Have Comments about Windows 7 Beta?
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- To all forum users:
Please use this thread to note any comments that you have about Windows 7. Do not use this thread for any specific question or issue that you are having - just for comments or feedback. For questions/issues, create a new thread.
Thanks
-Tony Mann
Windows Client IT Pro Audience Manager for Web Forums
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- I like the changes. You?
- Merged byAlex TMVP, ModeratorSaturday, January 17, 2009 7:18 PMGeneral comments about UAC
- Personally I'm perfectly fine with Vista's UAC. Turn it off during install of software, turn it back on and I hardly ever see it again. Similar to how I hardly see the UAC on my Mac. But it appears I'm in the minority on this. ;-)
- You're not the Lone Ranger, Susan. I'm perfectly fine with Vista's UAC too. ;)
- Susan Bradley said:Well I'm not running as a STD user yet, so I guess I need to experience that first. But I do like the fewer confirmations on moves, deletes, computer mgmt, etc. Regarding turning UAC off, I've never actually done that. I routinely turn off the secure desktop, but that's it.
Personally I'm perfectly fine with Vista's UAC. Turn it off during install of software, turn it back on and I hardly ever see it again. Similar to how I hardly see the UAC on my Mac. But it appears I'm in the minority on this. ;-)
- This installation of Windows 7 beta is the first Windows I've used in 64-bit. I have used 64-bit Linux, but am coming from a Vista 32-bit system. I know there are many factors here that can create problems with drivers, such as digital driver signing and the fact most 32-bit drivers don't work on 64-bit systems.
So far, all of my items are at least working. There might be a few minimized features of some devices, but they all work. Not to mention, all of these device drivers are not available for Windows 7 on the hardware company's website (not a surprise). Some devices are even from before Vista, yet Windows 7 found drivers for all of them!
I am very happy with my system so far, Windows 7 beta has made my first experience with 64-bit very pleasant!
P.S. Some of the devices are:
HP DeskJet 920c (went to device manager, update device driver, search internet, finds and installs)
Trendnet TBW-105UB bluetooth dongle (before I had to install the driver on Vista, this worked immediately)
PPA 1165 esata expresscard (worked just fine!)
Cmedia audio for my USB speakers (was really worried about this, but did the same as the printer and it works!)
- Merged byFlowMaNMVP, ModeratorSunday, January 18, 2009 12:20 AM
- Hi CheesyBeef
Thanks for the feedback. I had a similar experience.
I was particularly impressed since this is only beta 1 that were using.
Regards,
Ronnie Vernon MVP - clean install, quick, no issues, updated all drivers correctly on first log on! Runs faster and smoother.
Is this really an Microsoft product?
(Just one thing tho! IE8 is poor and doesnt work... Off to that forum to report the bug...)
Overall, Well done up to now MS chaps!- Merged byFlowMaNMVP, ModeratorFriday, January 16, 2009 1:29 PM
- I am fine with UAC in Vista as well. The new changes to UAC are nice but not something I'd upgrade for. This doesn't mean I won't be upgrading :-) So far I'm really liking 7.
Turning UAC off during a software install may cause problems if the software is not Vista compatible. Turning UAC off disables the virtual file and registry features. When you turn UAC back on the application may fail because it needs to write to a file or key in a restricted area. If you had installed it with UAC (and the virtual store) on during the install it may run fine.
Kerry Brown MS-MVP - Windows Desktop Experience - I completely agree, the new UAC is amazing. I've hated UAC, made a point of turning it off on each Vista installation immediately due to the incessantly annoying nature of it however... UAC in 7 has meant decreased UAC presence on my laptop being a possibility through the control panel UI. I like being able to control what UAC can do, not just 'on or off', well done Microsoft.
- I didn't have problems with UAC on Vista, but I HATED it on Windows Server 2008. I always turned it off on servers. From my casual observation, I don't see much of reduction in promts in W7.
- What I see is Vista with some updates and some different interface themes.
This does not appear to be anything new, rather just Vista with a new name to appease the masses who have bashed it.
And of course a chance to sell something that should be a free update.
Not that I do not like it, it is just simply nothing wonderfully new and improved that should be called the next OS from Microsoft.
Bob- Merged byFlowMaNMVP, ModeratorFriday, January 16, 2009 1:29 PM
- Windows 7 could be called Windows Vista 1.3. It's vista the way it should have been.
- There's much more to an operating system than it's interface... Just because the GUI seems similar to Vista (despite being way more polished) doesn't mean it's a tiny upgrade.
Amusing how if there are drastic interface changes (xp->vista) there are often complaints about it being too different. Too similar of an interface (vista->7) leads to nothing new complaints. And in both cases there is no thought about behind the scenes changes (kernel differences, etc). Oh well... guess this explains how WEX always gets the front row booths.
- A lot of people seem to be saying that, without considering that the updates from Windows Vista to Windows 7 are far more substantial and worthwhile than the ones from 95 to 98 or from 2000 to XP.
There's also no consideration for the fact that Windows Vista has a very bad (and undeserved) public reputation. They can apply all the fixes in the world to Vista, but they can't fix the world's misinformed opinions about it. They really do need to move away from Vista's negative image, and Windows 7 allows them to do that.
And let's be realistic. Microsoft is a corporation. It is in the business of making money. I don't expect them to give me free, new software every year any more than I expect Sony to give me a free PS3 just because I own a PS2, or for Intel to give me their latest and greatest processor just because I'm a good customer. - I do not disagree.
After plucking down $1600 for 4 copies of Vista Ultimate I would hope for something really new of the future OS.
Not just a name change and some changes to make the old program into a new program with a different name.
I absolutely agree that Vista has a bad rap (I love it and I sell it), and I do not see this product changing that, the naysayers out there are on a roll and will jump on this product with comments just like mine, only their comments will be malicious.
MS did not counter the negative comments about Vista when they had a chance before it got out of control and they will have to fight the battle again.
Thanks for your reply.
Bob - Windows Vista came how many years after XP? About 5 give or take. How long has it been since Vista came out? Less than 2 years. Vista was a major release, Win 7 is not. If I was in charge of MS, I would come out with the next release of Windows as soon as possible since Vista did not get a good reception overall. Main priorities in this release; fix what was wrong, increase hard ware compatibility, tweak the interface and most definitely give it a new name.
- Akame-san said:
A lot of people seem to be saying that, without considering that the updates from Windows Vista to Windows 7 are far more substantial and worthwhile than the ones from 95 to 98 or from 2000 to XP.
There's also no consideration for the fact that Windows Vista has a very bad (and undeserved) public reputation. They can apply all the fixes in the world to Vista, but they can't fix the world's misinformed opinions about it. They really do need to move away from Vista's negative image, and Windows 7 allows them to do that.
And let's be realistic. Microsoft is a corporation. It is in the business of making money. I don't expect them to give me free, new software every year any more than I expect Sony to give me a free PS3 just because I own a PS2, or for Intel to give me their latest and greatest processor just because I'm a good customer.
Hmmmmm.....
Vista got it's bad public rep because many people paid good money for a disappointing product. The 'world's opinion' didn't evolve just because people felt like being malicious... Vista got its rep because so many people who bought it were very disappointed with it.
MS may be in the business of making money, but (I think) they learned a good lesson - don't create a product and expect the public to pay big bucks for it just because it's new. We can tell when something isn't done right. The public reacted reasonably by downgrading to XP and not buying Vista after word-of-mouth got out.
I think I'd have to believe that there was some kind of weird, large-scale conspiracy to account for why so many people didn't like Vista and are now saying that Windows 7 is what Vista should have been.
It makes much more sense to take the public reaction seriously. Vista seems to have been released prematurely and at this point (especially after seeing the WIN 7 beta and reading the public responses to it) it seems obvious that Vista was unsatisfyingly incomplete. Windows 7 appears to be the more 'finished' release of a new OS. - As many have noted above, I didn't have much of a problem with UAC in Vista, as it didn't seem to get in the way one initial system configurations had been completed. On the other hand, I think the changes made in 7 will be far less intrusive to the standard (read: non-power) users of the world. As long as this functionality still provides the security improvements from Vista I think there will be less desensitizing of users to the prompts in 7, maybe people will "think before they click" more with this release.
- Hi,
thak you for any things.
I am downloading Windows 7 beta 32&64bit now.
thank you for your new Product .
bye.- Merged byFlowMaNMVP, ModeratorFriday, January 16, 2009 1:29 PM
- Certainly another positive over Vista.
The fact that the UAC can be scaled to a users needs/ability is a big plus.
I still turn it off though! lol - Akame-san said:
There's also no consideration for the fact that Windows Vista has a very bad (and undeserved) public reputation. They can apply all the fixes in the world to Vista, but they can't fix the world's misinformed opinions about it. They really do need to move away from Vista's negative image, and Windows 7 allows them to do that.
Vista's bad public reputation isn't completely undeserved. I have been with Windows Vista since the end of the betas, through the RCs and then bought Windows Vista Ultimate. Windows Vista was a horrible OS at the start, but a majority of the problems were not a direct result of anything Microsoft did. Vista was a substantial enough change from XP that hardware numerous hardware companies (notoriously in this nVidia) didn't update their drivers so you had reviewers and people like me suffering random slowdowns and a million other problems from bad GPU and in my case memory controller drivers. That said Vista concentrated on a GUI improvement, and didn't necessarily show the improvement on the kernel and other backend issues more tech related people often care about. Windows 7 is not a GUI overhaul from Vista, instead it's the backend improvements making it more efficient, leaner, and a better overall OS experience and one that better uses the hardware available. Apple's current OSX upgrade (Leopard to Snow Leopard) is mainly conquering these same kind of upgrades over the GUI ones.
