Windows 7

andyell

will try this in the morning

ynotdu

lydabryant wrote: »

Hmmm... It's like Vista but just repackaged on the outside! :eek:

Microsoft says it's working with 10,000 software and hardware manufacturers to maximize the compatibility of Windows 7, in an attempt to avoid one of the most critical issues with Windows Vista.


Bill Veghte, the Microsoft executive who oversees Windows development, says the work of 10,000 firms towards optimum compatibility is evidence that his company is serious about making the Windows 7 experience a convenient, easy, and enjoyable one.
Veghte went on to say that the current efforts are unprecedented for the release candidate stage and Microsoft normally doesn't get to the 10,000 firm figure until the finished version goes on sale. (Source: crn.com)
"Very very close" to Optimum Compatibility

Of course, it's not just the sheer number of companies with compatible products that affects the average user's experience. It's arguably more important that products from the major companies are compatible: one of the most significant problems with the release of Windows Vista was that Adobe didn't have a Vista driver for its Postscript printing system available.
However, Veghte says the firm is "very very close" to getting compatibility across the product ranges of the major players. (Source: informationweek.com)
Printers And Modems Less Problematic

Two major issues may already have been resolved. The biggest problem area with Vista was printers. During September 2008, after the first Service Pack had been distributed, 11.24% of attempts at installing a printer ended in failure. At the time, Microsoft's Chris Matichuk said a failure rate of anything above 3% was "not good".
Vista's printer problems were down to the system struggling to cope with multifunction devices such as printers, scanners and fax machines. The system often recognized these functions as if they were independent devices, causing confusion. This could well be rectified with the revamped Device Manager in Windows 7.
The new system should also have fewer problems with modems, which were the second biggest cause of hardware compatibility problems with Vista. That's because modems used for getting wireless Internet over 3G networks used a relatively new technology at the time. Now that the technology is firmly established, Windows 7 should do a better job of coping with it from the start.

Dardania

andyell wrote: »

All the ip info is set correctly
why do i need a DNS suffix when it was not there prior to the 7 INSTALL?

so, the itemise - you have an IP address in the same range as all other clients, same subnet mask, gateway & DNS servers?

can you ping sparkhq? Actually - just noticed you always write it as Sparkhq...maybe try matching the character case as all the other clients?

Once you're completely happy with the IP level stuff above, the most likely issue that could be at play is how the Active Directory on the domain controller handles your pc as myself, feylya & Capt'n Midnight have said.

Good luck!

Dardania

ynotdu wrote: »

Microsoft says it's working with 10,000 software and hardware manufacturers to maximize the compatibility of Windows 7, in an attempt to avoid one of the most critical issues with Windows Vista.


Bill Veghte, the Microsoft executive who oversees Windows development, says the work of 10,000 firms towards optimum compatibility is evidence that his company is serious about making the Windows 7 experience a convenient, easy, and enjoyable one.
Veghte went on to say that the current efforts are unprecedented for the release candidate stage and Microsoft normally doesn't get to the 10,000 firm figure until the finished version goes on sale. (Source: crn.com)
"Very very close" to Optimum Compatibility

Of course, it's not just the sheer number of companies with compatible products that affects the average user's experience. It's arguably more important that products from the major companies are compatible: one of the most significant problems with the release of Windows Vista was that Adobe didn't have a Vista driver for its Postscript printing system available.
However, Veghte says the firm is "very very close" to getting compatibility across the product ranges of the major players. (Source: informationweek.com)
Printers And Modems Less Problematic

Two major issues may already have been resolved. The biggest problem area with Vista was printers. During September 2008, after the first Service Pack had been distributed, 11.24% of attempts at installing a printer ended in failure. At the time, Microsoft's Chris Matichuk said a failure rate of anything above 3% was "not good".
Vista's printer problems were down to the system struggling to cope with multifunction devices such as printers, scanners and fax machines. The system often recognized these functions as if they were independent devices, causing confusion. This could well be rectified with the revamped Device Manager in Windows 7.
The new system should also have fewer problems with modems, which were the second biggest cause of hardware compatibility problems with Vista. That's because modems used for getting wireless Internet over 3G networks used a relatively new technology at the time. Now that the technology is firmly established, Windows 7 should do a better job of coping with it from the start.

