Microsoft says Windows 7 beta almost ready

[msbae]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/08/technology/msft.php

Microsoft's next version of the Windows operating system is almost ready for prime time.

That was one message the company's chief executive, Steven Ballmer, delivered on the eve of the official opening of the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Ballmer announced that a nearly final "beta" test version of Windows 7 would be available Friday for regular PC users to download and tinker with.

The new operating system - which could be available for purchase on PCs within a year - uses much of the same underlying technology as its predecessor, the much-maligned Vista. But Windows 7 is trying to resolve many problems that PC users had with Vista.

For instance, Microsoft pledges to make it easier to install peripheral devices and to have the software pump out fewer annoying warnings and notifications.

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Let's hope it addresses and fixes the things everyone complained about with Vista, especially Vista's predilection for hogging system resources.

 

[Amaris]

I wonder if W7 is still going to have the 25mb kernel they promised?


J.

 

[msbae]

25 MB seems pretty big for a kernel...

 

[Meredith]

25 MB seems pretty big for a kernel...

It depends, if they included a lot of stuff in the kernel, then it may not be that bad of a deal.

 

[Amaris]

25 MB seems pretty big for a kernel...

This is Windows we're talking about, though, from the company that redefined bloatware. Up until Vista, you could find the original .386 library files in the system folder from Windows 3.0.

J.

 

[Meredith]

25 MB seems pretty big for a kernel...

This is Windows we're talking about, though, from the company that redefined bloatware. Up until Vista, you could find the original .386 library files in the system folder from Windows 3.0.

J.

Ummm, my XP install must be broken cause I don't have any .386 files in my system folder. You must have upgraded from windows 3.0 -> Windows 3.1 -> Windows 95 -> Windows 98 -> Windows XP -> Windows Vista

 

[Amaris]

25 MB seems pretty big for a kernel...

This is Windows we're talking about, though, from the company that redefined bloatware. Up until Vista, you could find the original .386 library files in the system folder from Windows 3.0.

J.

Ummm, my XP install must be broken cause I don't have any .386 files in my system folder. You must have upgraded from windows 3.0 -> Windows 3.1 -> Windows 95 -> Windows 98 -> Windows XP -> Windows Vista

Did you check system.old?
Did you go into your folder preferences and select "Show Hidden and System Files"?

J.

 

[Marc]

Seems Microsoft has been overwhelmed with the demand for the Windows 7 beta and there servers have been overwhelmed.

Next 12 months could see a big revenue stream for Microsoft.

Server 2008 goes to a R2 (supposedly will tie neatly with the new version of Windows) and Windows 7.

Haven't ready anything a new version of Office which is unusually as the releasses of Office and Windows usually match (though I guess Office 2003 sorta broke that).

Server 2008 was a major step over Server 2003 (and I like it) but XP to Vista was really baby steps so will have to see if 7 offers anything more.

 

[msbae]

25 MB seems pretty big for a kernel...

This is Windows we're talking about, though, from the company that redefined bloatware. Up until Vista, you could find the original .386 library files in the system folder from Windows 3.0.

J.

Well, I didn't find any .386 files in my i386 folder but, the kernel is HUGE!!! It's 1.06GB!!! When did Kernels get so big?! I guess I'm just used to not worrying about kernels outside of Linux...

 

[msbae]

One more thing, a little pic I found in my Photobucket account tonight...

 

[Rÿcher]

One more thing, a little pic I found in my Photobucket account tonight...

that image is about as old as windows itself.

 

[ThunderAeroI]

One more thing, a little pic I found in my Photobucket account tonight...

that image is about as old as windows itself.

yeah, since its a 3.11 logo

 

[Brolan]

Any word on when Vista will be ready for prime-time?

 

[Meredith]

So where can we download the BETA from?

 

[Twilight]

So where can we download the BETA from?

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/dd353205.aspx

Download will take ~2hrs given today's server load (much better than yesterday)

Again, it can't be reiterated enough: **don't put it on your primary machine!!**

 

[TheGodBen]

The 32 bit version takes much longer to download even though it is smaller due to the increased demand for it. I already have the 64 bit version downloaded and the 32 bit one is still on the way.

 

[msbae]

I'm tempted to put it on a spare HDD and plug it into what's usually my Linux box. Anyone try it yet?

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

This W7 thread has been ongoing: http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=79020&page=3

And, having 3 HDDs in my machine (1 of 2 - 500GBs was going to become an external after I got the 1.5TB, but I didn't get around to it yet), I put W7 on the 3rd one for a dual boot with XPx64.
It's been going OK, but I have absolutely no Vista experience to compare it to.