- I prefer Windows Mojave :-)
- tkotech said:
I prefer Windows Mojave :-)
isn't that Vista. LOL
I also am very very impressed and might even change my outlook on vista if this is it's replacement. Since most of my equipment was 3 years old sb600 south bridge x2 processor I thought this was gonna be a headache but to my surprise it wasn't hard to figure out. I really enjoy the self repair of the windows system in case it gets borked by bad drivers. Which happened to me like 10 times. After a quick repair it was off to the races again.
There are still problems with drivers for say SB600 and raid controllers, ATI 4850 beta driver just won't install for me even after turning off the driver signing in windows 7. But I am very impressed with how this version doesn't nag about security and it seems to be really stable. Even on an overclocked x2.
Windows 7 just might me make the switch to a better 64 bit operating system. Since I beta tested Windows x64 pro and had little trouble there as well I think I am liking the new speedier feel to Windows 7 and just might get this version as well.- With my beta experience on Vista to Retail Vista, also having to deal with peoples issue with there retail versions. I have to say, Windows 7 does indeed take the cake, so far only ran into a few small problems but nothing drastic enough to make me think otherwise. This is probably the most stable beta I've tested so far as well O_o.
Windows Vista beta was a nitemare, but still liked it evidently enough to say stuff it to Xp lol.
I'm just hoping the kinks and problems get worked out or a majority of them any way before it hits the shelf. But I can defiently see this will be the OS to get for sure. - I'm also very impressed.
The only thing that didn't work 100% perfectly out of the box when I installed Win 7 was my Wacom tablet, and the only problem with that was a lack of acceleration for the mouse accessory. - I agree with 'volock' that Windows 7 is a much better 'system' than Vista. Just because it has a few similarities to Vista interface doesn't make 7 just a cheap Vista "upgrade". Forget about Vista and really work this Windows 7 beta on its own turf. That's what we're here for, right! THIS IS A BETA! Try it or not. Even at this stage, IT IS more efficient, faster, and leaner than Vista! I think microsoft has made a great leap forward with Win 7. Here you guys are, bashing Windows 7 for this and that compared to Vista, and because it has come out too soon after Vista's initial release! Give me a break! If you really want to compare Windows 7 to something constructive, compare it to XP Pro. I'm a die hard for XP, and Windows 7 has my interest. Eyes wide open! After all, if Microsoft stays on track here..., Windows 7 will overwhelmingly replace more XP systems than Vista systems.
MULTIBOOT, and work, play, work and play... - Kensei72 said:amen to that!. I like the fact a user can scale it to their needs without messing up the installation of new software.
Certainly another positive over Vista.
The fact that the UAC can be scaled to a users needs/ability is a big plus.
I still turn it off though! lol
robin - I like the new UAC as well.
- Nice post, Sayyed. It's a rare occurance for someone to thank anyone for anything. Have a nice day.
It is the responsibility and duty of everyone to help the underprivileged and unfortunate among us. Hi Sayyed
I echo the comment from C.B.Thanks for the positive feedback and enjoy Windows 7.
Ronnie Vernon MVPWell so far I am VERY impressed, it's a huge improvement over Vista SP1. Performance is as good, if not slightly better than XP, eye candy is great, the search works much better, and actually does not drive me nuts liked Vista used to.
I have had very few problems to report. My x64 desktop install worked a treat, there was a rather long delay when launching setup (after setting the regional and keyboard settings), it looked liked it had hung, but it eventually got there (after about 5 minutes), clearly some feedback that things are working is needed. This is a clean install (not a upgrade)
The resulting install was great, very speedy. Standby and power management is broken (as is vista), because I my Microsoft intellimouse keeps waking the system from sleep/standby due to it's over zealous IR sensor, I have to untick the "allow this device to wake up my computer" for it to stay in hibernate/suspend. Asus P5B motherboard MS Intellimouse Explorer.
I noticed the SATA score is considerably lower in the System ratings, than Vista, which is worrying....
My laptop 32bit install works just as well, and again is a huge improvement over vista. Again the HDD score has plummeted, This was a upgrade from Vista SP1. After install, I started getting BSOD, caused by Kaspersky virus scanner, which I had to uninstall. The power management on this laptop (Sony Vaio AR51E) works very well using the Sony Vista drivers.
All in all a very excellent beta, and something I feel is already a huge step forward over the absolutely horrendous Vista. My only concern is how much I am going to get robbed to upgrade from that turkey, Surely Microsoft should be paying US for putting up with it for 2 years :-)
Keep up the great work, and looking forward to future betas, and a final release.
- Merged byFlowMaNMVP, ModeratorFriday, January 16, 2009 1:28 PM
- The hard drive score in WEI is a known... issue? I'm not sure if it's considered a bug or if it's by design, though.
It has to do with whether or not your drive has write caching enabled.
Power Management in Windows 7 seems twitchy for a lot of people. I'm a little frustrated with it myself, as it worked fine for me in Vista, and when I check the Event Log it just gives me an oh-so-useful "Wake Source Unknown".
Otherwise, though, I'm every bit as impressed as you are. A big improvement over the Vista SP2 beta, and outperforms XP by leaps and bounds on my machine (as opposed to Vista, which only outperformed XP by leaps. No bounding.) - I have to agree with you! But if you could/would, please send things like that using the "Send Feedback" button but the minimize button, so that it goes directly into the dev teams database. : )
And I believe the SATA score is lower because the tests now look for latency. - I'm not going to say I ever liked the Vista UAC. But then again, you either mess with UAC or you mess with viruses/malware. Hmm... I'll mess with UAC. The W7 changes are welcome though. I just hope that the average user doesn't crank it to the bottom and leave it there. There is a good reason for it to notify you when it does most of the time.
- My WEI also gave me a down score to my HDD, lower than my score in Windows Vista. In Vista the score was 5.9 and now in Windows 7 Beta the score is 3.
Is this score intentional or a bug?
Thank you for your time.
- I think Windows 7 is fantastic. My die hard XP Pro dad messed with my PC for 2hours today, we went to the local PC Parts Store built him a nice Quad Core RIG and now, he is Beta Testing Windows 7. That is saying a lot, this is the same man that did not swap from 98SE to XP until 2004!
Two Thumbs Up For Windows 7!
GMKosMos
Tyler Smithey
Currently Testing Windows 7 Beta: 4 Systems built the same: 1Win7 ~ 2Vista Ultimate X64 ~ 1XP Pro/XP Pro X64 Dual Boot Box AMD X4 Phenom II 940, 8GB Corsair XMS2, EVGA 730a Motherboard, EVGA 9800 GX2 SCC, 2x500GB 32MEG Cache Seagate SATA Drives in Raid-0, 2x1TB WD SATA Data Drives, 6xHP w2207h HDMI LCD, 52" Mitsubishi LCD TV, Antec 900 Case, Antec TPQ 1000w PSU, 2 Sony BluRay Burner Drives. - I have only been able to use it in a virtual machine ( all other attempts at install or upgrade have failed) but I would say it looks like a Vista upgrade rather than a new system.
I don't think it is fair to evaluate it in a virtual machine.
I plan to do a clean install (i.e. no dual boot or upgrade ) next week and I think that will work. We shall see...
I will say that after my upgrade attempt failed (twice) it restored Vista with no problems at all. Thanks thanks to whoever was responsible for that code. Great work. I was very pleased...
George
- So far I find it much better than Vista. It's more polished. It's very stable and stays very responsive. Now that I have modded x-fi drivers there's literally nothing stopping me from using it all the time.
I only wish Microsoft would put more GUI customization ability such as right click context menus. I'd like to easily add my own options not mess with registry entries or use 3rd party applications.
Cheers Tom - So I really like W7, it's lean, mean, fast, and very stable. Way to go MS! But I must say that IE8 is a total piece of you know what. Launching IE is very slow, opening a new tab takes forever, and I often get browser hangs or tab crashes.
It seems like the same team that developed Vista got put on IE. I realize IE8 is beta too, but the quality difference betwen W7 core OS and IE8 is really astounding. In fact, I could see MS going straight to RC0 and RTM in short order with W7, except for the fact that IE8 seems lightyears behind. I wouldn't be shocked if the poor quality of IE8 held up W7 RTM.
I do most of my surfing a XP VM with IE7, which is vastly faster and more stable.- Merged byFlowMaNMVP, ModeratorFriday, January 16, 2009 1:28 PM
- I'm finding the exact opposite on Windows7, but when I tried IE8B2 on Vista felt exactly the same as you.
- I disagree.
IE8 works faster for me than IE7 in XP.
And 64-bit IE8, even faster.
If you don't like the slow load for a new tab, then set new tabs to be a blank page.
Go to Tools-Internet Options. In the 'Tabs' section click the Settings button.
In the 'When a new tab is opened' section select 'A blank page'. - I'm glad it has the slider. I turned it off in Vista because I was tired of having it come up every time I visited the control panel.
- The speed is fine for me, but it does crash quite a bit, and it doesn't always reopen the right tabs when I try to restore the session after a crash. If it does, I have to wait a while as it attempts to laod all of the tabs simultaneously.
- I like it but the defaults from the huge tasbar (large icons) to the lask of text on taskbar icons (always combine) caught me a little off guard, and I didn't initially realize you could pin programs to the taskbar causing me to frantacly search for the quicklanch option.
In short, I was ambushed by the interface. - All I can say is WOW
I beta tested both XP x64 and Vista x64 and had nothing but problems in getting all my hardware to install I decided to try x64 Windows 7 on two systems, the system i used for the vista trial and an Intel dual core Laptop and on both systems Windows 7 installed all of my hardware during the install i didn't need to touch a thing
it even found and installed my WIFI drivers in my laptop that even retail Vista struggled with.
The desktop based system is running great and the laptop is running so much faster with this Beta on it compared to Vista
if this is the shape of things to come all I can say is well done Microsoft things are looking Good keep it up. - I absolutely love Windows 7. There is more than that pretty GUI going on here folks. This is not Vista reincarnated. I 've been testing this for more than six months , and still haven't seen the BSOD yet. Enjoy. I can only hope for better thing from here on out.
