[Clonehomer]

I'm running the Windows 7 Beta on my laptop and I love it. It is much faster and a little easier to use than Vista. The biggest improvement for me was in Media Player. They really scaled that down to just use the features that are worthwhile. On the Beta I've had a couple of bumps that I hope they fixed in RC1. The first is when I plug my headphones in it doesn't automatically switch to them and turn off the speakers. I don't know if that's a driver issue or what but it worked fine in Vista. The only other issue I've had was the interaction with Openoffice. Whenever I tried to save something it crashed (losing all of my data).

The only worry that I have with W7 is once the manufacturers get a hold of the OEM's and lump their stupid software in, how much is that going to slow it down. I think that half of my issues with Vista was the HP addons that sucked up the RAM and just made Vista slow and unusable.

[alarson]

Absolutely. Anytime you get a new pc you either have to spend a couple hours removing everything or a couple hours formatting and reinstalling windows... or pay the store $100 to do that for you..

[tman24]

75% done cant wait

[Clonehomer]

Originally Posted by alarson83

Absolutely. Anytime you get a new pc you either have to spend a couple hours removing everything or a couple hours formatting and reinstalling windows... or pay the store $100 to do that for you..

I tried that. HP got their software in there pretty good. For some reason I couldn't get Norton to uninstall at all. Also, HP didn't include a disc for Vista but instead wasted 15GB of my hard drive for a copy of the software. But thankfully, they were kind enough to allow me to burn one copy of the install discs myself. I'm to the point that regardless of what comes with the computer I will buy the off the shelf windows just to keep from having the extras. That's my personal rant for the day.

[cytech]

Everytime I get a new system for myself or the office I always do a fresh install to get rid of all the crap.

[CycloneErik]

Originally Posted by cytech

Everytime I get a new system for myself or the office I always do a fresh install to get rid of all the crap.

You work for Michael Scott?

[tim_redd]

Originally Posted by Clonehomer

I tried that. HP got their software in there pretty good. For some reason I couldn't get Norton to uninstall at all. Also, HP didn't include a disc for Vista but instead wasted 15GB of my hard drive for a copy of the software. But thankfully, they were kind enough to allow me to burn one copy of the install discs myself. I'm to the point that regardless of what comes with the computer I will buy the off the shelf windows just to keep from having the extras. That's my personal rant for the day.

I made my own Vista disk and reinstalled using this guide. It worked really well.

Clean Vista install WITH NO ACTIVATION - Notebook Forums and Laptop Discussion

[ornryactor]

So I accidentally didn't allow the ActiveX control on the RC1 download page, and now I can't get it to work. I click the download button, it takes me to the 'loading' page with the orange icon, then dumps me back onto the previous screen with the download button again, except there's a new RC key. I can't find any other place to download the RC file. How do I fix this?

[jaretac]

My personal opinion is that if Microsoft is going to ask us to be Guinea pigs for their new software and put our computers at risk, they can at least give us a free or dramatically discounted final product.

This is just evil:

Watch the calendar. The RC will expire on June 1, 2010. Starting on March 1, 2010, your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Windows will notify you two weeks before the bi-hourly shutdowns start. To avoid interruption, you’ll need to install a non-expired version of Windows before March 1, 2010. You’ll also need to install the programs and data that you want to use. (Learn more about installing Windows.)

[snowcraig2.0]

Someone talk more about Ubuntu please. I have never heard of it before. What is it like? Does it replace windows?

[alarson]

Originally Posted by jaretac

My personal opinion is that if Microsoft is going to ask us to be Guinea pigs for their new software and put our computers at risk, they can at least give us a free or dramatically discounted final product.

Ask? Theyre putting it out there because people want it. Heck, there have been a ton of people using leaked versions.

[cyismydog]

Originally Posted by snowcraig2.0

Someone talk more about Ubuntu please. I have never heard of it before. What is it like? Does it replace windows?

IIRC, this is Brianhos' OS, but I'm not sure, so you may want to ask him.

[TykeClone]

Originally Posted by cyismydog

IIRC, this is Brianhos' OS, but I'm not sure, so you may want to ask him.

He runs BrianHosbuntu (TM)

[jumbopackage]

Originally Posted by snowcraig2.0

Someone talk more about Ubuntu please. I have never heard of it before. What is it like? Does it replace windows?

Ubuntu replaces Windows entirely. It is a Linux-based operating system. It has really been making good progress lately, and is getting close to the point where it might be a viable alternative to windows for most 'mainstream' users. If you're mostly just surfing the 'net and doing basic office tasks, it's probably good enough as-is for you.

The other end of the spectrum is 'power users' and its really awesome for them, IMO. I use it as a server OS at home, but I've increasingly been thinking about using it as a desktop OS lately.
Posted via Mobile Device

[bos]

Linux has a long way to go before it can replace windows entirely for the average user. It has alot of promise though.