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Microsoft Begs Win 7 Testers To Clean Install

Posted by timothy on from the time-for-a-memory-wipe dept.

Barence writes "Microsoft is imploring millions of Windows 7 beta testers to perform a clean install of the forthcoming Release Candidate, rather than upgrade from the beta. 'The reality is that upgrading from one pre-release build to another is not a scenario we want to focus on because it is not something real-world customers will experience,' the company claims on the Engineering Windows 7 blog. Those who attempt to install the Release Candidate over the beta will find their path blocked." I've read complaints that reviews of new Linux distros often focus too much on the installation process; Microsoft seems to understand that complications at installation time (dual booting? preserving an existing data partition?) can sour one's experience pretty thoroughly.

4 of 420 comments (clear)

  1. Red? by nicolas.kassis · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Why is this news in red on the frontpage? And, I understand what they are saying BUT shouldn't they be asking vista users to upgrade from it?

    1. Re:Red? by viking099 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Stories with red headings are stories that are in the future. Generally it's just subscribed folks who see it, but every once in a while, you'll refresh at the exact right time where it's available for everyone, but still "locked."

      Either that, or it's Chinese hackers attempting to mess with your head.

    2. Re:Red? by Chabo · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      A red border indicates a new story with no comments, possibly as a symbolic way of saying "hot off the presses".

      --
      Convert FLACs to a portable format with FlacSquisher
  2. Is that so? by icannotthinkofaname · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Microsoft seems to understand that complications at installation time (dual booting? preserving an existing data partition?) can sour one's experience pretty thoroughly.

    That's how we make Linux take over the desktop! Erase all partitions, and always use the whole hard disk! None of this "Mount / on target partition" business! Just wipe out Windows when Linux installs! Clearly, that's the remedy suggested here.

    Except for the part where, y'know, not being able to dual-boot would actually kind of suck. I still need to play Touhou Project outside of school.

    But that's really the only reason I keep Windows around (Touhou does not run perfectly in Wine, in my experience). If I didn't need the games, I would destroy that partition.

    I'm sure there are other good reasons to dual-boot, too. Like, maybe you want a DEB-based system and a RPM-based system or something, right? Debian and Fedora, side-by-side? That doesn't sound useful? What if a binary is only available in one format and not the other? More reason to dual-boot than just "I need Windows for this one specific task."

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    Let q be a radix > 1. I am in ur base-q, killing 10 d00ds.