What to expect in Windows 7 RC
The best thing to happen to Microsoft's public relations in years, Windows 7 is more than just spin. The latest official update to what some are calling the largest shareware trial period ever introduces more than mere bug fixes as the operating system upgrades from beta to release candidate. The Windows 7 Release Candidate does contain several major and minor changes, but the overall experience remains largely unchanged.
What's most important to you about the release candidate will depend on your perspective. Certainly, one of the biggest new features makes Windows Media Player useful again: you can now stream media files from one Windows 7 computer to another, across the Internet and out of network. Even better, the set up procedure is dead simple.
Windows Media Player now offers media streaming using your Windows Live ID.
(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)When you open Windows Media Player, there's a new Stream option on the toolbar. Click it and you're presented with two choices. Both require you to associate your computer with your Windows Live ID. When you've associated a second Windows 7's WMP with that same ID, you can remotely access the media on the host computer.
A less glitzy but no less important change to how removable drives are handled also can impact your media. Unlike Windows XP and Windows Vista, Windows 7 will no longer AutoRun external hard drives and USB keys when they're connected. This kills off a risky vector for malware infections that has been the bane of many security experts.
Experts and people or companies who hope to use Windows 7 for business situations will appreciate the new XP Mode. It doesn't have much of a practical application for the home consumer, but if you need to access programs designed for Windows XP that have not been upgraded to Windows Vista or 7, XP Mode creates a virtual environment within Windows 7 that should assuage any fears of upgrading without backward compatibility.
It's not easy to set up once you've downloaded the XP Mode installer. You'll need to double-check that you have the right hardware and can get the right software. Hardware Virtualization Technology, also known as AMD-V, Vanderpool, or VT-d, must be supported for it to work. Motherboards older than two years probably won't work, and even if you do have a newer one you might have to go into your BIOS and activate Hardware Virtualization. CPU-identification utilities are available from Microsoft that can tell you if you're in the clear. However, if compatibility is the issue, this hassle will be worth it to you. Users will have full access to peripherals connected to their Windows 7 hardware, including printers, and the clipboard can be used to cut and paste between the virtual operating system and the "real" one.
Windows 7's native search feature has been improved. Files that I added to my hard drive were indexed so fast that they were searchable less than five seconds after saving them. Search result snippets now include a longer snippet, and highlight the snippet more clearly. This should appeal specifically to people who juggle large numbers of long documents, but I don't know of anybody who wouldn't appreciate finding the file they're looking for faster.
Lacking a touchscreen laptop, I wasn't able to personally try out the enhancements made to touchscreen support. However, it now supports multitouch zooming and taskbar previews when you drag your finger across the active programs pinned to the taskbar.
Search snippets make finding files easier in Windows 7.
(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)Other changes stood out, too. Better Device Stage support for older devices makes one of Windows 7's best features applicable to peripherals and externals that don't need to be upgraded. Windows Media Player's mini mode looks much slicker, emphasizing the album art--sometimes at the expense of clearly seeing the controls, but it's a definite improvement. One annoying change is that Bluetooth support no longer comes baked into the operating system. If you need a Bluetooth driver, you'll either need the installation disc on hand or you'll have to download the driver.
Windows 7 continues to get better, but because this is the Release Candidate, unless Microsoft surprises us we're pretty much looking at the final feature set. If you're testing Windows 7 beta, you'll have to back up your data before upgrading to the RC, but once you do you'll be able to use it until June 1, 2010. The beta will start intentionally shutting down every two hours on July 1, 2009.
We've shot several videos at CNET TV about Windows 7. Among others, you can take a first look at the release candidate, a first look at the beta, which includes a lot of information about what you can do with Windows 7, and an explanation of how to dual-boot Windows 7 alongside your current Windows operating system.
Update May 6, 2009: Users who wish to purchase Windows 7 once the final version is released will need to do a full backup of their data and then perform a clean install of operating system. As with the update from Windows 7 beta to the RC, there will be no direct upgrade path to the final version.
Seth peers into the deep, dark corners of software so that you don't have to. He has yet to suffer a single nightmare about OS/2. You can follow him on Twitter. 
"Slick"? I don't think so.
If piracy is enjoying your bought and paid for media then yes, this is rampant piracy. For the rest of us this may be useful.
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/26666/simplify-media
It is available for Windows also.
I love Apple products, but I am not a stupid fanboy that feels the need to slam every single non-Apple story. Sheesh.
Western Digital is making the harddrives
Ati/Nvidia are making the chipsets and gpu's
Intel is making the processors.
Samsung is making the SSD's and possibly the Ram.