AGAIN - copying Apple ;-p

QUite impressed with the device support - particularly between build 7000 & 7100 - now my netbook doesn't need any drivers - previously I needed both wifi & lan, from the manufacturer - now it's built into the image. Nice touch.

Interestingly though, on my old Dell Latitude, the Intel BG2000 wifi card isn't recognised, and my Blackberry Pearl doesn't really load into device stage... I suspect both of these items are political rather than technical.

BattlingCheese

I'm liking it so far, stable and fast.
It's the little touches that get me like shaking a windows title bar to minimize any other windows and the auto resize to fill half the screen that you get when you drag a windows edge to your monitors edge. Very useful to easily compare two windows without awkward resizing

Windows 7 RC1 Will Auto Shut Down Every Two Hours, Months Before Expiration

Windows 7 RC1 doesn't expire until June 1, but we found a catch, and it's a pretty horrible one. Starting March 1, it'll shut down every two hours.

Watch the calendar. The RC will expire on June 1, 2010. Starting on March 1, 2010, your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Windows will notify you two weeks before the bi-hourly shutdowns start. To avoid interruption, you'll need to install a non-expired version of Windows before March 1, 2010. You'll also need to install the programs and data that you want to use.

http://gizmodo.com/5240677/windows-7-rc1-will-auto-shut-down-every-two-hours-months-before-expiration

Seifer

hellboy99 wrote: »

Windows 7 RC1 Will Auto Shut Down Every Two Hours, Months Before Expiration



http://gizmodo.com/5240677/windows-7-rc1-will-auto-shut-down-every-two-hours-months-before-expiration

This has been known since just before they launched the RC

quarryman

This is out in October though right? So plenty of time to buy it before the expiration shut-downs.

watty

I bet the October the current Beta of Ubuntu comes out is an earlier one and that it's much cheaper and faster.

(Hugs volume licence edition Windows Professional XP CD).


October is OEM shipping date. The Retail copies will be a bit later. But likely in time for Santa.

andyell

Hi Just to say I tried the NSLookup etc and the messages back imply that the problem is actually on the network as as teh lookup brought back an error not just on a win 7 machine but also on a XP machine that is a part of the domain.

I can only assume that there has been even more enhancements now to 7 and this is stopping me registering on the domain.

I have the domain admin trying to find the answer

Thanks for all your replies

Andy

Is there any differences between RC 7100 and the new build RTM 7127 ?

Dardania

andyell wrote: »

Hi Just to say I tried the NSLookup etc and the messages back imply that the problem is actually on the network as as teh lookup brought back an error not just on a win 7 machine but also on a XP machine that is a part of the domain.

I can only assume that there has been even more enhancements now to 7 and this is stopping me registering on the domain.

I have the domain admin trying to find the answer

Thanks for all your replies

Andy

maybe the xp machines were loaded from an image, with the hosts file setup with the domaincontroller listed...

Or - as you seem to be experiencing the problem is on the network - maybe all the xp machines were associated with the domain controller, the problem occured (DNS service stopped on the server, DHCP handing out wrong DNS info whatever) and then you come along with a fresh windows installation (doesn't matter that it's win 7) and have probs.

I'd be curious to know how you get on!

andyell

Dardania wrote: »

maybe the xp machines were loaded from an image, with the hosts file setup with the domaincontroller listed...

Or - as you seem to be experiencing the problem is on the network - maybe all the xp machines were associated with the domain controller, the problem occured (DNS service stopped on the server, DHCP handing out wrong DNS info whatever) and then you come along with a fresh windows installation (doesn't matter that it's win 7) and have probs.

I'd be curious to know how you get on!

I am now waiting for the main domain admin to investigate the settings, the plan is to install 7 on another laptop later in the week and thhen try to register this machine on the network and see how we get on .

