Windows 7 Beta

[Twilight]

Yeah, Win7 performance has been smooth as silk for me too. I just finished a game of Left 4 Dead at 1920x1200 4x AA and all the bells and whistles and it was like butter - when it seems to be **slightly** choppier on the Vista machine. Not sure if it's just my perception or what ...

But regardless, the OS *is* faster. Applications launch immediately when on Vista (using the exact same machine - dual boot) there's the tiniest of delay. The whole thing is just really snappy.

And yes, the nVidia drivers I'm using are solid with Win7.

 

[TheGodBen]

Okay, I saw your link. The guy lost me when he said the jump feature was hard to use and impossible to just figure out unless you stumbled on it. I figured it out right away and it couldn't be easier to use. In fact, I cannot think of a way to make it easier. I guess it just shows how inept your average person is with a computer when even a reviewer like this guy stumbles on the easy things (this is easier than a double click).

I thought the same thing, but then I remembered that I spent 40 minutes one day teaching a man how to copy and paste. I probably would have taken even longer, but the line dropped and I was too depressed to bother calling the guy back. Right-click. Copy. Right-click. Paste. That does not require a one hour tutorial.

For the more basic computer user, the right mouse button is dangerous and is never to be pressed because it will make their computer explode. Or their brains.

As for Win7, I'm planning on trying out the 64 bit version because I have to leave 32 bit behind at some point and this time I can try it out for free. Is it worth the compatibility problems?

 

[PurpleBuddha]

Okay, I saw your link. The guy lost me when he said the jump feature was hard to use and impossible to just figure out unless you stumbled on it. I figured it out right away and it couldn't be easier to use. In fact, I cannot think of a way to make it easier. I guess it just shows how inept your average person is with a computer when even a reviewer like this guy stumbles on the easy things (this is easier than a double click).

I thought the same thing, but then I remembered that I spent 40 minutes one day teaching a man how to copy and paste. I probably would have taken even longer, but the line dropped and I was too depressed to bother calling the guy back. Right-click. Copy. Right-click. Paste. That does not require a one hour tutorial.

For the more basic computer user, the right mouse button is dangerous and is never to be pressed because it will make their computer explode. Or their brains.

As for Win7, I'm planning on trying out the 64 bit version because I have to leave 32 bit behind at some point and this time I can try it out for free. Is it worth the compatibility problems?

Well I guess I am not one to wish things were dumbed down even further. I have to use a mac pretty often and they are easy to use, however there is always a cost when things are dumbed down that much. I would never use one as a primary computer.

Anyway, if you dont want to right click you can simply push the mouse forward with a left click. And yes, some moron reviewer will probably say that this too is difficult for people to understand, but come on. People move their mice forward every day and people left click every day. Are they so stupid they cannot understand both?

If you do the motion on a program from 7's task bar a few times, you realize if feels very natural.

As to 64-bit, I don't have issues with 64 bit Vista and any programs I use. If you run older games you might run into a problem.

 

[Arrqh]

Anyway, if you dont want to right click you can simply push the mouse forward with a left click. And yes, some moron reviewer will probably say that this too is difficult for people to understand, but come on. People move their mice forward every day and people left click every day. Are they so stupid they cannot understand both?

As I said, it isn't a matter of dumbing down but a matter of workflow. A task that I do fairly often used to take one click; now it takes a click, a small amount of time to find something in a menu and then another click. Is this a significant amount of time? No. Is it a little annoying? Yes.

I've noticed, though, that double click currently doesn't have a unique function on the taskbar. If they made that open a new instance of whatever you're clicking on, then my complaint would magically dissapear...

 

[PurpleBuddha]

Anyway, if you dont want to right click you can simply push the mouse forward with a left click. And yes, some moron reviewer will probably say that this too is difficult for people to understand, but come on. People move their mice forward every day and people left click every day. Are they so stupid they cannot understand both?

As I said, it isn't a matter of dumbing down but a matter of workflow. A task that I do fairly often used to take one click; now it takes a click, a small amount of time to find something in a menu and then another click. Is this a significant amount of time? No. Is it a little annoying? Yes.

I've noticed, though, that double click currently doesn't have a unique function on the taskbar. If they made that open a new instance of whatever you're clicking on, then my complaint would magically dissapear...

I have played with it a good deal more and agree the single click is needed for opening a new instance of a program.

I love how the task bar is currently except for this specific issue , yet at the same time I can see how the single click would not work so well with this new task bar set up.

Of course, when it comes to simply maximzing a window you do not even have to single click under the current set up. Just highlight Explorer, for example, and it shows all the little versions, as you move your mouse over them they instantly appear on the screen. At work, especially, I typically have a minimum of 15-20 windows open and this would be a huge time saver for that kind of situation.