Now tell me I can not just go on newegg and pick up a equivalent from any one of these manufacturers.
This is all the same crap Dell,HP,Acer,Toshiba,Sony,Compaq,Gateway,Emachines and any other manufacturer have been using for years.
From all mac users...
It's all the same??? But...but...but how can that be?
Stevie told me macs were better. He and other mac users told me I was special, and that if I bought a mac for 1.5x-2x the price of any other machine I would be cool. I went to the apple store because I want to be cool. They wear black T-shirts and they told me I was getting something unique for my money and I didn't need to go outside apple for anything because everything apple made was good and I want to be cool because I'm not capable of thinking for myself and I have to follow a herd and.....and....and...
you don't really mean to say that I'm not cool do you? you don't mean to say that I'm just a farm animal because I don't know when I'm buying the advertising and not the product do you? I think I'm going to cry because there was no way I was cool before and i wanted it so badly I could just, I could .....I want to be cool!!!!!
sniff, sniff, Whaaaa!
I don't want to be a loser. Don't tell me I'm a loser just becausee I can't think for myself. I own a mac! I learned to use iPhoto after taking apples 100 hours of free training (a couple of times..). it is 'free" isn't it? You can't tell me I'm just a brainless sheep wandering around eating apple droppings, getting screwed on a regular basis, and that other people really do think I'm an idiot... . Whaaaaa.....I paid my money... Whaaaa.....
now, just move that disk icon to the trash can, click with your one-button mouse, to disconnect your drive.. We're smart... yup... smart....
First, I'm surprised there are people out there this clueless. monkeyfun14 is absolutely right, in fact, the list of hardware manufacturers Apple uses is much larger than that. Apple doesn't even make their own processors in the iPod, and that's their biggest money maker. This info is widely available, some of it even on the Apple website... or just go to the Genius Bar and ask them. They might not be geniuses, but they at least know this.
Second, there's nothing wrong with using third-party manufacturers, especially when many of today's companies, specializing in certain components, can manufacture it better and for less. I know Apple wants to manufacture their own parts and they are currently exploring how to fit it into their business. Based on their financials, I have my doubts they can do it cheaper... better, possibly, but most certainly the cost will be passed on to the consumer. Apple fans I'm sure would be happy to pay, but how about everyone else? To learn more, you might consider reading up on economies of scale and why lean manufacturing supply chains are important.
Apple does not engineer to perfection. If they did I would not hate the crappy ergonomics of my MacBook to the point where my next Mac will be a Hackintosh.
They do have good specs, and don't make "crap" but they have issues. Just like everone else.
Obviously, the only thing truly superior about Mac hardware is in the minds of the hypocritical, arrogant and phony attitude of it's users. ...you can keep it.
1. When the task bar is orientated horizontally, and you fill up the task bar with applications, the task bar buttons begin to auto-size until the buttons are too small and then the scroll bar appears so you have to "page" to the other buttons, unless you resize the task bar and you can then gain a new row of buttons.
2. When the task bar is orientated vertically, and you fill up the task bar with applications, the task bar gains a scroll bar you have to use to get to the other "pages" on the task bar. You cannot make the task bar wider in the hopes of making 2 columns of task bar buttons (similar to horizontally), it only stretches the buttons to the width of the task bar as you re-size. You should be able to re-size the task bar and gain multiple columns of buttons.
3. When hovering over a running program you get previews of the windows, if you have more than 1 window of an application open you'll see both, those windows are ordered by when they were opened. With the new click-n-drag of the task bar, the preview windows should be allowed to re-order also.
Other than that... great improvement to the OS, loving it a lot!
Since I'm a cheap bastard (I run my own business), I'm quite happy with that.
Vista was rather disappointing.
I just spent like 800$ building a freaking monster system, and I can't play my favorite video games on it anymore.
What good is that?
Well, thanks to built in virtualization, now I can again.
This is most awesome.
Apple will now relegate further into the background as Windows 7 revitalizes Microsoft as much or moreso than Windows XP did...
Great time to be a Microsoft user...
Unfortunately, I don't see either of those two things happening anytime soon though. And with Apple making money hand over fist, I guess they don't really need to. So that leaves a place for Microsoft in this world, and Apple fanboys & MS users just need to figure a way to peacefully coexist.
Apple did gain market share during that 2 1/2 years.
I wonder if 7 will be a hit amongst the geeks only but the mainstream will stick with XP or Vista...
Win 7 should finally get most who are sticking to XP to upgrade (though some businesses will probably wait for SP1.)
I'm sorry to burst any bubbles that the MS haters might have but this is what businesses are going to switch to, like it or not.
