Tag: Windows 7

In his post today (January 13, 2009), Can Microsoft Make Windows for a Small World?, Saul Hansell of the New York Times thinks that the "biggest question facing Windows 7 is whether Microsoft can really think small."

Now, for those of you old enough to remember Cheech and Chong, that’s not what he meant.

"When designing Windows Vista, Microsoft put a lot of effort into taking advantage of sophisticated computer hardware, with fancy graphics on the surface and lots of new processing tricks inside. Microsoft says this positioned the operating system for the future, despite the complaining of many users who grumble that Vista has bogged down their computers with unneeded frills and incompatibilities.

"While there is some more high-powered glitz coming in Windows 7, the real challenge for Microsoft isn’t the latest multicore superchip, but making the operating system work well, and affordably, on stripped-down PCs, netbooks and other small devices."

I’ve seen several posts from people who have installed the latest Windows 7 beta successfully on small netbooks and older laptops.  I have it running quite smoothly on everything from a Toshiba Portege M200 with a 1.5GHz Pentium M to a low-end HP Slimline with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (running at 2 GHz) with 1 GB of SDRAM. And I’ve seen that several reports (such as this one from last fall on windowsfordevices.com) that "the Asus Eee PC 1000H "handles the new operating system pretty well," and writes that Sinofsky’s characterization of Windows 7’s memory consumption was "right on the money."

Thanks to the work we’ve done since the release Windows Vista (particularly for SP1), we have an OS that supports a wide variety of devices and applications. As noted on CNET News today, Richard Francis spoke at a press demo session of the Windows 7 beta and said that…

"… companies are "encouraged" to upgrade to Windows Vista after predecessor XP, instead of waiting for Windows 7 to be released.

"Francis noted that the device compatibility issues which plagued Vista are not expected to be an issue with Windows 7. "When Vista came out, there were only 22,000 compatible devices with the right drivers. Now there are 78,000, so there is better support from the ecosystem," he said.

"On current XP users considering paying for extended support as mainstream support reaches its April 2009 deadline, Francis said it is "too soon to say" how many will opt for that, but added that "there is no leading indicator for now that they will do so."

On one machine which had Windows XP installed (the aforementioned older Toshiba Tablet PC), I did a clean install of Windows 7 after backing up all my files: the OS installed without a hitch.  The Slimline which came with Windows Vista Home Premium, and again I elected for a clean install on a dual boot system for Windows 7. This allowed me to easily keep Windows Vista at hand if I ran into any incompatibilities (which I haven’t) and access all my files without having to execute a forced back up.  (All files are already archived.)

What I expect to find is that it will be easy to migrate to a single new operating system at home and at work, one that that runs virtually all of our legacy computers at home and all of our software. 

Today I use Windows Vista and Windows 7 machines at home and at work, side by side.  Since updating our PCs to Windows Vista SP1, I’ve had a much more stable experience than I have with my trusty old Windows XP SP3 system that runs my home entertainment rig (‘though I’ll be upgrading that finally to Windows Vista as my ProTools upgrade supports the OS).

Even our old Pentium M notebooks — which by some accounts are less powerful and capable than some of the netbooks we’re seeing come out today – run quite nicely with Windows 7. 

And one more thing: of the "three sorts of screens in people’s lives — computers, phones and televisions" mentioned in the article, two of these screens are run my Windows Vista and now Windows 7 at hour home (PC and TV).  Two out of three ain’t bad, and the experience on my Windows Mobile phone is getting better: with a nod to an infamous Monty Python line, it’s still kicking but IMHO has some catching up to do with respect to the advancements we’ve seen on Windows 7.

Tags: Microsoft, customer support, feedback, customer experience, Windows 7.

(As noted at http://tinyurl.com/win7ie8beta)

As Todd Bishop noted on his blog…

"If you’ve been struggling to download the Windows 7 Beta, here’s a reprieve: Microsoft is removing the previous limit of 2.5 million downloads and saying that the initial beta release of the new operating system will instead be available for the next two weeks, even if that number is exceeded.

"The beta release, originally scheduled for yesterday, was delayed until today while the company shored up its online infrastructure to deal with higher-than-expected interest in the next operating system. Apparently that wasn’t enough.

"Due to an enormous surge in demand, the download experience was not ideal so we listened and took the necessary steps to ensure a good experience," the Windows team said this afternoon. "We have clearly heard that many of you want to check out the Windows 7 Beta and, as a result, we have decided remove the initial 2.5 million limit on the public beta for the next two weeks (thru January 24th)."

As MSWindows posted on Twitter, which serendipitously occurred moments after the cat threw up at home (just a little colour commentary)…

If you haven’t heard the Windows 7 Beta is available for download! You can get it here: http://twurl.nl/6rlseo

The Windows 7 Beta is ready for you to download. Follow this link http://twurl.nl/t6blyi and click "Get the Beta" at the bottom of the page

To help make sure you have a great experience, please read these instructions http://twurl.nl/a1eu5h before you install the software about 4 hours ago

[and as an added bonus…] Microsoft has remove the initial 2.5 million limit on the public beta for the next two weeks (thru January 24th) http://twurl.nl/0vl1zb

I’m looking forward to hearing about what people think of Win7.  I’ve my own experiences (overall positive) that I’ll post as appropriate:  I’ve been using Windows 7 along side Windows Vista SP1 machines at work and home.  Brandon has posted several snippets about the features and offerings in Windows 7. 

My favourite benefit by far is that the public beta has worked AOK with all the software I’ve thrown at it, without any software appcompat problems on my machines at home.  It’s recognized all my home office peripherals, memory devices and the like, and the start up, sleep, hibernate, resume and shut perform flawlessly. 

A note for those running Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player in Windows 7 Beta: there is an update available that addresses some issues with Windows Media Center playback, recording, and MP3 file support in Windows, in KB article 961367

Tags: Microsoft, customer support, feedback, customer service.