Here's a shot of me running Windows 7
Posted on 10/27/2009 12:55:48 AM PDT by Swordmaker
Steve Ballmer recently stated that Windows 7 is the best version of Windows ever. Now that Windows 7 is officially out, the public at large can join that debate and determine if Windows 7 is the best version of Windows yet, or even the greatest operating system of all time. Let's consider the hypothetical question of whether Windows 7 is the greatest operating system of all time.
Before the flaming comments start flowing about what a Microsoft fanboy I am, let me begin by stating that it's a hypothetical question, not a statement of opinion, never mind an assessment of any empirical facts.
How do you even measure such a thing, though? Choosing the ‘best' operating system is a little like selecting the ‘best' religion. They all have their pros and cons and the decision is very subjective because what one person considers a feature, the next person considers a bug.
Windows 7 has been favorably reviewed thus far and it seems to be doing well out of the gate, but, let's take a look at some factors you might consider in trying to choose the best operating system ever.
(Excerpt) Read more at pcworld.com ...
Apple haters infest MAC threads and Microsoft haters infest Windows threads. And Linux people are equal opportunity infesters.
And it’s the same tired arguments every damn time.
Discuss facts and offer opinions, fine, but this endless mudslinging is so tiresome.
I’ve read a lot about Ubuntu 9.1 and it is supposed to one of the most modern Linux distributions out there. But whether it has the wide hardware support of Windows is something else, especially if you’re dealing with the newest hardware.
Probably.
...or even the greatest operating system of all time.
Probably not.
Right, fanbois stay home. Vista was a dog, I have stayed with XP. I was impressed with the Win7 betas however. If I can get Win7 at a decent price (student discounts), I'll probably start using it.
One thing I have noted about ALL popular OS's t(Win, Mac, Linux), is that they slow down with time, and as you install programs. Windows more so than the others. Hopefully they have addressed this.
No idea what you are talking about. I’ve never heard of mouse problems in Ubuntu.
I have a rather large selection of computers including Macs, Linux and Windows boxes. I generally use the Windows machines for everyday and work tasks, but I’m addicted to Gnome Mahjong and the shiny 24” iMac looks nice.
I installed Win 7 yesterday. The install was reasonably simple. I managed to find the places I needed to get it onto my school’s domain and setup printer and disc sharing. My only serious complaint was the hard disc partitioning screens were a bit confusing. I think it was making some virtual partitions to backup the existing data that didn’t exist.
I’ll try to use that machine a few hours a day and see how I like it. So far, so good. It recognized and installed all of my peripherals including a Dell 1320C color laser printer (not too common) and an HP LJ2100 (old). It seemed to have gone to the Internet to find the drivers, but I can’t be sure. I can’t think of any other reason to take two minutes to do the install. I can’t recall it asking for permission or requiring any action on my part to make it happen.
I installed AVG anti-virus (free) without incident. I’m going to use the network to send over some of my old programs like Paintshop 5, Doom, Snood, Zelda (the original), Atomic Clock, Agent and E-mage to see if they run correctly today.
I installed it on a 2 year old Athlon with only 1 gig of RAM to see how it compares to XP in resource usage, speed and reliability.
The clock started running on it on 26 October, 2009. I’ll leave it on until it crashes. It is running Outlook through a corporate Exchange server with push email updates. That will guarantee that it is doing something on a regular basis.
I’m not going to claim that the HW support comes near that of Windows, but the gap is closing pretty quickly. There are good drivers for most standard, off-the-shelf HW you will find out there currently being sold. Older stuff, not so much.
My printer is not supported - and there are no factory Win7 drivers
My scanner is not supported - and there are no factory Win7 drivers
My TV tuner is not supported - and there are no factory Win7 drivers
and my video card (an 8800GTS/512, only eighteen months old, installed when I built this PC in spring '08) "does not support Windows 7 Aero features" even with the newest drivers.
So just as with Vista and XP: nVidia, HP, Canon, and Hauppage would like me to replace all this perfectly serviceable hardware just so I can use the New OS.
No thanks. My XP/Ubuntu dual boot system does everything I need, including some fairly intense gaming and video editing.
I just chatted with HP “live” support online yesterday and they told me HP plans a large-scale rollout of Windows 7-specific drivers late this year and early 2010. And this includes a very sophisticated driver for the Officejet “all-in-one” multifunction printers.
Have you been paying attention?
The upgrade Wizard isn't accurate about the video requirements. The 8800GTS will support Aero just fine.
The other stuff, hard to say. I've installed W7 on a number of machines in the past 6 months and everything has worked so far.
Win 7 is probably the best OS, Microsoft has ever released. It installs fast and boots fast. It’s a huge improvement over Vista.
OS X is still MUCH better, IMO. Every thing works out of the box with minimal tweaking and OS X is 1000 times more pleasing to my eye to work with. If we could afford it, this would be a Mac only home.
I used Win7 for a couple of months (Enterprise Edition) and it never crashed but the networking was a PITA. I dumped windows from my wireless use laptop and am running Mint Linux now and it’s perfect for what I need this laptop to do.
Congratulations on the new rig!
I am using Windows 7 now, and it is really great. A huge improvement over Vista.
I am not sure how much more Windows 7 adds to the cost of a brand new computer, but I am guessing MSFT doesn’t charge the manufacturer more than $40 for it.
I bought a legal discounted version on ebay for less than that.
Ballmer’s not a politician but he has not had a propensity for telling the truth often.
I like Xp, it finally became pretty stable. Have been using Vista and I am pleasantly surprised as it works quite well.
Few more years and the kids will be on their own and I too (like another here wrote) will move to Linux. Sticking currently only because it’s easier for the children and the ‘bill of goods’ the schools have been sold by Micro$oft.Which flavor I haven’t decided. Use Ubuntu on a laptop now and really do like it.
“According to netmarketshare.com, Windows XP has 71.51 percent of the operating system market, followed by Windows Vista at 18.62 percent. Lumping versions together, Windows has 92.77 percent, followed by Mac at 5.12 percent, with Linux coming in third at just under one percent. “
If Linux is so great how come it has a miniscule market share? Linux is supposed to be great for servers , not for pcs.
One big drawback is that Linux is not bundled with PC’s when sold. Why? Microsoft has the $$$$$ to pay to keep them out and they do.
The majority of people buy a PC with the OS already installed on it. When your choice (by the retailer) is basically only windows (Linux at an additional cost) ... guess what people go with. That’s right, Windows.
Linux is a great product, in my estimation. True, I am no expert. Nor am I someone who would move masses of people to buy it. I do know that if they gave it a try ... they’d like it.
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