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Microsoft Leaks Windows 7 RC Date — Before May 5
CWmike writes "Microsoft will deliver a release candidate of Windows 7 in about two weeks, the company's Web site revealed Saturday. According to a page posted on Microsoft's partner program site, Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) may be available to paying subscribers to Microsoft's developer and IT services before May 5. Partners will be allowed to download the release candidate on that date, the first Tuesday of the month. 'Partners: If you have a subscription to MSDN or TechNet, you can download Windows 7 RC now,' the page read Saturday afternoon. 'Otherwise, you can download Windows 7 RC starting May 5, 2009.' The link to the download, however, shunted users to the TechNet download page, which did not list Windows 7 RC as one of the available files. This is the second time in just over three weeks that Microsoft's Web site has leaked information about Windows 7 RC. Accidental, or buzz-builder?"
Lust.
Gluttony.
Greed.
Sloth.
Wrath.
Envy.
Pride.
Developers.
Developers.
Developers.
Developers.
Developers.
Developers.
Developers.
Developers.
Well, it takes time to analyze the content you are copying and report it to the RIAA.
The only reason to run Windows 7 is to know what the non-free software world is doing but you can just watch online videos to find that out. I recently did this and here are my impressions in bullet form:
* Windows 7 is a lot like Vista
* next desktop background feature is kind of cool but i saw it in kde4
* new task bar - makes it easier to switch to mac and more annoying to actually switch tasks using a mouse
* control panel still in the new harder to deal with style but not sure if it still loads piecemeal like Vista
* Libraries are introduced as another way to segment your data in an annoying and OS-locked-in way.
Microsoft hasn't had much success with any OSes released since 2002 so it's probably not wise to dick people around too much.
But this time it's going to be perfect. They promised!
ship date? I don't really understand this... if it's 7 1/2 months from RC to ship, how close to an *actual* release candidate is this release candidate? Perhaps it should be called a beta? ::shrug::
I can understand a couple months for mastering and to ship/distribute/market, etc., but still that leaves 4-5 months to resolve testing on this RC "candiate." I guess the Borg just move really slowly on testing :-/
Well, next time, we're going to try their OS in a nice VM where we can test such behavior... while using Ubuntu or other choice Linux distro.
http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2008/02/04/2826167.aspx
XP hid the dialog before the copy was really finished. Vista changed this so you wouldn't pull out a USB key before the operation had finished.
Vista RTM had some copy performance issues but SP1 fixed those, and during Win7 there was a significant focus on improving copy / move / delete performance.
Since when is a press release a "leak"? What, is this British intelligence trying to sex it up a little?
Of course you know, this means war
Todos mis movimientos están friamente calculados
No, buzz builder is the part Slashdot is playing.
Todos mis movimientos están friamente calculados
I thought I'd chime in and ask the undying question of whether Microsoft had come to their senses and finally decided to give free upgrades to Windows Se7en for all legit consumer Vista users.
They could really win some good will back from their users if they did this...kinda like the free Zune* firmware updates for the original players...
*No, I am not a Microsoft apologist, Vista user, or Zune owner. I am typing this from my MacBook while taking a break from my PS3. I just think it would be a good idea for MS to do this for its users. It certainly would be more pro-active than their lame laptop commercials.
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
They know people hate Vista. They know many saw it as the last straw with Windows and switched away from Windows. They know that a lot more are clinging onto XP as if it's their only life raft in a storm. They know that each day that Vista is the current Windows is another day XP users will be tempted to switch away. By holding out the new "Windows which will deliver on all your hopes" just a little longer, that they can stay those hands from making the switch.
The same happened with the Sega Saturm / Sony Playstation. Sega got their console onto the shelves about 1 month before Sony, and console fans were split on whether to wait that little bit longer for the Playstation or buy the Saturn now. Even if the Playstation was delayed a little bit, or out of stock, the carrot was always there, dangling just out of reach but within distance.
By dangling the release in "leaks" which may change later, and making it available to a few, it appears to be very exclusive, which sends another PR message that it's "special". By holding the download window open for a short time, it forces people who want it to act within that window, meaning that it's on their minds during that time. It will translate into a flurry of astorturfing blogs which will no doubt be dugg by fellow astroturfers flaming the fires. All of which sends the message to consumers to just hold on, the cavalry is just around the corner and is on it's way to save you from Vista. All of which conveniently forgets to mention that Vista is just a different regiment under the same flag as the cavalry.
I've been considering using Windows 7 when I buy a new laptop later this year, but I have a serious question:
How the hell do Windows users backup their files?
I haven't used Windows properly since I was a kid, and I didn't care about backups back then. Nowadays I use rsync every day to mirror files onto an external USB drive and over the network. Once a week I do an incremental backup with rdiff-backup.
