Just installed Windows 7

[covert24]

I am currently typing from inside Windows 7.

-First of all. Love the new layout and window previews the taskbar now has.
-Programs load before i even finish clicking on them!
-The Desktop menu that you can pin to the tray is just simply amazing. I don't know if you were able to do this with previous versions of windows but i really like this feature as it gives it a more of a DSL (Damn Small Linux) feel for some reason.
-Crisp clear default pictures for the desktop backgrounds. Truly amazing
-Automatically detected my chipset and all my sound devices and everything. Only driver i even wanted to install was my video drivers so i could have the control panel. other than that, completely seamless installation of devices.

Many other things are great about this and i will update as i continue to use it.

 

[Bateluer]

I agree with most of what you posted. However, when I installed 7 on my Sager 5720 notebook, it failed to get the audio drivers. Vista fails to do this as well, as does XP. Not sure why all Windows OSs fail to get even basic audio drivers when Linux gets them just fine. Its a pretty standard Realtek chipset.

The Vista drivers from Realtek worked under 7, though I had force 7 to install them despite its repeated warnings.

 

[srp49ers]

I like the new layout as well. seems more snappy than vista.

Love it!

 

[Ordskii]

So it's got a new look, it's still Vista SE. Loading and file copy don't seem so speedy to me.

And what is it with the fish?

 

[Scoobyd00]

So did I. I am currently running xp pro. Unless its reasonably priced (unlike vista) I'll be staying with XP until I absolutlely have to upgrade the OS to play games. If they do make it affordable for the commen person I would upgrade just for the dx10 aspect.

I think its better then vista though. I had 3 seperate machines on the vista beta testing. After the testing was over (about 15 months) MS gave everybody free copies (with key) of vista ultimate for doing the beta testing. I quickly got rid of all the copies and went back to XP pro on all machioes. The win7 beta runs smoother, faster and has less lockups for me then the vista gold version ever did.

 

[covert24]

Originally posted by: Ordskii
So it's got a new look, it's still Vista SE. Loading and file copy don't seem so speedy to me.

And what is it with the fish?

thats weird because with mine windows 7 is far superior when compared to both vist and xp pro. Mind you i just came from xp pro. I just like this whole new layout they have goi9ng and everything is just seamless.

 

[soonerproud]

Originally posted by: Scoobyd00
So did I. I am currently running xp pro. Unless its reasonably priced (unlike vista) I'll be staying with XP until I absolutlely have to upgrade the OS to play games. If they do make it affordable for the commen person I would upgrade just for the dx10 aspect.

I think its better then vista though. I had 3 seperate machines on the vista beta testing. After the testing was over (about 15 months) MS gave everybody free copies (with key) of vista ultimate for doing the beta testing. I quickly got rid of all the copies and went back to XP pro on all machioes. The win7 beta runs smoother, faster and has less lockups for me then the vista gold version ever did.

Vista and XP are precisely the same price for the comparable versions and have been since Vista was released. Most people pay around $50 for Windows Vista on a new pc, so I really don't understand why some of you feel it is over priced.

 

[Rhonda the Sly]

I paid $80 for Home Premium 64-bit. The retail prices are out of control, no doubt. When I assembled my PC last year (not the same parts in sig) each part was much less than a copy of Vista HP retail. Hell, most were less than the $80 OEM copy but I do see $80 as very overpriced.

 

[Snapster]

Originally posted by: Rhonda the Sly
I paid $80 for Home Premium 64-bit. The retail prices are out of control, no doubt. When I assembled my PC last year (not the same parts in sig) each part was much less than a copy of Vista HP retail. Hell, most were less than the $80 OEM copy but I do see $80 as very overpriced.

Just out of curiosity what do you see as an acceptable price?

 

[slugg]

^^ I'm gonna go ahead and answer that with my two cents.

I think $100 is acceptable. That is, if it's done Mac OS style, where there are only TWO versions - a client version and a server version. I think the client Vista/Windows7 distros should have ALL of the features, whether you're using it for business purposes, a home theater, school, or anything really. Right now, it's really annoying to have to deal with the differences in Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, Spicy, Semi-Sweet, and Chipotle edition.

Simply put, I think there are too many flavors on the menu, yet the differences are grossly overpriced. That's like selling vanilla ice cream for $1, then charging $5 for a cherry on top. Is Home Premium perfect for you, except you have to join a domain? Too bad: toppings are extra.

Get on a Mac. Every single Mac has the same OS features as any other Mac. I really wish MS would follow suit.

The pricing scheme, as it is now (with multiple versions being slightly different) is a rip off. The sad part is that it's only a ripoff just because MS wants it to be. Home Basic is gimped on purpose, not because it's cheaper.

As for server versions of the OS, I can understand there being a few different versions. It's a necessity, especially when there are appliances running on windows.

 

[flexy]

The only issue so far REALLY, you guessed it: Audigy drivers.

Even after i somehow managed to get the updated drivers i experienced sound distortion in games. Sounds familiar ?

