So, MS finally debuts the huge Vista patch called 7. If you paid for Vista, you have to pay again for this patch under the guise of an upgrade. Eventually, I may use 7 in the future, but I am glad I never paid one penny for Vista.

So Seven or lets call it what it really is, Vista Release 2, is going be faster and have features that might really work? It will use less ram, it will boot faster, the UAC will not be such a pain? Will the defrag now put back in it a graph to show how long it will take?

If it does all this, and had (it will not) program compatibility, then instead of calling it Windows Seven or Vi$ta Release 2 (R2), why not call it Windows XP Pro? And skip Vista and Seven completely. Dual boot XP with Linux, and you will have the best of both worlds. Sad when the best that Microsoft might do is to try and reinvent XP with Windows Seven. But Seven will never be able to run all the programs and games that XP did.

That is the problem for Microsoft, isn't it? Windows Seven will be measured by Joe Willcox compared to Windows Vista, but the public and companies, will measure Windows Seven compared to XP Pro, and some will even , the more knowledgeable, will dare to compare it to Linux and Mac. I believe, it, Seven will fall very short in all comparisons, except to Vista.

So they show a feature-limited demo of "W7" on a super-fast machine and claim the experience is representative of a product that won't ship for another 12 months. Fools rush in, the Press goes gaga, and the world is saved!

Rinse & repeat as needed...

Joe Willcox says:
"In a stunning announcement, Steven showed his personal Windows 7 machine: A netbook with 1GHz processor and 1GB of memory. But only about half the memory is available after bootup. Still, this is important, because Vista demands too many resources for most netbooks."
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What exactly is "stunning" about this Joe???? Quote: "A netbook with 1GHz processor and 1GB of memory." If memory serves me right, even Vista would run with that. Where it might run into problems on the netbook is the video card, limited resolution, etc. Instead of making an version of Seven that will run on current Netbooks, Microsoft has got a Netbook OEM, to make a more powerful netbook, that Seven, the next Vista, can run on.

The sad part, is that you, Joe, are going ga ga over this, and not reporting it as what it actually is, just more Microsoft bad PR.

It still requires too much ram. Wasn't Vista Basic min requirements an 800 mhz P3? So where is this an improvement? All I see is that MS has a video driver, most likely made by the Netbook video card chipset maker, and not by them. That is most likely the only new thing.

Did they manage to fix that bug where you cannot delete a file in use yet?

Whoopee. To little to late.

WOW, the Ribbon added in Paint and Notepad, two minor apps I never use. Reason enough to give MS hundreds more of my hard earned money? NOT!

Joe, is MSFT going release WinFS (Windows File System) in Seven or not? It was supposed to be in Longhorn, but MSFT could not make it work. Then its was supposed to be in Vista, and then in Vista's SP1. How come in Linux and Mac we don't need a defrag like Windows still does? And running defrag in the background like Vista does, constantly trashing the hard drive, and using up the computer's resources is a very poor alternative.

Please ask these questions of MSFT if you have the chance. That would be nice, inside of feeding us their PR line.

Unless Microsoft releases this version as an update and for free, they will lose money. Those who ran to get Vista will be the last to spend a dime, and those who waited with XP and watched the Vista disaster learned the lesson.
I just bought a MacBook Pro and slapped Windows XP to run under the leopard OS...I wish Apple would release its OS as open source, sell their OS and hardware bundled to the US government at cost, and watch Microsoft wither under obsolescence. Here is my pledge: I will not succumb to spending a penny for a Microsoft product, so you hackers out there, get hacking key generators.
The day an OS is open source and free is near, too bad Linux never caught on with the masses.

Gerald :wrote

"Unless Microsoft releases this version as an update and for free, they will lose money. Those who ran to get Vista will be the last to spend a dime, and those who waited with XP and watched the Vista disaster learned the lesson."

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That will do more to help MSFT than any $300 million ad campaign.

