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Using Windows 7 RC? Pay Up Or Auto Shutdown Warned
CWmike writes with a warning that free preview copies of Windows 7 in the wild will start nagging users to pay up in a couple of weeks until ultimately shutting down the PC altogether in a month. "Microsoft unveiled the schedule for Windows 7 Release Candidate's retirement in May 2009, when it issued the early look to the public. At the time, it said Windows 7 RC would expire June 1, 2010. Before that date, however, users are to receive warnings of the impending end. Starting on Feb. 15, Windows 7 RC will display notices every few hours that the machine will periodically shut down beginning on March 1. As of March 1, PCs running Windows 7 RC will automatically shut down every two hours. Those shutdowns will come without warning."
BFD. You didn't pay for it, and it's Microsoft. What do you expect?
Uh, it's going to notify you... ...that's warning.
Unless they're also going to disable booting an Ubuntu install DVD, I don't see how anyone could have a problem with this. Windows is a commercial product. If you don't want to pay for it, use one of the entirely credible free alternatives.
This should not be a surprise to anyone. Why is this news?
PCs running Windows 7 RC will automatically shut down every two hours. Those shutdowns will come without warning
The periodic shutdowns aren't actually part of the trial restrictions. They're built in to celebrate the 10th anniversary of windows ME
That's still a pretty good stability improvement over WindowsME.
"...will automatically shut down every two hours. Those shutdowns will come without warning." My office computer already does this.
I'm going to assume you are trying for a joke here. In either case, you are doing something wrong.
People who've forgotten or being lazy. Not only do they want your cash, but supporting prerelease software is a recipe for problems. They'd like to phase it out and not patch it.
Nice post there: Completely devoid of any bias towards Microsoft/Windows...
Ok, let me turn off my sarcasm-mode first.
So why the negative article about this? All the users knew beforehand that the free trial would end one day: Saying that it's "nagging" the user to pay up, is nothing more than using some fine choice of words to make it look bad on Microsoft.
Seriously, there's lots of other stuff that you can slack MS for, and you have to do it for this?
Also, you got to love the 'it will shutdown without a warning'... but it warns you from the 15th of February...
Next up: Adobe nags the users after one month of using their trial software. Oh, the horror!
When you shoot a mime, do you use a silencer?
What service does this auto shutting down reside in and how do we disable it?
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
I know this is Slashdot and all, but I've been running Windows 7 right from the public beta, through RC and final, and it never once bluescreened on me and all shutdowns were for updates or manual restarts.
This space for rent.
I see where you are going there...
In all honesty, when was the last time you saw a BSOD? I have been running XP at work with 100% uptime for years, and for quite a while kept a Vista dual-boot for streaming media at home with no issues. At least tout the merits of something superior w/o resorting to tired anti M$ rhetoric.
0 = 1 + e^(Alt something)
Do you expect people to get upset over this? What, are they expecting it to just keep on going? My copy never got out of the virtual box. It's just there to figure out how to learn WTF. Come March.. or February, or whenever, whoopee! 25gb freed up.. for the hacked copy.. just kidding. No name, home made boxes with XP are a booming business right now. 7 is still a giant kludge. It's like Microsoft wants people to switch. Seems to be working.. Lots more Macs in my neighborhood.
For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
Count me as one of the people seeing the nag screens... Installed Ultimate edition 32-bit, have a license of Professional 64-bit. So at some point I am going to have reload the OS. Just not sure it if will be Win 7 Pro-64 or back to XP.
Biggest problem with Windows 7 has been the network performance. On a gigabyte network I can not get better than 100mbs performance, while the Linux and XP machines perform as expected. To make matters worse, the network appears to spike and disconnect itself at random times. Streaming a video from the Windows 7 machine and surfing the web will produce stutters. Talked with a buddy that is a a major account TAM--apparently the networking issue has been well known since the RC and affects nVidia and Intel chipsets. My question to him--so what chipsets does that leave unaffected?
I really tried to like Windows 7 but the more I try to like the more I find thinking Ubuntu is the way to go...
So what? Are there people stupid enough to think that a demo version of any software will run forever without nagging and shutting down, or going into limp mode? This is a completely stupid article totally unworthy of being posted on Slashdot.
If you want a legal, free, [modern] OS without nagging or shutting down, install Linux, BSD, or OpenSolaris. Otherwise, pay up or shut up!
