Windows 7

[Vyacheslav]

Damn, and my speakers i got at home plug into both my audio and USB ports... on Windows 98 to control the speaker volumes, presets, etc.

[otters]

Before (on XP) I would be Skyping and gaming, would be done with Skyping and unplug the headset, and lose all audio from the game :(

Is that really a problem? That's weird.

Oh, gods, yes. In my experience, WinXP has always had a problem with multiple sound devices. I have external speakers and a USB headset. If at any point I accidentally pull out the headset, all sound drops, and sometimes plugging the headset back in and apologizing repeatedly will help things after restarting everything that uses sound. God help you if you boot the computer without the USB headset in.

What a pain in the ass.

[smartalco]

Are you plugging in analog sound equipment, or USB?

Oh, right, I missed the USB part of your story somehow...

[Aldaric]

How do you think the success of Windows 7 will change what people think about Microsoft and Mac. Do you think people will stop switching to Mac?

[otters]

How do you think the success of Windows 7 will change what people think about Microsoft and Mac. Do you think people will stop switching to Mac?

I fail to see your point. This is a thread about Windows 7. This is not a thread about Mac OS X.

[SlappyMcGee]

How do you think the success of Windows 7 will change what people think about Microsoft and Mac. Do you think people will stop switching to Mac?

I fail to see your point. This is a thread about Windows 7. This is not a thread about Mac OS X.

I will try and make his point more clear.

How do you think the merits of a brand new Operating System will stand to persuade people not to switch to a different Operating System? Have the improvements made in Windows 7 reflected what users were looking for when they changed to OS X initially?

[otters]

How do you think the success of Windows 7 will change what people think about Microsoft and Mac. Do you think people will stop switching to Mac?

I fail to see your point. This is a thread about Windows 7. This is not a thread about Mac OS X.

I will try and make his point more clear.

How do you think the merits of a brand new Operating System will stand to persuade people not to switch to a different Operating System? Have the improvements made in Windows 7 reflected what users were looking for when they changed to OS X initially?

Considering the trouble most ("most" here meaning "two-thirds," or "all the XP people") of Windows users have to go through to GET to 7 in the first place, like moving all their stuff to an external hard drive, installing 7 on the new computer, and moving everything back, I'm somewhat skeptical of 7's abilities to draw in users as effectively as it could. I mean, in all honesty, Microsoft, you produce a good operating system for the first time in eight years, and what? There's no easy-upgrade option for the majority of your userbase? I quote from one of the Get a Mac campaign commercials: "If we have to move all our stuff, why not move it to the computer that's #1 in customer satisfaction?"

[SlappyMcGee]

Considering the trouble most ("most" here meaning "two-thirds," or "all the XP people") of Windows users have to go through to GET to 7 in the first place, like moving all their stuff to an external hard drive, installing 7 on the new computer, and moving everything back, I'm somewhat skeptical of 7's abilities to draw in users as effectively as it could. I mean, in all honesty, Microsoft, you produce a good operating system for the first time in eight years, and what? There's no easy-upgrade option for the majority of your userbase? I quote from one of the Get a Mac campaign commercials: "If we have to move all our stuff, why not move it to the computer that's #1 in customer satisfaction?"

Right, right. That question at the end is fucking vital here. Is Windows 7 the reason why to not move to the OS that's #1 in customer satisfaction? The only sufficient way of analyzing this would be to look at the features that people who changed to OS X in the first place changed for from polls, and to see if Windows 7 has addressed those issues. I believe that it has. A sleeker GUI, lower system requirements, faster start-up with minimal extra fluff that comes with the OS, not to mention all kinds of new features and options (and fewer of all of those damn Vista security warnings.) So, if you need to back up your files to switch OS's, you can choose between Windows 7 and OS X. And honestly, with all of the improvements in Windows, I don't see any reason to not choose Windows. That said, I don't see any HUGE reason to switch back, either.

[smartalco]

It really isn't that hard to upgrade. There isn't an in-place upgrade option as there is from Vista->7, but there is an archive and install option, which basically just preserves the entirety of what is already on the drive, installs 7, makes it the bootable OS, and shows all your XP stuff on your drive elsewhere (at least from what I have read).

[Donfuy]

It really isn't that hard to upgrade. There isn't an in-place upgrade option as there is from Vista->7, but there is an archive and install option, which basically just preserves the entirety of what is already on the drive, installs 7, makes it the bootable OS, and shows all your XP stuff on your drive elsewhere (at least from what I have read).

This is true. I've done it. It moves all the XP stuff to a Windows.old folder, with all the shit you had before there.

