Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Windows 7—what's the rush?
Ars Technica ^ | February 3, 2009 | Peter Bright

Posted on 02/03/2009 7:10:52 PM PST by antiRepublicrat

Steven Sinofsky this week reaffirmed that Windows 7 would only have a single public beta release—build 7000, still available for download for a few more days. The current expectation is that there will be a single Release Candidate in April, with RTM around July, and Windows 7 hitting stores a few months later.

This plan marks a significant departure from Microsoft's historic Windows release strategy. Previous editions have had at least two betas and two Release Candidates; even Windows XP, a minor update to Windows 2000, received this treatment. Windows Vista went even further during its extended development period. In addition to formal betas and Release Candidates, a number of "Community Technical Preview" (CTP) releases were made available, to allow third-party developers to track the progress more closely.

How is this even possible?

This condensed release schedule is a result of a new development methodology. Underlying this is Microsoft's new commitment to what the company calls "quality." "Quality" is kind of a vague term—after all, it's not as if the company wants to ship something low-quality, even if it might not always seem that way. In this case, it means six things: device compatibility, application compatibility, performance, reliability, battery life, and security. These are not the only areas of concern for the new OS—things like the user experience and documentation quality are still important, but these six are viewed as fundamental. Windows 7 is intended to raise the bar in each of these areas and, to achieve that, Microsoft has used a new development process for this release.

(Excerpt) Read more at arstechnica.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: 7; getamac; lowqualitycrap; microsoft; trylinux; windows
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-102 next last
To: dayglored
Clarification:

> ...Even at $129, full-feature OS-X is less expensive than Win7 Home Basic.

Assuming Win7 is priced about like Vista was.

21 posted on 02/03/2009 7:34:24 PM PST by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: dayglored
Where's the "Not this crap again" graphic? Looks like Microsoft's programming team may have gotten itself in order, but its marketing department remains clueless. To paraphrase a Jobs joke, OS X Snow Leopard will have the following versions: Each version will have the full feature set. We think you'll pick "Enterprise" or "Ultimate."
22 posted on 02/03/2009 7:35:55 PM PST by antiRepublicrat ("I am a firm believer that there are not two sides to every issue..." -- Arianna Huffington)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: antiRepublicrat

.... or you know what your doing :)


23 posted on 02/03/2009 7:36:27 PM PST by TV Dinners (Hope is not a Strategy)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: RepublitarianRoger2
> Pretty much identical to the Vista versions.

"Windows 7? This isn't Windows 7. This is Windows Vista, with 'Vista' crossed out, and '7' written in crayon!?!?!"

24 posted on 02/03/2009 7:36:43 PM PST by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: antiRepublicrat
I've been PCing since Windows 3.1.

Vista is a-okay with me. I run it at home and work. Very stable. Nice features. It just works.

25 posted on 02/03/2009 7:38:40 PM PST by PackerBoy (Just my opinion ....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: antiRepublicrat
> Where's the "Not this crap again" graphic?

> To paraphrase a Jobs joke,...

Yes, I'll have "Ultimate OS-X", please...

26 posted on 02/03/2009 7:39:57 PM PST by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: TV Dinners
Vista works fine, at least for me.

Same here, but it is quite bloated compared to XP.

27 posted on 02/03/2009 7:41:54 PM PST by meyer (We are all John Galt)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Extremely Extreme Extremist
Is Vista really bad or good? I plan on buying a new computer within 2 weeks and I'm seriously debating whether to buy one with no-OS (I have a bootleg copy of XP Pro) or buy one with Vista Home Premium 64-bit.

I'll ignore the bootleg aspect. Believe it or not, I say get Vista.

If you get Vista Whatever with the system you will pay less than half the price of buying retail. Then when 7 comes out you will probably pay 1/3 for an upgrade, less if Microsoft has some promotion to win back customers it lost with Vista. Basically, you'll probably end up paying a bit less for Vista and the 7 upgrade than you would buying 7 at full retail.

