Windows 7 opinions so far

[ToadHill]

Boy all you guys are into speed on your computers. After starting out with a TI back a "few" years ago, anything is faster that that. TI the first 16 bit machine.

 

[RadarTech]

We use XP, Vista and W7 at work..
All have their place..
Our big gotcha is the concern would be application compatibility.

For work, We have business need / work tasking capabilities...

Some applications will not run in 64 bit mode.. and some will run poorly in 32 bit compat mode.. and some won't support Windows 7 at all!!

For the home users, and no I have not even paid this any attention, will games run in 64 bit mode? how about the older games?

I guess I am so tired of the computer from work , that I don't play on one at all....

Later,
J

 

[GPintheMitten]

Some of the issues brought up here are the issues of moving from a 32 bit machine to a 64 bit machine. If I am going to buy a 64 bit machine, I would run a 64 bit operating system.

I would also not expect 32 bit programs to always work in a 64 bit system. I understand there is a 32 bit environment that can be set up, but don't expect it to work for all products.

And I would want to research extensively using any lap link or similar functioning software to move programs and data from a 32 bit machine to a 64 bit machine. You might be asking it to do something never intended.

These are conversions challenges that need to be considered quite outside of the day to day operating in the new environment.

There are different considerations in a work environment than a home environment. For home, we are probably best off to buy a new computer when ready with the then current software. Then move only data, not our favorite programs. And understand that peripherals might not interface in the new environment so check that out first so you know whether your printer, etc is going to need to be replaced.

With the price of hardware these days, you can get a new computer and printer for about what you paid for a printer 6 years ago.

 

[klm]

There are a lot of excuses but no good reason to run any Windows Operating System, anybody who tries to tell you different does not know operating systems. Any issues involving Linux does not approach the problems (and expense) of running Windows. Ubuntu Home Page | Ubuntu

 

[MikePA]

There are a lot of excuses but no good reason to run any Windows Operating System, anybody who tries to tell you different does not know operating systems. Any issues involving Linux does not approach the problems (and expense) of running Windows.

Your first post in over 6 months and it's hilarious. Good one.

 

[/pine]

One of the biggest reasons that Windows 7 was so well received is because of Microsoft's decision to release several beta versions to the public...For over two years before the release enthusiasts were running/testing Windows 7...since they had so many beta testers running/testing Windows 7 they were able fix a lot more bugs then they can with a limited beta release (non-public)

As for operating systems overall...Most users do not have a clue what an actual O/S is or does...

...What most PC, Mac and some Linux users do not realize...is that what they are familiar with is actually just a GUI (graphic user interface) as compared to a CLI (command line interface)

For instance...anything that can be done from a Windows desktop...like clicking an icon to start a program,open a browser or e-mail client etc...etc...
can also be done with a typed in command from the CLI (cmd.exe)...the colored desktop and all the pretty icons etc. are just part of the GUI...

The main difference between O/S's is the type of file system and the disk formatting...

When the average PC users says they don't like this or that about a particular version of Windows...they are generally referring to something about the GUI...not the O/S

One of the things that puts Linux way ahead of Windows is the ability to choose from many different (customized) user interfaces

There are some "Windows" interfaces available for Linux that many Windows users could not tell they were not running a Microsoft product...

Other than application specific functions...there is nothing that can be done on a Windows system that can't be done on any of the other popular O/S's

As for stability...Windows is not even in the same league as Linux or Unix based systems ( OSX.x is based on BSD which is UNIX)...

The main reason PC users that try Linux and end up going back to Windows is...as soon as they run into a snag that requires something that does not have a GUI (to walk or wizard them through a process) they are lost...

 

[MikePA]

Other than application specific functions...

"Other than that, how did you like the play Mrs. Lincoln?"

People need to run applications, not put on their propeller hats and grep files and engage in academic debates. More apps that do what people want to do are available for Windows. It's not the gui. As long as *nix vendors keep thinking it's the GUI or academic performance debates will win the day, they will be relegated to a distant second, third and fourth place on the desktop. It didn't work for Sony's Betamax format, it didn't work for OS/2 and it won't work for *nix.