I will keep you posted

Andy

bonkers

Pentium M 1.4GHz Processor
512MB PC 2100 DDR2 Memory
40 Gigs Hard Drive
CD Rom
ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 Video card
802.11 wireless card

ynotdu

They recommend 1 gig of ram minumum,but to fulfill your curiosity use the seach engine on the windows update site to search for a programme called: windows 7 upgrade advisor,it scans your hardware and gives you a report.
cheers

watty

bonkers wrote: »

Pentium M 1.4GHz Processor
512MB PC 2100 DDR2 Memory
40 Gigs Hard Drive
CD Rom
ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 Video card
802.11 wireless card

It's probably possible, but like a drunk slug compared to properly configured XP.

That's a nice system for XP, Fedora, Ubuntu etc. Not for Win7

CPU too slow.
Need x3 memory.
Graphic card inadequate.
- Might Need DVD for retail SW?

The wireless card is not relevant. But you don't say what kind it is.

BigEejit

bonkers wrote: »

Pentium M 1.4GHz Processor
512MB PC 2100 DDR2 Memory
40 Gigs Hard Drive
CD Rom
ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 Video card
802.11 wireless card

Sounds like a Dell Latitude D600, havent tried it myself on mine. Would be interested in seeing how it works for you :P

Dardania

BigEejit wrote: »

Sounds like a Dell Latitude D600, havent tried it myself on mine. Would be interested in seeing how it works for you :P

put it on an old dell latitude d600 with a similar spec (1.6GGHz processor). It works...no doubt about that, but not the fastest... Works grand for burning DVDs though.

BTW I note that the Intel 2100 wifi card isn't automatically loaded - you have to manually get the driver from intel.

Hey all,

Wondering if someone could do me a small favour and answer some quick questions for me (don't fancy reading through 48 pages )


- Is Windows 7 the next operating system after Vista?

- If the above is correct, how come Vista came and went so fast?!

- Again, if the above is accurate, any idea when this will start being put on laptops, etc. as the default OS. I'm looking at getting a new laptop, should i wait it out? (and if i buy a laptop today, if i want to switch over to 7 when it appears, will it cost much/be much hassle?)



Sorry for the really dumbed down questions. I'm not very good with this kinda thing at all.

elyod

Deleted User wrote: »

- Is Windows 7 the next operating system after Vista?

Yes

Deleted User wrote: »

- If the above is correct, how come Vista came and went so fast?!

Because there is money to be made from releasing new operating systems which have minimal improvements over the previous one, and over charging for it.

Deleted User wrote: »

- Again, if the above is accurate, any idea when this will start being put on laptops, etc. as the default OS. I'm looking at getting a new laptop, should i wait it out? (and if i buy a laptop today, if i want to switch over to 7 when it appears, will it cost much/be much hassle?)

Should see it on laptops near the end of the year. I'd wait until then because it will cost you a bomb to buy Windows 7 off the shelf so soon after it will be released. Just bide your time and wait for a laptop to come along with it pre-installed.

Can I ask, when you say it will have "minimal improvements over the previous one" you get me a little concerned. Is it even worth my while going for it if it's not going to be anything amazing.


Despite the hatred that people often rant about concerning Vista, I've nothing to complain about with it. Personally, I think it's great.

Being honest, should I just forget about Windows 7 until i'm buying a new desktop/laptop in two or three years when all the issues have been worked out (im sure there will be problems with it at first) and stick with Vista in the mean time (As i say, I'v eno problem with Vista, but I assumed Windows 7 would be significantly better in many ways before you replied).


Cheers

AlmightyCushion

Deleted User wrote: »

If the above is correct, how come Vista came and went so fast?!

Well it hasn't really been that fast. Vista will be out for around 3 years when 7 is released. XP lasted a hell of a lot longer though simply because Vista suffered from loads of delays (pity we still haven't seen winfs).

Deleted User wrote: »

Again, if the above is accurate, any idea when this will start being put on laptops, etc. as the default OS. I'm looking at getting a new laptop, should i wait it out? (and if i buy a laptop today, if i want to switch over to 7 when it appears, will it cost much/be much hassle?)

