Windows 7 or not...your opinion...

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freakyhair

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 22, 2002
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475
So I have a Windows XP machine, and I'm contemplating bumping up to RAID 0, but will need to reinstall my OS. Thing is, I don't have a floppy drive in my PC, and I'd rather not dig in my closet and hook one up temporarily (I really just hate floppy's...) But I need to install the RAID driver...

I was thinking that if I just installed Windows 7 beta, I could avoid using a floppy, and test out Windows 7. I like WinXP, but am curious. I have my work computer (I work at home) in the same office, as well as a laptop w/ Vista, so if my computer poops, I'm not screwed.

I have a Windows 7 key, just don't have the installer, but can I get that on a torrent (legally?).

In essence, I'm taking my hate for floppy's, and using it as an excuse to check out Windows 7. Is Windows 7 worth it? Is there a time-limit on the beta (will it die after Windows 7 officially comes out?) Thanks for the thoughts...
 
Beta is good until Aug 31st. Yes you can download the ISO through a torrent, I don't see how it would be illegal. I'm running Seven now because I wasn't going to waste money buying Vista after just building my system. RC is rumored to be out in April. So far I haven't had much trouble.
 
Yeah, give it a go..... I've been running W7 for a while now and I love it, all drivers are loaded so no need to load all your sound video and NIC drivers after installing. Everything worked right out of the gate. One thing I will say though, if you play any multi-player games that require PunkBuster you won't be able to play. PB will not support W7 until it is officially released. The quick fix for that is a dual boot, I boot to an XP partition to play my games and boot to the W7 partition for everything else. I'm really looking forward to the release! :D
 
I would go for it, been running 2 machines on win 7 x64, one is 5 years old and runs like a champ the other one was just built a few months ago and runs the same. Drivers were easy to find and install for every thing i had, cept a old hp printer been trying to replace it for years but it keeps on ticking.
 
The beta expires JULY 1ST, 2009 as stated on the WinVer properties page (Start - WinVer then press Enter). I really wish I understood where people keep getting that damned August 31, 2009 date from because it ain't the end of August, it "dies" the 1st day of July.

And I agree with the other opinions: Go for it. Windows 7 will knock your socks off...
 
A definite yes. I've only had it for about a week, but its been great so far!
 
Joe Average said:
The beta expires JULY 1ST, 2009 as stated on the WinVer properties page (Start - WinVer then press Enter). I really wish I understood where people keep getting that damned August 31, 2009 date from because it ain't the end of August, it "dies" the 1st day of July.

And I agree with the other opinions: Go for it. Windows 7 will knock your socks off...
Click to expand...

THIS! Please enlighten me where the date came from?
 
dylskee said:
Yeah, give it a go..... I've been running W7 for a while now and I love it, all drivers are loaded so no need to load all your sound video and NIC drivers after installing. Everything worked right out of the gate. One thing I will say though, if you play any multi-player games that require PunkBuster you won't be able to play. PB will not support W7 until it is officially released. The quick fix for that is a dual boot, I boot to an XP partition to play my games and boot to the W7 partition for everything else. I'm really looking forward to the release! :D
Click to expand...

I setup an RTCW ET server on Win7 and punkbuster works fine.
 
freakyhair said:
So I have a Windows XP machine, and I'm contemplating bumping up to RAID 0, but will need to reinstall my OS. Thing is, I don't have a floppy drive in my PC, and I'd rather not dig in my closet and hook one up temporarily (I really just hate floppy's...) But I need to install the RAID driver...
Click to expand...
You can use a USB device for the storage controller drivers. Windows 7 will also read the drivers from a CD as well.
 
carnag3 said:
THIS! Please enlighten me where the date came from?
Click to expand...

True expiration can be found by doing, at command prompt:
cscript %systemroot%\system32\slmgr.vbs –dlv

Its August. Winver is wrong.

Of course the RC will probably expire later than August, allowing you to continue using 7 for a bit longer. Depends on when it hits the stores.

You could do slmgr.vbs –rearm for 2 more months of some of their betas, not sure if it works for 7 (doubt it).
 
Well there it is, then. I did an slmgr.vbs -dli the other day, to no effect, I had completely forgotten about the -dlv switch, DOH!!!

So August 1st it chokes and burns... completely. That's very interesting to have a discrepancy of ~30 days like that... Hmmm...

And you don't need that fancy-schmancy command line either, just Start - type: slmgr.vbs -dlv (press Enter) voila. ;)
 
Not sure what the big deal is about when this beta expires. The RC will have been out for months by July 1 and the RTM will probably be ready to go around this date as well.
 
Yah, I've been saying/wondering the same thing. But it goes back to a concept I posted about a few weeks ago: the overwhelming majority of people aren't actually testing Windows 7 - they just hopped on the "free download" and are running it as their daily OS courtesy of Microsoft.

The obvious question to them is: "when will this free ride run out?" because they don't seem to realize (or even care to any degree) that the idea is to test the given build until the next build is released and then you start over with a clean install, etc. The concept of a clean install abhors a great number of people, oddly. They want to install it and expect to be running the same beta build a year from now, and it just doesn't work that way. :)
 
I guess that makes sense other than what part of beta do people not understand? Running a beta for a couple of months is okay if its solid but eventually I would like my OS to get real support.
 
http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2009/02/25/feedback-and-engineering-windows-7.aspx <<<--- People should read this. The sheer fact that this guy has so much going on (too much on his plate, one could say) and he still finds some time to report to us, the Internet at large, with a "megapost" that even makes me envious (as I have some really long ones here, yanno).

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

I don't know precisely what has changed at Microsoft (Bill Gates' departure seems to be about the right timeframe... coincidence?) but... someone lit a fire under the ass of a lot of people at Microsoft last summer and they have changed and it's a very good thing. Everything I see and read in the blogs for Windows 7 and a great number of other products tells me "Hey, these people are having fun now, and I can't say precisely why, but you can read it in their words, you can see it in the Windows 7 builds we've had chances to play with and test..."

It truly is a very, very good thing.

Oh, and for more changes from beta to the RC? Check this out:

http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2009/02/26/some-changes-since-beta.aspx

These folks are kicking ass and taking names, every minute. ;)
 
Joe Average said:
I don't know precisely what has changed at Microsoft...(Bill Gates' departure seems to be about the right timeframe... coincidence?) but... someone lit a fire under the ass of a lot of people at Microsoft
Click to expand...

Perhaps you missed the disaster that is Vista... they're trying to fix that.
 
Yeah well, ignorance... it's bliss, right fellas? So is FUD apparently... and blowing things way out of proportion.
 
OP, if you're still wanting to use XP by any chance (though I still would go with Windows 7), you can try nLite to integrate the raid drivers into your installation disc.
 
GushpinBob said:
OP, if you're still wanting to use XP by any chance (though I still would go with Windows 7), you can try nLite to integrate the raid drivers into your installation disc.
Click to expand...

I actually broke down, and re-installed WinXP...with a floppy drive. I was re-arranging my PC anyway.

I really appreciate all the opinions on Win7, and I had even burned the disk, but the whole re-installing in a few months just doesn't fit my needs at this point. I use to enjoy reinstalling multiple times a year, but having a real job beats that out of you sometimes (but not all the time).

I hope to not have to re-install an OS until the end of the year, after Win7 final gets some time on the streets.

Thanks again.
 
Indeed, this solves probably my biggest gripe with usmt, having to send userstate over the network can take quite awhile.
 
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