Microsoft may begin offering Windows 7 upgrades as early as July
According to a report this morning from Techarp, Microsoft may be making Windows 7 upgrades available a bit sooner than expected. Beginning July 1 of this year, Microsoft will supposedly be providing an affordable upgrade option to all Vista users. A similar move was made during the XP - Vista transition in an effort to encourage PC purchases during the months leading up to a new OS release. While a rocky launch and a harsh stigma prevented resulted in the general refusal of the upgrade option for Vista, a similar Windows 7 program would likely be welcomed with open arms. Since the Windows 7 beta leaked onto the internet recently, the upcoming Microsoft OS has been widely acclaimed despite its early beta status. Tremendous speed and stability improvements have been reported along a host of other enhancements that should distance Windows 7 from its whipping-boy predecessor, Vista. It just goes to show you - advertising is a great and necessary tool but actions speak far louder than words. Say you have a great OS and someone might believe you. Build a great OS and your product can do the talking.
[Via Silicon Alley Insider]
Awesome. Beta 1 is running great already! Can’t wait!
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I wonder if an easy and inexpensive upgrade option from XP to Windows7 will be offered. I’ve tried Vista (Ultimate) several times, and each time have reverted to XPP. Second thought here: hopefully MS will price the OS to make it affordable to the average home user (enthusiast), and not impose a financial burden to upgrade. With a handful of PCs (full disclosure: and a couple Macs running VMWare Fusion), the upgrade process can get expensive, not even taking hardware upgrades into consideration!
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So I guess the “wow” starts July 1, which is only 2.5 years behind schedule.
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@Michael Knutson who said: “I wonder if an easy and inexpensive upgrade option from XP to Windows7 will be offered.”
Especially from a business perspective, there is a difference between inexpensive and “cheap”. It is not costly to move from one OS to the other, IMO, but today’s economics may determine what is critically necessary and what is a “want”. “Wants” can wait!
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Remind us in June. I’m going back to sleep.
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I guess we should call this Windows Fixa as it is really just a service pack for Vista!
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OH STOP IT! I am tired of the bull people been saying about Windows VISTA. VISTA is 100% better than MAC and cheaper!!!!! MAC ROBS PEOPLE OF $2,000 which VISTA only ROBS you about half of that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
STOP ALL THE NEGATIVE POSTS!!! STOP IT!!!!!
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I’ve used W7B1 and I have to say I’m way more impressed with this than I was with the Vista betas and official.
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using beta build 7k right now it’s hella better my processor meams somthing agian lol and it looks strangly like a linux distro too
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They had DARN WELL BETTER offer W7 discounts not only to ‘recent’ vista buyers, but also to those of us who have suffered the endless torture of running Vista since it was first introduced (big big BIG mistake!!). What CRAP Vista has been! I have 3.2GHZ dual core processor, 4GB ram, and vista CONSTANTLY locks, freezes, and crashes (the oh-so-jotful 30-second freezes while the HD crunches away occur about EVERY 2-3 minutes of PC use; so over an hour of use, the thing locks 20-30 times for 30 seconds…do the math you moron MS engineers). The cooling fan gets faster and faster until my PC sounds like an F-18 (I know, running MS Word is just so very taxing on 4GB of RAM, NOT!!). I challenge *any* MS employee to use my PC running Vista Ultimate for 48 hours and tell me they are not utterly embarrased at the JUNK that Vista is. Thank GOD(and steve jobs) for my cheap little mac mini original which hasnt locked up or crashed even ONCE since day 1 - almost 3 years ago! VISTA = CRAP CRAP CRAP!!!
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Oh, I forgot to add my personl joy and gratification at the constant, unending, ever in-your-face Vista pop-ups and warnings:
“Are you sure you want to do that?” Yes. “Are you really sure?” Yes.
“This could be a security breach!!” But all I did was to plug in a MICROSOFT web-cam to use WINDOWS MESSENGER!
“This hardware is unrecognized and could pose a security threat.” But it is a MICROSOFT camera!?!?