This doesn't apply if you get your hands on a legit Windows 7 OEM copy in the first place. Local computer stores are often nice enough to sell them.

28 posted on 02/03/2009 7:42:18 PM PST by antiRepublicrat ("I am a firm believer that there are not two sides to every issue..." -- Arianna Huffington)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: dayglored

lol... the OSX comparision...

I can buy a 299.99 laptop (from multiple hardware vendors mind you) with windows.... by the time windows7 is ready, same laptop will be 249.99...
find me a Mac notebook that is 299.99 and I’ll by another copy of OSX just for back up...
fwiw.. I have OSX 10.5 running on a 4 year old dell d600... works pretty well, nice OS... seems rediculous to pay such a premium for the hardware... what’s Apple scared of, supporting more than 2 chipset configs?


29 posted on 02/03/2009 7:42:46 PM PST by TV Dinners (Hope is not a Strategy)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: antiRepublicrat

They’re still selling a lot of XP O/Ss.


30 posted on 02/03/2009 7:42:47 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PackerBoy

DOS 3.x.

Of course you were actually using some version of DOS too if you were using Windows 3.x.


31 posted on 02/03/2009 7:47:05 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: donaldo
“Not one single problem, zero, zilch, nada, the best ever.”

Yeah, but everyone loves the first OS they ever have on their first new computer......

32 posted on 02/03/2009 7:47:23 PM PST by JSteff (It was ALL about SCOTUS. Most forget about that and may have doomed us for a generation or more.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: exist

“Vista has been the absolute best.”

Bill would have like to know that before they shelled out the money for the Mojave commercials.


33 posted on 02/03/2009 7:49:11 PM PST by JSteff (It was ALL about SCOTUS. Most forget about that and may have doomed us for a generation or more.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: TV Dinners
> ...seems rediculous to pay such a premium for the hardware... what’s Apple scared of, supporting more than 2 chipset configs?

Not scared; it's just not their business model.

Apple sells SYSTEMS, not software. The hardware and software are designed by Apple to work together. The result is a great experience for most users.

Apple would lose bigtime if they tried to sell OS-X for J-Random hardware-du-jour machines. Their business model is based on being a smaller player, for folks who want their particular feature mix.

34 posted on 02/03/2009 7:49:42 PM PST by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: JSteff

Vista works ok, it’s just pathetically slow.


35 posted on 02/03/2009 7:50:36 PM PST by mamelukesabre (Give me Liberty or give me something to aim at)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

Don’t listen to them... they are paid by the Vista team. XP is still the best. That is why MS had to rush with 7.

7 will perform like XP in many ways, but have visual capabilities like Vista.


36 posted on 02/03/2009 7:52:07 PM PST by JSteff (It was ALL about SCOTUS. Most forget about that and may have doomed us for a generation or more.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

“to downloading porn “

That is why it worked so well for him. He was busy to notice it’s short comings....


37 posted on 02/03/2009 7:53:55 PM PST by JSteff (It was ALL about SCOTUS. Most forget about that and may have doomed us for a generation or more.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Secret Agent Man
> They’re still selling a lot of XP O/Ss.

They're certainly not selling a lot of Vista O/Ss:


Win XP    64%
Win Vista 22%
Mac OS X   9%
...
Reference: http://marketshare.hitslink.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10
38 posted on 02/03/2009 7:54:31 PM PST by dayglored (Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: dayglored
“the one-and-only SKU, full-featured version of OS-X sells for $129”

Yeah but that is the license for one year and only after you send Steve pictures of you wife with an iPod in the bath tub.

39 posted on 02/03/2009 7:57:57 PM PST by JSteff (It was ALL about SCOTUS. Most forget about that and may have doomed us for a generation or more.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: dayglored

OSX is just flavor of linux...
Business Model or not, OSX runs fine on the SAME intel hardware they charge 1.5X for.


40 posted on 02/03/2009 7:58:05 PM PST by TV Dinners (Hope is not a Strategy)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-102 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson