My first impressions of Windows 7

[Guest]

I just installed the beta Windows 7 and my downloads speed are so damn slow. Anybody know why? I am running a 5MB DSL service and getting 100kbps


Asus p5b Deluexe

 

[randomizer]

Bad connection to the server at the time? Who knows? DSL has umpteen factors which affect speeds.

 

[nukemaster]

My take so far is it is not any faster or slower then Vista. I WILL get it for my next system, but there is no point in upgrading this system.

Like Vista the prefetch works well. There is ALLOT of tweaks to make life easier.

-Middle click(Mouse3) any program to launch a new copy of it(this is good because when you pin an item to the start menu and want another one its a pain)
-The sort by "date modified" has now been added as a default of the sort menu again. THANK GOD.
-The volume mixer no longer gets refresh errors(Black boxes).
-navigating windows is now better then ever with the new thumbnails.
-Desktop wallpapers can be auto cropped to fit. May be in vista, I honestly never looked(Just check, its not there....yet)
-There are lots of little tweaks here and there to make easier to use.

What would I like to see?

-An affinity section added to the program compatibility tab for programs.
-some kind of 16-bit emulator(even if it slow these apps are likely not looking for speed anyway) for installing 32 bit apps that used 16 bit installers or even running 16-bit apps.
-I want my quick launch back. Its a easy fix anyway. Made my own.
-Some tweaks to the new thumbnail preview system.

 

[mitchellvii]

croc,

Dude, shut up.

Just because I'm not concerned about the same things you are doesn't make my concerns any less valid. Plus, it's spelled "whine". Lol.

 

[randomizer]

Actually "whine" and "whinge" are two different words, but with similar meanings.

 

[croc]

croc,

Dude, shut up.

Just because I'm not concerned about the same things you are doesn't make my concerns any less valid. Plus, it's spelled "whine". Lol.

Whinge is the terminology here in AUS... But if you prefer, in your case I'll just refer to you as a 'whiner'.

Nukemaster had a few nice tips, and a few whinges as well. I'd bet that he's already filed bug reports as well as I. Whinging on a forum does not improve a product. Whinging to the MFG does. MS didn't go to the trouble of releasing a beta OS to get no feedback or bug reports.

 

[Jake_Barnes]

mitchellvii ... croc - stop this, now. No more.

 

[jkflipflop98]

was there any changes to the file system? Back before they released Vista they were making a new file system. I wonder if this made it?

From what I read so far about it, sounds like Vista SP2 repackaged as a new OS.

If that's the case M$FT must think we are stupid.

M$FT is right, most people are stupid. And, you are right, Win7 is just Vista SP2. But it's amazing how many people that treated Vista like the anti-christ are all jumping on the Win7 bandwagon.

 

[croc]

M$FT is right, most people are stupid. And, you are right, Win7 is just Vista SP2. But it's amazing how many people that treated Vista like the anti-christ are all jumping on the Win7 bandwagon.

Mojave experiment released into the wild? Not really, but not too far off...

No WinFS was a disappointment, but all of the many small tweaks do add up. Do they add up to a new OS? Not yet, but we're still in beta... They could still surprise. Pricing will be critical, methinks, for this to be adopted widely. If it is priced at the price-points that Vista was originally, I think there will be a huge sound of silence. But if an upgrade is ~50 USD, and a full install is <100 USD, retail...

And I hope they don't try to rob and pillage those of us that aren't in the US this time.

So we wait and see.

 

[PsyKhiqZero]

Windows 7 is definately interesting, but with 3 years between OS's now, IF you have Vista skip it and wait till windows 8. (or whatever they call it.)

I will say that while it doesn't run any better on my main machine. (q9550 w/ 8GB ram and a 8800gt 1GB) It runs miles better on my laptop and my fileserver. *file server is a pentium D 820 w/ 2GB of ram and HD2400* So Kudos for the lower end optimizations.

The home group feature is a long time comming and I really hope they include it in vista with the next service path.

 

[randomizer]

I don't get the point of the home groups, I never read much about them.

 

[Zorg]

mitchellvii ... croc - stop this, now. No more.

:lol: Too funny. They weren't even getting going yet.

 

[Zorg]

M$FT is right, most people are stupid. And, you are right, Win7 is just Vista SP2. But it's amazing how many people that treated Vista like the anti-christ are all jumping on the Win7 bandwagon.