Acer have said they'll have computers with 7 near the end of october. So that is the rumoured release date. Whether it is or not is another thing. Microsoft have stated that they want to keep to a three year release cycle at most. This would put it at January at the latest. It'll probably be out before Christmas though.

AlmightyCushion

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Well it hasn't really been that fast. Vista will be out for around 3 years when 7 is released. XP lasted a hell of a lot longer though simply because Vista suffered from loads of delays (pity we still haven't seen winfs).

Seems very fast, to me. I'd have assumed an OS would have a similar life time as a console for example. eg: PS2, PS3, XBox, etc. all get at least 5 years here and there. I know you don't need to buy a new computer in order to get a new OS, but still seems like something I think they should do every 5 years or so (unless they've come up with something that will signifanctly change a lot of things on a computer).


No idea what WinFS is, but wikipedia makes it look pretty interesting.

AlmightyCushion

Deleted User wrote: »

Can I ask, when you say it will have "minimal improvements over the previous one" you get me a little concerned. Is it even worth my while going for it if it's not going to be anything amazing.


Despite the hatred that people often rant about concerning Vista, I've nothing to complain about with it. Personally, I think it's great.

Being honest, should I just forget about Windows 7 until i'm buying a new desktop/laptop in two or three years when all the issues have been worked out (im sure there will be problems with it at first) and stick with Vista in the mean time (As i say, I'v eno problem with Vista, but I assumed Windows 7 would be significantly better in many ways before you replied).


Cheers

That depends really. I find some of the improvements great in 7. I can't really compare it to vista as I haven't used vista much (I was planning on installing vista on my desktop but the 7 beta was released a few days before I got all the parts for it). If I were you I'd try the beta out. Dual boot it with vista if needs be. It'll cost you nothing except for some time. Then when 7 comes out and you know the price decide if the extra cost is worth the extra features.

If you are on about buying a new computer and then downgrading to vista/xp then I definitely wouldn't. In my opinion 7 is much better. You may not like it though.

So try it out and see what you think. Worst case scenario, you don't like it or don't think it's that big an improvement over vista and you have to uninstall it.

elyod

Deleted User wrote: »

Being honest, should I just forget about Windows 7 until i'm buying a new desktop/laptop in two or three years when all the issues have been worked out (im sure there will be problems with it at first) and stick with Vista in the mean time (As i say, I'v eno problem with Vista, but I assumed Windows 7 would be significantly better in many ways before you replied).

Well in terms of the fundamentals, Windows operating systems haven't come that far since Windows 2k.

It's all been about pretty user interfaces and dumbing down to be honest.

Windows 7 will be solid enough on release. Vista was what you could call a beta version of Windows 7. So we've already gone through the problems with Vista and they have been now corrected with Windows 7.

Personally I wouldn't want to stick with Vista for another two or three years. I'd wait till October / November and buy then.

Capt'n Midnight

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Well it hasn't really been that fast. Vista will be out for around 3 years when 7 is released. XP lasted a hell of a lot longer though simply because Vista suffered from loads of delays (pity we still haven't seen winfs).

XP came out very soon after windows 2000, apart from that its roughly one every 3 years, similar to the life cycle of Intel chips

LOL at winfs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Nukem_Forever

On 14 May, 2009, Take-Two filed a lawsuit against 3D Realms – known by its legal name in the case, Apogee Software Ltd – over their failure to complete Duke Nukem Forever,

AlmightyCushion

elyod wrote: »

Vista was what you could call a beta version of Windows 7. So we've already gone through the problems with Vista and they have been now corrected with Windows 7.

I wouldn't call vista a beta version of 7. It was a bit dodgy at launch because of fairly crap driver support and the fact it was put on pretty lowend hardware (seen a dell laptop running vista with 512MB ram and a really low end celeron, had to install xp on it and even that was relatively slow). XP had the same driver problems and I imagine it was put on low end hardware that ran it slowly at the time too. Luckily, it didn't take all that long to sort out the problems with vista and it became a pretty good os. It's name is still fairly tarnished though.

AlmightyCushion

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

XP had the same driver problems and I imagine it was put on low end hardware that ran it slowly at the time too.