- This is Vista like I would like it.
It is Fast and seems reliable to me.
I do have an issue for the networking component, but, it looks good at first sight.
I run W7 on an older machine (AMD3500) and it responds much quicker than Vista does. If this is what Windows 7 will become, I am in.
Microsoft can do a little more on the graphics. Like it is now, there is too little change and since most people don't see the work under the hood, there will be little people be convinced to upgrade. The little use of 7 I did was for me a good experience of Windows (the better since I decided to move to Apple in fact).
Two drawbacks nevertheless : some preinstalled applications don't work, and IE8 is catastrophic ! I'm developing websites, using W3C standards. In "normal" mode, the Acid2 test is passed (not the Acid3), but pages what appear correctly on other browser (IE7 too) don't. In "compatibility mode", it's almost OK. So it's not a problem for me ; Safari and Firefox work perfectly !
So thanks for this beta.- @Susan
I am with you. I have absolutely no issue with Vista's UAC. It is only there to protect users--even the so called "power users." During most day-to-day activities, it never intrudes. Actually, I set my Win7 boxes to mimic Vista's UAC behavior. Seeing the UAC shield lets me know what to expect. - My experience with Windows 7 Beta has been very positive so far. All the software I use on a regular basis installed without problems and runs great. Love the libraries for documents, pictures, music, video. That was a great idea! The improvements to Media Center alone make this new OS something more than just a "Vista SP2". I really don't want to go back to Vista.
- I must say iv had a few problems with this system but i do like it, its so much faster i cant wait for it to come out in the shops i just hope its not over priced like vista ultimate. with the amount of cash microsoft makes they should be able to sell o/s at half the price and would prob reduce to amount of people using dodgy copy's of the o/s
- Merged byFlowMaNMVP, ModeratorSaturday, January 17, 2009 8:41 PM
- On the whole, this is as Vista should have been. There are a few things I don't like about it and if they were to make these UAC changes available for Vista I would use Vista for my Media Center machines. I paid good money for Vista only to have to go back to XP. My HP laptop came with Vista and so I figured I'd see if I could get used to it. Was great at some things but lousy in others (UAC). The Win7 upgrade went without a hitch on it but I can't say the same with my desktops. Neither would update but the clean installs went without a hitch and the installation speed was phenominal.
- Well, my machine a Lenovo R61 with 2GB RAM. My video is Quadro NVS 140. A very good machine in my point of view. It has a lot of proprietary software from IBM and Lenovo and I did update my Vista Business with Windows 7 beta.
The result is a working machine, with everything working and I'm not going back to Vista! NO WAY!
Ok, now more serious, the update went perfect. The only thing that did not work was my Medal Of Honor game, because some 3d dll crashed. But in a few seconds I notice an update for NVidia drivers and after that, not only the game was working, but SETI now detects CUDA drivers on my video board! Amazing!
I've noticed a few bugs, like Aero looses the capability to do transparent windows on the borders. Not always but sometimes. Closing the msn message window from the right-button of the mouse, the menu does not disappears, etc. Not severe bugs, but a few more things to tune.
Overall I love it more than Wista and I must say (like others did before) that Windows 7 has some features that should had been shipped with Vista! TRUE! And I'm waiting for WinFS now for Windows 7! DON'T FORGET THAT ok??
I see here and on other thousands of forums, complaint about Vista this or Vista that. My driver does not work for this, or some other issue. I advise you all that has this kinda problem to UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE your drivers from the manufacturer. You have my example with this computer. IBM and Lenovo are serious manufactures and they don't play with customers, shipping lousy drivers and bad bad bad software.
Before you buy, take a look at the vendor update and download's page and ask for support, to see if they have tickets or email and forums support. Also see if they have updated drivers.
I've had some problems too in the past with bad company's. But the choice is yours!
Now I'm waiting for new versions of W7 because not only of the looks, but essentially from whats behind the scenes.
Adelino Araujo - Microsoft finally got things right here, use it with firefox and thunderbird mail. slicker then whale's snot
- Merged byFlowMaNMVP, ModeratorSaturday, January 17, 2009 8:41 PM
- Everyting can't be 100% right as this is in beta. =D
- installed very quickly and smoothly on a toshiba laptop and a compaq desktop.no major crisis, everything loaded, drivers etc.only problem that I had was trying to connect to a wireless network, but sorted it out fairly quickly.I love the new taskbar, very efficient.Programmes load so much quicker in Windows 7 than in Vista. I am actually working on my computers rather than sorting out problems.Windows 7 is a big improvement over Vista in my opinion.RIP Vista Hello Windows 7
- Per my thread in the UI forum, Aero Shake needs to have some kind of animation assosciated with it, or at least a tooltip pop up when the windows go away - I thought it was a bug and didn't know it was part of the OS.
- My perceptions are that Win 7 is going to wipe XP off the face of the earth. I Beta and RCed Vista and stuck with XP Pro. Recently (Oct) I installed Vista Sp1 on my test box and then did the SP2 Beta. That is a vast improvement.(Vista Sp2). But when I put Win 7 64 bit on the same machine with all being equal-Oh my gosh-what an improvement. I have XP Pro 64; Vista Home Prem Sp2 64; Ubantu and now Win 7 64 on the same box as a quad boot. And the best in overall performance?: Win 7 Beta I have faith that the IE 8, Win Live Essentials, Taskbar,Start Menu and Media Player bugs will be worked out before an RC or Beta 2 MS-awesome at the moment. ALSO-I hope that most of the complainers about it not being more like XP or Vista or whatever close their traps and move forward. This is a Beta and it IS better. But then again, how amny can get into the code and see the underlying changes? Chill naysayers and wait a few months for our thoughts to be implemented and for them to refine. All will be surprised, I am quite sure.
Hello
Windows 7 Beta is a lot better than Vista ultimate and Windows 7 32bit is a Beta
the Beta seems to be more compatible with old XP programs, one more thing I have make windows 7 look different then Vista if u can the vista look is old,, Iv install windows7 on my laptop Toshiba Satellite A135-s2386 works good on that a smooth install .one thing I need to do is to see if it’s good for Gaming I’m all so trying windows 7 64bit on a Dell XPS 420 with a Ati 2600HD graphic card, 4gb of Ram sound blaster X fi gamer card not as smooth some drivers missing but got it to work ok,,a lot better than the Vista ultimate 64bit that was on there and the OS that was on their windows pro MDS 32bit this did not cut it but,, 7,, did . These windows 7 needs to come out before Oct. like I say make it not look like Vista there you go..The Networking seems to be ok I have like 4 other computers window 7 is working better with multi OS I have a Linksys wifi N network also I like how it seen my wifi network as I’m installing it very cool..this is a much need system,,, iv beta test Vista it sucked slow and crash my systems,, got to say wow this beta seem more stable then vista that is out now good work,, but know one going to get it though at this price like vista’s pricing lots well be very mad just because lots did switch to get Vista are u going to price it lower than the vista now? I have all of your OS from 3.1 to window7.. I’m Hard core Microsoft but To put faith back with Microsoft will be hard yes I feel Vista did hurt you and it will be hard to say windows 7 is better than XP and Vista I have a friend that said to me that he will never be switching from Xp to vista his online game well run bad,,, final fantasy online then I told him of windows 7 he Said the same thing to me ill never switch even when windows xp as no more updates to give out..Crazy yes but most do think this way. one more thing I think U should put Zune software into windows 7 aswell,, and thank u for reading this..- Merged byFlowMaNMVP, ModeratorSaturday, January 17, 2009 8:40 PM
- I love this beta so far, and if things continue in this fashion I'll definitely get the final version when it comes out.It installed flawlessly, detecting all of my hardware right away and not requiring me to install myself. It seems to run much more quickly on boot/shutdown. So far I've not encountered any incompatibilites or had any crashes.As to the interface, there seems to be quite a controversy going on about the task bar. It seems that the majority on this forum don't like it and want the opportunity to have "classic mode". Speaking as an average home user, I love the new taskbar and I think that most home users will as well, once they are acclimated to it. But, as every user uses their machine differently and has different preferences, it would be a good idea to include options for more customization. Too many options would make it too confusing for the average user, but there is still room for more individualization.Overall, in the brief period I've been testing it, I'd give it an A. Of course, since it's a beta, features may change and be added or removed, so I may post feedback later if I find anything is lacking or is even better.Thank you for giving us the opportunity to test this software and hopefully do our part to make it even better. As a home user (albeit with lots of experience and a passion for messing around with things), I'm hoping to give some input from the average consumer rather than more technically advanced people who may have different needs.
- Vista was good - as long as you purchased new hardware for it - I still remember almost exactly the same comments about Windows 95....
Windows 7 is Vista with the rough corners taken off - and it's brilliant. I've only found one thing that doesn't work properly so far (Win7 VHD disks - post in another forum).
But, why oh why let the marketing bods name products? Using the year as the version was the worst example - I still get people referring to 'Windows 2007' when they mean Office..
If you look at the NT Kernel version , Vista is NT 6.0 and Windows 7 is erm NT 6.1
Why?????
(Hopefully Beta 2 or the RTM will be available before 1 Aug 2009 - let's not have a repeat of 'Chicago' / Windows 95 where an update disk had to be sent out to extend the beta period!) - You can read the detailed reason why the Win7-Kernel is named 6.1 and not 7 at the Windows Team Blog. The main reason is compatibility for applications.
Quote:
We also had the lesson reinforced when we applied the version number in the Windows Vista code as Windows 6.0-- that changing basic version numbers can cause application compatibility issues.
So we decided to ship the Windows 7 code as Windows 6.1 - which is what you will see in the actual version of the product in cmd.exe or computer propertie - So far so good! i love Windows7. I haven't had any problems with it so far. It's a lot faster then Vista. It's also very stable. I will definitely be upgrading!
