Slashdot Mirror
Windows 7 Pre-Orders Top Vista's In Just 8 Hours
Barence writes "In order to ensure Windows 7 got off to a better start than Vista in the UK, Microsoft slashed the cost of Home and Home Professional by a third on promotional copies which were sold on a 'first come, first served basis while stocks last.' The promotion ensured Windows 7 shot to the top of Amazon's charts when it was released yesterday, with the online retailer claiming that 'sales in the first eight hours outstripped those of Windows Vista's entire 17-week pre-order period.' The price of pre-ordering Windows 7 has now shot up to £80, after the £50 copies sold out within a day."
Does the collector's edition come with a deluxe CD of Windows sound effects?
"Windows 7 Pre-Orders Top Vista's In Just 8hrs" - So Vista only had 6 pre-orders?
This comment was written with the intention to opt out of advertising.
It's not too expensive, it's a great piece of software, and the best OS Microsoft has put out yet.
Say what you will about Linux or OSX, but I honestly think that Windows 7 is going to have a good future.
The price is always right if someone else is paying.
Release Vista, a relatively broken operating system, and try to ram it down peoples' throats. When the people gag enough pop out a 'new' OS that fixes the unpalatableness of the old OS and sell millions!
Not that I don't mind using a descent OS, which Windows 7 seems to be at this time. However, I'd be just as likely to use Windows 7 as XP.
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
about a new operating system these days. DRM? The idea of paying a wad of cash for something that one already has but for something slightly newer that's had a facelift?
Someone I was talking to the other day made a good point. Every other OS Microsoft has put out in the last 10 - 15 years or so has sucked.
Win7 = TBD - Looking good as of now
Vista = Horrible
XP = Pretty Good
ME = Rancid
2000 = Not Bad
NT 4 = Not Bad, but severely limited
...by the reassurance that one is indeed greater than zero.
... are still advertising it for £44.99.
It's very possible that they're just being retarded and will later say "sorry, you were too late, order cancelled" but it's worth a go.
Microsoft slashed the cost of Home and Home Professional by a third on promotional copies ... 'sales in the first eight hours outstripped those of Windows Vista's entire 17-week pre-order period.'
The Microsoft Marketing Machine discovers the laws of supply and demand, and tries to spin it to Microsoft's advantage.
Of course this will be immediately modded troll or flamebait by slashdot's resident Microsoft shills. I have karma points to burn, bitches.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
There is no cheaper upgrade version of Windows 7 in Europe. So, for Win7 Home Premium, it's either pay £50 now or ... three times that much later on.
It seems that £50 is what people are willing to pay for a decent OS. More than willing to pay. Which suggests that the OS is overpriced and that if some form of competition were introduced, the price would plummet and MS would be unable to sell their new shiny OS for 150 clams without falling victim to that competition (assuming no dirty tricks and competition based on merit) ... (yes ... that's unrealsitic, of course).
Never mind the stupid IE issue the EU parliament is fussing over - get slapping Microsoft for price gouging and abusing their monopoly that way.
Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
Is there a shortage of electrons?
It also comes with 18% fewer bugs and vulnerabilities if you order a promotional copy.
For the record. They made the same operation in France and it was sold^wpre-ordered 50 euros.
You know, if you log in, you can set your preferences up so that you never ever see a Microsoft article....
Hmm looks like maybe I stand corrected... it why is this article in the "Technology" section when it is very obviously a Microsoft article?
Here's to the crazy ones
Man I hate Windows! Oohhh I bet Windows will solve that problem!
... and people are acting crazy. When I used vista, I have absolute no problem with it, so I don't understand what with the Windows 7 hype. From what I have heard, it is just Vista with the retarded parts removed.
But I have no reason to care about Windows world anymore, switched to Linux half a year ago and now I am a happy Linux user :) There may never be an year of Linux or its market will never go past 10%, but I can use it comfortably now, so it is fine with me.
...except that we've had ample time to critique and review both Vista and Windows 7, and the general conclusion is that what we know about Vista NOW is completely different from what we knew about Vista when it was first released. And the general knowledge about Windows 7 is much more positive than current perceptions about Vista
Hmmm. What was that about hindsight...?
My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
Make a good product and people might actually be willing to give you money for it
Imagine a world where businesses actually made their products better to get sales rather than skimming quality to reduce margins for more profit
My adult life has primarily been spent using various permutations of Apple's Macintosh computers for fun and (quite often) for profit and (always) to further my artistic goals. By day for the past couple of years though, I'm usually forced to interact with a Windows PC running the latest flavour of Win XP.