I had used it since last May until last December when I bought a discounted ultimate version for $30. The RC had almost everything the final version had, and it was nice for me to be able to try it out before paying for it (and finding a deal). I have no complaint for something that was free for half a year and as high quality as the official version
What a truly lame story. The biggest flaw with the moderation system is that I can't use my mod points to moderate on the actual stories as well as the comments!
Since the RC doesn't get any updates, less vulnerable boxes in the wild is always good for all of us. Why is this being spun as a bad thing?
This space for rent.
If you could update from the RC to the final I would.
It was explicitly stated during the RC process that it may not be upgradeable to the final version. Anyway, I have updated it and it works fine for me and most. Here's how http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/3075/how-to-upgrade-the-windows-7-rc-to-rtm/
Backup everything and try it before a fresh install.
This space for rent.
Only time my computer's ever crashed since I installed XP was when my secondary drive suffered a head crash. I'm sure someone will tell me that Linux could have kept running, because hey, it wasn't even the root drive. But I can't say I really care.
You don't need to download anything from Steam, just copy the files. There are instructions on their site.
---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
Steam alone is probably going to take all week to get everything re-downloaded.
Just as an fyi: So long as you preserve the Steam directory, you shouldn't need to reinstall any of the games as far as I know. The last few times I have formatted, all I need to do is possibly reinstall the steam client itself and all of my previously installed games have worked fine afterward. It's one reason I tend to get games on Steam now instead of elsewhere if they're released at the same time.
Hey, Paint has a ribbon interface now! That alone is worth top dollar! : )
This space for rent.
I get to pay ...
You don't. You are free to take your money elsewhere - say, to Apple - or keep them to yourself and install some free Linux distro.
Of course, you might want to ask yourself why so many people are willing to fork out the cash for an "operating system that consistently breaks". Perhaps your last Windows experience, circa 2001 (a scarred WinME user?), is a tad outdated, don't you think?
and random restarts of Windows 7 was my idea!
Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
The biggest flaw with the moderation system is that I can't use my mod points to moderate on the actual stories as well as the comments!
That is what the Firehose is (supposed to be) for. You can go to the firehose, set it to show you upcoming stories, and then vote them down if you think they aren't worthy. And if you see stories in the firehose that deserve attention but are not scoring high enough for the front page, you can vote them up at the same time.
And then in proud slashdot tradition, all those votes will be discarded and they will do whatever they feel like (or whatever makes the most money).
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Rebooting every few hours, then not booting at all? Many Windows users will just think this is normal.
After I installed windows 7 ultimate it completely wiped my drive which had windows 7 RC, and installed some bloody system files.
I foolishly was using the drive as storage at the time. One of the worst losses I've been hit with.
I had disconnected all other drives during the actual install of windows 7 ultimate (since windows is infamous for altering boot sectors), and I did not reconnect the other drives until many startups afterwards. Still it managed to completely wipe the drive without me even noticing until a day later.
It could have been much worse. Thank God windows does not understand the ext fs.
no problem, itsa toyota with a push button tranny and a sorta sticky gas pedal...
Serenity now, insanity later.
I'm assuming you haven't used Windows since 98, because my Vista box gets regular heavy usage and has been on for close to 2 months now. I really only have to restart it when I do major updates or on the off chance that some third-party program crashes it.
Isn't this story perhaps a little hysterical? When the RC came out they were very clear that this would happen, they even gave the dates. They were also very clear you may not be able to upgrade from the RC.
Now it's about to happen and people are surprised? People agreed to help test an RC and in return they got almost a years worth of free use out of a fairly stable OS. Trials over, pay up.
So you made fun of your girlfriend by installing an operating system which was specificaly designed with the following in mind:
1. Would cease working after the cut-off time
2. Should NOT be installed on any sort of "production" machines (it's a RC after all)
3. Would not be officially upgradeable to the W7 final
And now you're complaining of all of the above.
It's like buying fresh milk and whining it went bad 4 days later. you had been warned. What did you expect?
If you have a legit purchase, google for the installation workaround. Worked fine in my case. I too had Windows 7 Beta installed on a "production" machine, but was fully aware of the risks and managed to upgrade to final version with ease. But whining about its limitations never crossed my mind.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)