- really impressed so far. I installed it on a cheap compaq I bought back in 2005-- msi ms-7184, sempron 3400+, 1GB ram, geforce 6600 w/256MB gfx ram-- and with all the bells and whistles it runs at least as fast as XP on the same machine. boots and shuts down way faster, though I don't have as much software installed on win7. far, far easier on the eyes. I haven't even had any driver issues, which is a lot more than I can say for XP-- I had a hard time tracking down an smbus driver when I did a clean install of XP a while back, but win7 got everything right from the start.
the only thing I've had a really disasterous time with is the WMP library, but it's about what I expect from a beta. itunes runs almost perfectly (hangs a bit on the occasional file operation) so I'm not really missing anything anyway.
all this leads me to wonder if the people calling win7 nothing but a superficial tweak of vista have ever actually used vista.
I took the plunge with my high hopes and confidence and installed Win7 on my work machine. No dual boots... just blew away XP (with the hesistant approval of our IT guy... I had to get his buy in so he could add me back to our domain). Call me bold or stupid, but I did it. I was that excited about experiencing Win7 and what I projected to be incredible improvements to my daily computing. This decision is very significant because not only did I do this on a work machine, but I'm also a software engineer. This means, that all the tools that I used before, better work on this new OS: VS2005, VS2008, SQL 2008 Express, Expression Suite, SQL Developer, Eclipse, NetBeans, WRQ Reflection, Office 2007, StarTeam, ClearCase and Cisco VPN, Office Communicator and Live Essentials (Messenger)...
So, it's been about a week since I took this plunge and what are my impressions?
I love it and I really can't complain! All the applications I mentioned above work, which saves me from going to Plan B(go back to XP). The biggest hurdle was probably getting VPN to work... which will give you a cycle of BSOD on restarts if you don't install updates and the appropriate version... but very essential to me working from home, when I need to.
So what do I like about it?
- I really like the new taskbar. I think it makes a lot of sense to just have the applications represented once and a context for all the running instances.. as well as the very nifty way of showing you the window.
- I like the notification area.. it just seems cleaner and uncluttered.
- I also like the default size of the taskbar... if you haven't noticed, it is taller, by default, but I'm used to making my XP/Vista taksbar a similar height so I can see the date (not just the time).
- I like the MRU in the taksbar
- I also like the manageability of the UAC but the Vista UAC never bothered me as much as other people did
- The new Calculator is pretty slick
- Process Explorer still works on it!
- CA eTrust worked seamlessly with it (required by our IT to be installed).. at first, I was thinking of installing OneCare or Kapersky.
- IE8 works much better on Win7 than it did on XP... somehow, on XP, launching IE8 and then immediately clicking on the search box made IE8 unresponsive for about a second or two (even with no add-ons)
So what don't I like about it?
- At this point, I still feel like tip-toeing around... not tangible reason, really
- Live Mesh doesn't work great with it, in terms of the UI... which is a big let down :( When I run the mesh desktop software, you lose the "glass" in Aero
- Sometimes, the "glass" regions start to render black... and in more rare occassions, the whole screen starts to render junk. I don't know when it happens (but I'm trying to figure that out), but my first thoughts on it is that it's related to running dual-screen on relatively high resolutions. I get around it by just right-clicking and doing Personalize, which seems to reset the theme.
- Getting Cisco VPN Client installed was a bit of a challenge with a few scares along the way because of the BSOD
well, it's 2 in the morning... i better go back to bed.. but one more thing. just my $0.02, I think a majority of people underestimate what it takes to build software, let alone an operating system designed for the masses. it just seems senseless that amount of effort that people take to bash software (namely vista). with that said, i could careless if win7 is a permutation of vista. i personally like vista... i game with it at home (x86) and use it as a media center (x64) and have had no problems with it, whatsoever. But the constant comparison to Vista and/or saying Win7 is not a real O/S bears very little significance to me becase at the end of the day, I think Win7 will deliver what I want it to, as a power user and a developer... I can maybe see the point of having to pay for it especially if you've already dished out the $$$ for vista but really, you paid for a product (in Vista). That's it.. the product didn't say that "in 2 years, win7 will come out and you won't have to pay for that". I do find it amazing how quickly Win7 is here but you know what, I'm very glad and I'm a happy camper.
Please vote for my MIX 10K Challenge entry called VisualSort.
Direct Link: http://2009.visitmix.com/MIXtify/TenKDisplay.aspx?SubmissionID=0002- it is a very good experience. a big step of microsoft.
- Merged byFlowMaNMVP, ModeratorSaturday, January 17, 2009 8:40 PM
- So far fantastic! Boot up and shut down times have at least halfed, and i am running half the ram to usual (2gb atm) because bf is borrowing one stick.
Very quick, missed the easy 'classic look' on control panel, but listing all control panel itesm works ok.
Taskbar takes a bit of getting used of, but should be ok.
Overall soooo much quicker than vista, just hoping i dont have program compatablity issues, and hoping for a discount on windows when it comes out retail =D
Good Jobs guys, so far so good =d
- I dont think that anything can replace Windows XP in near future, so why dont they enhance XP instead of making new operating system from scratch. Windows XP is something u can trust blindly.
- alright I agree! But now I wanna uninstall it, do you know how to do it?
- The Startup speed is much much faster than Vista, have Vista64 (Don´t use that SH*T to slow) I´m impressed..
- I am loving windows 7!!
my first reservation was, could they really make; using and browsing multiple windows that much easir and forcing me to use the new features. I had this reservation because vista did have some of the features that windows 7 has for example clicking one button to show desktop but i never got used to using them. However windows 7 does make this a lot easir to use and I becoming more used to the idea of using all these little things that makes life just a little better... so thank you MS, keep it up and learn from your vista mistakes please!
- This is just a remake of Windows Vista. I'm sure am glad I did not pay money for this POS OS.
The drivers don't get install correctly. And its just the most terible all around OS I have ever used.
Back to using Linux after I had installed for less than an hour.
- Honestly, who cares about changes to how WEI is computed? Isn't WEI supposed to be used to compare different hardware running the same operating system? So, as long as you compare WEI for systems running Windows 7, is it that important if WEI(7) < WEI(Vista)?
- Regardless of what the detractors say, Windows 7 is a big improvement over Vista. First thing I noticed is that it cut the boot time in half. I used to be able to do a lot of things away from the computer while Vista Home Premium 64-bit booted. Now I barely make it out of my chair and Windows 7 is ready. And it's very light on resources, more than half of what Vista used. Just those two things alone make if well worth my while. But then, I'm working on a brand new computer with 8GB of RAM and top line video and audio cards, so that may have something to do with it.
Yes, OneCare doesn't work, but Avast 4.8 Home Edition does, it's free and Morro will be out soon and I'll switch to that.
All in all, I love it and can't wait for final release and I'm not going to ask Microsoft for a free upgrade either.
If all is not lost, where is it? - Just wanted to say that this beta is a terrific improvement over Vista. The boot and shutdown are indeed much faster than I had hoped for. The inttall on my laptop was incredible, all the drivers were included - even for my network printer! While I may still upgrade the RAM on my laptop (believe it or not, Ultimate is running decently with just 512MB), I must conclude that you have done something right - very right.
Thank you for making this beta publicly available. Can't wait to see how it evolves. - Just upgraded Windows Vista to Windows 7. Have the system running on a dual boot setup, Have had XP Home on one drive with Windows Vista on the other drive. Was intending to switch over to Vista after a good test run with Vista, never did as I was very disappointed with Vista when it was released, so I never did switch over to Vista I keep using XP as my primary operating system.
Was expecting to have a crash when I updated Vista to Windows 7 or even lose the Dual Boot setup at the start up screen, never happened.
Installed like a charm no errors or lockups, all the drivers installed perfectly. First look around the operating system not bad..... I find it a little more friendly to use have not seen any problems as of yet. I'm sure I will thought, I will try and break it LOL - Have been checking out Seven for a few days now and I love it.
NO bugs so far.. all the software goes on fine. Seems to have
adequate codec, boots quick and the GUI upgrades are great.
--------------
Running HP DV9408nr
- Merged byFlowMaNMVP, ModeratorSunday, January 18, 2009 12:20 AM
- Great instal of 64 bit. Everything went off withoput a hitch (well almost) I have 6 HDD in this rig and the set-up read them all and gave me CHOICE! I don't have to climb in the box and unplu every thing. Updated my 7600 Gt video, my Intel 965 board, loaded for my HP psc 2610 all-in-one and almost everyhting else. The only problem I had was that that on reboot after the install finalization (or my first true boot) I ended up having to unplug my IDE DVD drives. However, on the next boot-no problem. Just a line for all nay sayers and compairers to mac or linux and whining:
The seeds of today are the flowers of tomorrow
and that will be my byline now - Vista is good, Windows 7 is much better
- Vista was OK on powerful machines, XP was better and Windows 7 so far appears to be even better yet, the speed and small footprint is major plus especially for UMPCs. So far the only major complaint is that the default user should have access to their entire computer and not need permission from their operating system to add or delete files from their device. Other than than that, given that this is just a beta and not all drivers have been updated to this OS yet, I am very pleased with Windows 7.
For those that think that this is a Vista update, I don't know code but, I don't see the connection, its faster, smaller and a lot of drivers designed for Vista won't work with Windows 7, sounds like a new OS to me. But then if it is just an update, who cares? It works and it works better, isn't that what updates are supposed to do?
- I love homegroup :)
It was easy to set up and does exactly what I have been waiting for, enabling me to share files easily between my laptop and my PC. - Kerry_Brown said:
I am fine with UAC in Vista as well. The new changes to UAC are nice but not something I'd upgrade for. This doesn't mean I won't be upgrading :-) So far I'm really liking 7.
Turning UAC off during a software install may cause problems if the software is not Vista compatible. Turning UAC off disables the virtual file and registry features. When you turn UAC back on the application may fail because it needs to write to a file or key in a restricted area. If you had installed it with UAC (and the virtual store) on during the install it may run fine.