Are there any basic, robust tools like these for Windows?
Also, what's the new "Power Shell" like? Is it like bash? Can you run curses programs yet, like mutt? Or would I have to learn a GUI like Thunderbird?
I've been on Linux for so long, I'm actually finding it harder than I imagined to see how I can work with Windows again. I tried Vista and it was actually kinda slick, so I wouldn't mind it on my laptop. It seems like a Macbook would be easier though.
Welcome to Redmond, where you have to be a paying member to download a free RC.
Early, or did you miss the 'Otherwise, you can download Windows 7 RC starting May 5, 2009.' in the summary?
Then again - I just tried our MSDN login and, like the article said, there's just the old beta to download.
np: Jared Emerson-Johnson - Attack The Dog (Sam & Max Season One OST (Disc 1))
"I'm not anti-anything, I'm anti-everything, it fits better." - Sole
Guest post by Mary-Jo Enderle
I have seen the future: Windows $NEXT_VERSION Milestone $MOCKUP.
I tried it on a low-end laptop with four Core 2 Duo chips and only 8 gig of memory, and trust me: $NEXT_VERSION is shaping up to be one heck of a product.
WordPad and Paint have seen major overhauls to their user interfaces. Forget the freetards and their "distros" full of all sorts of useless shovelware like "FireFox" and "OpenOffice" and, haha, "GIMP"! -- the bundled software with Windows $NEXT_VERSION is clear, simple, sparse and to-the-point. The much-loved $HATED user interface from Office $HATED_VERSION is now part of WordPad and Paint!
The controversial Digital Rights Management system in Vista has been worked over, with user-downloadable "tilt bits," which you can configure to your own liking. It'll require every user to supply a blood sample for DNA analysis, and the beta nearly took my finger off, but of course that's only if you want to play premium content. The Blu-Ray(tm) of Battlefield Earth was unbelievable on this operating system.
A public beta should be released by the end of this year. There's just no way that Steve "Trains Run On Time" Ballmer will miss the Christmas deadline. The final release should leave the midnight queues on Vista release day -- the street riots, the water cannons, the rubber bullets -- in the shade.
I am so excited about $NEXT_VERSION of Windows. It will go beyond just solving all of the problems with $CURRENT_VERSION, it will be an entirely new paradigm. Forget about security problems, those are all fixed in $NEXT_VERSION. And they're finally ridding themselves of $ANCIENT_LEGACY_STUFF.
Also, there'll be $DATABASE_FILESYSTEM. It'll be awesome!
I wonder how $NEXT_VERSION will compare to $NEXT_NEXT_VERSION.
http://rocknerd.co.uk
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Look at it this way. Vista has been a disaster for Microsoft. Windows 7 is the hopeful salvation. If Microsoft cannot make Windows 7 work and grab marketshare to the level of Windows XP, Microsoft is in deep doo.
So what is a monopolistic comapny to do? Well, one thing is to try to build what the marketeers call a buzz. Will Microsoft succeed? Or have the computing masses tasted the freedom of OS-X and Linux?
Uhhh... yeah... Redmond the only place that offers its paying premium customers early access to its products and services before the general public.
Let's hope they fix the bug in the Program Compatibility Assistance that installers that don't affect certain registry keys in add/remove to have an error. It basically kills off lots of updaters, plugin installers and PortableApps.com Installers:
http://portableapps.com/node/18540
Portable versions of Firefox, GIMP, LibreOffice, etc
If you have a subscription to MSDN or TechNet, you can download Windows 7 RC now
If you have a "ThePirateBay" subscription, you can download Windows 7 RC now.
Well, next time, we're going to try their OS in a nice VM where we can test such behavior... while using Ubuntu or other choice Linux distro.
Amen. Next time I'm installing Windows is the next release that doesn't overwrite GRUB without asking.
Actually yes they did. The first OSX was such a fuming pile of a turd that the first OSX upgrade was free.
But the first OSX made Vista's problems look like first day of school jitters.
Last I checked, you have to pay to download iPhone Beta 3.0.
Watch it buster. You wanna be careful who you set off around here. I suppose you think you're making a point with that remark just because it's true.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Glad to see you're joining the "I'm never installing Windows again" club.
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
What's insightful about this? If I make stuff up that I can't prove, does that make me insightful?
Wow, Microsoft is really trying to run away from Vista as quickly as possible. Could they rush this this to market any more quickly? How long has Vista been ou
Vista has been released in January, 2007. Given that May release date is for RC, and assuming that final build of 7 comes sometime this summer, this makes it 2.5 years.
and has there been a major new version of Windows ever released in such a short time frame?