“Do you trust this hardware?” YES! (well, probably no since it is from Microsoft)
“Installing hardware.” Thank you GOD!
“Are you sure you want to install?” YES DAMMIT!
“Press continue to install.” FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!
Yes, in Vista Ultimate Crap you even get popup warnings and messages if you want to do something *really* risque, you know, like access the friggin’ device manager (to see why some hardware is suddenly, and inexplicably not working).
Another favorite? The sense of fulfillment I get each time I hit “print” but then have to go into settings and manually re-set my printer port (with a few pop-up warnings thrown in alnog the way for good measure) because every time I restart my PC, running Vista Ultimate Crap, it sets my printer to “offline.”
Strong work there Microsof…good job on a product to be proud of.
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Dig Dug,
My wireless printer does that too. I always assumed it was an HP problem and not an OS problem. Thanks for the insight
Has nayone heard how many and what versions will be launched for W7?
Will there be a 64 bit?
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Not sure where you are getting that DigDug. I guess it’s just cool and trendy to hate on Vista. Turn off UAC and you will no longer have anything to whine (or exaggerate) about.
I’ve been running 7 on my laptop for a week now and it’s pretty nice but I had no issues with Vista either so I probably won’t see the improvements as well as some others.
Any computer with a dual care and 2+ gigs of RAM (even better if it has a dedicated video card) will smoke with Vista or 7. The memory management (superfetch) takes full advantage of the RAM and keeps things snappy. The optimized graphical stack in 7 should help people with netbooks and older machines take advantage of the OS with all the bells and whistles.
Oh, also Vista Media Center is the shit. Complete HTPC solution built into my OS. I ditched digital cable and have access to analog cable, OTA HDTV, DVR, guide, and all the Netflix and Hulu I can eat on my TV via remote control.
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Give me a discount and I will be upgrading on the day of its release. I love Vista and cannot wait to see the next OS iteration in non-Beta form.
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Haven’t had any problems with vista since I bought my hp laptop in august. Waiting for 7 to come out and get it. Hopefully it works as good for me
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Dude, also, who the hell built your PC that it runs that crappily? I’ve got one 3.6 dual core/3gb system and one 2.4 dual core/2gb laptop and they are both stable as hell. Never had a crash and never had a freeze. Maybe you have funky hardware with shit drivers or maybe you just have to learn how to operate a computer.
Even better, spend a couple grand on an Apple and join the drooling masses who don’t need to bother learning anything. Just one step closer to Idiocracy with morons jabbing at pretty pictures on a screen.
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Dell built my PC. It runs MS software exclusively (no 3rd party software). Have 70% of HD free space, defragments 1x per week. Intel dual core (specs WAY above what Vista Ultimate Crap is supposed to require. The PC has always been slow (2-3 mins just to boot up, on a good day - heck at least gives me time to do laundry, etc. - or you, you know, boot and shut down mac mini 3 times). The HD has always hashed from day one (these HD ‘hashes’ cause the 30-second freezes that occur every 2-3 mins of PC use - this is by far the most frustrating aspect of Vista Ultimate Crap). Vista UC annoyingly receives “automatic updates” ad nauseum, I’d guess, 2-3 per week, and with each
“update” (recently got a SP) the PC runs worse and worse.
I mean I’d love to like Vista, that’s why I got it. And at the rate the fan runs and the noise the PC makes after a few minutes of “heavy” use (e.g., notepad, MS Word, and Windows Messenger is all I dare run together or system does complete lock with power-button reboot required), you’d think the thing would be as fast as an F-22 Raptor. Instead, it is a Pinto with woody sides (I mean, aero, which I disabled to help system plod along less slowly). I just hope one day it explodes.
By the way, is W7 supposed to boot up in < 3 mins.? Or are they going to give us even more leisure time with the new and “improved” OS?
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I’m waiting for Windows Mohave. I hear its pretty impressive.