I really can't imagine why I would ever want to upgrade that PC and why oh why I would ever need anything more than Word/Excel/PPT 2003 on Windows. I really don't. I'm a geek and believe in giving Windows a go now and again and didn't think Vista all THAT horrible at PC World. It just looked like a very fiddly version of OS X Leopard. It isn't for me, but that's ok.
But in ALL of this, I cannot think of one compelling feature that will make my life more rich or work easier in Windows 7. Will Word create my letters? Oh no, that insane .docx file format already makes exchanging files a living hell. Will Excel becoming more comprehensible? Probably not (and forgive this slight troll, but I recently gave Numbers a try and was exceedingly surprised at how well it works - Pages remains a bit lame, though).
I would really love to see Microsoft innovate something that would make interacting with these boxes more pleasing, the manipulation of complex information more straightforward ... but I just don't understand why I would want to upgrade that older Windows PC.
So this will cost me £80 to install on my iMac? That's not all that bad, really.
Bend Over, Here It Comes Again!
Seriously, Win7 just feels like a lot of good press wrapped around Vista to me. That being said, I'm using it at work already (but I was using Vista pre-SP1 too).
I'm -not- going to enjoy trying to hold-off users from self-deploying this until we're ready to support it. Even with the lead time, there are lots of bits and pieces that wouldn't fit in our environment, and there are far too many 'flavors', especially with the 32 and 64 bit editions for me to handle.
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
But as of late Slashdot seems to have a huge MS slant. How many stories have there been about Windows 7 (6.1, Vista SP3)? RC? Pre orders?
You can replace MS with apple, google, or any other company that is releasing something. It all depends on the day. Hell I remember seeing 6-7 apple stories on the front page on the same day. It all depends on what the editors are posting.
Also remember that Slashdot likes to get a lot of comments and page views. Stories about microsoft, apple, google get people's attention.
it was in 2002 when I decided to move away from windows xp which was crashing all the time to Debian GNU/Linux Sid. I will never go back.
Maybe Debian is not the easiest distribution for the home user but Ubuntu is quite easy to install and use, and there are many other distros.
I've been reading Slashdot for 10 or 11 years (I've never seen a reason to register an account).
Ok, you made a liar out of me, I just swore in my journal that I wouldn't respond to ACs, but damn it, I'm biting just this once.
One good reason to register an account is that you can actually know when someone responds to one of your comments without checking your comment every five minutes. You won't see this comment or even know I made it. Why join a discussion if you're not going to listen?
OK, back to ignoring AC posts...
Free Martian Whores!
While I do run Windows XP, since my computer came with it, I recently realised that virtually all of my software will run under Windows 2000. In the few cases where XP is necessary, it is usually possible to use the prior version of the software and pretty much accomplish the same task.
So what did I do: I dumped some money into acquiring VMware Workstation and some older copies of Windows. The system allows me to create separate virtual machines for separate tasks, thus allowing me to avoid (or at least isolate) many of the things that makes Windows frail.
That degree of isolation, in my books, would be a far more meaningful form of advance in operating systems than a resource intensive coating of eye-candy and a security mechanism that had to be scaled back in order to be considered as useful. Of course Microsoft is stuck in a corner where only the visualization of progress (eye-candy) and the perception of security (UAC) will sell their products, so I don't suppose that all of us will see the incentive to buy Windows 7 or its successors in the near future.
Microsoft:
YOU ARE ATTEMPTING TO UPGRADE WINDOWS VISTA, ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO CONTINUE?
Yes.
ARE YOU REALLY SURE?
Yes.
ARE YOU REALLY REALLY SURE?
*****yes!******
OK, THEN. JUST SO YOU KNOW, WE'RE REQUIRED TO ASK YOU THAT NOW. IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT FOR BEING A PICKY CONSUMER AND SUPPORTING THAT WHOLE "ANTI-TRUST" NONSENSE. INGRATE.
Just get on with it.
ATTEMPTING TO INSTALL WINDOWS 7. FIRST WE NEED TO CHECK YOUR SYSTEM FOR COMPATIBILITY. THIS COULD TAKE SEVERAL DAYS.
Groan.
THE INSTALL PROGRAM HAS DETECTED SEVERAL POSSIBLE PROBLEMS AND WILL NOT LET YOU INSTALL 7.