I'm not, although I did download the beta, just like with Vista. It's clearly Vista repackaged. They could probably have SPed it, but where's the money in that. :lol:

 

[mitchellvii]

I hate to admit it, but Windows 7 is growing on me. It does have a general "smoothness" that Vista lacks. Now that I have been able to add a "quicklaunch" menu to the taskbar, I am happier, although I still think the taskbar needs to be slightly higher to accomodate the size of the icons on it.

There is all this space horizontally between icons but they are right up against the top of the taskbar vertically. It just looks "smushed". Also, I think the top edge of the taskbar needs to look more "rounded". It is too hard of an edge. Purely aesthetics, but hey, looks count.

 

[4745454b]

I haven't used it, I don't like the idea of running a Beta OS. AFAIK, WinFS is still MIA. Perhaps we'll get that pillar back with windows 8/9. Until they get all four pillars up and running, or DX10 makes a bigger splash, I see no reason to upgrade from XP.

 

[Shadow703793]

^ True that.

 

[mitchellvii]

I like how you can grab windows and resize them just by where you drag them. That is actually quite convenient. Also, I use dual monitors and the thing where you click WINDOWS + SHIFT + ARROW to have active window jump to second monitor is a nice touch.

 

[o1die]

Can't get adobe flash player to install, but my video is sharper. This beta works much better than the last vista beta I tried. I might get win 7 just for the 64 bit version. Both my vista versions are 32 bit, but one was free with the computer and the other was only $30. The guy who sold the license and coa to me couldn't get vista to work with his business software.

 

[bydesign]

The OS fine but IE8 is a total abortion. I haven't had a single browsing session without having some kind of issue.

So far it games better than Vista, may actually be on par with XP or little faster.

 

[mitchellvii]

Yes,I keep having problems with IE8 just randomly locking up on me. It's weird. And then when I go to the task manager to force it to close, I see that 3 instances of IE seem to be running instead of just the one I have open.

Weird.

 

[warezme]

Mojave II (yea you)

 

[yadge]

It's funny, when vista came out, everyone said it sucked but I thought it worked just fine. Now that windows 7 is out (kind of) a lot of people are talking about how great it is and I really don't like it.

For me it actually boots slower than vista. And on vista I have far more things load when it comes on. So I don't know what's up with that...

And I really don't like the taskbar that much. I think it's kind of interesting and useful, but I prefer the old taskbar. I like to see all the windows I have open. And it just looks a lot more streamlined than in windows 7.

Take all this with a grain of salt though, because I haven't really used it that much at all since I've installed it, and I do realize that this is just beta. But I still don't really like windows 7 that much.

I've had no problems with vista ever, and I've been using it for about 2 years, So I'm very comfortable with it. I don't think I'll be upgrading to Windows 7, because so far there isn't anything I see in it that I really have to have.

 

[nukemaster]

Making a "new quick launch" is easy

Make a new quick launch folder under your user folder(easy clean place for it)
Add you shortcuts to it(i was lazy and just copied them over from Vista)
Right click the taskbar and Toolbars => New Toolbar....
Select you new folder and tada. If you want to go all out hit the taskbar properties and set "Taskbar buttons" to "Never combine"

 

[mdma35]

the kernel got a lot smaller from Vista it reacts realy good on everything i throw at it till now exept problems with PB and SLI didnt have any single problem till now feels fast,feels friendly to use ye it is vista just without all of its disadvantages without green ribbon of death and etc..
still i hope the end product gona be reach with inovative technology so looking forward for it honestly.

 

[pip_seeker]

The icon spacing in Vista appears closer because there is a 'hide' slider that win7 doesn't have. At least in this build. The spacing gets closer as you add more icons. I haven't filled up the taskbar yet to see what happens then, but I don't really find it unacceptable, just different.

If you want something to whinge about, try whinging about the fact that many programs install as 'system' user, and taking ownership of the top level folder seems impossible. Or that MS has once again played around with the TCPIP stack and winpcap will no longer load. Find something real to whinge about, then send in a bug report, be part of the solution.

the only problem with "being part of the solution" is that M$FT is a $Bil Co. It is their problem to fix it, not me to fix it or suggest how to fix it and then buy it.

This is not open source, not a grass root effort. If we have to suggest how to fix it, then we should be on the payroll.