Windows 7

[my porsche]

After several comments in the "Recent Purchases" thread, it appears Windows 7 is a favorite here; I've already purchased it but it's being shipped right now ($15 shipped through the university ).

So, what is it you guys like about it so much, and what are the big differences I can expect coming from Vista?

I like and have no problems with Vista, by the way.

[Kitdy]

After several comments in the "Recent Purchases" thread, it appears Windows 7 is a favorite here; I've already purchased it but it's being shipped right now ($15 shipped through the university ).

So, what is it you guys like about it so much, and what are the big differences I can expect coming from Vista?

I like and have no problems with Vista, by the way.

I can't help you with comparing it to Vista, because I never had Vista.

Windows 7 is shiny. That pleases me. Things seem to be pretty fast. I like that too. There are some nifty things here and there that I can't recall. Shit is more plug and play and simpler and more streamlined in general.

Sadly, it has crashed on me several times while doing no heavy lifting.

[Niko_Fx]

I'm still on XP.

lol.

[Matra et Alpine]

As a professional then it's MUCH better at loking it dwn for business use.
I am loving UAC --- users aren't but feck 'em at least now they can't screw it up
It's definately faster startup.
Runs well in much less memory than XP coped with ( Got it running fine on a 512Mb laptop WITH SHARED VIDEO MEMORY !! ) Well, "fine" as long as the user is reasonable and doesn't think you coudl win Le Mans in a Fiat 500 !!
Lots of small things ahtat are definately "simpler", but ARE different , so still to pass final judgement on them. eg pinning to taskbar Keep wanting to switch contrl panel and network connections back to "old school" look and feel


Integration to Small Business Server is a dream. 99% of office PC install, setup and turn-on to computer network is now automoated. So finally throwing away all those scripts developed over the years to ease new users onto network. Secure Remote Desktop Access built in - hurrah no more add-on solutions needed for tech support.
And for sandboxing the Virtual PC is another win-win and in MS fashion removing antoher chargeable product family from the market place.

Driver upgrades without reboots SOME managed it in the past, but so far I've only had to do 2 reboots with upgrades adn both were security, so can accept the need there

AND have to say performance is superb and yes even on games
Not had to run any in XP mode yet, so might still be some issues lurking there.

Did get really pissed off yesterday though as had to send e-mail to all my clients warnign them of the brain-dead European Union solution to MS shipping IE8. EVERYONE gets a prompt and asked whcih browser they want to use

oh and rock solid security - not as feature rich as One-Care, but in new-MS as simple as Apple you get it all working now with less options. DAMMIT I like the tech options

EDIT: @Kidy, do a compatability search on the hardware you have. So far no crashes but all mine is on the compat list. SOunds like you might have somethgin "not supported" lurking around in there. Did you do an upgrade or a clean isntall ?
I did have a problem with a clients PC over user permissions whcih stopped some apps running for him. But hie was doing it all wrong, so I did a clean install -- whcih again withthe latest "User Easy Transfer" is so easy

[Kitdy]

EDIT: @Kidy, do a compatability search on the hardware you have. So far no crashes but all mine is on the compat list. SOunds like you might have somethgin "not supported" lurking around in there. Did you do an upgrade or a clean isntall ?
I did have a problem with a clients PC over user permissions whcih stopped some apps running for him. But hie was doing it all wrong, so I did a clean install -- whcih again withthe latest "User Easy Transfer" is so easy

I'm not much of a computer guy so I don't know what hardware I have exactly - I suppose I could find out if I wanted though. What I do know is this computer that I bought off my friend for $100 is 2.5 years old and was running on Vista I think and had huge troubles playing games - it crashed and in general did not work well.

It was built to be a moderate gaming machine with he and another person - someone who knows their shit with computers - and he and the guy couldn't solve the solution so he stopped gaming on it.

Unfortunately, soon after I got it, the graphics card bit it so now - since I am in a state of cheapness due to being short on coin an jobless -I am gonna send it in to Asus and get them to send me a new one. It has only crashed 2 or 3 times so it isn't too bad. Will maybe try out the compatibility search when all is fixed up but if something isn't compatible there isn't much I can do about it right now. I gotta wait until summer until I get a job - and I really hope this summer unlike last someone will actually employ me or else things are gonna be bad.

[pimento]

Win7 is like Vista, only it works better. I had minimal issues with Vista too, but 7 is still a vast improvement over it. I also like the taskbar improvements a lot, being able to pin things there is vereh handy.

[NSXType-R]

I'm still on XP.

lol.

Same. If it isn't broken, why fix it? It's not like I'm a gamer or anything, I just browse the web, do HW and organize photos. I barely even edit photos.

It's all good.

That said, I can also pick it up as a student for $15, I plan to do that on my way out.

I think MS Office is also available for .01. That's a steal, even if I hate MS Office 2007. I still run 2003 on my Windows partition in my Mac.

[cmcpokey]

i got 7 on the day it came out. upgraded from vista. the best way to put it, is that it took all of the good of vista (of which there was a lot) made it more light weight, faster, smoother, and added a bunch of really great stuff.

the task bar is fantastic. the start menu is mostly made redundant except to access programs you rarely access (and doesnt stick everything to the taskbar a'la mac). the shortcuts and numerous little tricks are great and make mouse free navigation rather easy. and my battery life has gotten a lot better.

as far as relating to xp, i still have it on my desktop and i find it cumbersome and annoying. it felt out of date while i had vista, and now it feels ancient. if you do anything with media, whether that be pics, music or video, 7 is much better to use. it is much harder, both memory allocation wise and navigation wise, to multi task between programs. as you can guess i like 7 a lot, and have completely soured on xp, it was a great system for a long time, but it is well past its usable shelf life.

[car_fiend]

I'm still on XP.

lol.

ditto. i was thinking of making the switch to vista but waited, and saw it was crap. nvr lft xp, and have changed laptops after vista came out.
7 seems to sound good... but gonna wait it out more...

[cmcpokey]

7 seems to sound good... but gonna wait it out more...

about 5 of my classmates decided to make the switch from vista at a similar time as i did. we are in a computing intensive curriculum and there has not been a single issue with it among all of us. there is really no reason to stick to xp.

[my porsche]

So what will this entail as far as re-installing software? I have a lot of rather large programs; AutoCAD, Inventor, Photoshop, Office 2007...

[cmcpokey]

if you are on vista.. nothing. put the disk in, or download it as the case may be. run it, and it will do everything. the only program that i had that didn't cooperate was iTunes. go figure. and i didnt have to uninstall it, just de-authorize the computer, and reauthorize it after the install.

[pimento]

Depends on the version of Vista and the version of 7.. equivalent versions and you're fine, if you're going from home to pro or the like, then it's a complete re-install situation (though you should still be fine buying the upgrade media). I don't know why.. it just is.

[baddabang]

I went from 32 bit vista to 64 bit 7 with no regrets on my XPS when it first became available for students at a very generous discount. No crashes, no lag, everything just runs great. You won't be disappointed.

[kingofthering]

Eh, I've got 32-bit 7 Premium and 32-bit 7 Pro. Lenovo's "free upgrade"= 17.03 and the school's licensing = 39ish dollars. So all in all a good haul for software!

32-bit's going onto the Thinkpad and 64-bit's going to be the summer project. haha