Windows 7

[Kym]

i gotta disagree on that.

Win 7 is a significant rewrite of Windows, its GUI is an update to Vista but thats about it. Of course it shares the same core kernel but its has to otherwise it wont be Windows.

Every new OS is essentially a big service pack to the old one.

Vista was a much bigger change from XP (eg. driver model and a whole bunch of stuff) whereas the changes between Vista and 7 are much less. More re-write happened XP > Vista than Vista > 7.

[arthurking83]

whilst OI was waiting for some print to develop a while back I had a play with Vista on a PC they had running to showcase how 'well' it works.. and thanks.. but definitely no thanks!

I noticed that at idle Vista 64 with some u-bute Apple inspired graphical access panel running across the lower edge of the screen.. why do they have to copy Apple for christs sake.. isn't it bad enough that nave this kind of crap to annoy their users!?
I wanted Windows because I couldn't stand Apples hold my hand and babyme approach to computing! uber-trendo-cyber-chic at it's worst.. anyhow, enough rant.

What I wanna know is:

*how much memory is Win7 running compared to stupid insane Vista.
*I want 64bit(for future proofiness). Only reason is I'm assuming CaptureNX(future edition) is going to become 64bit one day(probably years after the D9xs has been available second hand on ebay for $1K ). I want ram.. and tons of it! probably 64Tb of it in the end so I want. So 64bit is an important and I want todays hardware for tomorrow(if that makes sense) I use PC's for 5-6 years at a minimum.. I'm not a rampant upgrader for the sake of rampant ugrading. My current XP box has been running(now groaning) under the strain of never having any kind of refresh/re-install for over 6 ot 7 years.. with never a hint of a problem.
*I'm thinking Win7 is the real upgrade from WinXP, as in the years to come, I suspect software for XP will be thin on the ground.. remember the next time I'm looking to upgrade it'll probably be very much closer to 2020, than to 2010.
*I want fast-ish hardware at normal people pricing, not gamers pricing!... running an OS with as little puff as possible, as CNX likes to use up over 1G of ram with a single NEF loaded! so I don't need 1.5G of ram being used up by the OS too!
*sounds like Win7 is the way forward?

have plenty of time to contemplate, and have been thinking of dumping the current drives in favour of installing a new drive(1 of 4) I've had sitting for 4 years now.
The mountain of data backups(meaningless personal garbage, not the important photographic stuff.. that's all backed up on an external drive, and on separate drives in the box itself anyhow. Saving insignificant personal files/emails/text files/etc is going to take a while to finalise.

Is it worth trying out Win7 on an (AMD)Athlon XP3200 system with only 2gigs of ram?

[arthurking83]

thnx Rich.

I'll give it a shot when I do a refresh one day soon.. maybe the weekend after next.

I'm assuming Ultimate is closer to XP Pro than to XP home? I'll see if I can get a copy of Ultimate, as I want most of the admin services(available in XP pro) and stuff like that.
My XP3200 CPU is only 32bit so the x64 version is kind'a useless to me, and the major program I use, CaptureNX, isn't available in 64bit version(yet?.. hopefully soon the knuckleheads! ).

I have downloaded an iso a while back when the links in this thread first started to appear. I have Win_7100.0.090421-1700_x86fre which may be an earlier release candidate than you have.. have you compared earlier versions to the latest, and is there any reason to download the latest version.
The only priority is to try out the Ultimate version and not the standard version(for the more admin purposes that is).

good info

[Kodi]

Go to Microsofts site and check what versions have what. You will find that Ultimate will be a waste of money for you (bit locker is the only extra above pro).
7100 is the official Release candidate any higher number are leaked versions.
I am a Technet suscriber and as such I have obtained the Retail version and could not notice any major difference to the RC

[Kym]

C:\>ver

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]

This is RTM (MSDN - I have the real version)

[dh52726]

Vista was a much bigger change from XP (eg. driver model and a whole bunch of stuff) whereas the changes between Vista and 7 are much less. More re-write happened XP > Vista than Vista > 7.

yes Vista was, but the amount of the change is not what constitutes the next version been consider a upgrade/SP or a new product, its the added functionality.

in the drivers example, with the out cry from Vista driver problems, MS has ensured (umm maybe given a work around) that drivers that failed in Vista will work with reduced functionality at minimum in Win7 (ie XP compatibility)

going down the windows timeline, Win98 was only a small rewrite to Win95 but the improvements were huge, enough to consider it a new version.

