Microsoft gives users Windows 7 free for 13 months

[ronjor]

-{ Quote: "By Gregg Keizer

April 30, 2009 (Computerworld) Microsoft Corp. will let users run Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) for more than a year, giving them free use of the new operating system for a significantly longer time than it did Vista's previews" }-Article (http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9132397)

[aigle]

I am waiting to install it, ATM running beta.

Only problems i have on my lptop:

Batteries deain extremely quickly
System becomes unresponsive if WMP is launchd in browser

[wtsinnc]

OK, I think that's really great news;
My question is why would Microsoft give users of RC-1 thirteen months to audition the product ?

_Also_

Certainly, this will include access to all updates as well as the XP compatibility download, right ?

[crofttk]

Sorry, a little OT, but can I just go download this and try it out or do I need some "in" or special qualification/invitation to get Win7?

[wtsinnc]

My understanding is that Windows 7 RC-1 will be available for download to the general public May 5, but if it's anything like the Beta program (and I suspect it will actually be worse), the servers will be running white-hot for that first day.

I'm going to wait for a couple of days before downloading my copy.

[lodore]

I would assume microsoft has learnt its lesson from beta stage and have more servers for the RC on 5th of may.

[aigle]

-{ Quote: "Sorry, a little OT, but can I just go download this and try it out or do I need some "in" or special qualification/invitation to get Win7?" }-
Any one can I think.

[crofttk]

OK, sounds good. Thanks, wtsinnc, Iodore, and aigle. I guess I'll set an Outlook reminder for May 7 or so but I'm sure I'll be reading about it here at Wilders anyways.

[Kerodo]

-{ Quote: "OK, I think that's really great news;
My question is why would Microsoft give users of RC-1 thirteen months to audition the product ?

" }-
Probably because the more people they can get running Windows 7, the more public acceptance, and the better off they'll be. I think they're willing to do this to get the user base going and going in a big way.

[midway40]

That's good to know. Originally it was supposed to time-bomb in August. I was able to acquire a copy of RC and installed it on my laptop. My SysAdmin wanted me to evaluate it since it will probably be our next OS at work.

It has been a busy week for me with all these releases--Win7 RC, Office 2007 SP2, and I got a hold of Vista SP2 yesterday. It feels like Christmas, lol.

[Kerodo]

I'm looking forward to installing it next week.... Going to image Vista here and give 7 a try. If it goes well, I'll stick with it for a year, or perhaps just buy it after a good trial.

[Longboard]

-{ Quote: "My question is why would Microsoft give users of RC-1 thirteen months to audition the product ?" }-Heh heh
More lab rats. :dry:
Love being part of an experiment.

It is interesting: haven't MS said possible final release Q4 09 or certainlyQ1 10 ??

What's the difference between a lab rat and a lawyer ??

[Kerodo]

Nah, RC means it's about ready to pop..... I'd guess final within another month or so.

[DasFox]

Can anyone download the RC when it comes out, and a URL please?

THANKS

P.S. Will this be the URL?
http://technet.microsoft.com/nb-no/evalcenter/dd353205%28en-us%29.aspx

I have never really looked at any screenshots till now, never really had much care since Vista came out. To me this looks like Vista and I hate the look and feel of Vista. With Vista being such a flop you'd think they had brains enough to make a new look. :(

[midway40]

-{ Quote: "Nah, RC means it's about ready to pop..... I'd guess final within another month or so." }-

Maybe a little longer than that, K, according to this (http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/news.phtml/23846/acer-confirms-windows-7-23-october.phtml).

Yes, DasFox, anyone can download it May 5th and that site might have it then. I did not get mine from TechNet, Connect, nor MSDN but from...uh...another source :lurking: (got Vista SP2 from this source too).

[Chubb]

-{ Quote: "Can anyone download the RC when it comes out, and a URL please?

THANKS

P.S. Will this be the URL?
http://technet.microsoft.com/nb-no/evalcenter/dd353205%28en-us%29.aspx

(" }-

When it is available to the public, there should most probably be a link to the Windows 7 RC on the Microsoft home page.

[Kerodo]

-{ Quote: "Maybe a little longer than that, K, according to this (http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/news.phtml/23846/acer-confirms-windows-7-23-october.phtml).

" }-
Thanks Midway, I guess that's a bit longer than I expected. Still, I think giving us the RC for 13 months is pretty much a gift. I'm going to grab it myself.... :)

[midway40]

I see you took the plunge, K ;D

After I installed 7 on the laptop I had two unknown devices in my Device Manager. By process of elimination I determined it to be the modem and the card reader so I pulled my Acer driver disk out and installed the Vista drivers for these devices and they work now. Acer has a program called Launch Manager which controls the special buttons on the laptop. When I tried to install it it said something like "Wrong OS!" and terminated. So I ran the setup under Vista compatiblity mode and it installed successfully. The only bug I see so far is that avast! WHS doesn't "see" my laptop anymore (avast! Pro still works fine on it though).

As good as 7 is, I still probably won't move on to it and hang on to Vista. With SP2 out now which fixed one last bug I was experiencing--slow loading of game icons after opening up Games Explorer--I am pretty much satisfied with what I got now.

