Windows 7 is out, have you upgraded?

[SatStorm]

Win XP SP3 here. No money to spent on an upgrade.

Also Ubuntu on dual boot, but I rarely use it.

[Noahtuck]

I must admit even though i just went to Vista Ultimate maybe a month or two ago on my new build i am seriously thinking about putting on W7 and seeing how it runs.

I have had some weird "glitches" and some software not seem to work alright even though it is the 64bit version.
And some other 32 bit programs.
But for the most part it's been okay.

And going to a new OS this soon would be a first for me because it usually takes me a couple of years to go to the newest Windows, it's usually pretty fixed up by then

No doubt W7 is fast. But then so would XP be on those new quad core computers.

From what i have read 7 is faster then XP on the same setup, but that's just what i have read.

w7 compatibility checker at MS says I would need a new scanner.

I would blame the scanner manufacturer.
I had the same problem with my expensive scanner when i went to XP pro way back when, the manufacturer said they would not be releasing drivers for most of their scanners for XP

I did not buy my new scanner from them!!

[usually_quiet]

I had the same problem with my expensive scanner when i went to XP pro way back when, the manufacturer said they would not be releasing drivers for most of their scanners for XP :evil:

I did not buy my new scanner from them!!

I blame both Microsoft and equipment manufacturers. Microsoft for making it necessary to write new drivers and requiring validation for them, and the manufacturers for not supporting their products long enough. Admittedly they can't support them forever, but 5 years would be nice. (A disgruntled Visioneer scanner owner.)

[Rudyard]

Not yet, I have never once upgraded (since the ms dos days!) my OS and just get it when I get a new computer every 5 or so years.

Running XP SP2 on the old laptop, XP SP3 on the desktop at home and VISTA SP1 on the work PC.

Am due to upgrade the desktop next year and will get 7 then.

When things are working I generally stick to it until its new PC time, and so far I have had no issues with XP or VISTA and as such they are running happily on my respective machines, so its not that I dont want 7 or have anything against it, its just there is no reason for me to do it.

[Rudyard]

I had the same problem with my expensive scanner when i went to XP pro way back when, the manufacturer said they would not be releasing drivers for most of their scanners for XP

I did not buy my new scanner from them!!

I blame both Microsoft and equipment manufacturers. Microsoft for making it necessary to write new drivers and requiring validation for them, and the manufacturers for not supporting their products long enough. Admittedly they can't support them forever, but 5 years would be nice. (A disgruntled Visioneer scanner owner.)

I blame the manufacturers of high end stuff. I have a 4.5k large scale plotter that HP decided would not write a driver for vista for but told me they would sell me a new VISTA ready plotter.

Needless to say they are told they can get F***ed and will never get a dollar from me again.

The laptop with XP gets all documents send to it and then printed from there.

[Noahtuck]

@ Rudyard
Exactly!!!

I blame both Microsoft and equipment manufacturers.

Why M$ ??
I am no M$ fanboy, but why should it be their responsibility to make sure their "ONE" OS works with every 1,000/1,000,000 pieces of hardware/software out there ?

It is the 1000's of hardware manufacturers responsibility to make sure their equipment works under what ever OS people are using...
Like it is so hard for them to make a new 50kb driver file that works under the newest OS......

But then if they did that they would not make the big $$$!!
The only way they do that is to charge you again for a new piece of hardware!!

But it is a double edged sword.....

Otherwise we would still be using 2.0 audio and VCD's!!!!!!!

Progress is good yet it really screws us!!!

[guns1inger]

And with both Vista, and especially with W7, manufacturers have had huge lead times to release to get their sh*t together, and yet many still cannot.