[otters]

It really isn't that hard to upgrade. There isn't an in-place upgrade option as there is from Vista->7, but there is an archive and install option, which basically just preserves the entirety of what is already on the drive, installs 7, makes it the bootable OS, and shows all your XP stuff on your drive elsewhere (at least from what I have read).

This is true. I've done it. It moves all the XP stuff to a Windows.old folder, with all the shit you had before there.

That still seems like it would be irritating.

I also believe I misread this line several times, or something:

And honestly, with all of the improvements in OS X, I don't see any reason to not choose Windows.

[t̷s͢uk̕a͡t͜ư]

It moves all the XP stuff to a Windows.old folder, with all the shit you had before there.

Yeah, I did this from Vista. I could've sworn that I asked it to overwrite the partition in its entirety, and I was actually quite annoyed that they kept my old crap. I started with very little free hard drive space, and I had to boot into the Linux partition to finish removing some of the Windows.old files. It'd've been nice to at least have offered it as an option instead of warning you that all your shit's going to disappear and slapping you with a jaykay afterwards.

[SlappyMcGee]

It really isn't that hard to upgrade. There isn't an in-place upgrade option as there is from Vista->7, but there is an archive and install option, which basically just preserves the entirety of what is already on the drive, installs 7, makes it the bootable OS, and shows all your XP stuff on your drive elsewhere (at least from what I have read).

This is true. I've done it. It moves all the XP stuff to a Windows.old folder, with all the shit you had before there.

That still seems like it would be irritating.

I also believe I misread this line several times, or something:

And honestly, with all of the improvements in OS X, I don't see any reason to not choose Windows.

Whoopsies.

[Geti]

That still seems like it would be irritating.

Yes, but not very much (except in cases like tsukatu's), considering you dont have to do a self-backup. in any case, it means restoring your documents is as easy as dragging your old ones onto your new ones. you still have to go through the trouble of re-installing your programs, but hey, at least they still work on your OS.
I'm pretty happy with M$ on 7. They did a good job, give them some credit rather than focusing on the bad. You seem like one of those smug macfags when you do that, who gets all mouth-breathy when they turn on their computer and watches it start up its brand name unix.
I think if people are switching from windows to mac, they likely wont switch back, unless they're yet to get addicted.
those that were smart enough to just tri-boot *nix, mac, and windows, and those using just windows should upgrade, because 7 is currently the best windows iteration there is.
seriously, 7 is like vista without all the stuff that made vista bad, with the get-go of XP and a snazzy new interface (which, incidentally, is just as much if not more of a bitch to customise as XP, but has a better automated tool to do it (remember patching uxtheme.dll? yeah, well theres like 5 more things to do now, aswell)). Gratz, microsoft, you actually came through for us.

[otters]

you still have to go through the trouble of re-installing your programs, but hey, at least they still work on your OS.

The point here being that if you're like me, you've installed at least 100 third-party apps on your computer for various purposes. Does the XP-to-7 keep your application preferences? Because if it doesn't, having to reinstall all my programs and re-make all the preference changes I made would drive me absolutely nuts.

[SlappyMcGee]

I just got 7 last night. It is the greatest OS I have ever used, far and away. I've had a wonderful experience.

And the essential website for anybody doing a fresh Windows 7 install? http://www.ninite.com/

[Tunco]

you still have to go through the trouble of re-installing your programs, but hey, at least they still work on your OS.

The point here being that if you're like me, you've installed at least 100 third-party apps on your computer for various purposes. Does the XP-to-7 keep your application preferences? Because if it doesn't, having to reinstall all my programs and re-make all the preference changes I made would drive me absolutely nuts.

I'm sorry, it doesn't. Unless you go Vista-to-7, which is pretty much detailed. I will try to summarize it using graph-like text.



X1: You can upgrade to the ... version.
X2: You should install everything again, fucker.

Windows 7 Home Premium: 7HP
Windows 7 Professional: 7P
Windows 7 Ultimate: 7U

-

Windows XP-
7HP?
X2.
7P?
X2.
7U?
X2.
-
Windows Vista Home Basic-
7HP?
X1.
7P?
X2.
7U?
X1.
-
Windows Vista Home Premium-
7HP?
7P?
7U?
-
Windows Vista Business-
7HP?
X1.
7P?
X2.
7U?
X1.
-
Windows Vista Ultimate-
7HP?
X2.
7P?
X2.
7U?
X1.

I hope you understood this, thogh I hate the policy that Microsoft followed about this upgrading 'marathon'. It's just mean that you should buy 7 Ultimate to upgrade Vista, not install it all over again.

