Windows 7—what's the rush?

Ars Technica ^ | February 3, 2009 | Peter Bright

[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.

[Rocky]

And I don’t get any viruses either, at least on the computer

LOL

[HawaiianGecko]

"Yeah, but everyone loves the first OS they ever have on their first new computer......"   I agree.  IBM DOS/360.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

11. Add options to clipboard, to remember all (like clipboard diary)

Or Yankee Clipper III. A free utility that stores a history of 200 'copies' and also has boilerplate 'paste' function.

[swatbuznik]

Great suggestions, but why are you using a Dell? Just kidding! :P

[Big Giant Head]

I just purchase two refurbished HP desktops with Vista. Both are Phenom Quad core cpu’s one 32 bit and one 64 bit. Both are great machines, run fast, run quiet. Get the 64 bit, for future expansion reasons.

I turn off all eye candy, UAC, etc. automatic updates, set for maximum performance so it looks like Win2K and it flys.... No problems whatsoever.

Oh, and I’m a big Linux proponent. Linux is everywhere in my house, and if I weren’t a gamer, I wouldn’t buy any windows OS. But there it is.

[ShadowAce]

[daniel1212]

Yes, Yankee clipper is good, and that was my choice for years, but it is limited to 200 copies at a time, and (i think), the size of the copy, whereas clipboard diary is unlimited (options) in both. Only drawback is that one cannot search the database (which can be moved) using Windows search or (better) Agent Ransack, or (as far as i know) converted to regular text.

Another option for me is that of Text Shield, an advanced replacement for WordPad, which does things Word Pad or maybe Jarte and similar freewares will not do. If i set it to autopaste, then it will copy continuously, and save it in RTF automatically (options). I would have place it in the startup folder to load at boot.

Author is a Christian, but who no longer supports the app, which he wrote as a teenager. http://members.lycos.nl/textshield/

[kevkrom]

Why the rush?

Because regardless of the truth or fiction behind it (I'm not going to debate it either way), the "Vista" brand name has been trashed and Microsoft needs to kill it off as soon as possible, even if it's just providing a patch release to Vista and renaming it.

[daniel1212]

Because it was given to our non profit ministry, thanks be to God, to replace my old 650mhz white box (also a gift), on which i ran W/98se for about 6 years, then jumped right to Vista. XP came in because it was orginally set up that i would build my own, and found a legal retail copy of XP for 110, so i just installed it as a dual boot. I have also tried many Linux distros, and could tell why they are not viable for me.

I would not recommend Dell however. I prayerfully searched to help my downstairs neighbor find a low cost PC, and found one that flies, even though it he has it more loaded at startup than this one. I do not think you can build one much cheaper. http://www.computerlx.com/product_view.aspx?t=&product_ID=670 Upgrade the ram to 4gb, and select an OS. Praise the Lord.

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

Why the rush? Vista sucks, need something people might want to buy.

No rush at all. This release is what Windows Longhorn (that became Vista) was supposed to be. The problem is that as usual, Microsoft couldn't deliver on the 'vaporware', and after two years of delays, they cut their loses and put out in inferior product.

i have no doubts what-so-ever that Windows 7 will be the true successor to Windows XP, and Vista will become the Windows ME of the NTFS.

FWIW, i really didn't have many problems with Windows ME either, but was aware of where the problems would happen.

[Only1choice____Freedom]

No rush at all. This release is what Windows Longhorn (that became Vista) was supposed to be.

SO, 7 is "Vista fixed" then. I have a friend who says he buys every other desktop operating system MS puts out. Think about it:

Windows 2 - crap Windows 3.11 -good

Windows 95 - crap - Windows 98 workable

Windows ME - horrible - Windows XP - very good

WIndows Vista - not so good - Windows 7 - the best so far

He also only buys the server O/S after at least two or three service packs.

[MediaMole]

There has been a “starter edition” since XP.

It is only available in emerging markets. Starter Edition is a very cheap version designed to reduce piracy in the third world.