[16mmJunkie]

Like many I have been running Windows 7 RC for awhile on a spare machine. It's nice looking and works well. I opted for the 64 bit OS. But I still have XP on 2 machines, 98 on a AMD 450mhz one, and Linux just recently as a dual boot. I much more prefer the Linux system over Windows right now. It does what I need to do so far on the projects I've tested. Yes, I still use XP for my paying projects, but sure as time goes on Linux will replace Windows for me. Heck you can't beat the price. You just have to take the time to learn. Much like I did with Windows



16mmJunkie

[handyguy]

From what I read 32 bit takes a top of 4gb. So start with 64 bit to be future proof.

[tun.tin]

Noo, I have been using XP x64 since it released and still run great

[wulf109]

I think MS made a mistake in not allowing you to upgrade from XP. There are probably millions of computers that never converted to Vista. There upgrade path to W7 is un-necessarilly complicated and many never go to W7 bacause of this.

[edDV]

I think MS made a mistake in not allowing you to upgrade from XP. There are probably millions of computers that never converted to Vista. There upgrade path to W7 is un-necessarilly complicated and many never go to W7 bacause of this.

You can upgrade from XP.

"Upgrade" has two meanings
1. Transfer of licence. Yes you can use use the upgrade version from an XP license.
2. Install over an existing installation. You can do this for Vista but for XP you need to install to a fresh partition.

See http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/

[wtsinnc]

My basic needs are met by XP, so there's no need to move to Windows 7 for everyday use.

I ran W-7 Beta, then RC-1, and now have a 90 day trial for W-7 Enterprise.
I do believe "7" is better than Vista (I own Ultimate), but I intend to stay with XP as long as I can.

Perhaps I'll change my mind in about three years when Windows 8 arrives.

[edDV]

I keep an XP dual boot for the older programs and/or if I need to use old hardware.

I even have Win98SE on one machine for the very old Pinnacle/Miro hardware.

[usually_quiet]

@ Rudyard
Exactly!!!

I blame both Microsoft and equipment manufacturers.

Why M$ ??
I am no M$ fanboy, but why should it be their responsibility to make sure their "ONE" OS works with every 1,000/1,000,000 pieces of hardware/software out there ?

It is the 1000's of hardware manufacturers responsibility to make sure their equipment works under what ever OS people are using...
Like it is so hard for them to make a new 50kb driver file that works under the newest OS......

But then if they did that they would not make the big $$$!!
The only way they do that is to charge you again for a new piece of hardware!!

But it is a double edged sword.....

Otherwise we would still be using 2.0 audio and VCD's!!!!!!!

Progress is good yet it really screws us!!!
:lol:

Actually Microsoft IS taking on the responsibility to make sure their "ONE" OS works with every piece of hardware out there. Unlike windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 won't accept a driver that Microsoft has not certified and issued a proper digital signature. The problem is the manufacturer has to pay them big bucks for it, and they'd rather not for their older products.

[roma_turok]

Windows 7/vista less functions than XP
After testing Windows 7, I stain with XP.

[handyguy]

I have XP, MS compatibility checker said I could use W7 but just have to do a clean install of it.

[wulf109]

I did install W7 on a computer that had XP on it. It installed W7 but moved all the XP files to a directory called oldwindows.

[p_l]

There's a tool now to help easily transfer documents and settings from XP up to Windows 7.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/windows-easy-transfer

The time it would take, though, to reinstall all my programs is what discourages me from moving from XP to 7. What I would really need is something that could automatically transfer all the programs already installed on an XP over to a Windows 7. Does such a beast exist?

[victoriabears]

Without ever really believing that companies set out to do this, has MS done a really good job of having Vista as an OS everyone seems to hate, so windows 7 is so welcome.

I am running xp thank you very much and might upgrade to 7 when I buy a new PC a 2-3 years time, my laptop has Vista on as that was how it came and it runs great. Have a home network that runs very well and all my vidoe editing needs are met.

Why upgrade to 7, educate me.

[vcdlover]

I just installed Windows 7 Ultimate (full retail version) on my PC and it seems to run fine. All drivers are installed automatically, except for the Creative Labs X-Fi sound card which I have to go to their site and download it myself. I have some experience with Vista and I could say that I like Windows 7 is nicer and the color is more vivid. I should receive my Windows Home Upgrade today and plan to upgrade my laptop which is running XP right now.