Kerry Brown MS-MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
One thing I will say is that this is counter-intuitive for many users I've talked to. Most people equate UAC to "that prompt that pops up when I click on a button with a shield icon" and are completely unaware of the file system/registry abstraction features. It would be nice if you could enable these separately, perhaps in an "Advanced Options" mode.
It would also be nice if you could get some sort of warning when these features are used, and a group policy option to block installs that depend on them (e.g. installers that assume things about the system they shouldn't.) - I like new Windows 7, I have some problems, but I know, that I am using the beta right now :). So you do good job.
- I install it on my Dell XPS 400 Using 64 bit, it detected every last bit of hardware, installed quickly and all my main basic apps and antivirus are working great on it.
so far so good! - I think that Microsoft has done a fabulous job with Windows 7.
Overall, it is faster than Vista, and I like the new UAC level system. - Being an XP and Linux person, I am impressed by this beta.
I have new hardware and the only things not recognized were the Co-processor and the SM Bus.
Apart from some strangeness with command line ability to run batch files properly, this is some solid and fast coded OS.
The software compatibility is pretty good despite what I mentioned above.
Well done Microsoft, seems you are headed down the right path at last. - I like the fact you can put the uac where you want it. I find windows 7 not as bloated as Vista. What i hoping is that Microsoft is reading all the comments and the goods and bads on this forum and taking the suggestions and implicating them for the next release.
I also am hoping when the final comes out a discount will be giving or a reduced price for those who have Vista now and want to upgrade to Windows 7.
robin
- Windows 7 is excellentPerformance on my vaio sz-28gp is greatly improved compared to both Vista and XP. UI responsiveness, time to load apps, boot times are all faster. Handles multiple memory/CPU hungy apps better. Ill even start using Win+Tab switching now it comes up fast and smooth.Battery life is 50% - 100% higher, compared to Vista on the same laptop.I also noticed that Aero must either use less memory, or support exceeding video memory, because my 128MB video card can now do Aero in high res dual monitor setup, where the same setup on Vista would revert to non-AeroI also love all the UI improvements, im especially happy with the new task bar, in particular because I always have it running down the left of screen on my widescreen displayNow If media center only supported GPU HD video accelleration the dream would be complete.
- As much as I would like to give feedback to help in the development and fine tuning of Windows 7, I'm just not having many issues.
From format to up and running was incredibly fast. Everything I use, installed. The new interface and UAC is perfect in my opinion.
My issues have been minor at best. IE8 seems to be 98% of my issues. My creative X-Fi installed and sounds fine, although I haven't got the X-fi to see the mic that is installed.
I can say my sound was crackling and distorted until I installed all the drivers for my X-fi. My SM bus didn't install with updates but that was a very simple unzip the MB ini into a folder and right clicked SM bus and told to update the driver from that folder.
That is about it. Everything for me works perfect as if this were a released version. It's really that good on my system.
I will keep looking for problems and post as I find them. I have been using 7 since the day of release without many issues.
I am using the 64-bit W7 now, have the 32-bit W7 on another hard drive. I prefer 64-bit because I have 4G ram.
Vista (64bit) also worked flawlessly for my computer. Vista is an excellent OS and this one appears to be just as good with some new stuff that's even better.
system:
E8400 3.0Ghz C2D
Gigabyte X38-DS4 MB
4G Corsair XMS ddr2 800 ( 4-4-4-12 )
ATI 4870 - I installed the 32bit version last Saturday half expecting to be forced to remove it soon after. I've been running it for it 9-10 days and haven't had so much as a hiccup. Install went smoothly,all my hardware was recognized and installed. I like the aero look (coming from XP). Everything seems to be running much more smoothly and faster than XP. Booted to my other drive once to retreive some bookmarks and XP seemed pretty clunky compared to. You ever get a real nice new loaner while your car is in the shop and then have to go back to the old beater when its ready? Thats how I'd feel going back to XP at this point.
- By now there has been a lot of feedback on the web regarding Win 7, most of it positive IMO. There has also been some speculation regarding release dates for the final product, and how MS should give the final product free to current Vista users. As a Vista user I don't agree that MS should just give me Win7, but I would like to be able to use it until the final product release. IOW, I don't want to go back to Vista now that I have used Win7 beta. After testing the beta for over a week now I have removed Vista from my main pc. If I have to go back to Vista I will, all my data is backed up. I would prefer to use an RC of Win7 and wait for the final release.
- I am EXTREMELY happy with Win7. Everything I liked about XP and Vista with none of the BAD from either. I think you have a winner here.
- Well, I wiped this thing off my disk within an hour of getting it installed.
Hey MICROSOFT:
When you try to make the folder structure in Windows Explorer simple-minded, you only succeed in making it complicated for everybody. Now in Win7, you have taken it to a new level of weirdness with Favorites, Libraries and etc. If you must do that for the novice user, then just give him, say, 6 folders. Games, Pictures, Music, Documents, Programs, and maybe User Defined. Fine, advanced users will find them convenient too. But Jeeez. Then also provide one-click access to the full directory tree. I am sooo tired of wrestling with Vista to find things thru the GUI, or having to drop down to MSDOS altogether to do it. (On this topic, why do you omit the Downloads shortcut from the Start Menu?)
Furthermore, why are you putting those confusingly useless options in the Explorer taskbars? Often, those items give drop-down menus with even more greyed-out choices. Do you really expect anybody to burn a CD or change something via Files menu in Control-Panel? That's just sloppy, undisciplined work. It only serves to train users to ignore all taskbar items as meaningless clutter.
Now, with regard to my brief Win7 Experience, here's what I found:
My initial desktop customizations (solid color background &tc) took three bootups to stick. Just like Vista.
Oh that Explorer Start Navigation Sound ! It took me three bootups to kill that too. Just like Vista.
Yeh, the initial bootup splash is nice and fast now. But I'm not fooled. It still takes another couple minutes to get my wireless &tc going.
Where the heck did the SideBar go? It was pretty. I liked it.
Where did Windows Defender Software Explorer go? It was handy.
Hovering the mouse over All Programs in Start Menu activates it like clicking it? That's not convenient. That's obnoxious. And try just leaving the mouse pointer there. It's very entertaining to see it oscillate between All Programs and Back with no further user input. Yes, very entertaining.
The icons in Programs & Features changed their configuration once or twice, on their own, just like Vista. Really, really, really annoying. (triple-really).
Norton Internet Security 2009 crashed repeatedly. Like scheduled on a timer or something. I know. Shame on me for using such a product.
Pieces of Norton Ghost disappeared. Seemed appropriate in some sarcastic way. Lucky thing I could boot it off DVD to reinstall my earlier Vista image. - I really like the new Taskbar! I also like the less-intrusive UAC in Windows 7. I'd like ATI to fix their driver, but I know that's not a Microsoft issue.
- I don't really get rid of the feeling that MS just put some features on VISTA and tries to sell it as Seven.
The changes and the features could be called Vista SP2 already - didn't MS produce a "new" operating System?
I mean there were more changes from Windows 98 and 98SE - not to mention from 2000 to XP.
People are not stupid and I hope the most of the people will recognise that if Seven stays like BETA shows us how it might be, it even less worth the money than VISTA.
If MS thinks that the user likes to be told what she/he has to startup ok fine, then at least there should be a version for people with brain and one for people that like to be used by their operating system. - Please make the Beta versions upgradeable to RTM
Jonathan
I'm loving it! Not that it has been absolutely trouble free. It is a beta after all. Coming directly from win XP it is more of a step up for me then vista users. I also had set all of XP that I could to use 'classic' or old win 98 style windows and ways of doing things.
So far I have resisted trying to force win 7 to let me work as I was used to and am trying to just get used to and use its futures. I like the thumbnails when hovering the mouse over task bar icons and being able to select which window to jump to. I’m even getting used to the windows maximizing when I move them to the top of the screen. At first it was pissing me off. Thought it was a glitch not a feature.Loved that the first time it opened I did not get an endless succession of boxes asking about where to look for software and device drivers and commanding I find install CD’s I haven’t touched in years. Though I do still have some yellow ! That I’m unsure what to do about. Debating getting out some old install cd’s to see if that helps or surfing the net to download drivers. Only win 7 is not being clear what device I need work on. Don’t want to mess things up trying to install drivers for things that are working fine.
Also really love the way I had zero trouble connecting to my home network, getting online and opening hard drives on other computers to copy or access files from them. Was light years ahead of XP for doing that, even though I was accessing computers that still ran XP.
Computer User- Edited byTharkunn Wednesday, January 21, 2009 6:05 PMspelling
- Hi I`ve been running windows for about a week now and I`m very impressed. At first I had a few glitches But I was able to work them out. All my programs that I use since they are older programs are working fine. I still have to install my printer yet , So hopefully there won`t be a problem with that either.
I will definetly be getting windows 7. I wished I would of waited instead of getting vista. I feel that I`ve wasted that money on vista. But vista seems to be working ok now. Not as many uac permissions now in vista. But still once in awhile in vista I `ll have a problem or two getting something to work because the uac and having to shut it off is a pain too at times. So I`m hoping that at least the beta testers would get alittle discount on windows 7. Probably that will only happen in my dreams but one can at least hope lol.
sincerely
Kathy Woodcock - Windows 7 is great! I actuly put it on my main pc as my ONLY OS, I have not had any problems with it yet. The only thing I found was a glitch on MS Paint but its nothing important. All the software I use works great on Windows 7. Microsoft did a good job.
I got one suggestion though; Put the Zune Software on here so we don't have to re-install it. (I no it's a little thing to ask, but Apple puts Itunes on there product(s)).
Thanks
Ryan :D - Cameron,
Thank you for your feedback. Unfortunately, I have deleted your post, but I want you to know why. It is not that you are unhappy about Windows 7 Beta, Microsoft, or anything else. We welcome open exchange of thoughts and ideas in these forums, both positive and negative.