Lets see, no real improvements in Windows Seven over Vista. More GUI eye candy and User interface reorganization, just what we needed. I would have thought Microsoft had learned its lession by screwing up the Vista UI and renaming everything and moving things around where it was harder to find and causing unnecessary pain for its users. Its not like there was a cry from users for Microsoft to do this.

There was so many things that Microsoft should have done, instead, they screwed with the UI more again. How about making Windows more secure on the internet from malware, that would have been nice. Defrag should have been a thing of the past. Windows should be able to be installed and play nice with other OS on the same hard drive as well.

Just a prediction, Microsoft and its "Cloud" azuse, platform on top of Seven, is going run greatly afoul of the EU. Installing Silverlight by default in Seven most likely is an EU court case and fine waiting to happen.

Joe said "New feature Jumplist is a pop-up menu for doing user-specific tasks related to the application window, such as accessing recently opened documents in Word."

- Well I dont know about anyone else, but Im convinced. Where can I get a copy of this ground breaking OS and who do I make the cheque payable to?

Seriously though, is this going to be one of the features that they try to sell Windows 7 on? Wheres Andre Da Costa? he must be wetting himself with excitement over that feature.

MS out of touch? Im not even sure that they are existing in the same dimension as us. What people wanted was a stable & reliable OS not MS execs pimping out even more features to the bloated OS.

Not being one to give MS ideas, I think that if Windows 7 is actually any good, they should be giving a free copy to everyone who purchased Vista. It would be a nice gesture, and in 15 years time when technology catches up to the specs that Windows 7 will require (a light hearted exaggeration MS supporters) then people may get their monies worth out of their Vista purchase.

Vista sucks resource! Windows 7? Can it suck resources less? We think not!

I am a XP user and I endorse this message.

What a bunch of fools you are. If I were you I would shut up now before looking more foolish. What you are seeing is a developer build to start building applications against the framework that is under the covers in Win7. Not even close to the feature rich product to come. It isn't even a beta. So if you aren't a developer (and from your stupid comments you aren't smart enough to be one) why would you even look at this right now.

It cracks me up that someone would say "hey who cares they brought out a high end machine and it ran well". That is all you can get in a Mac you idiots. So every argument you make against Microsoft, Apple already does. Why don't they make a OS that works on the old hardware you say. Because that would be foolish. Hardware is getting cheaper and more powerful, so why wouldn't you build software to take advantage of it.

I just love when people complain about the video card requirements and then praise a Mac. What do you think you are paying the $2000 for in that Mac?? Definately a high end video card that still won't play most games.

So seriously, please stop your idiotic comments and be REAL for 5 minutes.

Wow, it seems a lot of people got their feelings hurt when they fell for the Mojave Experiment and now have to vent their frustrations! :P

But devs, take notice: how the product looks and feels is *all* that really matters, never mind if it's a buggy piece of crap, if it looks and feels great it *is* great. No one really cares about what's underneath and perception *is* the truth. No one really cares that OS X has had more than 3 times more flaws fixed that XP (but don't take my word for it, go check out Secunia's site) because since it looks and feels great it *is* great.

Oh well...

As Ive said before, when there is no argument MS agents and supporters turn to personal insults as they dont have grounds for intellectual attack. The poster "Still a bunch of haters that don't understand the concept" uses a format and style of type that is very similar to the user Portuno/Benton or whatever other handle he posts under. (and if you check back over his previous posts here, you can make your own mind up)
Its a very poor show when we cant have a sensible debate without people having to try and be personal about what is, at the end of the day software. Software, that is all, if it gets MS users so annoyed/upset to hear of their "precious" talked about in this way, then I suggest they dont read the comments and stick to Joes articles.
I understand that many pro-MS posters are doing so in a attempt to protect their investments, but do they really need to bring further attention to the shortcomings of MS strategy/software by coming across as rude and ignorant?
Im sure the majority of MS supporters are very nice people (even the ones with stock) Id like to hear from some of them for a change.
Regards.

Bring the ribbon to the OS--barf!

What executive's yearly bonus depends on forcing us to use this piece of GUI junk?