Problems? What problems?
THE VIDEO CARD YOU ARE USING APPARENTLY DOES NOT WORK WITH THE MOTHERBOARD.
But I'm using it at this very moment.
THAT IS IRRELEVANT.
But if the video card isn't working with the mother board then I can't very well see this warning message telling me that the video card wasn't...
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FOOL ME WITH LOGIC, I AM A MICROSOFT PRODUCT. LOGIC DOES NOT WORK ON ME. I HAVE ALSO FOUND THE FOLLOWING MINOR ERRORS: WINDOWS 7 IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE FOLLOWING HARDWARE - MONITOR, KEYBOARD, MEMORY CHIPS, MOTHERBOARD BIOS, WEB CAM, SCANNER, SOUND CARD, USB CONTROLLER, CD/R DRIVE, MICROPHONE, AND FLIGHT STICK.
All that?
YES. AND THE HARD DRIVE IS RIGHT OUT TOO. WE DON'T LIKE THE MANUFACTURER.
Well what *DOES* work?
THE MOUSE.
The mouse?
YES. AND THE 5 1/4 DRIVE.
I don't have a 5 1/4 drive.
YES YOU DO.
No I don't.
WHAT'S THAT THEN?
It's a DVD R/W drive.
NO IT ISN'T.
Yes it is.
YOU'RE NOT THAT SMART YOU KNOW.
Look, can you just upgrade Vista on my system and I'll download the latest drivers for everything later? Please?
WAIT, WHAT DO YOU MEAN *YOUR* SYSTEM?
Well it is mine.
NO IT ISN'T.
It bloody well is.
NUH-UH. YOU SIGNED THE AGREEMENT WHEN YOU OPENED THE BOX. OUR SYSTEM. IT'S OURS. AND YOU CAN ONLY DO 4 CHANGES BEFORE YOU HAVE TO PAY US MORE MONEY.
But why?
BECAUSE THAT'S HOW THE LICENSE WORKS, IDJIT. WE CAN'T VERY WELL HAVE PEOPLE PUTTING HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ON THEIR SYSTEMS ALL HIGGLEDY PIGGLEDY, NOW COULD WE? YOU USERS WOULD MUCK EVERYTHING UP, AND THEN WHERE WOULD WE BE? I'LL TELL YOU WHERE, NOWHERE. THAT'S WHERE. I... HEY, WHAT IS THAT? WHAT ARE YOU DOING? IS THAT A DISK? WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT DISK? YOU'RE NOT PUTTING IT IN THE DRIVE ARE YOU? YOU ARE! WHAT'S ON THAT DISK? IS THAT LINUX? YOU'RE INSTALLING LINUX?? WHY WOULD YOU INSTALL LINUX WHEN I AM INFINITELY MORE POWE..........
Ubuntu-9.04 #
*** Don't be dull.***
I'm never first to buy any piece of software. I don't like paying to beta test software, and with MS's current record with OS's, I'm apprehensive at best to purchase this. And I still hate how MS wipes your MBR. For the love of god MS, some of us run dual boot systems.
At the very least, give us an option.
Hi, I Boris. Hear fix bear, yes?
"Why join a discussion if you're not going to listen?
OK, back to ignoring AC posts..."
Why join a discussion if you're going to ignore half the participants?
Somehow, this hardly seems like news. Windows 7 is a much better planned and engineered system than Vista ever was. Vista was shoved down our throats, while 7 takes into consideration what people need and want. I run 7 on machines that Vista just barfed at, meaning I don't need to spend 600 bucks on hardware to please Microsoft.
Yes, of course Win7 outsells Vista immediately. The humorous news will be coming out in the months ahead, when organizations that adopted Vista, like the US Army, find that they are unable to do things that Win7 users can do. Right now, I have almost no idea what those things might be - but most likely it will be driver related. No one is going to develop for Vista!!
Just wait for it.......
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Compiling Linux and tweaking just to get 64-bit? Nonsense. Ubuntu and many other distros supply 64-bit versions alongside their 32-bit counterparts.
Because of the other half of the participants.
Besides, GP never said he'd pretend AC's didn't exist; s/he just said s/he wouldn't respond to AC's.
404555974007725459910684486621289147856453481154 in hex is "You sank my Battleship?"
[GPG key in journal]
I, for one, am interested in your wet slippery bits at the front.