I deleted your post because of the abusive nature of the post. If you would like to repost in a professional manner, we welcome that. Otherwise another abusive post will result in banning you from TechNet/MSDN forums.
Thank you for complying with the Code of Conduct.
Sincerely,
-Tony Mann
Windows Client IT Pro Audience Manager for Web Forums- Edited byAnthony_MannMSFT, OwnerThursday, January 22, 2009 2:22 PMCorrected misspelling
- Well Cameron, haw haw, I'm glad you said it.
They will censor you. Ironically, I was just editing and cleaning-up my previous post when yours appeared.
I would slightly disagree about Win7's new, more polished look. I found that one click past the new, oversized cartoon desktop taskbar icons, things are actually even grubbier than with Vista. That's where I hit my gag limit. I re-installed Vista. And that's where I'm staying for now. I just want MicroSoft to FIX THE VISTA BUGS ALREADY.
Update: They did censor you. While I was typing this! Haw!- Edited by Thursday, January 22, 2009 2:52 AM
- Edited by Thursday, January 22, 2009 2:54 AM
- Edited by Thursday, January 22, 2009 2:56 AM
- Hmm. It took me 15 minutes to calm down enough to delete half of what I wanted to say. That little Feedback button got to hear everything on my mind. I'd love to know if it's possible to view your feedback... For those of you that didn't get the luxury of seeing what was and is truely on my mind, here is the same post hopefully censored to Anthony’s specifications:
You’re drawing your last straw with me as a user of any Microsoft operating system. Most of us use it because people design devices and software to work for newbies and no other way. We don't want to spend the time to mess with it. We become impatient, and just want to plug it and forget it. A lot of people couldn't even tell you what packet encapsulation is nor could they begin to understand the connection limit within tcpip.sys. Others, like myself, are educated enough to understand the benefits of editing it. If my computer and network can handle it, why limit it?. Make the Windows experience a little more customizable for advanced users. This is one of the reasons why I dual boot Knoppix and Backtrack from an SD card. Sure, let's make all kinds of colorful transparent windows that consume way too much memory, it doesn't matter. Why don't you make an alternative selection in the setup process called "Advanced Windows User Mode" and make it almost fully customizable. My opinion on the matter is your working too much on your dress and not enough on the engine.
Cameron Julsrud
Cameron.says.hey@gmail.com
Note: I edited my post yet again to comply with the "Code of Conduct" which prohibits the use of profanity, however the "abusive nature" you are referring is not directed towards "(...)others participating in these services(...)" as deemed a violation in said article. - Cameron, instead of posting your discontent here why don't you click on "Send Feedback" and make some suggestions to Microsoft on how they can improve their OS to meet your needs? Sending them positive feedback will probably get more attention than another rant with no specifics as to what the problem is.
Just my opinion.
If all is not lost, where is it? - I'm very pleased With Windows Beta 7, I'm a game developer by trade (sort of) , I know the beta is for testing purposes (tryed to find the proper info but couldn't) , but is it allowed that a game would be developed on Windows 7 Beta?
Never give up on your dreams - All comments prior to this post have been collected and submitted to the Windows 7 Product Team on January 22, 2009.
Please continue to add to this thread, as I will continue to collect comments periodically and submit them.
Thanks
Windows Client IT Pro Audience Manager for Web Forums - I have blatantly refused to upgrade most of our household machines from XP. Having installed Vista for others, I had come to the conclusion that there was no advantage to a move to Vista and in fact most of my drivers in XP are unsigned, (an issue I simply refused to deal with). There was also the issue of program compatibility, almost all of my programs would come over but the programs my kids use would not run even in compatibility mode.
Windows 7, I've heard stories of problem installs, full installs that won't boot, I have no such interesting dissertations it dropped in, ignored my dual head video card, (as I had expected), installed the "standard vga drivers" (but they are at 1024x768 & 32 bit color), there was no sound but when I installed the drivers it errored and offered me an fix it option whereby it downloaded the correct drivers and worked perfectly. I have installed unsigned drivers and I simply get a warning, but it did allow me to override and go on.
Unsigned drivers and software- I appreciate the warnings, but as that I use a good deal of unsigned drivers and software I do want to be able to continue anyway.
7 is, so far, the first thing I have seen to cause me to consider an upgrade on my Windows machines.
As for the aforementioned video card {it's a Radeon 7000 } roughly 6 years old I think and has a whole 32 megs of ram I was surprised the installer didn't tell me it was time to buck up for some video or give up.
So I turn one monitor off and as you can figure I'm running a more conservative interface. - So far Win 7 (32 bit) has been a sheer pleasant surprise. It went in (clean install only) so fast (22 min) I thought that the setup failed - it didn't. Although right-clicking and choosing the top selection will take some getting used to, all and all, moving around and exploring is quite simple. What pleased me the most is the image creation. That feature alone will prompt me to purchase the new OS when released - provided MS keeps the price fair. I will only be pleasantly pleased when the new OS is released for the footprint may be smaller (if MS keeps stripping the OS with chunks that I really don't need or use or are unimportant [to me]), and although peppy now, it can only be speedier when the OS becomes optimized. No, I DON'T WORK FOR MS!
- Merged byRonnie VernonMVP, ModeratorThursday, January 22, 2009 10:05 PM
- ©LarryEº said:
Cameron, instead of posting your discontent here why don't you click on "Send Feedback" and make some suggestions to Microsoft on how they can improve their OS to meet your needs? Sending them positive feedback will probably get more attention than another rant with no specifics as to what the problem is.
Just my opinion.
If all is not lost, where is it?Cameron. said:That little Feedback button got to hear everything on my mind. I'd love to know if it's possible to view your feedback...
Please try actually reading my posts in full before you attempt to discredit or disharmonize me. Thanks ;)
Sir? - Just before someone jumps down my throat, I have also sent via the feedback loop to Microsoft!
All I can say is that every day, 7 gives me a new challenge - drivers no longer working and having to be re-installed, install failures, IE not allowing updates to favorites, the time of day clock not being recognised in IE(works in Firefox 3, but reverts to USA time zone in IE) the list is becoming endless - and that doesn't include all the application restarts and the occasional total system failures.
Vista is solid, even the beta was for me pretty good - but this update to Vista (because that is all it is) is extremely poor quality as far as I am concerned.
If Microsoft is making 5000 redundant, I sincerely hope it is from the 7 team, as the quality of this system is extremely poor - I would not trust this system in a million years at the moment.
Just before someone jumps down my throat...
None of the moderators in this forum would do that. Your post is completely reasonable and simply expresses your opinion without being abusive. Thank you for that.
In terms of your actual problems you mention, there are many people in these forums that are able to help you if you give specifics. There is nothing in your post that is actionable by moderators. If you want to respond back by letting us know error messages, types of hardware, etc., we will be happy to try to help.
Thanks
Windows Client IT Pro Audience Manager for Web Forums- First impressions...
I came into the beta here just a while ago and was really excited to see how stuff had changed. Like most people I had heard a lot of good stuff and had high hopes. After installing and playing around for a while, I really felt disappointed. I'm not worried about any hardware issues, wireless card didnt find a driver but running windows update fixed that. Performance was great. What really ticked me off is the new UI changes that I had previously been looking forward to. I liked pinning applications to the taskbar, but not Windows Explorer opening to the libraries folder. I like the consolidation of notifications, but not that I cant set to permanetly ignore certain messages from the action center. I know that Windows firewall is off, I turned it off on purpose. I like the new design of areo, like how windows go transparant when mousing over the lower left corner or the taskbar. I dont like how the new search box nolonger is a combine search/run box. Typing cmd, services.msc, explorer.exe no longer do anything. I dont like how it broke support for QTTab but still fails to give native Explorer tabs. I still dont like how setting to activate on mouseover also forces the window to raise. Thats a left over from vista. In XP I much prefered having it activate behind another window, for example to copy from the forewindow into a rearwindow without setting always on top or moving them around.
Out of everything, what I really really dont like is the required usage of libraries. I have zero need for them. Granted, they are a good idea that many people might like, but personally I dont. Being the single user of this computer with all family files (pictures/music etc) on a NAS then I dont like them, but I have to have the icon in Windows explorer to take up space, as well as being the opening page when starting Windows Explorer. I tried to find a replacement (like UltraExplorer) but even though it sounds promising, it had problems in Win7. Wouldnt lock the toolbars, save folder view settings etc etc. Along with my distaste of libraries is that of Homegroups. I still dont get what they have over just sharing folders individually, but it wants me to use them. For new users, fine. I can see the point of having the UI be smarter about where it allows/prompts/encourages people to keep personal files. My parents still think that if you "save it to the disc" then you can find it anywhere regardless of where you put it. Having it babystep even advanced users is a pain.
All in all, after spending the better part of today playing with it, I just dont like it. Maybe the core, hardware support, performance is better. I'm not the expert on that, but I really just dont like some of the changes to the UI that I cant find out how to remove/bypass. Time to go back and reinstall my copy of Server 2008.
- I've been leaving a ton of positive feedback, thus far it runs a lot for stable then XP or Vista did, looks like the WDDM changed which I like cause some of the older apps/game won't run, but will run on Win 7:).
Never give up on your dreams I agree that windows 7 64-bit version is excellent. With vista, I gave up on 64-bit and never coud get all of my drivers to work. It took week with vista to get the sound working.
I first tried windows 7, 32-bit version, but had to reinstall several times. So I decided to try Window 7 64-bit version and everything has worked perfectly. It installed easily and was able to load my wirless network driver and connect to the network. After that windows update offered the video and audio drivers that were needed and I had sound. I used Driver Detective and DriverMax to inport drivers that I had on my Vista partition.
The drive backup seems to work well.
The system has been stable after a startup problem on the first day which windows tried to fix before offerng the restore option which worked. No problems of any consequence for the past four days.
Charlie RJ
Re: Cameron, Fesak and my own previous post.