SOLUTION: Activate my realtek HD onboard, set it as default audio device, ALL audio problems gone <--- taa taa

I have NO problems whatsoever with whatever devices/drivers in W7, this including all my Marvell NICs, my USB devices like XBOX360 wireless controler, literally EVERYTHING is working right out of the box here which is the EXTREME opposite of what i had when i beta tested Vista

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: flexy
The only issue so far REALLY, you guessed it: Audigy drivers.

Yeah, no surprise there. Creative really has the absolute worst lot of driver writers, probably on the entire planet. I even had an audigy card that refused to allow audigy drivers to install, saying it couldnt detect compatible hardware.

 

[sciwizam]

Looks like nVidia screwed me over. Vista flavor of chipset drivers for nForce3 not working in Windows 7.

 

[Scotteq]

Originally posted by: sciwizam
Looks like nVidia screwed me over. Vista flavor of chipset drivers for nForce3 not working in Windows 7.

Wondows Update is supposed to have nVidia drivers for 7. Not sure what cards that supports, though.

 

[shpongle]

Originally posted by: Ordskii
So it's got a new look, it's still Vista SE. Loading and file copy don't seem so speedy to me.

And what is it with the fish?

Indeed it is Vista SE, but I think they've learned from their mistakes with the infamous vista and gave the ol' girl a little (much needed) lipo with her face lift. I think the face lift, essentially, is to hide the fact that it's the same old girl, just trimmed down.
However they've done well IMHO, coming from XP SP3, I don't feel my system has slowed down at all.

The fish is a little (very little) joke from the nerds in Redmond.
See: Betta Fish

 

[soonerproud]

Originally posted by: sciwizam
Looks like nVidia screwed me over. Vista flavor of chipset drivers for nForce3 not working in Windows 7.

Nvidia never properly supported (Or officially for that matter.) nForce3 in Vista. They weren't going to support it in Vista at all when it went RTM but relented a little due to complaints from customers. Your best recourse is to bug Nvidia for better Win 7 support in nForce3 chipsets.

 

[Griffinhart]

Originally posted by: slugg
^^ I'm gonna go ahead and answer that with my two cents.

I think $100 is acceptable. That is, if it's done Mac OS style, where there are only TWO versions - a client version and a server version. I think the client Vista/Windows7 distros should have ALL of the features, whether you're using it for business purposes, a home theater, school, or anything really. Right now, it's really annoying to have to deal with the differences in Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, Spicy, Semi-Sweet, and Chipotle edition.

Simply put, I think there are too many flavors on the menu, yet the differences are grossly overpriced. That's like selling vanilla ice cream for $1, then charging $5 for a cherry on top. Is Home Premium perfect for you, except you have to join a domain? Too bad: toppings are extra.

Get on a Mac. Every single Mac has the same OS features as any other Mac. I really wish MS would follow suit.

The pricing scheme, as it is now (with multiple versions being slightly different) is a rip off. The sad part is that it's only a ripoff just because MS wants it to be. Home Basic is gimped on purpose, not because it's cheaper.

As for server versions of the OS, I can understand there being a few different versions. It's a necessity, especially when there are appliances running on windows.

I will agree that there are too many SKUs. But some of it is by necessity. Upgrade, Full, and OEM for example. Apple, by comparison doesn't license the OS to other manufacturers or allow non-apple hardware to run the OS so that eliminates OEM, They don't need to sell a full version since you can't install it on a machine that doesn't already have a licensed version of a previous edition. So in essence, Apple only sells upgrade versions.

IMHO, MS should sell two basic versions. One business version without all the extra media center stuff and a second, adding the extra home features like media center, DVD authoring, etc. Call them Windows Core and Windows Advanced, or similar.

 

[WT]

Installed it last night and it detected all of my hardware with no issues. Had an update available for the 8800GTS vid card, but nothing to fix the mp3 bug yet. I had also updated the mobo firmware as seem to have lost my overclock, as the previously stable e2180 @ 3ghz on f/w 2.60 is now no longer stable using the same OC settings on the 3.10 f/w. Not sure if its the firmware or Win7 itself that has caused it, but it just doesn't add enough to justify its existence to me so far.

 

[Snapster]

Originally posted by: WT
Installed it last night and it detected all of my hardware with no issues. Had an update available for the 8800GTS vid card, but nothing to fix the mp3 bug yet. I had also updated the mobo firmware as seem to have lost my overclock, as the previously stable e2180 @ 3ghz on f/w 2.60 is now no longer stable using the same OC settings on the 3.10 f/w. Not sure if its the firmware or Win7 itself that has caused it, but it just doesn't add enough to justify its existence to me so far.

KB961367 fixes the MP3 bug.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: Griffinhart

Originally posted by: slugg
^^ I'm gonna go ahead and answer that with my two cents.

I think $100 is acceptable. That is, if it's done Mac OS style, where there are only TWO versions - a client version and a server version. I think the client Vista/Windows7 distros should have ALL of the features, whether you're using it for business purposes, a home theater, school, or anything really. Right now, it's really annoying to have to deal with the differences in Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, Spicy, Semi-Sweet, and Chipotle edition.

