Slashdot Mirror
Ballmer Sets Loose Windows 7 Public Beta At CES
CWmike writes "The rumors turned out to be true. Microsoft will release a public beta this week of its next desktop operating system, Windows 7, hoping it will
address the problems that have made Windows Vista perhaps the least popular OS in its history. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will launch the beta during his speech at the start of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Preston Gralla reviewed Windows 7 beta 1, noting 'Fast and stable, Beta 1 of Windows 7 unveils some intriguing user-interface improvements, including the much-anticipated new task bar.' MSDN and Technet subscribers should be able to get the public data tonight. The general public will have to wait until Friday."
If it weren't for his grating voice, they could sell that video as a sleep aid.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Early reports say that no audience members were injured at today's CES, a rare occurrence for a Ballmer speech.
Convert FLACs to a portable format with FlacSquisher
Balmer is a looser.
The role of an operating system isn't to give consumers what they want but to convince them to pay for the infrastructure over which you may push your business partners' products.
*cough* DRM, DRM and more DRM
Requiem for the American Dream
I, for one, won't sign up until it's given a cool name like 'Moab', 'Durango', or 'Rumplestilskin' and a slick marketing campaign designed to fool me into upgrading.
Founder, Americans Allied Against Alliteration
Honestly, that title just invokes thoughts of Gandalf sitting there saying "Escaped? Or was set loose?" Followed by a freakly looking Windows 7 Beta slinking around in the shadows.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
A few audience members had scorched retinas from the spotlights reflecting off Ballmer's head. Ballmer says a new coat of turtle wax was to blame.
Microsoft isn't rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Vista is soaring! If anything, Microsoft is rearranging deck chairs on the Hindenburg!
(With apologies to Stephen Colbert.)
But at least Vista now keeps track of when users install stuff - this has made my life easier several times:
Family member: "My computer is getting pop-ups all the time"
Me: "Did you install anything recently?"
fm: "No."
Me: "It says here you installed on , just before you started complaining about things"
fm: "Well, yes, there was that. But that was supposed to make things better."
me: "...."
Forget about Windows ME, both it and Vista probably had more desktop market share at some point than Linux, *BSD, etc have now. Not to mention that Vista right now has more than Mac OS X.
People also say homoeopathy, acupuncture and magnet therapy "works for them" too. First hand experiences mean jack all.
However, even for the "most hated" award, it's a tight race between ME and Vista. I'd say the hatred of ME is more intense, while the hate for Vista is more widespread.
I don't know, YOU seem like a nice enough guy. Though your self important need to have references to YOU in all caps is a little annoying.
but having a lot of people dislike something as in the case of Vista means it's pretty damn popular.
I think the word you're looking for is notorious, not popular in its common usage.
An old-timer with old-timey ideas.
New Task Bar? Do the words "Titanic" and "rearranging the deckchairs" come to mind here?
I think the phrase "rearranging the deckchairs" comes to mind ANY time Balmer is involved.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
I had an internship interview at MS a couple years ago. One of the interviewers I met with asked me about the best and worst software I had used. (No, I didn't say ME) After I was finished, I said that a lot of people didn't think too highly of Millennium and what he thought about it. He said, "We don't talk about Millennium..."
It made the cross-country trip worth it
-SaNo
Well, it clearly shows how good their marketing department is: selling 80 million copies of software that noone wants to use -- an achievement of its own.
Yes, just because it works for you, screw that! If the pundits say mean things about it, you're obviously mistaken. It sucks!
They've...taken Vista, polished it up and threw in some nice UI tweaks...It's much snappier, and I really like the facelift given to apps like Paint and Wordpad
Well, we couldn't ask for a more compelling review than that! I don't care what people say about 64 bits, UAC, DRM, or corrupted mp3's. Paint and Wordpad have always been there for me!~
Yeah, the bed is getting awfully crowded with all of us sleeping with woman. Maybe we should try to find more than one.
My mom or little sister installing P2P spyware or toolbars they voluntarily downloaded IS the problem, most of the time.
And no, I don't consider having my family call me every time they want to install something a "win win." More like a "lose lose." That's why I'm happy my mom decided to get a Mac. Not that it "just works" like the Mac guys always say, but it has completely eliminated the "OMG I'm getting a message that says my computer is infected" phone calls.
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
http://xkcd.com/528/
net stop dnscache ...is your friend. A lot of places disable it altogether.
Typical. This is why Windows will never be ready for the desktop. Users should not have to open a shell and type arcane commands in order to get things to work!