it. Funny thing is the x64 version downloaded without any hick-ups. Is that a sign that tells me that people are STILL using 32-bit operating systems? I would have assumed that the 'enthusiasts' who would/should be the ones throwing themselves at this beta were using a 64 bit capable CPU and would like to 'benefit' from that.

So now I just have to find some spare time to install it, and possibly trash my 3 other OS installations (Vista32,64 and XP64).

Funny side note #1 is that the 7000 build was available on torrent sites for a long time, as well as a activation crack.
Funny side note #2 is that the torrent download was faster than Microsofts Akamai download..
Pondering Side note #1 is that, why did not MS use torrent technology to distribute it? If it works for Blizzard with 19.000.000.000 WoW clients, it should work for Micro$oft?

Comments (Page 3)

GenBlood

on Jan 11, 2009

I too, installed the beta of Windows 7 on my test system. The

install went good. After the install only had 1 major issue. The

Blue ray wasn't working. So, I had to reboot press F8 and turn

off "forced drivers signed" After that the blue ray drivers loaded

and I was up and running.

I been using it for a few hours now and the overall feel is "OK"

starkers

on Jan 11, 2009

Besides,it's getting harder for this old dog to keep learning new tricks.

If you're familiar with Vista, Wiz, you'd be fine with Win 7... there's hardly any difference with regards to general operation and where things are, etc. Essentially, the GUI is like Vista's but slicker, and the changes are improved functionality rather than an 'altered' OS. There are some new features, like the interactive taskbar icons, for instance, but there isn't a steep learning curve attached. More new feature will appear in the full retail version, but like I said, if you are familiar with Vista you do not need to feel daunted.

ins11

on Jan 11, 2009

Been using it for a little over a day as my "main os" (for a little over a day) and I must say this is a real nice change from Vista. It looks a lot nicer than XP, and has some nifty (and some annoyances, but I guess it just about retraining yourself) features.

The biggest problem so far has been IE8 which does not format some web pages correctly, especially Gmail (which I use a lot).

Oh yea, moving windows to the edge of the screen may produce results you did not expect and may take some time to get used to.

Installing the Windows Live Desktop software is also a nice addition.

Still wish I was on AmigaOS though.

mickeko

on Jan 12, 2009

instant

reply 8

Still wish I was on AmigaOS though.

I tried to fiddle around with AmigaOS last week... While it was a great OS at its time, it's horribly outdated today (and not to mention ugly, as it's primarily made for lowres screens)...

I loved it back in the "days" though....

ins11

on Jan 12, 2009

Well, still looks good.

http://amigaweb.net/images/AmigaOS_Screenshot_001_Large.jpg

Might not be the standard layout though. But at least shows whats possible. It is a bit like Apple Mac, it might be a really nice OS but it does not have the broad software and hardware support that Windows has.

If AmigaOS was compatible with all the software I had on my PC + give me the performance in games (e.g. support DX10 games etc) I'd switch in a second.

I miss my /libraries, >dev:null, etc..

Cooley35

on Jan 24, 2009

Just a note:

Windows 7 uses DX 11

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