Windows 7: Even more reasons to love it...

[Shino]

Ok, maybe I'm just showing off my Microsoft fanboy obsession, but I've been using Windows 7 beta for a few months now, and haven't had a single complaint yet, a first for a MS OS.

Anywho, I just found a rather intresting article of 50 semi-hidden features in 7. There's a lot of really awesome features that I didn't know about (and I'm one of those that usually knows all the tricks) and one in particular that Microsoft deserves a big hug for: Problem Steps Recorder.

It's a technician's best friend: the user can run the program and it will record all of the users steps and the feedback they get, and zip it up into a IE-playable annotated slideshow that they can e-mail to you. Finally, no more house calls!
Also, they expanded BitLocker and added BitLocker To Go for you flash drives, and it works with XP & Vista!! Great for all of us paranoid freaks.

Anywho, read through the article. If you have 7, try some of them out. Then post back here and tell us your favorite!

Now if they could just price 7 right... *goes off and calls Steve Ballmer*

 

[ToeClaws]

Love... it? Windows?

What drugs are you on, and where can I get some that powerful?

 

[SirrocoTheServal]

I don't know how you can love Windows. I'm sure Windows 7 is a decent update to Vista and even XP but i seriously doubt it can be better then OSX. Now i've never tried it yet so I'm making assumptions its still alot like Vista, but maybe I'll get a beta and put it on VMware and test it out.

 

[net-cat]

maybe I'll get a beta and put it on VMware and test it out.

That's hardly a fair comparison.

 

[TheDumbening]

I'm using Ubuntu, so I'm sticking with that for now.

 

[ArielMT]

It's a technician's best friend: the user can run the program and it will record all of the users steps and the feedback they get, and zip it up into a IE-playable annotated slideshow that they can e-mail to you. Finally, no more house calls!

It is not a technician's friend by any stretch of the imagination, if the technician has to use any version of Internet Explorer in order to help a user.

 

[Kesteh]

Granted there will be an FF-friendly addon that will allow you to use it.
Don't see the complaint there.

That or Chrome. Google sappin all ideas before they are even thought of. OSH--

 

[Eevee]

Granted there will be an FF-friendly addon that will allow you to use it.

just like there's a Firefox extension to make Windows Update work

 

[Runefox]

just like there's a Firefox extension to make Windows Update work

Ah, Windiz Update. I miss you.

That said, I'm sure at least an application will be released to view these files; If not, using IE for that specific purpose won't be so bad - At least it's already there, and you're not browsing with it.

I'm quite excited about finally being able to create and mount virtual images. AppLocker seems like an EXCELLENT tool for setting up a computer for a first-time user, allowing only those applications that are specifically specified to run. I welcome the embracing of more command line utilities such as tzutil so that network scripts and other goodies are more easily created and more powerful in general. I do like the new keyboard shortcuts, too. Enhanced Robocopy sounds like sex. I'm not impressed by much else here; Especially the "parallel" defrag bit. The defragmentation utility in Vista/Win7, I thought, was extremely poor to begin with. I immediately replaced it with Auslogics Disk Defrag and later Diskeeper, which supports parallel defragmentation and much more.

Windows 7 will be good. Perhaps not what Microsoft needs right now - It's what they needed when they released Vista. Still, it will be a great move from Vista to Win7.

 

[Zaiden]

I hope they don't charge a buttload for Windows 7...

 

[Adelio Altomar]

Actually, I'm looking to downgrade to XP soon enough, let alone upgrade to Windows 7.

 

[Runefox]

Actually, I'm looking to downgrade to XP soon enough, let alone upgrade to Windows 7.

XP downgrades are pretty common, especially for slower/older PC's. Honestly, though, with a decently powerful machine, the performance difference between the two is negligible, and in some cases, Vista provides an edge, such as with its prefetch engine and Aero, if your graphics card is good and you've got RAM to spare. My machine is running rather happily with Vista (x64); Fewer problems than with XP (32-bit), actually. Though I think for the hell of it, I should pop XP back on this thing in dual-boot. Since I use Grub as my boot loader anyway, it's trivial to make it all work afterward.

I should say though, that most of the pre-release benchmarks put Windows 7 way ahead of Vista in terms of performance, reaching and in some cases exceeding Windows XP levels.

 

[Adelio Altomar]

XP downgrades are pretty common, especially for slower/older PC's. Honestly, though, with a decently powerful machine, the performance difference between the two is negligible, and in some cases, Vista provides an edge, such as with its prefetch engine and Aero, if your graphics card is good and you've got RAM to spare. My machine is running rather happily with Vista (x64); Fewer problems than with XP (32-bit), actually. Though I think for the hell of it, I should pop XP back on this thing in dual-boot. Since I use Grub as my boot loader anyway, it's trivial to make it all work afterward.

I should say though, that most of the pre-release benchmarks put Windows 7 way ahead of Vista in terms of performance, reaching and in some cases exceeding Windows XP levels.

Wait.

You can dual-boot Vista and XP? I think I tried that with a recovery disk and the screen wouldn't show right!