[otters]

I hope you understood this.

*blink blink*


Slappy, that ninite thing is pretty cool.

[Kablizzy]

Considering the trouble most ("most" here meaning "two-thirds," or "all the XP people") of Windows users have to go through to GET to 7 in the first place, like moving all their stuff to an external hard drive, installing 7 on the new computer, and moving everything back, I'm somewhat skeptical of 7's abilities to draw in users as effectively as it could. I mean, in all honesty, Microsoft, you produce a good operating system for the first time in eight years, and what? There's no easy-upgrade option for the majority of your userbase? I quote from one of the Get a Mac campaign commercials: "If we have to move all our stuff, why not move it to the computer that's #1 in customer satisfaction?"

Right, right. That question at the end is fucking vital here. Is Windows 7 the reason why to not move to the OS that's #1 in customer satisfaction? The only sufficient way of analyzing this would be to look at the features that people who changed to OS X in the first place changed for from polls, and to see if Windows 7 has addressed those issues. I believe that it has. A sleeker GUI, lower system requirements, faster start-up with minimal extra fluff that comes with the OS, not to mention all kinds of new features and options (and fewer of all of those damn Vista security warnings.) So, if you need to back up your files to switch OS's, you can choose between Windows 7 and OS X. And honestly, with all of the improvements in Windows, I don't see any reason to not choose Windows. That said, I don't see any HUGE reason to switch back, either.

I continually posit that the optimum setup for any computer right now is likely an iMac or Macbook pro with Snow Leopard, Boot Camp/vMware into Windows 7 Ultimate.

[otters]

Considering the trouble most ("most" here meaning "two-thirds," or "all the XP people") of Windows users have to go through to GET to 7 in the first place, like moving all their stuff to an external hard drive, installing 7 on the new computer, and moving everything back, I'm somewhat skeptical of 7's abilities to draw in users as effectively as it could. I mean, in all honesty, Microsoft, you produce a good operating system for the first time in eight years, and what? There's no easy-upgrade option for the majority of your userbase? I quote from one of the Get a Mac campaign commercials: "If we have to move all our stuff, why not move it to the computer that's #1 in customer satisfaction?"

Right, right. That question at the end is fucking vital here. Is Windows 7 the reason why to not move to the OS that's #1 in customer satisfaction? The only sufficient way of analyzing this would be to look at the features that people who changed to OS X in the first place changed for from polls, and to see if Windows 7 has addressed those issues. I believe that it has. A sleeker GUI, lower system requirements, faster start-up with minimal extra fluff that comes with the OS, not to mention all kinds of new features and options (and fewer of all of those damn Vista security warnings.) So, if you need to back up your files to switch OS's, you can choose between Windows 7 and OS X. And honestly, with all of the improvements in Windows, I don't see any reason to not choose Windows. That said, I don't see any HUGE reason to switch back, either.

I continually posit that the optimum setup for any computer right now is likely an iMac or Macbook pro with Snow Leopard, Boot Camp/vMware into Windows 7 Ultimate.

And if I had a blank DVD, this is exactly what I would be using.

[Vyacheslav]

I continually posit that the optimum setup for any computer right now is likely an iMac or Macbook pro with Snow Leopard, Boot Camp/vMware into Windows 7 Ultimate.

Very true. Great hardware, best of both worlds.

[t̷s͢uk̕a͡t͜ư]

I continually posit that the optimum setup for any computer right now is likely an iMac or Macbook pro with Snow Leopard, Boot Camp/vMware into Windows 7 Ultimate.

Nah, I much prefer a dual-boot setup with Windows and something based on UNIX. The only point I see in keeping Windows around is for gaming, and that's best accomplished outside of a virtual machine (or am I missing something?).

[otters]

and that's best accomplished outside of a virtual machine (or am I missing something?).

Uhm, Boot Camp?

[t̷s͢uk̕a͡t͜ư]

and that's best accomplished outside of a virtual machine (or am I missing something?).

Uhm, Boot Camp?

Boot Camp doesn't run Windows within Mac OS X, does it?
This is exactly what I was saying -- it's better to dual-boot than to play games within a virtual machine.

[otters]

and that's best accomplished outside of a virtual machine (or am I missing something?).

Uhm, Boot Camp?

Boot Camp doesn't run Windows within Mac OS X, does it?
This is exactly what I was saying -- it's better to dual-boot than to play games within a virtual machine.

I'm confused. Boot Camp is the partition manager that allows the Mac OS X user to install Windows and boot in either Windows or OS X. Parallels, VMWare, etc. are virtual machine programs that allow you to boot Windows within OS X.