Windows 7...

[Jer]

I also have it off of TechNet and overall it's pretty solid. It's probably the best beta OS that MS has ever released. It's certainly not anything to write home about but it's a good step in the right direction.

The biggest thing that people will notice is that the taskbar is different and it runs about 35% faster on current (and older) hardware than Vista SP1.

 

[Ames]

Do beta versions expire?

Historically they have. I don't remember seeing a date on MSDN or when installing. I'll check when I'm back on my laptop later today. I'd bet a year from now.

 

[rahtotheames]

I am running Windows Mojave, and it's far superior to Vista.

Amen to that, Windows Mojave is amazing

 

[Ames]

Sounds like it's for sure free to the public as download on Microsoft's website on Friday:

Microsoft Releases Windows 7 Beta as a Free Download | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

 

[Skyh13]

I played around with it as well, although it was a leaked copy so it could have been one of those pre-betas..

Anyways, I agree with what has been said here:

Aesthetically, the taskbar is the only real difference. Although that may disappoint some of you that it looks just like Vista, try not to let that bother you, because it's shaping up to be pretty good.

Good things that I saw:
- Startup was a bit faster
- Shutdown was a lot faster
- The little thumbnail image of a window that Vista shows from the taskbar now actually has a purpose... you can hover you mouse over the image, which then make all the other windows open transparent, and actually shows you the window itself without maximizing or minimizing anything.. very good feature.
- Overall, quite a bit snappier in terms of speed.

Final Note:
- I'm still never switching back to Internet Explorer.

 

[cyfanatic]

Final Note:
- I'm still never switching back to Internet Explorer.

I just don't see a day when I would do that either! They lost me a long time ago on that issue!

 

[cyfanatic]

There are haters everywhere of everything...and this guy is a self-proclaimed Apple guy...but this blog is interesting:

Reasons to skip Microsoft’s Windows 7 Beta download | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

 

[jumbopackage]

Vista wasn't a major change. It wasn't really a change at all. And that's why it's not very popular.

I can see Windows 7 being an upgrade path for Vista users (it's probably what Vista should have been in the first place), but I suspect there will be a LOT of users that would rather not have either of those, but would be content on XP. I have both Vista and XP at home. Quite frankly, there is 0 appreciable difference between the two, other than XP tends to be a bit more stable and doesn't have application compability issues.

I used to care a lot about OS upgrades, but these days, there just isn't (or hasn't been in a very long time) anything compelling from anyone.

I actually like the ubuntu release cycle way better than the windows one. Ubuntu isn't too far away from being perfectly usable for many/most tasks.

 

[Ames]

There are haters everywhere or everything...and this guy is a self-proclaimed Apple guy...but this blog is interesting:

Reasons to skip Microsoft’s Windows 7 Beta download | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

None of those are good reasons at all. Not a single one.

He doesn't like that Microsoft didn't specify what time zone the download date of Jan 9 is for. Wow ok.

It expires. So what. They will either have the release version done or they will put other another beta (they probably will anyway). From what I've been told you can upgrade from beta to beta or Vista to beta by sticking in the DVD and clicking upgrade.

Be prepared to lose data. It's a beta and free so they will say this. I've never had a problem with their OS or Office betas. Apple says the same things about Snow Leopard betas.

Good luck finding XP drivers. Vista drivers work. I haven't found an XP driver that didn't work either. If you need really old hardware you shouldn't be running it; you won't like it.