The soluiton to have a single click to open a new instance of a program should be incredibly simple. Keep the new task bar design exactly as it is and bring back the quick launch. Problem solved.

 

[judge alba]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo - DO NOT UPGRADE VISTA.

Do the following -

1) right-click on computer

2) disk management

3) shrink the drive vista is on - I give Windows 7 30gb.

4) Run the installer for Windows 7 - do a custom install - install 7 on the 30gb partition.

5) When it reboots it asks you if you want to boot vista or windows 7 - your machine is now a dual-boot. When you get bored, deleted the 30gb paration and use any one of a number of tools to restore the single boot.

i'm apologise for what might be a stupid question but i was wondering if you do step 3 do you lose the files already there? as in will it wipe the disk?
if it dosent then i may give windows 7 a look

 

[Twilight]

You will only be able to shrink free space - so no, you won't lose anything.

Shrinking volumes is generally safe.

 

[judge alba]

cool thanks I'll definitely look into win 7

 

[Arrqh]

One thing to keep in mind is that you won't necessarily be able to shrink it as much as you want... depending on how files on the drive are organized and what Windows has done with its page file and its other large hidden files.

You can't hurt anything by doing it, but if it won't let you shrink as much as you want then this is why. It would only let me shrink my Vista drive by 7gb, so I shrunk one of my storage partitions instead.

 

[Twilight]

One thing I'm really liking? Win7 is just gorgeous.

I really, really like minimalist desktops (you should see my linux desktop!) that are simple but have fluid transitions, animations (not too flashy, though), etc.

I really appreciate the simple things the Win7 taskbar does to give a bit of subtle visual flare - particularly the "light auras" that correspond to the overall icon color scheme that will follow your cursor as you hover over a taskbar item. Nice!

I also love that I can finally easily create a desktop slideshow - with smooth fade transitions - of my favorite wallpapers from interfaceLIFT.


Another thing that I DO like about the Win7 taskbar is that I can now easily do away with desktop icons (which I've always hated) and still not sacrifice useability (which you'd do in Vista).

My new desktop:

 

[Turbo]

I can get rid of the Recycle Bin? Hallejuah.

 

[Twilight]

Yup - right click on desktop > personalize > left panel: change desktop icons > uncheck recycle bin and any others you want to get rid of

 

[Turbo]

One more question - Where's Hitler?

 

[Twilight]

xkcd was wrong!

Hitler only shows up to fill the screen whenever you try to launch an application or hit the start orb. Otherwise you see a desktop (it doesn't do anything though).

 

[PurpleBuddha]

I can get rid of the Recycle Bin? Hallejuah.

Just remember that getting rid of the Recycle bing is what turns on the Hitler pic.

I mean really, how could the world go on without millions of recycle bins on people's desktops?

 

[TheGodBen]

Another thing that I DO like about the Win7 taskbar is that I can now easily do away with desktop icons (which I've always hated) and still not sacrifice useability (which you'd do in Vista).

That's why I use a dock on Vista, that way my desktop is clear to use as a temp folder for things I am currently working on. I can't stand a cluttered desktop.

I assume the beta doesn't come with a video desktop feature? I really love dreamscene on Vista Ultimate and the idea of going back to a static desktop isn't appealing. I currently have the Earth slowly rotating behind my firefox window and I find that to be very calming. It is worth the 7% CPU power to me.

 

[Twilight]

There's no Dreamscene on the beta, no - and this is ostensibly the Ultimate edition and fully featured - so it's likely that they'll be no Dreamscene with the final shipping version. You'd probably have to go to Stardock dreamscapes.

 

[TheGodBen]

Well Vista didn't ship with dreamscene when it was first released, it was only released as an Ultimate Extra about six months later. Hopefully it will be something similar with Seven. Or at the very least I hope that deskscapes is free to Win7 Ultimate users just like it is to Vista Ultimate users.

 

[RAMA]

Well Vista didn't ship with dreamscene when it was first released, it was only released as an Ultimate Extra about six months later. Hopefully it will be something similar with Seven. Or at the very least I hope that deskscapes is free to Win7 Ultimate users just like it is to Vista Ultimate users.

I couldn't download it with Firefox. Finally used IE to get it.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I too tried to download with FireFox, should've known better .
Working OK now though.
Gonna install on what is now my 3rd HDD, a 500GB that used to be #2 before I got the 1.5TB. When I want W7, I'll change the
boot order, if necessary. I've only tried dual boot once before, and that was from the same #1 HDD.
Or will it see both OS' even if they're on different HDDs?

Also, does the 32bit version still only recognize 4GB of RAM?