OEM's are going to ship it out on all new PC's.
Most 'average' users don't trust themselves to upgrade/reformat there systems to a new OS anyway so that isn't a shock that most people with a current system of XP/Vista will not go out and buy a copy of WIN7. That isn't a surprise to anyone.
This is why MS want's IT Pros to like 7 in the business environment. Licensing is where the money is in software and that probably won't change anytime soon.
XP obviously has a huge install base since it's been out since late 2001. Win 7 will be out for 3-3 1/2 years and unless the netbook market really does flourish it probably won't reach the same amount of in home installs in that time frame.
1. Make a huge technological leap forward, leaving legacy compatibility in the dust
2. Wait for people to buy new computers with Windows 7 already installed
3. Wait for software that requires some special features only available on Windows 7 to pop up into the market.
Apple was able to move forward from legacy Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X much more easily for several reasons:
1. Their user base was much smaller, allowing a quicker adoption rate.
2. They included "Classic" mode in Mac OS X to allow people to continue to use old software until new Mac OS X versions came available.
Microsoft will be hard pressed to convince people to buy retail versions of Windows 7.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/installation-instructions.aspx
Not sure why they said BT wasn't included natively... it worked just as the last beta.
Keep your expectations real, people.
Why would anyone want to install new OS on a five-year old machine? What's wrong with the old one you got there? Are there any apps that will run exclusively on Win 7?
I've read that it could be a problem with your DVD, you could try burning it again. And i've read you might have to fix the boot sector before you install.
OTOH, by 2014, operating systems won't matter as everything will be running off the web via a browser. Kids will be asking, "What's a desktop?"
I've been using Windows 7 since the beta was released and have yet to encounter a program that didn't run just fine, that includes drivers for 3 computers and a variety of software and games. In fact, at one time I tried to reformat my computer to XP and ran into major problems with drivers not being installed (no ethernet, and no wireless drivers means no internet to download those drivers); I then installed Windows 7 beta and all the drivers were there. Similar can be said about my 5 year old desktop. As for software, I've installed a variety of browsers, media players, developer environments (I was kinda surprised when Dynamic C worked), and games (I got nostalgic for "Chip's Challenge" a couple months ago) without the need for an "XP Mode" (which was not in the beta).
Now I know just because I haven't run into XP specific applications that won't install in 7 doesn't mean they're not out there. But I think my experience shows it's fair to say that the average user won't run into that problem either.
Cloud computing still has a lot of issues, but it is inevitable, like it or not. You'll even be able to do resource intense programs akin to Photoshop (probably better because they'll work out real time and pipe issues). OTOH, because of the possibility of one being cut off from the cloud, there will always be backup storage for your files and programs. There will always be antiquarian geeks running boxes with VMs running ancient OSes running fave old programs. (You'd think Haiku community would hang it up and put their coding talents towards building something truly useful, than emulating a now obsolete OS that modern Unix based OSes run rings around.)
Still, at the end, if I'm at locations where there's no internet (read aeroplane or sea or desert) or even areas where there's poor quality of network, it won't work. Imagine millions to billion of users on the internet using a software off a desktop containing the OS which still means we'll need the nice old desktop/laptop/PDA with most of the basic components to run.
It's only going to be good running intranetly as you can run it off the server, yet maintaining the bandwidth.
Maybe 200 years in the future, when everyone has super-wide-band wireless internet, we will have no desktop on our computers.... but not until then.
Also, as astleast one person said already, running things like games, CAD software, video editing (HD camcorders are rapidly decreasing in price), etc is going to take a LOT of bandwidth, and the time taken for the data to get from your comptuer to the cloud and for it to reply will be noticible to anyone that doesn't have an incredibly small latency with the cloud...
Still, Win7 is obviously a step up for Microsoft, and one that has no doubt been spurred on partly by competition from Apple. I see this as a win for most consumers, and in turn it will spur Apple to innovate as well, so it's definitely a good thing IMO.
When will Apple figure this out and when will Microsoft make something that is truly theirs?
I see Windows 7 as "Windows Vista, the way it should have been in the first place", a full upgrade would be nice, but it's enough of an improvement to be worth it. (Especially if they give a discount to people who actually paid for Vista).
That's pretty funny considering that Apple makes very little IF ANY of their own hardware. I suppose they get credit by how it's laid out inside or something, yet do people really care about what's on the inside that counts.
The problem with Apple is that it can't make up it's mind whether they are a software company or a hardware one. Diversification is nice for a company to have, but sometimes, corporations need priority as in which is their primary job or objective. Apple simply uses their OS X as an excuse on why you "have" to pay over twice as much for the same Intel or Nvidia circuits that pretty much every PC contains. You can call it a Mac however you like, but it's still only a personal computer just like any other Dell or HP.