These Skus are all identical to Vista. There is nothing new here. Microsoft haters are just trying to stir up controversy where none exists.

[js1138]

This is the reason we don't use OEM pricing when comparing. That's for geeks, not for the unwashed masses who won't be able to get support

People who aren't geeks pay about $40 for Windows and about $8) for XP Pro or Vista Ultimate. From Dell, Gateway, etc.

During the seven years XP has been out, no one has paid anything for updates. And free support will continue for another seven years after MS stops selling it.

[TChris]

I just don't like the entire philosophy behind Vista et al. I hate the attitude it embodies. I hate that Microsoft presumes to commandeer such significant swaths of my hardware resources just for the stupid O/S. I hate that it takes a flippin' 3D graphics accelerator just to run the new UI. I hate that my potential Vista system will mostly run in slow motion with less than 2GB of RAM. (!!) I hate that performance and power are sacrificed on the altar of eye candy. I hate that the best that hundreds of Windows developers could come up with for security was to annoy the user every couple of minutes, getting permission to do what you just told it to do. I hate that Microsoft has worked so hard to create unrealistic expectations for the ease of use of a modern computer, then implemented increasingly draconian methods in its pursuit of fulfilling them.

I am steadily moving in heart and mind toward the Linux and BSD world. My decades of experience with MS operating systems will take a while to replicate there. That's a pain. I don't like climbing a learning curve I've already climbed once.

[dayglored]

> There has been a “starter edition” since XP. It is only available in emerging markets. Starter Edition is a very cheap version designed to reduce piracy in the third world.

The difference is that now "Starter Edition" will be available world-wide as the netbook default install.

> These Skus are all identical to Vista. There is nothing new here.

That's correct (except for SE note above), and is exactly my point. Microsoft COULD have simplified things considerably, but NO-o-o-o-o...

> Microsoft haters are just trying to stir up controversy where none exists.

I don't hate Microsoft. I use their products at work and at home, and my livelihood depends in large part these days on Windows. I also use Macs, Linux, Unix, etc. They all have their pros and cons. I'm largely OS-agnostic.

And I'm not "stirring up controversy", I'm merely pointing out, "There they go again!"

I'm frustrated and annoyed that they clearly have not learned their lessons from the past 5 years on Vista, whatsoever.

They COULD have a great product, and they intentionally elect not to. That I find infuriating, as a user, and as a computer system engineer and administrator of 35 years.

[Still Thinking]

My exact thought, “What’s the rush??? Duh. VisDuh!”

And before everyone jumps to defend Vista, that’s beside the point. A lot of the users don’t want / won’t buy Vista, so MuSoft has a problem even if Vista were the best OS ever written. IOW, even if it IS just a problem of perception, it’s still a problem.

[antiRepublicrat]

People who aren't geeks pay about $40 for Windows and about $8) for XP Pro or Vista Ultimate. From Dell, Gateway, etc.

Dell charges $150 to upgrade from Home Basic to Ultimate. The $40-50 is likely the Dell price for Basic.

During the seven years XP has been out, no one has paid anything for updates.

And with the exception of fixing some seriously broke aspects of XP, Microsoft hasn't made XP any better either. That's what paid upgrades are for.

[antiRepublicrat]

16. enable 32 bit OS to use more than 3gb ram.

That's difficult. The OS can use 4 GB. The problem is Vista maps sysem driver memory including the video card memory into your 4 GB limit. You can easily have 2 GB max usable RAM with some setups. Performance would suck if they mapped it out, but you lose RAM if they don't. Screwed either way. I would say go 64-bit, but Vista didn't do too well with the 32-bit compatibility in it.

[js1138]

And with the exception of fixing some seriously broke aspects of XP, Microsoft hasn't made XP any better either. That's what paid upgrades are for.

I'm a capitalist. I have no problem with a company trying to suck as much money out of its customers as possible.

What percentage of Mac users buy all the upgrades?

[Still Thinking]

and you send him money that then gets donated to Dems... :)

As opposed to what you send to Microsoft.