And so what about using Grub? (I'm still so green in this.)

And agreed. Aero's probably the best thing about Vista. It makes switching around very easy for me.

 

[net-cat]

I hope they don't charge a buttload for Windows 7...

Microsoft has been tight lipped about pricing. But I suspect it'll be the same as it was for XP and Vista.

~$300 for "Pro," ~$200 for "Home," -~$100 for the upgrade versions.

You can dual-boot Vista and XP?

Easily.

I think I tried that with a recovery disk and the screen wouldn't show right!

Therein lies your problem. You'll need a real Vista disk.

And so what about using Grub? (I'm still so green in this.)

Also Possible.

The easiest way to do this is reinstall everything. Set up your partitions, then install your versions of Windows in order of age.

If you want to dual boot XP and Vista, install XP then Vista.
If you want to triple boot XP, Vista and 7, install XP, then Vista, then 7.
If you want to run Linux, install it after you've installed all the Windows versions you want.

If you don't do it in that order, it's possible to do, but a lot more of a pain in the ass.

 

[Adelio Altomar]

Therein lies your problem. You'll need a real XP disk.

Fix'd.

I think I have a real Vista disk. It's the XP that's the recovery (that my brother-in-law found in the parking lot on time).

 

[Runefox]

If you've got a legit copy of Windows XP, you should download a CD from a source like Bittorrent or similar. Since you live in Canada, you legitimately are entitled to a backup copy of your original media (as in, your install disc, which is identical to any install disc you can download online), though good luck getting Microsoft or any other American company to acknowledge that. Either way, though, it's the serial keys, not the discs, that Windows is based upon; Every disc (other than differing service packs or versions) is identical.

 

[Adelio Altomar]

If you've got a legit copy of Windows XP, you should download a CD from a source like Bittorrent or similar. Since you live in Canada, you legitimately are entitled to a backup copy of your original media (as in, your install disc, which is identical to any install disc you can download online), though good luck getting Microsoft or any other American company to acknowledge that. Either way, though, it's the serial keys, not the discs, that Windows is based upon; Every disc (other than differing service packs or versions) is identical.

Oh, haha! Maybe I should take down that flag now and 'go back' to Texas.
I was doing as part of the joke that everyone else was copying everyone else. Sorry.

So can I still get that backup of that media living in America? (Stupid question but still doesn't hurt to ask.)

And I'm aware of the product keys unlocking the various versions. Every copy of Vista has all of the features that one can get, it just the product key is needed to unlock those features.

And you mean I could just BitTorrent the ISO then?

 

[Runefox]

Well, nobody would really be stopping you, but in America, that would be breaking the law, technically. You're supposed to purchase replacement media from Microsoft (I think it's about $10?). I did assume that you were Canadian not because of the flag, but actually because your location is "Victoria", which I interpreted as "Victoria, BC". Either way, though, perhaps you have a friend with a legitimate (... Or non) CD? Not that Microsoft really does anything about it, you wouldn't want to get in trouble with your ISP, nor would you want to get in trouble for talking about warez on the boards.

 

[net-cat]

Wrong. It's not against the law. You're allowed to make personal backups as long as you don't have to break any copy protection. (And Windows discs don't have copy protection.)

It is against the EULA in most cases. But there is a reason Microsoft has worked very hard to keep their EULA from ever going before a judge.

 

[Runefox]

I stand corrected, then; Not being a resident of the United States, my information is always second-hand. Then again, most companies out there would have you think that copying anything is The Wrong.

 

[Tonk09]

I have been loving the win7 beta. I use it as my main OS now and dual boot with XP. I have been using it since the beta leaked and it has been working flawlessly(except for the bug in the now wmp that eats 3 seconds off mp3s before that was patched) Other than that one problem it has been working much better than vista for me, which is allot of credit to give a beta.

I also installed it on an old dell with a P3-600mhz cpu and 256mb of ram and it was usable. I found that damn amazing.

btw i heard from someone that MS will be giving discounts to vista owners. IDK if this is true though.

 

[ToeClaws]

Supposedly M$ will be offering the upgrade to Windows 7 for free for Vista owners. I don't know if that's all Vista owners (given the many flavours) or if there are limitations. Not that I much care - they could offer me $500 to use it and I'd still refuse.

 

[net-cat]

Supposedly M$ will be offering the upgrade to Windows 7 for free for Vista owners. I don't know if that's all Vista owners (given the many flavours) or if there are limitations.

I suspect it's their usual method of marketing as new releases of Windows come up. If you buy a computer within a couple months of release of the new OS, they'll offer you a free upgrade. (The did a similar thing with XP right before Vista came out.) This is to prevent people from saying "Well I'm going to wait for the new version of Windows before I buy a computer."

As for the "discounts for Vista users," yeah. Upgrade license. They've been doing it since Windows 95.

 

[Immelmann]

I <3 Windows 7. I've got the Beta on my old laptop, and I love the thing. I can't wait for the real release.

And thanks for the link, seems useful.

 

[Marticus]

Yay, We have quicklaunch on the taskbar once again!