Yes, absolutely. For example, NT 4 was released slightly over a year after NT 3.51, and was a very major update. WinXP took slightly less than 2 years from Win2K. In fact, so far, over 5 years it took for Vista is the longest it ever was, and ~2.5 years would be quite average.
I think in their desperate rush, they are likely to make the same mistakes again. Will MS ever take the effort to rebuild the system properly?
Most Vista problems were bugs and performance - which do not require a major rewrite to fix; and hardware/software compatibility, which is a problem that solves itself over time. In any case, Win7 beta is publicly available today, so you can always install it and see for yourself.
OSX 10.0 would freeze up sometimes if you plugged in a USB mouse. Vista has its niggling problems, but nothing like that.
Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
No. It makes you Informative.
Probably a few days after Apple gives away a *point release* of it's OS...
Michael J. Ryan - tracker1.info
Just edit your post.
Now where are those sarcsm tags...
Mod +1 Inciteful.
While I would agree that overwriting GRUB/LiLo/Your Bootloader Here is annoying, the average user is orders of magnitude more likely to have an issue with a corrupted, windows-written bootloader than a conflict with an intentionally installed one.
Well, I'm not the average user, and if Microsoft can't accept it, I won't pay them.
Even at that, Windows would have to be added to the list. To my knowledge, that would have to be done manually by the user.
"[ ] Don't install bootloader (WARNING: say yes only if you know why!)" There. Was it so difficult? And those who know why, know how.
Vista never had any DRM of any kind built-in, other than the DRM support in WMP that was in XP.
Certainly nothing at all that affects copy operations in the shell. That notion is absurd (I'm a shell developer, I would know).
It's just a ridiculous myth that gets repeated on Slashdot and nowhere else.
estimate 1: nt4 (900 days), 2000 (1200 days) and xp (600 days), at around 1000 days of development. windows 7 started around oct 2006. that puts rtm at jun-09. (vista was about 2000 days, but lets overlook that)
estimate 2: xp and vista both had about 2-3 months from rc to rtm. that puts rtm at jul/aug.
What's insightful about this? If I make stuff up that I can't prove, does that make me insightful?
New here, eh?
Ubuntu 8.10 = $0
Ubuntu 9.04 = $0
Only if your time is free.
Oh, and don't forget to include the price of office, anti-virus and countless utils that are free under linux and come on the CD/Iso.
The ones that are piss poor (AV), not compatible with the business world (office) and stuff you're unlikely to ever use (countless shite) or are piss poor rip-offs of decent stuff or of a graphical quality that Windows had in the 1990's(games). Perhaps you'd like to tell me where all the drivers are for the countless stuff I have which doesn't work? Hell, I can't even upgrade to Ubuntu 9.04 because they've fucked up support for Intel graphics.
I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either. - Scott Adams
If you had to use Microsoft products all day you too would have lost your sense of humor long long ago.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
As a user of both, I assure you: no it didn't.
Yes it did. At release, you simply could not buy hardware that could run OS X 10.0 well. Indeed, this quite arguably remained true all the way through to 10.2.
For all the complaints about Vista's performance, you could still buy a PC more than beefy enough to run it quickly for under a grand US$ even on the day it was released. It took Apple a couple of *years* to a) release hardware fast enough, and b) optimise OS X sufficiently, that it could be considered "fast".
I bave Windows 7 a try. The installation not only overwrote grub, it also wiped my Linux boot partition out of the partition table. Those had fairly simple work arounds, (use fdisk to recreate the partition table, reinstall grub) but this is not nice behaviour :).
Given the performance issues, I will stay with XP for the three or four Windows apps I cannot do without.
Protected Media Path is NOT DRM. And it was included in Windows XP under a different name.
It is a platform service which enables application developers to meet the requirements imposed by certain content protection standards. It is in of itself completely unaware of any DRM schemes or media types.
It is also completely inactive and irrelevant until somebody's code calls the necessary APIs. Enabling PMP features doesn't impact performance, and the PMP code is ONLY run while an application is actively making use of it.
Windows Explorer makes no use of these features. Hell, its features (securing the audio / visual outputs and running decoders in a protected process) are completely inapplicable to the file browser. The only applications included in Windows which make use of it are Media Player and Media Center. And as I already said, even if you are running one of those applications (with media like BluRay which enables these features), there is no perceivable performance impact on your system.
If you really don't like the Protected Media Path services, nothing stops you from using a media player which doesn't make use of the PMP APIs. And the assertion that the presence of this platform service somehow affects file copy performance is proposterous.
"[ ] Don't install bootloader (WARNING: say yes only if you know why!)" There. Was it so difficult?
Yes.
Just callin' it like I see it.