Yep, a friend of mine had a Duron laptop with XP Home and preinstalled Norton Internet Security on 128MB of RAM... it crawled along.

I also remember several problems with video drivers on XP along with IDE controller issues, at the time I adopted XP I had a Pentium III machine with 192MB of RAM and a VIA chipset, XP ran the hard disk and CD-ROM at UDMA mode 3 and mode 1 instead of 4 and 2. And the graphics drivers were terrible too, though it was an S3 Savage4 which was very 9x focussed anyway.

The biggest problem now is that XP has been out for so long that many people (including myself) just got attached to it. I'm also at the stage where I don't have the time to be reinstalling my OS and applications so just stick with what I have, if it ain't broke don't fix it, and I certainly don't consider XP to be broken.

AlmightyCushion

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

That depends really. I find some of the improvements great in 7. I can't really compare it to vista as I haven't used vista much (I was planning on installing vista on my desktop but the 7 beta was released a few days before I got all the parts for it). If I were you I'd try the beta out. Dual boot it with vista if needs be. It'll cost you nothing except for some time. Then when 7 comes out and you know the price decide if the extra cost is worth the extra features.

As someone who isn't exactly a PC expert, would it be worth my while? I'm assuming the reason we're getting it for free is to BETA test it and there are obviously still some bugs in it they want to sort out before giving it a proper release. I don't want to end up getting in way over my head with it, though i admit, the new taskbar looks pretty cool.



Actually, now that i think of it whilst typing this, I'm not going to download it. I'll end up wrecking my computer by doing something stupid knowing my luck. I'll just stick with Vista 'til i need a new Desktop (hopefully not for a long time). It's tempting, but I'd rather be ignorant to 7 existing, rather than messing stuff up just hoping for the best.


I appreciate your reply though



edit:

Karsini wrote: »

The biggest problem now is that XP has been out for so long that many people (including myself) just got attached to it. I'm also at the stage where I don't have the time to be reinstalling my OS and applications so just stick with what I have, if it ain't broke don't fix it, and I certainly don't consider XP to be broken.

I'm actually doing a FAS course at the moment, and we're using XP laptops on it. After having used vista for about a year prior to using XP again, I have to admit that i think XP (appearnce wise, at least) has aged terribly. It just looks so blocky and dated. Of course it takes a lot less to run it, and in that respect it's obviously much better than Vista.

The best thing about vista is the search function in my opinion though. At the top right of all the windows you open and on the start menu (though that's just my opinion obviously. I'm sure there's a lot more to operating systems than how they look, haha)

AlmightyCushion

Deleted User wrote: »

As someone who isn't exactly a PC expert, would it be worth my while? I'm assuming the reason we're getting it for free is to BETA test it and there are obviously still some bugs in it they want to sort out before giving it a proper release. I don't want to end up getting in way over my head with it, though i admit, the new taskbar looks pretty cool.

Actually, now that i think of it whilst typing this, I'm not going to download it. I'll end up wrecking my computer by doing something stupid knowing my luck. I'll just stick with Vista 'til i need a new Desktop (hopefully not for a long time). It's tempting, but I'd rather be ignorant to 7 existing, rather than messing stuff up just hoping for the best.


I appreciate your reply though

edit:

I'm actually doing a FAS course at the moment, and we're using XP laptops on it. After having used vista for about a year prior to using XP again, I have to admit that i think XP (appearnce wise, at least) has aged terribly. It just looks so blocky and dated. Of course it takes a lot less to run it, and in that respect it's obviously much better than Vista.

The best thing about vista is the search function in my opinion though. At the top right of all the windows you open and on the start menu (though that's just my opinion obviously. I'm sure there's a lot more to operating systems than how they look, haha)

Yeah there are still some bugs, not many that I've noticed thankfully. One program (I think it was magicdisk) completely screwed up my windows install and I had to re-install again. So it can be a lot of hassle even if you only find one bug. It all depends on the bug.

You can get themes for xp that emulate the look of vista. I was using a few cool ones for years. Makes xp look quite nice and a hell of a lot less dated.