[Kerodo]

Hi Midway,

Yep, I did take the plunge this morning and installed it. I must say, it is very very nice as far as I can tell so far. Much quicker in many ways than Vista, app and driver installs, general feel, etc. I like what they've done with the taskbar too. And I understand there are many under the hood improvements also. I am quite pleased with 7 so far, and to be honest, I don't think I'll go back to Vista, although I have my image here if I need it. No problems with Avast here, that's what I'm running as I heard someone mention an issue with Avira and 7, so I thought I'd wait till I hear more on that. I do have a Premium license, but am just going with Avast free for now.

Anyway, glad I made the move, this should be a good one for MS. I am impressed. I think perhaps people can finally leave XP and move on to newer things soon.

[midway40]

-{ Quote: "
Anyway, glad I made the move, this should be a good one for MS. I am impressed. I think perhaps people can finally leave XP and move on to newer things soon." }-

My sentiments exactly :) In my opinion it would benefit more for XP users to upgrade.

Since my SysAdmin is going to install 7 on a spare Dell laptop he has, I have decided to revert back to Vista on my laptop (which WHS just informed me it would take 20 mins to do). I will then install SP2 on it (I snagged the x86 version along with the x64 the other day) and return to my "perfect" setup.

Don't take this as if I have anything against 7 but in my usage I really saw no difference as far as performance even on my low-end laptop. If I ever get tired of Vista (as I did with XP) then maybe I will move on. As it is, even after two and a half years, I am still discovering new things about Vista.

I read an interesting article (http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=4277) on Zdnet the other day which reflects a lot of my thinking on Win7.

[Kerodo]

I am running on a triple core desktop here, not a laptop, but I do like Vista also, yet I really have to say that I notice a pretty large improvement in performance in 7. Just simple things like installing apps and various drivers, I can see things go quite a bit faster. App loading seems perhaps a hair quicker. Even though I'd choose Vista over other alternatives, I have to say it just feels sluggish in many ways and areas, especially now compared to 7. So for me, there is a distinct performance improvement. Maybe on a new laptop it wouldn't be as apparent? Not sure. But if I weren't running 7, I'd be on Vista, x64 all the way on both.... :thumb:

[Brian K]

Kerodo,

I'm not using a 64 bit OS. I read in the Dell newsgroup that you need 8 GB of RAM before x64 really makes a difference. Is that your experience?

[Kerodo]

Nah, I wouldn't say that's true at all. I have 4 gigs ram here and have been doing fine for almost a year now on Vista x64, XP x64 and now Windows 7 x64. I'm not sure why they'd say 8 is needed, but I suppose it just depends on what you're doing with it.

[Brian K]

Found it. Here are some quotes but it seems it's only one member's opinion. No-one else made positive or negative comments.

-{ Quote: "But I would also add that using the 64 bit version
without 8 gigs of RAM will yield no benefit at all.

But if you don't have more than 4 gigs of RAM there's zero benefit that
I can think of in going 64 bit.

The only things I've seen have been very very minor...no welcome screen
in Dreamweaver CS3 for instance. Other than stuff like that every 32 bit
app I've used works very well and with 8 gigs of RAM to distribute, if
you're running multiple apps they run better than they would on a 32 bit
O/S since they're not all fighting for 3 gigs of RAM." }-

[midway40]

4GB worked well for me, too. A couple of months ago I took some of my tax refund and purchased 8GB of G.Skill RAM for almost $100. I don't really need the extra RAM but it is nice to have just in case. This is the max RAM for the mobo Acer put into my M5620.

One of Vista/7 64 advantages over XP64 is the caching of RAM. As I type this over 5GB is cached right now which makes the system more responsive. Unlike XP64 which only uses the RAM when needed, Vista/7 uses it for caching in addition with programs thus using the RAM to its full potential. There are no electronic cobwebs in my RAM, lol.

[Kerodo]

Interesting.... Ok, then I guess having 8 gigs could give you some advantage. Thanks Midway.

[DasFox]

I wonder if it's better to use x64 if you are running a 64bit cpu?

Remeber all the fuss and muss when x64 hit? Enough to make your head spin, everyone saying no need to run a x64OS just run x32 and things will be fine. Well as time has passed wondering if it's worthwhile now. Sure a x64 OS with a x64 CPU runs better, but the problem remains, how many x64 apps are out there compiled for Windows at this point in time...

PEACE

[midway40]

Since x64 is gaining momentum I don't see any reason not to. As of now there are no reports whether Win8 will be 64 bit only or not but it could go into that direction. MS has reported that the next Office version will include a 64 bit version. Almost every day sites like Start64 (which seems to be down right now) reports companies providing new 64 bit versions of their software or drivers. Some gaming companies are producing 64 bit versions of their games, for example, like Crysis. To me, using a 32 bit OS on a 64 bit system is like only using two lanes on a four-lane highway.

Because of WOW64 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WOW64), 32 bit apps usually have no problems running in x64. The 21st of this month will be my one year anniversary with x64 and so far I have only ran into one instance, Hauppauge's WinTV v6, that wouldn't run in x64 (I see now they have a v7 but I do not see anything about it running x64).

I am not saying everyone should go out and convert to x64 at least make it your next system choice.

[Chubb]

RC is now up for public download

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx

[FluxGFX]

Hey Hey!

I installed Windows 7 RC and it's running smoothly so far. x64 version installed.

Kerodo - Long time no talk! :)