First of all, you see we are only a very-single-digit-percentage of this thread that has voiced disappointment and objections. Yet, we are not hacks who are trying to misuse the O/S. We are diligently making the effort to learn it, manage it, and get the best use of it. But we are frustrated and stifled from what often has the appearance of condescending arrogance by Microsoft. And it really seems that attitude is just the result of their unwillingness to discipline their work.
The example of Libraries is only a most trivial one; but it is so visible in Win7 that it is compelling to discuss. Now, Symbolic Links and Junctions have been available since when, Win NT ? They are actually a very handy facility, for those of us that know about them. (See MKLINK at the DOS prompt). But MS has never really made the information generally available, nor has it been made accessible through the GUI. Why not? Clearly, it would be difficult to explain the concept to a typical user (absolutely no sneer intended). A typical user, who, apparently MS feels should be shielded from viewing the Directory-Tree in Windows Explorer.
And now comes the annoying irony. In Win7, Libraries have been forced on everybody. I don't think anything has changed: Typical users will still be lost to the concept. More advanced users still receive no formal documentation or GUI access to MKLINK. So, everybody is inconvenienced by this quantum-leap in UI.
And 97% of the users will just not mention it...
I like Windows 7. However why did MS got rid of CUT, PASTE, DELETE, UP etc buttons from Explorer ?? These are the most useful things in a File manager. I want to accomplish a simple thing like that with one mouse click not navigating thru a menu or using the Keyboard.
I just dont get it....
- So far the only thing I don't like about the UI is the amount of space it wastes. I'm not talking about Aero (which I've always liked). I'm talking about how a lot of windows contain too much white space. I actually thought that Vista's UI struck a great balance of eye candy and a pleasing amount of information density, but the large plain white panes in Windows 7 are kind of ugly, despite being nestled inside the pretty Aero borders.
Primary offender is the Explorer navigation pane. Vista's nav pane was great, but the new pane's use of collapsible categories makes it take up more vertical and horizontal room. (There's no need for a separate Favorites category... if it's in the nav pane, it's a Favorite. But that's another topic.) A few other windows present the illusion of wasted space: open up the Notification Area Icons window and stretch it vertically so you can see it better. Then close it and open up the Network and Sharing Center window. The windows apparently share a common set of dimensions, so the Network and Sharing Center will open with a vast barren desert of white inside its borders.
tl;dr version: Tighten up the windows in general. Try to hit a sweet spot of "pleasingly information-dense."
I upgraded to Windows 7 Beta 1 Build 7000 from a Vista 64 bit system. The first problem I had was I lost my Blu-ray drive. After looking for a solution on forums, I recovered that. Then I noticed that the Documents / Music / Pictures links on the Start Menu did not function, and there was not an easy way to specify the default folder. In Vista I had changed the default to my second or third hard drives. Then I noticed that Publisher 2007 crashed every time I cut a picture. Then Word and Excel started crashing.
I like a lot of things about Windows 7, so I thought I would give it another shot. I installed from the DVD, formatting the C drive and installing clean. Now my only problems are that television programs recorded in Media Center are saved in a WTV format and not editable in Movie Maker Beta or Pinnacle 12. And Hauppauge Win TV does not function, even in compatibility mode, limiting my choices for recording tv and editing out the commercials.
Office 2007 installed great on my clean Win7 install, but FrontPage 2000 is very buggy.
Jon- Hi,
need folder size in the explorer's details pane when a folder is highlighted.also please include a text tool for the snipping tool so that we can quickly insert comments after taking screenshots.
Thanks. - I personally love windows 7, of course I loved vista when it came out too. Sure it had some bugs but I used it from the time it was RC-1 till it was released for retail, then bought a copy and have been using it ever since. I could never figure out why it had such a bad rap with the general public. I never had any issues with Vista that weren't easily resolved. The only issue I've had with Win7 was I tried to do an upgrade install and IE8 wouldn't connect, so I did a clean install and haven't had anything not work, or any issues at all. LOVE-IT !! I am sure I will purchase a copy when it comes available.
- Everytime I boot into Windows 7 I smile without meaning to and feel like the OS is telling me to relax... and I do. Vista on the other hand...
Fesak: Typing 'cmd' and hitting "enter" does launch cmd.exe. The same apllies to sercives.msc and explorer.exe (You must add the '.exe' to the command for explorer otherwise it launches IE).I, too, am extremely mad at the mouseover event making pinned windows to raise. The forcing of libraries is just, simply put, retarded. I, too, agree with the lack of symbolic links (just make it a right click command and add deletion support) and think that they should be fully integrated into the windows OS including remote shares.
neroman: I guess I had always thought you could add them via the control panel, however that is not possible. However I don't think that most people are greatly affected by it, as most power users know just about every shortcut command possible. Here is a list of known Win7 shortcuts by Brandon Paddock.
arunkshrestha: I agree that File size should be shown AT ALL TIMES in the details pane. Especially for those of us that need to know how big a folder is when burning movies or files onto a CD/DVD
Just get rid of the libraries.
Sir?I agree. I like everything MS has done with Windows 7. No install issues, first update found every updated driver needed. Its faster, and works well. Every program I installed so far went without a hitch!
There is a major weak point though.....IE8. It constantly crashes. Im trying real hard to give it a go, but you can only take the crashing for so long. MS needs to find out how firefox works without all the crashing and incorporate that!
Overall I like 7 a lot!
- IE8 is terrible. Opens at 150%, renders terribly, few icons for my favorites show up, slow loading. And now I see where this version is OLDER than the version in RC1 for Vista/Xp. Comeon MMSFT. Renue loses can pile up fast from a disfuntional and therefore unused IE. Why all the issues with UAC still and also the taskbar and the gadgets. PLEASE make everything simple for the common man. Most of us here are at least some level of geek. Think of everyday Joe
- Nice work on windows 7 :) best windows beta ever.
The one feature I would love to see it for the taskbar to be able to extend across multiple monitors. It would also be nice to be able to control different wallpapers for different monitors. - First of All: Windows 7 is great - it´s fast, and the tasbar is 'wow'.
But I´m missing Windows Mail. Windows Mail Live isn´t as good as Windows Mail in my opinion...
Hey Folks...quick question here - I decided to do the upgrade instead of the clean install of Windows 7 - What are the thoughts out there regarding upgrading versus clean install for performance? Just wondering if Vista leftovers would affect the outcome as I am finding it quite "Vista like".
Having said that, so far I really like the product - I have Vista, XP, Leopard and Windows 7 machines running so I am currently comparing the 4 platforms - should be an interesting process.
Have been using Win7 for 10 days now. Very pleased with it to the point that it is the OS that I boot into on an almost regular basis.
I too find that IE8 is somewhat slow and 'chunky' when accessing the web.
The other thing I'd like to suggest is to do away with the double mouse click. Don't know why it has become the default with all versions of Windows, but I have always turned it off and used the single-click option. I don't see any need for double-clicking except to exacerbate my carpel tunnel symptoms.
Just some thoughts.
I'm duly impressed with Windows 7 X64 on several levels.
I'll make this as complete as I can...
Hardware:
The comments below pertain to an Intel DP35DP w/E8400, 4GB RAM, Seagate ST3500320AS, RAID enabled in BIOS to extend inherent AHCI functionality (also "RAID READY" should I need it). 9600GT-OC, 850W supply, Zalman 9500 (9700?), Fang Gamepad, MS Digital Media Pro KB, Sony optical mouse circa 2001 I'd guess, Thermaltake Xaser-1000 case (an oldie but the best there ever was IMHO), Antec MX-1 ESATA enclosure w/1.5TB Seagate ST31500341AS.
The install went perfect twice, once with the blank SATA drive as a single partition (plus the 200MB reserved), then as a partitioned during re-install as ~150GB/350GB, the system also created the reserved partition, in neither case did I have any issues with drive letter changes due to the hidden partition becoming active as other seem to be saying. The ESata drive wasn't added until the Win7 system was fully updated and patched, no problems being recognized, fast as all getout (more below).
I did have an issue where Windows Update failed from control panel, the by now famous "DisableSessions" fix worked perfectly to solve that.
I decided to try the Kaspersky Beta for Win7, it worked fine on the single drive install, but I decided to "get fancy" on the second install and turned off Kaspersky's automatic updating. Well, that broke Kaspersky, I'd get notifications that the databases were out of date, try and do an update, updater completes (after 40 second delay or so) with "no updates required". Turning auto-update seems to have fixed it for now.
I mentioned the ESata was fast, here's the skinny: I used the Seagate DiskWizard (Acronis True Image for OEM) to capture an image. With 50.3 GB to start, 35GB after compression, the image took 6min 30sec, for 89.7MB/sec, and yes that includes the processor and Acronis doing the read/compress/store operations. I'll copy the image back to the second internal partition to see what that bandwidth is one of these days.
Since it's a beta and my job is to try the stuff I'd normally do (and of course some I wouldn't normally do!), I decided to install the original FarCry and the 1.4 patch. Please note, this was a no-brains install, I made no attempt to run compatability mode, just put the disks in and let it rip. I was convinced FarCry was maxed out on my main machine (E6600, WinXP, 7850GT), but the 9600GT and Win7 conspired to crush that impression. I am currently running with literally everything at the absolute max the game offers at 1280x1024 on a SyncMaster 170MP (native resolution) and I NEVER get frame rates below 138 or so, rates typicaly fluctuate between 150-195 while playing. For the guys with SLI and CrossFire this might seem piddling, but the gameplay is so much improved even over my now only "adequate" other system that I've created a newplayer and am having a ball playing it, almost as if new.
OK, so FarCry worked, I thought I'd try something really ridiculous and install Return To Castle Wolfenstein (circa 2001), again, with no compatibility install, just as straight shot. After a somewhat terrifying (and thankful I had just imaged) delay with a dark screen and the CD and hard drives churning away, I was greeted with the install screen after I clicked the left mouse button. Again I cranked everything up graphics-wise, and as would be expected (circa 2001 remember) performed flawlessly. No clue what the resulting fram rate is, but it's WAY up there to be certain.