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Rudy, I have no idea why the printer shows as ‘offline’ every time i start or reboot the PC. No one at MS has any idea why it does this, or, of course, how to fix it other than to manually reset the port each time I want to be wild and crazy and print something. I think it might have something to do with the drivers since most drivers are known to be hostile towards Vista (or rather, vice versa). Vista wouldnt even recognize a MICROSOFT webcam until I spent about 45 minutes downloading and installing updates and drivers to support it. I mean why would MS care to support others’ hardware if they cant even support their own? However, lol, it could also be a “built-in” UAC to prevent printing unless you’re really REALLY *sure* you want to print something. I mean, MS *clearly* seems to believe it has a better idea of what we want (or should) do, and when, than we do.
These days I usually just forward documents via email to my mac mini which prints immediately and reliably every time.
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@jerbear, you say “Even better, spend a couple grand on an Apple and join the drooling masses who don’t need to bother learning anything…”
It’s not an issue of ‘learning’ anything. It’s an issue of constant frustration and inefficiency. If I need to prepare a quick document for work and get it out, I do NOT want to spend 10-15 minutes figuring (”learning”) why Vista Ultimate Crap has made my printer ‘offline’. I want to hit PRINT and have it PRINT so I can get the work done. When I attach a MICROSOFT camera so I can chat wiv my sister in Sweden, I want to CHAT and not spend 45 minutes dealing with reptetitive, dire warnings about the danger of the (Microsoft) hardware and having to download multiple updates and drivers just to get the dang thing to work.
When I am attempting to be productive, the last thing I want to do is “learn” why my PC freezes for 30 seconds at a time every 2-3 minutes. I do not want to sit there idly while the HD mashes away. This is lost productivity. This is inefficiency. This is a truly bad product.
Indeed it is fun to learn about devices, tinker with them, etc. - on one’s OWN terms. But it is most decidedly NOT fun learning how to get rudimentary functionality out of something due to MS’ own incompetency. Printing? Booting up? Adding hardware made by the OS’ own manufacturer!? C’mon, give me a break.
And if I was the only person to have issues with Vista Ultimate Crap, trust me, it wouldn’t have the tarnished, pathetic, unreliable reputation that it has today, and that is the only thing Vista Ultimate Crap is truly worthy of.
PS Mac mini was < $600 (not several grand, and in fact, was far less than the high-end PC needed to run Vista Ultimate Crap); was up and running in <10 mins out of box; has never crashed or locked up, or required multiple repeated reboots after a slew of updates; and has never “rejected” hardware like a printer, most certainly not hardware made by Apple itself!
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I also have the same printer errors running Vista. It just randomly goes off line and I have to reset it. Never really thought about it, but it does suck when I try to print from another room and I have to go through the hassle of changing the printer settings on the vista pc.
I am running win 7 on a laptop. Had some problems with the geForce go 6100 drivers… Runs at the wrong resolution with aero, doesnt recognize display (and i can’t change it because the monitor properties button is greyed out…). If I reinstall the driver, the resolution problem is fixed, but no aero and recognizes the display…. It has also brought up a blue screen and reset about 3 times since installing it this Monday… Everything else is fine but from how it runs on the laptop, win 7 is not ready…
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Dude, seriously… turn off UAC and stop. If you hate the prompts, turn it off and be done with it. No one FORCES you to leave it enabled. Yes, it’s enabled by default.. but.. here’s the shocker - you can turn it off. Try it.
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Brando, That was funny.
I am witing for my copy of W7 through TechNet and will run it exclusively. From what I hear, this new Service Pack, errr Operating System is pretty sweet and smooth running.
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All i can say is i really don’t feel comfortable paying for this upgrade, from what i can see in the beta version this is just Vista but how it should have been from day one, i understand they wanna put the Vista name in the past but what about the rest of us that got screwed already? to me this is what was suppose to be a Service Pack that never arrive for some of us frustrated vista users
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@ keymaker trust me this is worthit BWT folks it’s being torented on pirate bay with cracks an and all all you need is bit torrent an a dvd burner
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