 

[aczlan]

There are a lot of excuses but no good reason to run any Windows Operating System, anybody who tries to tell you different does not know operating systems. Any issues involving Linux does not approach the problems (and expense) of running Windows. Ubuntu Home Page | Ubuntu

Try running VMWare Server 2 on an Optiplex 745 in Linux with any video drivers but the VGA ones. It is not possible. CentOS 5.3 (might be 5.2) has a kernel that works with VMWare BUT does not play well with the drivers for X. Ubuntu/Debian has a newer kernel which makes the video driver happy, BUT VMWare wont compile (or that is what I ran into last winter/this spring). I have it working with the VGA driver, but it took quite a while to get there.

Installing VMWare on XP or 2k3/8 server would have been MUCH faster and given me better server management tools (why in the world should I have to take down the whole VMWare server and re-run the main config to add a virtual network? I dont have to do that on Windows)

Yes, linux (whatever distro is your favorite) will save you on licensing costs. But if it costs you a week of time to get it up and running (vs a day) at $20/hr (low for a decent Linux guy) and 8 hr days Linux just cost you $640 (not counting the frustration) more in time than Windows would have.

On dedicated server hardware with CLI only Linux can be solid (and is for us). But as a desktop machine... It is not there yet.

Aaron Z

 

[MikePA]

Yes, linux (whatever distro is your favorite) will save you on licensing costs. But if it costs you a week of time to get it up and running (vs a day) at $20/hr (low for a decent Linux guy) and 8 hr days Linux just cost you $640 (not counting the frustration) more in time than Windows would have.

Linux is cheaper than Windows if you don't value your time. Working via a GUI versus the command line isn't simply an artistic or an implementation difference, it's faster. People shouldn't confuse hearing someone type with progress on getting something installed or working. Half the keystrokes are backspaces anyway.

 

[California]

Linux is cheaper .... People shouldn't confuse hearing someone type with progress on getting something installed or working. Half the keystrokes are backspaces anyway.

Best line so far in this thread!!

My experience with Linux was to buy a 'complete' Linux book set including install CD, at the computer show (back in the day), and then spent my entire Christmas vacation trying to get it running. Asking dumb-beginner questions for a week (Fidonet) I finally found someone who explained the problem. The fancy, 'idiotproof' release I bought had an obscure error in one of the install files that was preventing final completion of the install. I had followed all the documentation in the fancy book exactly; did all the troubleshooting that I could find instructions for, and got nowhere but a frozen pc. That particular release was made junk by that one flaw that wasn't documented anywhere except for that one experienced user who was forced to start over with a better release. He figured out the problem *after* he got the seemingly-identical version running.

I was pretty good at dos batch files etc, so I didn't have any trouble following the Linux documentation. But I applied all that effort to a junk release with undocumented errors, that no one anywhere had ever gotten to run properly.

Never again.

My experience with OS/2 was similar. I got it running nice but learned that no release of OS/2 could speak to a modem faster than 9600 baud. I already had a $200 14.4k modem. Forget it. The significant money I spent on OS/2, as I recall well over $50, made a step backward in performance. Not acceptable.

 

[timswi]

I had no problems with Windows XP. Win 7 answers a question that nobody asked

While I am verry happy with Win7, this statement is true. Many of the customization programs in XP have been "simplfied"...read: removed.

Sometimes making something idiot-proof, only makes things more complicated for those of us who know how run these things.

Example: Office 2007 and those horrible ribbon menues...Takes forever to find something that was readily available.

I am only hoping that MS keeps up with the security issues that follow them like the plague...My XP was destroyed by common XP malware that Norton didn't pick up.

 

[/pine]

...and it won't work for *nix.

...LoL! not only will it...it has been for a long time...get your head out of the sand silly...!

if you don't value your time. Working via a GUI versus the command line isn't simply an artistic or an implementation difference

Why work from a command line unless you're developing or debugging etc...when was the last time you looked at a Linux desktop?

check out https://www.mepis.org/ download the ISO and burn a Live CD Anyone that is not familiar with a state of the art desktop workstation will be amazed...