I have a question that if I have to reformat and install new OS on my machines in case any hardware change or whatever reason, will I have any issue reactivate the OS again? I have read it somewhere that we may run into some issues.

Thanks

[El Heggunte]

I'm still waiting for "7Lite".

[edDV]

I just installed Windows 7 Ultimate (full retail version) on my PC and it seems to run fine. All drivers are installed automatically, except for the Creative Labs X-Fi sound card which I have to go to their site and download it myself. I have some experience with Vista and I could say that I like Windows 7 is nicer and the color is more vivid. I should receive my Windows Home Upgrade today and plan to upgrade my laptop which is running XP right now.

I have a question that if I have to reformat and install new OS on my machines in case any hardware change or whatever reason, will I have any issue reactivate the OS again? I have read it somewhere that we may run into some issues.

Thanks

Follow you laptop manufacturer's instructions for upgrading to Win7. Laptops have proprietary drivers that are probably not included on the Win7 upgrade disc. When you complete your install, create a disc image (both the boot partition and windows partition) for easy restore should the hard disc stop working.

[edDV]

Why upgrade to 7, educate me.

If you go through the features list and see nothing of interest, don't buy it. If you use mostly third party application software, there is no need to upgrade the OS. That is why most businesses have stayed on XP. They will upgrade when the application software or security requirements demand it.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

NOPE - XP "Home" on 3 PCs, Vista on the laptop (came with it), and Win2K on the juke-box PC.

[TheFamilyMan]

Yes, though I installed it (64 bit) on a brand new i7 860 based computer that I built up last weekend. On my old rig, XP home 32 bit will stay.

[redwudz]

I installed W7 32bit on my Intel PC, 4GB RAM, 3.4Ghz CPU. I did a clean install on a 150GB Raptor boot drive. No problems so far. All my software already runs on Vista, so no problems with W7. I did make a few W7 changes, but just minor stuff. Evaluating at present.

I did have to DL a ATI Radeon driver as W7 didn't have a 1680 X 1050 display format for my 22" LCD display. But the ATI drivers worked fine. All other drivers came from W7.

[someguyfromla]

Installed it the other day on a spare HDD,
I liked the HD look and DirectX 10 seems faster,
even with the Aero theme, all windows perform smoothly.

I had trouble with the OS detecting only 2 of my 3 SATA drives,
and also all the installers from my MOBO were incompatible, I had
to get updated versions from the manufacturer site.

I gave it some thought and decided to stick with Windows Xp SP3
some more time.

[vcdlover]

I just installed Windows 7 Ultimate (full retail version) on my PC and it seems to run fine. All drivers are installed automatically, except for the Creative Labs X-Fi sound card which I have to go to their site and download it myself. I have some experience with Vista and I could say that I like Windows 7 is nicer and the color is more vivid. I should receive my Windows Home Upgrade today and plan to upgrade my laptop which is running XP right now.

I have a question that if I have to reformat and install new OS on my machines in case any hardware change or whatever reason, will I have any issue reactivate the OS again? I have read it somewhere that we may run into some issues.

Thanks

Follow you laptop manufacturer's instructions for upgrading to Win7. Laptops have proprietary drivers that are probably not included on the Win7 upgrade disc. When you complete your install, create a disc image (both the boot partition and windows partition) for easy restore should the hard disc stop working.

edDV,
What software would you recommend to make a disc image? Will Windows 7 prompt to reactivate the code again if I reload the image?

Thanks

[edDV]

Popular imaging software is Symantec Ghost. Most new retail drives come with imaging software on an enclosed CD. Shareware and freeware imaging software is also available.

Windows sometimes requests reactivation if it sees a hardware change. Worst case you call them. An image restore should not trigger reactivation.