Windows Vista really set the foundation for a lot of the great experiences we saw in the Windows 7 demo and it will continue deliver the rich experiences customers want today until Windows 7 RTM. Joe, you need to check out Arstechnica's interview with Steve Sinofsky who explained very well why Windows Vista is not on most Netbooks. The main reason is disk foot print, not performance as you also try to suggest. Windows Vista runs quite well on most Netbooks, but most of them includes limited storage which wil be changing significantly over the next few months even before Vista is released.

Sheesh people.
If you look at the changes made from Vista to this version I'd actually say Microsoft listened to their end users. Vista was their wake up call and they took notice. Also Vista made software vendors rewrite their programs so they are now more secure (= use less priviledges).

I for one find the developments mentioned about 7 brilliant.
- Faster boot up (Yes, Vista is slow)
- Less intrusive UAC (Yes, it was a pain in Vista)
- A proper taskbar (should have been there ages ago)
- Better integration with mobile devices (would it be a coincidence the next mobile version is 7 too? I don't think so!)
- less disk IO (what was that background index and defrag even all about)

The 'eye candy', as mentioned before, is not needed from a functional point of view. Though it is what sells Macs which have been praised all over the place.

From what I read this is a great step forwards from Vista. A step that is based on customer input. Sure it would have been better if they had put it in Vista in the first place. But then again I've never seen chariots with airbags either. It's a learning process and the outcome improves over time. I reckon the changes mentioned (if delivered upon) would be great.

And sorry for sounding like a fanboy...

Right now until it is officially released and in use all this hype about Windows 7 is just that....hype.

Some of you should check out the Linux forums. They are saying that Windows 7 looks like the KDE 4 desktop. Wow another innovative idea from Linuxosoft...er I mean Microsoft.

Touch screen technology ......yet still another innovative idea from MSFT....even though it has been used for years in slot machines and other gambling devices in the casinos. Windows users will enjoy having a scratched and finger print smudged monitor to surf the internet with.

"7" looks interesting. I am not sold on the touchscreen technology though. IMO, it's useless on a desktop or laptop, where it's much easier and quicker to navigate using a slight movement of the mouse or fingers on the touchpad rather than dragging fingers across the screen.

If 7 is Vista minus the bloat, then it may not be too bad. That said, I still use XP+SP3, for the time being, and I don't see myself giving it up anytime soon, because..ahem...it just works! :P

As for the Windows defrag, that's no longer a problem these days, if you are willing to invest about $50. I have Diskeeper 2008 Pro on a XP production machine, and it defragments 2 terabytes (4x500 GB) of HDDs invisibly in the background and..automatically. And you never notice it running. Just like Linux or Mac, you never need to defrag after you install Diskeeper.

Qoute Andre "Windows Vista really set the foundation for a lot of the great experiences we saw in the Windows 7 demo"

- So it crashed then did it? It hung whilst deleting a file? I bet that was an interesting demo.

Andre, cast your MSmind back to the demos of vista. Do you see any connection? Vista promised much, and Im sure the demos were just as impressive. The actual package was very different.

I wish youd stop with the "rich" comments. The only rich thing about MS is the fat cats in charge.

and if I could make another quote from a MS customer posting earlier,"As for the Windows defrag, that's no longer a problem these days, if you are willing to invest about $50."
Are you serious? So you buy Windows, you need a decent virus checker, a decent spyware software, a defrag package, and youre just willing to dip into your pocket to supply the things that really should be sorted out when you buy the OS itself.

I must be in the wrong business, I never knew customers would so easily part with cash. Its like buying a car only to find that you cant lock it and it will start without keys. Then when it comes to a service, you find there is no warranty and have to pay for that as well.

Goblin :wrote

" you buy Windows, you need a decent virus checker, a decent spyware software, a defrag package, and youre just willing to dip into your pocket to supply the things that really should be sorted out when you buy the OS itself."
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Lifetime anti virus should be provided by Microsoft free of charge for anyone using its operating systems.

After all who gives a spit on how "pretty" the desktop is when the computer is unusable due to some virus.

