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Windows 7 Leaked To Pirates By Microsoft?
nandemoari writes "The beta version of Windows 7 has been widely distributed through torrents and other file sharing systems. But now some commentators claim Microsoft deliberately allowed the package to get into the hands of pirates. 'I'm not being critical here, as some Microsoft Watch commenters will surely claim. It's rather smart marketing. Microsoft fills a big news void with something bloggers and journalists will write about. The suspense of stealth downloads from torrents and races to post the best screenshots first make the Windows 7 leak buzz all the more exciting. For other people, there is delight in seeing Microsoft squirm because Seven leaked early. Not that I see much squirming going on.'"
I don't doubt they did leak it on purpose...but TFA gives no evidence...save some personal projecting.
THL phish sticks
That was the exact problem. Despite being given plenty of warning, many software developers (applications and drivers) did not adjust to the new environment in time for its release. Couple that phenomenon with weak integrated GPUs that should never have been certified for Vista, and that's that. I've run Vista flawlessly on Athlon XPs on nForce2 chipsets and Socket 478 Pentium 4s on Intel 865 chipsets, so old hardware isn't the issue. Windows 7 is just a stripped-down, modular Vista with a streamlined user interface; the big difference is that drivers and applications are finally up to speed.
By MS guys at various events. And no, MS knows full well that Vista was a failure, and generating underground hype for their next rev is kinda a big deal for them. It's worked for them in the past, and they figure it'll work for them again.
Anyway, that's what I heard from one of their employees. But it's not a new thing, I've known a lot of folks who would tell me, off the record, that they know they're a little too "carefree" with their software for many years. The general thought there is that they'd rather have their stuff pirated than not used, but the business folks and shareholders wanted the WGA crap inserted to make themselves feel better. While taking a very broad shot at the pirates that were burning, repackaging, and reselling their stuff. Those are the types of pirates that pretty much anyone can agree are assholes.
This is nothing new... Microsoft did the exact same thing in '94-'95 with Windows 95, only back then we got our leaked betas by way of pirate BBSs and 28.8 modems. This unofficial beta test put pre-release Win95 in the hands of thousands of computer geeks, who ended up lining up outside CompUSAs, Computer Citys, and Best Buys to get their copies of Win95 at 12:00am on 8/24/95... Win95's positive buzz was a direct result of the leaked betas.
Now, Windows 7 needs to deliver just like Win95 did in terms of app compatibility, drivers, and improvements...
Oh, and for the guy above who said that Vista's driver issue has improved--it really hasn't. People just replaced their older hardware, so the improvement is mostly perception.
Windows 3.1x calc: 3.11 - 3.10 = 0.00
Chances are, it meets Vista's physical RAM requirement of 512, and is just taking that much for video.