On to the user interface:
At first I thought the window size and shake stuff sounded stupid. I did. Then I tried it, and was instantly used to it, so much so that after a few hours of use I found myself longing for the same features on my main (XP) machine. GREAT stuff, even if it doesn't represent a milestone in complexity of the code required to achieve it. Simple, nice, it will become a defining element of future releases I'm sure.
The show desktop hotspot is of little use to me right now, I see the major functionality being for quick gadget viewing, but I run no gadgets on this narrow (1280x1024) display. Perhaps a wider monitor will breathe life into the feature for me, but I'm in no hurry to spend coin on a new display just yet.
I tried to capture a drive image using the built in recovery tools, but showing hidden files and folders revealed (or failed to reveal) any content in the created folders. It really doesn't matter, Microsoft's "image" is hopelessly stupid (pardon my use of the unabashed truth) only allowing complete images when it thinks you deserve it, bah, just junk IMHO, and it still has me miffed I bought Vista Ultimate JUST FOR MS SANCTIONED IMAGING! (BTW, I never had ONE SINGLE issue with Vista Ultimate, just blessed I guess?)
IE8 is working well, but I haven't really tried any of the new features to any extent. I use it exactly as I would IE7, bunches of tabs open, constantly using "open in new tab" and all the rest of the now generic stuff. As time permits I'll "tickle" the new features and see if I find them as intuitive and useful as size and shake.
Just for kicks I dug out every thumbdrive I could find and all were installed and readable without any hitches of any kind, and some of these I had occassional issues with on my XP machines. The Fang Gamepad install was simple, I went the website, downloaded the latest Vista driver. I plugged in (USB) the pad, wait for enumeration, install the software, runs perfect. I might have been requested to reboot to complete the install, I don't recall...
As I type this on my main machine, the Windows 7 machine is playing from my MP3 library. For the second time since installation, Media Player "paused" or hung at the transition between two tracks. Almost as if you had hit the pause/run button, but the button face doesn't toggle to indicate the change. All it takes is to "really" pause it, then click the resulting play arrow to resume. These two hiccups occurred on different "albums" so it shouldn't be a file anomaly causing this.
So far, Windows 7 seems like a great OS, I can only hope MS is able to recover from the Vista debacle and actually pick themselves up, dust off, and forge ahead without comitting some sort of lunacy that will damage Win7 in some way. I guess I'm thinking of oppressive DRM type stuff, or other stuff that would cripple the release or the user in some way that would cause a mass exodus to the crappy MAC platform. I see Win7 as a chance for MS to recover a badly damaged reputation, I pray they have the wisdom to not destroy this opportunity!
DAS
Although I am really, really enjoying Windows 7 beta, I have to admit that the notification icon for wired networks is horrible. It looks like a pitch fork next to a monitor instead of an Ethernet cable. In addition, it no longer supports animation informing the user about inbound and outbound traffic. With most other visual elements being nice and pretty, this one is a major FAIL. :)
So far I'm pretty happy with Windows 7. Coming from XP Pro 32 bit to Win 7 64 bit is a bit of a change. (Sorry, couldn't resist the pun.) I only have 2.5 GB RAM so it's a little slow at times but more RAM is on order. I've only had one application that didn't work (an old free version of PGP). So far I've installed:
Logitech Mouse and Keyboard Settings (MX1000)
Trillian
Mozilla Firefox
Rocio Creator 2009 Ultimate
Zune
Photoshop CS4 (upgrade from CS2)
GnuPG
I've even used the computer management / disk management tools to delete a volume/partition and extend the boot volume/partition and create a new volume/partition on the remainder of the physical drive.
I've been trying to use CLASSIC VIEW ever since I downloaded and activated the 7000 Beta Build.
However, it seems that a lot of the options for that Classic View are not in place.
For instance - the Start Menu - which even reverted back to a real Classic View in Vista - no longer does.
Themes (under Display Properties > Themes Tab) should be able to be chosen that match previous Classic Views.
Windows And Buttons (under Display Properties > Appearance Tab) should as well.
Color Scheme (under Display Properties > Appearance Tab) should have both "Windows Standard" and "Windows Classic" options. I'm talking the true "grey" color like in Windows 2000 Pro, not the sort of off-sand looking color that Windows Standard has. The Windows Classic Color Scheme is a must-add, imo. Please do not drop it. Please make it available so we can have a true classic mode.
I would greatly appreciate it if these options were still made available to users.
It is particularly helpful for Laptop Installations and machines with shared video / system memory.
Please consider this request. New Features, Themes and Interface options are a great thing - as long as you do not TAKE AWAY those that were already there.
Guess that's the best I can do on this request.
Thank you for listening, and thank you for allowing users to participate like this. I really want Windows 7 to be as good as Windows 2000 Professional when it comes to business, and at least as good as XP when it comes to home use.
Best wishes,
BK
- I like the Previous Versions feature in Vista and Windows 7 (also known as the Volume Snapshot Service, VSS) but I would like to see it work more like Mac OS X's Time Machine, and allow the snapshots to be backed up to an external drive or NAS instead of backing it up to the same volume. In its current incarnation, saving it to the same volume kind of defeats the safe backup purpose and is a bit redundant to the Recycle Bin. Also it occupies a lot disk space. If it would allow to easily backup to an external device it would greatly improve its functionality.
And yes, I know that there are backup tools incorporated into 7, but I really would like to see the automated versioning backup to external drives that is available to Mac OS X to be integrated into Windows 7 (without the gaudy interface of course). And it probably would be a simple feature to add, just a configuration frontend and slight tweaks to the VSS service.
Only my two-cents
This is interesting.
When viewing pictures or files from Windows Explorer’s Libraries, a right-click yields a very large contextual menu. The column to the left of the text seems to be over sized.
Now, here is where I believe it is a bug. When the images or files were accessed via the Libraries, the oversized menu appears. When accessing the same images or files from the folder structure under “Computer,” the normal sized menu appears.
- Feature Request: Expose Functionality (or something similar)
Since Windows now makes use of GPU power to accomplish desktop compositing, having Expose like features would really be nice. It could be invoked by moving the mouse arrow to the upper right corner or wherever the user dictates via a setable option.
A keyboard shortcut such as <Windows><shift><up arrow> could invoke the interface. Then as the mouse moves over each application, its window would swell to show it has the present focus.
A lot of people say that Windows 7 is what Windows Vista should have been but I feel that if Microsoft hadn't released Windows Vista, they wouldn't have known the issues which are fixed in Windows 7. I love the superbar!
OK, here is my wishlist for Productivity Improvements in Win7
#1 Let me choose what I feel are my most frequently used folders in Windows Explorers. I want to be able to name and pin MY choices there. Your choices (Microsoft) are a moving target. Musical chairs. If I want your favorite folder suggestions, I'll ask.
#2 Give me the ability to edit and manage the Explorer context extensions. I mean the R-Click menus, which grow new entries with every application I install. Haven't you yet noticed that when you install a program like GZIP, you end up with like 5 new R-Click entries to do everything from Archive to Zip? It just gets out of control, and you (Microsoft) are not letting us manage this mess.
#3 Ditto regarding the Open With shell extensions. Once you change anything in there, it's there for the life of the computer. C'mon, you've got to give us the ability to manage this.
#4 Start Menu simplification: Look, in Vista, you provide Start Menu>Properties>Customize>Number of Recently Used Programs to Display with the option to select 0 (zero). Now, if we unpin everything from Start Menu, and also select ZERO recently-used-programs, just what do you think we mean? No, we do not want a meaninglessly empty-white Start Menu with just All Programs dangling at the bottom. That's stupid. With this zero setting, the All Programs string should disappear altogether, and everything in the Start Menu>Programs folder should appear in the popup Start menu. Nothing else. Simple. Get it?
#5 Get rid of all the random, unimplemented, pointless stuff on Explorers' taskbars. It's just a confusing eyesore that interferes with productivity.
I still prefer the "Save As" dialog box style that exists in XP versus the one in Vista / Win 7. The XP style seems so efficient and clean looking. The list-boxes and buttons are aligned, the icons on the left are simple / static so you know they'll always be right there. From the top list box in the XP style, you can click to get a directory tree for navigation. It has an "Up Level" button as well, and does not force column headers on you.
The "Green Bar" in Vista / Win 7 is not only annoying because of its gradient shaded bubble / bulge look, but I can't turn it off, which is pretty annoying. I don't like the "Dual Purpose" concept for the left side in comparison to the static "buttons" of XP. The XP dialog doesn't have redundancies. With the new dialog, you can toggle the "FOLDER" item so that in one state it shows the folders and in the other state it shows the "Favorite Links" header. And if that dual purpose thing wasn't annoying / confusing enough, the physical location on the screen of the FOLDERS toggle MOVES from the top to the bottom. If I want to toggle, I have to click near the Top of the dialog, then after a toggle, I have to go near the Bottom of that same dialog.
I really wish that the "Green Bar" could be turned off. It is incredibly annoying not to be able to customize the dialog. Between that Green Bar and the Column Headers, it's eating up much more real-estate than before, and having things out of alignment just looks "Sloppy", you know?
I'm probably not articulating this as well as I could. But to bottom line it - look how sleek and simple and efficient the XP dialog is and how "Busy" and "Bulky" the Vista / Win 7 dialog is. Again. If you would just let us TURN OFF / DISABLE the elements of the new dialog style, it might not be so bad, but we do not have that ability. It's incredibly frustrating. I don't want gradient eye-candy and a clunky, non-aligned interface. I simply want to be able to have the original XP style as an OPTION. It doesn't have to be the default, but just like the Classic Start Menu, if I could just toggle the style back to the one I'm used to, I'd be pretty happy about that.