Windows 7 or Vista 7?

With all the rumors about Windows 7, I decided to test it for a while, and on my personal machine as it requires a minimum of 1GB of memory and reasonably recent hardware. First I tried the upgrade option (Vista Ultimate to Windows 7 Ultimate), it went well, it took almost 2 hours and no errors, but when it opened the desktop for the first time 20 seconds later a nice blue screen was proof of some conflicts somewhere (I can't be sure, but my guess would be either Shadow Defender or First Defense PC Rescue). I thought it was too good to be true, to achieve an upgrade with everything in it without some kind of problem.

Start again, this time with a clean install. Very fast indeed (less than an hour), and no blue screens. How does it feel? Exactly like Vista, this is really bad news for Vista haters: If Windows 7 beta remains unchanged, you'll get a new version of Vista with some minor changes.

I had it for a day to play with, and it is admittedly not long enough to generate a real opinion. These are the things that I could notice: It feels slightly faster than Vista (consider that the Windows 7 is also naked, compared to my fully configured Vista Ultimate and all the programs running with it). Starting the computer takes exactly the same time as with Vista, shutting down is very quick (10 seconds against 30 seconds with Vista).

Memory usage seems to hang around 500 MB compared to 700 with Vista, and processes are about 45 with Windows 7, 74 with Vista. The file structure, graphics are exactly the same as with Vista. Now MS claims that whatever installs in Vista should install in Windows 7 : That's where I stopped my trial as when I tried to install my new HP scanner (which I use daily for my job) the HP installer instantly notified me that it couldn't recognize the OS.

As I said whatever it is that they changed it is not obvious, It looks and feels like Vista (if anything it feels like a cheaper version of Vista, but this could be just because it is a beta version).

ShadowProtect in 16 minutes brought back my real computer.

 

Contrary to your opinion, I am liking Windows 7 a lot. In fact, my production system is running it right now. All the software/drivers I use for my Vista machine are compatible with Windows 7; however, there are some applications that are still not compatible (PerfectDisk 2008, Sandboxie etc). Overall, I am impressed with this beta--way better than Vista's betas.

Also, what exactly do you mean by "cheaper version" of Vista? If anything, Vista seems to be the "cheaper version" instead of this one. I mean, Windows 7 is more polished (aesthetically and functionally).

 

I never said I like or dislike Windows 7, I only said that I couldn't see any significant difference. I do like Vista a lot, and I can't see how I would dislike Windows 7 finding it very similar.

As for the cheaper version maybe it is the wrong choice of wording, but I did find it simplified compared to Vista (I also added that this was possibly because of the beta).

As for the aesthetically polished, I certainly do not agree, and I think we are all entitled to have our own opinion. My position towards new OSs remains always the same: I would never upgrade(unless it is like a service pack), when I get my next computer it will probably have Windows 7, and that will be fine with me.

 

I haven't tried windows 7, but if Vista can be significantly improved just by turning off a number of services, with say, Vista Services Optimizer or blackviper's settings, maybe Windows 7 isn't such an overhaul, but is Vista with these settings employed?

 

Hey,
run the installer in vista compatibility mode and it will work.
i think only one program that i use on vista doesnt work on windows 7.
you can run vista driver installers as vista compatibility mode as well.

 

Skype has issues on Windows 7 , issues with the uninstallation and the graphics. Not that it is important to me because I don't use it.

The other day I've been using 7 a lot and at the end of the day it felt quite sluggish with pretty much nothing installed on it except from one 3rd party driver/software it didn't recognise automatically + ESET NOD32

My laptop that runs Vista HP is started 24/7 going from Stand-by to working mode and back to stand-by , with one restart per week and Vista isn't sluggish .

Of course , generally 7 feels lighter than Vista , with less processes . But so far I prefer the fact that Vista is much more stable and a lot more suitable for end-users (7 is more complicated when it comes to new computer users,kids,teenagers,etc) .

I don't have a spare computer right now and I installed Windows 7 as a dual-boot on my productive laptop . But I can't do my work with the beta of 7 in no way.