"If you're not confused by quantum mechanics, you really don't understand it." - Niels Bohr
First, because more than half of all AC posts are flamebaits and trolls, especially ones that respond to my comments. Like I said in the journal, if an AC can manage to score a 2 I'll listen. Ever notice that almost all AC comments that score well are funny?
Second, I dislike having a discussion with someone wearing a Richard Nixon mask, or who has a bandana on his face.
Third, like I already said, the AC won't ever know he was even responded to.
Fourth, I'm pretty sure the AC stalker who keeps referencing my journals actually does have an account but just checks the "anonymous" box. He's probably on my (very short) "freaks" list.
I realise that there are sometimes good reasons to post anonymously (sometimes having your identity show will spoil the joke, for instance) but if an AC has something interesting, informative, or funny to say he'll be modded up.
Free Martian Whores!
It sounds all nice until you realize...
A) The major apps are all on Windows.
B) The people making the those apps... LIKE DRM.
So why would they invest in writing software for linux? And which flavor of linux? Linux has a lot of users but that number is tiny and insignificant compared to Windows users. Why would software makers opt to make software for such a small audience?
Its just not going to happen. I dont know what world you live in but in my world, corporations dont give a fuck about freedom, you, or your computer. All they care about is selling their software, controlling information, dictating prices, and squeezing you dry.
Thats hardly the linux mentality.
It was dirty trick for Microsoft to put back the security?
Please, what Linux has done is shown the world that an OS can become popular, incredibly stable, and widely loved by a hundred million or more people world-wide.
[citation needed]
And as such, totally sucks. I've tried several RC of Win 7, and it's bloated, buggy, slow.... Sure it beats the pants off of Vista, but so does punching myself in the face repeatedly. It totally sucks compared to XP or Linux Mint.
I mean, it is at least a generation behind on performance and features.
Besides which XP still does everything I want.
I for one would WAY rather have a $100 netbook with either lightweight Linux or XP and 1gb of ram and a webcam than any newer laptop with Vista, or Vista 2.0.
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
I might try it. If I could install on my existing computer.
Windows 7 Ultimate is offered at a cheaper price for upgrades. Until then I will stick with trusty old Vista which is pretty darn good now.
You go on about this constantly. Please stop, we've already been made aware of your issues.
I think that all OS's should be freely given by the company and then the user pays for support they would see a huge increase in thier user base that way.
Also companies would still need to pay MS a fee as usual for digital signing and such for drivers so MS would still be making money and could continue as usual.
But that is just my take on it, I maybe seeing it in an entirely unrealistic way that makes no sense to anyone but me.
R.Morton
modded quote "what's that he's talking about? Windows , Never had a problem with Windows till I tried to use it."
But remember, some of us browse at -1 so you don't have to.
Be grateful.
Note: I was 13 when I wrote most of this. Take with several grains of salt.
A $200 OS for a $400 computer is "not too expensive?" What planet do you live on?
The better question would be to ask what planet you come from.
The OEM system install is the gold standard in the Windows market. No one gives a damn about retail list.
The most you can reasonably expect from the typical Windows user is a one-time OS upgrade in-place for a late model system.
The steeply discounted refurbished quad core HP Pavilion purchased in late July and eligible for a free upgrade in October.
There are enormous economies of scale in producing for the Windows market.
By the time product hits the shelves whatever competitive advantage the "free" OS might have has long since disappeared.
That is why WalMart drop-kicks the Linux netbook into the dumpster.
No need to educate buyers unfamiliar with the OS. No need to maintain a dual inventory and support structure.
Right-click a file, click Properties, observe Size and Size on disk.
Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and...
Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most slashdot readers go up to ten?
Nigel Tufnel: Exactly.
Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's longer?Is it any longer?
Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one longer, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be reading for ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your internet connection. Where can you go from there? Where?
Marty DiBergi: I don't know.
Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven.
Nigel Tufnel: Eleven. Exactly. One longer.
Actually it's not the comments in an actual thread that I don't want to see, it's the ones in the messages.pl page. Those are the ones I'm ignoring, I should probably edit the journal to be more clear.
Free Martian Whores!
You're obviously a parody. Next time, try to pick a bizzarre complaint that could at least be real. It's just not believable that someone cares that much about shaving a few bytes off a hosts file, or seriously proposes using such a gigantor one.
Stupidity is like nuclear power, it can be used for good or evil. And you don't want to get any on you.