 

[MikePA]

You missed my point. The issue isn't whether the *nix GUI works or whether it's pretty or state of the art. I've seen them and use them, but they're irrelevant if the applications aren't available and not enough of them are for the *nix desktop. And even when they are, people and businesses are not going to switch for no benefit.

 

[/pine]

You missed my point...They are switching...for obvious reasons...
and the applications are available...

It's really less about the desktop than it is about the obstinate attitude of so many users that cut their teeth inside of Windows and don't want anything to do with anything that does not have the touch and feel of a Microsoft Window.


just a few years ago on a forum like this... you would be lucky to run into another Linux user....look around

 

[BungeeII]

The main reason PC users that try Linux and end up going back to Windows is...as soon as they run into a snag that requires something that does not have a GUI (to walk or wizard them through a process) they are lost...

many, many pc users, including system admins and the like.

There are lot's of folks out there the make a very good living supporting vast networks that never venture outside of a Microsoft and/or other gui. Take anyone who's been entrenched in the MS world for a decade+ and ask him to to search the manuals and edit text files just to add a user and password to an application, and see what kind of cross look you'll get.

I hate paying the MS licenses, but there's not much else out there that can facilitate so many users across a such a broad spectrum of expertise.

 

[MikePA]

You missed my point...They are switching...for obvious reasons...and the applications are available...

It's really less about the desktop than it is about the obstinate attitude of so many users that cut their teeth inside of Windows and don't want anything to do with anything that does not have the touch and feel of a Microsoft Window. just a few years ago on a forum like this... you would be lucky to run into another Linux user....look around

Who is 'they' and what are the benefits? A couple of people on an online forum is hardly indicative of anything. I particularly love the 'obstinate attitude' comment. People and businesses use what works and they aren't going to switch for no benefit, a dollars and cents benefit, hardly obstinacy.

 

[MikePA]

...and edit text files just to add a user and password to an application, and see what kind of cross look you'll get.

Storing userids and passwords in a text file? Now that's secure. How about using a GUI to add them to a secure directory the application uses for authentication?

 

[BungeeII]

How about using a GUI to add them to a secure directory the application uses for authentication?

It'd be nice. Maybe the obstinate Linux developers will one day come around.

 

[SPIKER]

Im getting a bit more used to the new LAPTOP with win7-64bit. I got office 2007 installed fine and all the goodies going. The office version is one with all the goodies and was a great price through the company shared work plan cost me 9.95 is all . I'm (seems that there is a hardware issue?) still having problems with the screen washing out... regardless of why this is happening the op system sees stable loads VERY fast, as in faster than win98se. much faster startup loading than XP. I like the sound working (old sound system died in my old win98se machine.) it had sound issues all along with the soundblaster value I bought 2 different ones that didnt work.

I have not used redhat stuff more than for some idle fun back in the day.
I look forward to playing around some more.

I have not tried to install any OLD software yet as I'm considering returning for a different machine as this washing out screen is getting on my nerves...

Mark

 

[/pine]

but there's not much else out there that can facilitate so many users across a such a broad spectrum of expertise

You say "not much else out there"...to do what? be specific

Who is 'they' and what are the benefits?

"They" are everyone from students to Fortune 500 corps...The #1 benefit is stability/reliability...it is generally less costly to develop proprietary software that runs on a Linux platform than it does Windows...also being able to modify existing applications to suit ones needs is SOP...

How about using a GUI to add them to a secure directory the application uses for authentication?

...C'mon can't you do that with a macro ? why build a GUI?

Maybe the obstinate Linux developers will one day come around

Come around to what? it's the passe microsoft users that are on the wrong train headed in the wrong direction... or at least not moving near as fast as the "other guys"
For the last decade and a half Microsoft has been the standard...staying with proven applications involves much less risk but...for many businesses that do not necessarily need proprietary applications that risk is negligiable...

One more point...just a few years ago you could not hardly find any mainstream peripheral or internal hardware manufacturers that supplied drivers for or catered to Linux users...Now days it is common practice...