Simply put, I think there are too many flavors on the menu, yet the differences are grossly overpriced. That's like selling vanilla ice cream for $1, then charging $5 for a cherry on top. Is Home Premium perfect for you, except you have to join a domain? Too bad: toppings are extra.

Get on a Mac. Every single Mac has the same OS features as any other Mac. I really wish MS would follow suit.

The pricing scheme, as it is now (with multiple versions being slightly different) is a rip off. The sad part is that it's only a ripoff just because MS wants it to be. Home Basic is gimped on purpose, not because it's cheaper.

As for server versions of the OS, I can understand there being a few different versions. It's a necessity, especially when there are appliances running on windows.

I will agree that there are too many SKUs. But some of it is by necessity. Upgrade, Full, and OEM for example. Apple, by comparison doesn't license the OS to other manufacturers or allow non-apple hardware to run the OS so that eliminates OEM, They don't need to sell a full version since you can't install it on a machine that doesn't already have a licensed version of a previous edition. So in essence, Apple only sells upgrade versions.

IMHO, MS should sell two basic versions. One business version without all the extra media center stuff and a second, adding the extra home features like media center, DVD authoring, etc. Call them Windows Core and Windows Advanced, or similar.

The problem is that reducing the SKUs runs counter to Microsoft's successful attempts at price discrimination and avoiding paying license fees they don't need.

Business users will pay a good price for the features they need, so the Business edition SKU can be priced high. Meanwhile your home users don't want to pay the high price of the Business SKU, so you need to have a SKU for them below the price of the Business SKU. But you also can't put Business features in a Home SKU and price that Home SKU cheaper, otherwise your business users will buy the Home SKU.

And you have the power users, who want all of the Business and Home features, which means we need a combined SKU. Complicating this is the fact that MS pays various license fees, particularly with Vista-forward, for things like video codecs. Business users don't need these multimedia features, so by cutting out the MPEG-2 codec from Vista Business, MS doesn't have to pay the license fee for that SKU (and keeps prices trivially lower on the Business SKU). If you build an Ultimate SKU, then you need to price it (at a minimum) at Business SKU + license fees.

Finally you have Enterprise edition, which is the new name for the volume license version of the Business SKU, and you need an uber-cheap SKU for the developing world. These guys can't afford the license fees for video codecs, so you cut those out to cut costs, cut a few more features to discourage the affluent from buying the Cheap SKU, and then sell it at rock-bottom prices knowing that you're going to make very little per copy as part of a longer-term branding strategy.

And that's why you have Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate.

 

[Underclocked]

At this point with the final Vista release candidate, I had already decided there was no way I was going to install the os on my machine.

This 7 beta is a different story. I won't run out and buy it, XP still does everyhting I need it to do, but it is MUCH improved - IMHO.

I still don't like the jazzed up version of solitaire. :laugh:

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: Griffinhart
I will agree that there are too many SKUs.

I imagine that most everybody on the IT side thinks there are too many SKUs. I know that I did.

For those who have to support all the different versions, it makes life SO much more complicated. And it costs businesses a lot of money because they often purchase PCs with the "wrong version", requiring an expensive (read time-consuming) upgrade.

From a profit, it's a common sales device to offer three different versions of everything: Good, Better, and Best. Sears always used this. It makes more money than just offering a single version.

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: shpongle

The fish is a little (very little) joke from the nerds in Redmond.
See: Betta Fish

Hehe, thanx.

Was wondering about it myself.

I don't actually really like W7 so far, though i know i'll be using it eventually.

It's really so similar to Vista at least from what i've used of it.

And i'm quite upset by the removal of QuickLaunch, since i actually use that heavily (4-5 different QL bars across).
The new version is crippled in the sense i am forced to have massive big ugly spaced apart icons that waste space even when setting back to the supposed old version (which it is not).

I don't know if i'm just retarded or not, but i could not get Network Places or My Computer to display properly in the quicklaunch bar or whatever it's called...they would both turn into Libraries sh!t, which i absolutely do not want or need.

It feels like with 7, it's becoming harder to still be a power user...the dumbed down design is no doubt great for the dumb users, but i'm annoyed i cannot set up things the way i need them for maximum usage personally.

 

[KeypoX]

Originally posted by: covert24
I am currently typing from inside Windows 7.

-First of all. Love the new layout and window previews the taskbar now has.
-Programs load before i even finish clicking on them!
-The Desktop menu that you can pin to the tray is just simply amazing. I don't know if you were able to do this with previous versions of windows but i really like this feature as it gives it a more of a DSL (Damn Small Linux) feel for some reason.
-Crisp clear default pictures for the desktop backgrounds. Truly amazing
-Automatically detected my chipset and all my sound devices and everything. Only driver i even wanted to install was my video drivers so i could have the control panel. other than that, completely seamless installation of devices.

Many other things are great about this and i will update as i continue to use it.

Thanks for pointing out the desktop toolbar. It is basically just quick launch renamed...

anyway to get rid of the word Desktop?

 

[ChronoReverse]

Unlock your taskbar then right click the toolbar and uncheck "Show Text" and "Show Title".

This was around since at least WinXP btw.