The user experience from Vista to Win7 is huge, maybe not as visual as XP-Vista, or as game changing as 3.11 - Win95 but usability wise huge, enough so i to be considered a new product. Prices, well thats a bit debateable i'm still at two minds about it, especially when other countries get it cheaper.

*how much memory is Win7 running compared to stupid insane Vista.

......

Is it worth trying out Win7 on an (AMD)Athlon XP3200 system with only 2gigs of ram?

with regard to the above, i've used Win7 (RC 7100) on a Via (think slower/less powerfull than Atom) netbook, with 1gb ram and it runs fine, takes longer to load than Winxp though, and uses apporx 500mb ram (winxp was about 200mb)

It does use up more hdd though, so with netbooks that is something to factor.

[Kodi]

Is it worth trying out Win7 on an (AMD)Athlon XP3200 system with only 2gigs of ram?

My second computer is an XP3200 Athlon and has 2 gigs of Ram, I installed the 32 bit RC version (7100) on that you have and it ran like a charm

[Kym]

Get a Technet subscription then you can run Win7 and Office 2007 on a couple of boxes at home. If you have more than one machine it is usually cheapest.
We have MSDN at work so I get Ultimate (for non production purposes) anyway.

[Kodi]

Get a Technet subscription then you can run Win7 and Office 2007 on a couple of boxes at home. If you have more than one machine it is usually cheapest.
We have MSDN at work so I get Ultimate (for non production purposes) anyway.

Make sure you Google for a Discount coupon, if you do you can get a Subscription for less than 1 copy of Windows 7.
If you subscribe now you should be able to get Office 2010 before your sub runs out

[birdie]

Get a Technet subscription then you can run Win7 and Office 2007 on a couple of boxes at home. If you have more than one machine it is usually cheapest.
We have MSDN at work so I get Ultimate (for non production purposes) anyway.

I've never used technet... which one is the one to get so that you can install the software on more than one pc? as I (and my wife) have two desktops, a laptop and a netbook... so running them all on Windows 7 would be great :-)

I've been running Win7 RC on my desktop and i love it... its a lot faster than Vista... :-)

[Kodi]

Information available here http://technet.microsoft.com/en-au/s.../bb892756.aspx

You can get up to 10 copies of Most of their Software including Windows 7 BUT you are supposed to use it for evaluation purposes and not for production use.
I am sure you would only be using it to evaluate if it is suitable for your requirements.
To give you a bit of an idea what it costs etc
! years subscription is about $500 AUD but with the coupon I paid $307 Aud for that I have already downloaded copies of XP, Vista 32 & 64 bit, Win7 32 & 64 bit, Office 2007 and Windows Home Server all being evaluated on the Various computers i own.

[thelastname]

! years subscription is about $500 AUD but with the coupon I paid $307 Aud for that I have already downloaded copies of XP, Vista 32 & 64 bit, Win7 32 & 64 bit, Office 2007 and Windows Home Server all being evaluated on the Various computers i own.

Is it a coupon code? how did you get the coupon? could would you mind sharing with others if possible?

[Kodi]

Google is your friend.
You could try this one ; TNSCP09N30
It should bring it down to about $350

[birdie]

Information available here http://technet.microsoft.com/en-au/s.../bb892756.aspx

You can get up to 10 copies of Most of their Software including Windows 7 BUT you are supposed to use it for evaluation purposes and not for production use.
I am sure you would only be using it to evaluate if it is suitable for your requirements.
To give you a bit of an idea what it costs etc
! years subscription is about $500 AUD but with the coupon I paid $307 Aud for that I have already downloaded copies of XP, Vista 32 & 64 bit, Win7 32 & 64 bit, Office 2007 and Windows Home Server all being evaluated on the Various computers i own.

Ok that sounds good... 10 copies of each? or 10 copies total? Also is the "evaluation" software any different to off the shelf software? ie does it have any time limits or anything? eg will it expire when the Technet subscription expires?

[Kodi]

10 copies of each and the software is the same as you get over the counter at your local computer store.

[birdie]

I'm running Win 7 on 3 of my machines... From a Acer Aspire One Netbook, to a Pentium Dual Core 1.46Ghz/2Gb Ram and a 2.66Ghz Quad Core/4GB Ram Desktop Machine. And I'm very happy with it on all machines its nice and fast... great job MS...