The ongoing malware and virus problems with Windows have pushed some users to Mac and Linux for good. Microsoft needs to fix this once and for good, or at least provide lifetime protection on any new Windows release.

Mac fanboys need to get a life. They have nothing better than bashing Microsoft products.

Most people need to realize that Windows Seven isn't even in beta stage.

"Lets see, no real improvements in Windows Seven over Vista. More GUI eye candy and User interface reorganization, just what we needed" - Carl

Every operating systems update and add more eye candy when they update their operating system, not just Windows.

Performance wise, Windows Seven isn't going to be any worse than Windows Vista. According to the Windows 7 blog, 7 will boot in 15 seconds. For the specs, it will be the same as Vista for running the new interface. Stability wise, Seven should be more stable than Vista since Seven is built on Vista foundation much like XP was built on 2000.

I never had a problem with Vista. I never had drivers or compatibility problems. Vista rarely crashes on me and on the hardware designed for Vista, Vista runs smoother than XP and Ubuntu too.
UAC? You can turn it off and download a 3rd party firewall. UAC is essentially a warning of a action for user.

I look forward to Windows Seven. If Windows 7 can build on the stable Vista code and keep its promises, Windows 7 should be a tough OS to beat.

Quote Aimran "Mac fanboys need to get a life."

Couldnt answer that, Im a Linux user. The wife has a Mac though. Ill pass your message on.
Regards.

@Aimran

I tried to resist the urge not to quote you further, but im sorry, I could help myself.

"Windows Seven isn't going to be any worse than Windows Vista" - Oh well thats all right then. We were all blown away by the speed in which Vista operated. A one legged dog runs faster than Vista, so your comment doesnt fill me with excitement. Sorry.
"According to the Windows 7 blog, 7 will boot in 15 seconds" - Yep and they can say that confidently with Windows history and all the different specs out there? Wait, its on the Windows blog, so it must be true.

"Vista rarely crashes on me" - My linux distro has never crashed on me. Id expect better than rarely if id paid for an OS.

"on the hardware designed for Vista, Vista runs smoother than XP and Ubuntu too" the problem with that (unprovable statement) is that nobody knows what the hardware in question is. How many PC's have the Vista ready etc sticker on them? Isnt this why MS is subject to a little trouble?
One thing about the specs we can say, is that you need a highpowered PC to even be in with a chance of a satisfactory experience.
I could go on, but I have this feeling you are really a Linux fan who made that post in order to get others to knock Windows. Ill leave it there, I dont believe any of your comments need further challenging because people reading are not stupid. Maybe if you could find someone who has never used Windows or heard of it, they may believe this rubbish.

@aimran, who says:

"Mac fanboys need to get a life. They have nothing better than bashing Microsoft products."..........

Could it be that it is because the Mac users have more time to do this, as they are like linux users, not having to fight malware, defrag, install antivirus updates, scan the hard drives for viruses, and then scan the hard drive with malware programs for other malware. And then waste time tracking down the "false positives." Not to mention the auto updates when MS installs an "update" that crashes the computer. Yep, Mac and Linux users have lots of time. And Linux users have more money as well, their systems are free.

Let MS spend the money on Seven. It should help the economy a little (- at least for the Ad agencies) and give other companies a chance to show what they have to offer (as compared to MS product).

Developers know the ins-and-outs of the different technologies/platforms; but end-users can only draw conclusions from their own experiences. Vista showed how quickly the consumer drawed the conclusion. Seven will be even more so.

The iDiots are out in full force. Vista is the best windows ever and Win 7 will be better yet.

Windows is used on BILLIONS of computer in MILLIONS of configurations… Apple restricts choice, sues competitors and high school kids, runs Unix and charges you double!

Macs uses Intel processors, Nvidia graphics, run Microsoft office and run Vista…LOLOL. Get use to Win 7... you'll be running it on your next mac you iDiots.

Who’s the next person to appear in the “I’m a PC ads”? STEVE JOBS!!! LOLOLOL