Text 52610, 65 rader
Skriven 2009-01-11 19:46:07 av Alan Zisman (1:123/789.0)
Ärende: Win 7 first impressions
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Microsoft is making Windows 7 Beta 1 publicly downloadable... users need to set
up a Windows Live account if they don't already have a Microsoft account- MS
Passport, Hotmail, etc, etc, etc all work.

32 and 64 bit versions of the ISO file (about 3 GB) can be downloaded-- but the
only version available is an upgrade version that looks for a Vista SP1
installation. It requires a system with at least 1 GB of RAM, and is designed
to time-out in August 2009.

I just installed it onto my Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop... in order to not nuke
my working setup on that system (dual booting Vista and Ubuntu), I swapped out
the hard drive for a 60 GB SATA drive I'd gotten from Jean (Thanks!), then
clean-installed Vista using the same disc and product key that was already
installed on that system (with its other hard drive), then installed the 32-bit
version of Windows 7.

A few things to note:

-- since this is a beta, performance may change, and while MS claims 
it's 'feature complete' that could change too

-- it's a bit smaller installation than the clean install of Vista but 
still in the same large ballpark: about 10 GB vs 11 GB
-- it leaves out some of the applets that have been included with other 
versions of Windows: Movie Maker, a mail application, an instant messenger,
etc... but new versions of these are available from Windows Live for download--
the total download (all in one) is 180 MB for all the left-out applets.
-- it seems to boot faster than Vista, and file operations seem faster. 
Some of the faster boot is because the Vista Sidebar feature is turned off by
default (though it can be enabled)... on my Vista system, the Sidebar adds over
a minute to the startup time.
-- while most file operations DO seem faster, deleting the 
C:\Windows.old folder (where the installer packed up my Vista installation)
took quite a while, with several requests for confirmation and pauses of a
minute or more in between each BEFORE anything actually got deleted.
-- all the key hardware on my Inspiron are working fine- video is at the 
full 1600x1050 resolution, sound, ethernet, wireless are all working without
problem. (Obviously other people may have different experiences).
-- I tried a 'Tweak' program designed for Vista: WinBubble-- it seems to 
work fine with the new OS.
-- Other applications installed without problem: OpenOffice 3, Firefox 
3.1 beta, Irfanview, UltraVNC.
-- UAC has been turned down a notch, so it no longer (at the default 
settings) is triggered when renaming desktop icons, etc. There's more granular
control of UAC, making it possible for users to fine-tune it more easily.
-- There's a shutdown option at the first level of the Start Menu!

It IS more like Vista than like XP... programs and hardware that don't work in
Vista will probably have just as many problems with Win 7... but it's a better
performing version of Vista with at least some of the irritating features
redesigned.

Personally, I think MS should offer the release version for free to any
registered user of Vista. (Then again, I think Apple should offer it's next
version- code-named Snow Leopard- as a free upgrade to Leopard owners... both
seem to be essentially cleaned-up, better-performing versions of the previous
OS-version, with neither offering much in the way of additional features).
-- 
==================================
- email: alan (at) zisman (dot) ca
- website: http://www.zisman.ca
(running on Mac OS X)

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