The other issue you must consider is that OS X answers to only one box whereas Windows has to cater to everyone else. If OS X is such a great operating system, why can't Apple do the same as MS and still make money. Neither one has come up with their own uniqueness without copying from another company, yet MS has continued to hold a mass market even despite their bad press from ME and/or Vista. I'm all too certain that if Windows only had to run on one platform then they wouldn't have the gripes they conjure up. However, had Macs ran on many other "different" machines, you'd all be complaining about this and that.
I don't like to say much else without it starting a witch hunt from the fanatics, but I personally think that Apple is scared to let their baby out to play with others. Say what you must about Windows, still, I've never seen a more closed system than Apple's. They could've easily had a business model similar to MS's that at the very least would garner them nearer to 50% of the market as we know it and still be reasonable in price. But take that with a grain of salt and try not to rub it in the wounds left where your wallet use to be.
Apple's only claim to fame is its marketing because really who cares what runs in the background as long as it does as you need it to. I just think it's just sad how it mimics what matters in the world -- beauty before brains.
Windows 7 looks like it has some interesting features, and it definitely looks like all the things that Vista should have been.... I'll give it a try to see how it does. My main issue with vista was that it just feels "sluggish", no matter what hardware you have to run it. Hopefully Windows 7 is not that sluggish.
I absotely hate the windows registry set up, making upgrade a nightmare!!
But I sure am not screwing around with a RC and will wait for SP1 before upgrading to Windows 7, I don't like being a guinea pig.
After initially replacing the HDD with a 320 gig 7200rpm drive and maxing out ram which took about an hour and 15 minutes total, I haven't spent a single minute dealing with a technical and/or driver issue beyond its' initial install. Windows users? Any version. Virus issues? I'm not even running AV. I know it's stupid and I'm going to get one, but I've had no problems. The IBM laptop I was going to use before was infested within the 15 minute period when I went to get a couple of drivers from IBM after a brand new clean OS XP install. Had to wipe and start over. Ordinary users don't want/need that kind of crap. Get a Mac and they won't be dealing with it. When they've spent a weekend/week/month/year wondering why their computer is slower and slower and won't do whatever they bought it to do, suddenly a bit more $ up front doesn't seem like such a big thing. Combine that with the fact that they're likely to hold onto it for a year or 2 more and the $ seems like less and less of a thing.
I agree that Macs are overpriced and only got a Macbook Pro when the new models came out and I found new older models with a huge price drop. Alternately I've seen Dual Core Macbooks for $600 and less used that I'd highly recommend. I'm sure I'll use Windows 7 and hope it's the improvement people seem to think it is. I do hate some things about my Mac, mostly Itunes. It's completely ridiculous that I have to import a song into Itunes to play it, so I've skipped Itunes for now. I'd miss a right mouse button, but two finger click on my track pad is the same thing.
If you took people with no experience and gave them a Mac and a PC as their first computer, cost ignored, my guess is 80% would like the Mac better.
But what do you see, the apple dogs are here barking about how they love their MAC and won't ever switch to Windows. Get the **** out of here.
Please comment only if you have tried out RC7 and have comments about the features, favorable or unfavorable.
Uhm, do as I say not as I do?
Like PC users never troll the Mac articles huh? The big Mac vs PC argument is CNet's main source of ad-revenue and comments, from what I've seen.
Just look up any article on Apple products or issues from the past on here, and count the number of comments, then compare it to a non-Apple subject article. This is why CNet runs so many articles on Apple news issues - it simply gets attention! Web page loads, whether it be to flame or praise via comment, usually load ads and CNet gets their 2¢. And judging by the large number of blank areas on this page, there should have been some banners and stuff that my Safari AdBlock blocked for me.
Main point: As long as PC trolls troll the Mac articles, Mac trolls will reciprocate. Continue...
But Mac users tend to troll more.
There is the occasional PC user troll but thats rare most of the time PC users just defend there OS because idiots spread FUD.
Go look at any PC article and tell me who starts the flame wars.
"Mac users tend to troll more". This coming from the biggest troll on CNET, monkeyfun14. By the way are you 14 years old?
- by zextron May 6, 2009 7:39 AM PDT
- Professional users, IT specialists and software developers find in Microsoft tools that Apple does not have. I work fulltime on software development and I can tell you that Microsoft development environment is very good. Sure, it?s expensive for professionals, though it has free versions for the hobbyist, but I?m willing to pay for something that?s really good. To the crowd like me Windows 7 is a big step forward.
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