Windows 7, like it or not

Microsoft,
It is financially unwise to tell your largest customer base(XP users)that they must upgrade at great inconvenience now or wait until their OS dies a slow, cold and ever increasingly buggier death.
I hope an army of zombies rises from their ashes and bites Microsoft square on its bottom line.
BTW…I never wanted a PC that runs Windows. A lot of people, mostly Mac users, accuse people who use PCs of being unintelligent. I didn't choose a PC because I'm an idiot or a mental case. I chose it because I'm poor. The alternative choice to the purchase of a PC was nothing at all.
Sure, most of us would gladly own Macs, but not very many of us have 2-3 months salary to blow on one. Microsoft is a pox upon the financially challenged, but it's better than no computer at all. Asking me why I don't have a Mac yet is like asking poor people in ghettos surrounded by nothing but fast food joints why they're so fat and unhealthy.
Maybe it's the slop you feed us.

I'm going to bypass Windows 7 only because I'm not having any problems with Vista. Why should I pay for the upgrade?

meme, Iowa city said:

'Attack after attack on Windows 7 someone in apple are scared as hell and paying big money trying to bash is as much as they can."

No fear here, meme. I'm not saying anything which is untrue. Nor is Apple handing out any money to get us to say this.

I wish you Windows users well. But, I don't believe that System Seven is as good as advertised. But, we will know that for ourselves, very soon.

KJ, Annapolis said:
" I just wonder where we would all be if Jobs hadn't been forced out of the company when he was. Would be sitting around bashing their products and saying how great Microsoft is? Doubtful but plausible I think."

I don't think so. Steve Jobs needed his time at NeXT to grow up and become a leader, instead of a bully. Part of that learning process was from knowing that having the best and most advanced OS in the world wasn't enough. He needed to persuade users and developers to climb on board. He had a difficult time doing that even after Apple bought up NeXT. It was a rough five years until Mac OSX became competitive with System 9.

I don't want to bash System Seven; I believe it will be adequate for most people. I really think of it as being Vista SP2. Or as Steve Ballmer put it, 'it is Vista, as it was meant to be."

The difference between System Seven and Snow Leopard is what opportunities await Apple. System Seven is very good for climbing Microsoft out of the hole they dug with Vista, but it is mired in past decisions. It has internal weaknesses which are almost impossible to fix.

Snow Leopard lets go of much of the past and the compromises that Steve Jobs made to bring NeXTstep to the Mac. New benefits await us as we get 64 bit applications which are Grand Central Dispatch and OpenCL enabled. But, that will take most of next year to effect. We'll have to check back then.

The point is that the pie chart above will not remain static. Apple is on a growth path. Microsoft will have a difficult time moving much of its Windows 2000 and XP users to upgrade until the hardware fails.

Windows 7 NO upgrade from XP Mickysoft AGAIN has their heads in the sand.

I'm hoping someone actually connected to CNN will notice this, but (presumably) thousands of would-be Windows 7 users have been left in the dark today. I am one of many who downloaded the student-discount version of Windows 7 upgrade today, and the program is a total flop. Apparently this is true for users who downloaded normally, not just at the discounted price, as well. Check out these threads from Microsoft support (the first one is quite the generic response, and the only attempt Microsoft has made today at informing anyone about the problem. Customer service at both Microsoft and Digital River, where the download occurs, both claim the other party is responsible):

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7install/thread/cb679e27-f2e6-4cd5-b708-a4992cec5a9d

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproinstall/thread/62675a69-2a19-4695-8c8d-8a83be589708?prof=required

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7install/thread/aedb1245-f8f9-42ec-9a

I started using Windows 7 Beta a few months ago and in my opinion it’s pretty good. It is much quicker and programs don't lag when you have a lot of stuff working at once. There are some cool features that Microsoft introduced into Windows 7 and I think the overall user experience is much easier and simpler now. Microsoft took Windows 7 seriously, after Vista they really had no choice. I have written extensively about my own experience using Windows 7 and I hope you can find it helpful. Please comment and let us know.

http://ketiva.com/Computers_and_Internet/my_experience_with_windows_7_using_the_beta_version1.html

It is still too early to know what kind of problems may come up in the future using Windows 7, but on the whole I think it will be a cool operating system.

I have been using W7 for a while now and turns out it is really good. Yea, I had to reinstall all programs, but given that it has been 8 years since XP was installed, W7 upgrade was much needed.

The programs run very smooth and without much errors. I expect many compatibility issues to be fixed soon once it is officially out tomorrow.

I do find it amusing that Windows 2000, as outdated as it is, still has a better showing than OSX and Linux combined.

As a small business owner, I use XP at work for workstations. Vista was a horrifying disaster for Microsoft, but I'll admit Windows 7 has hope. I've played a bit with the beta, and it looks like what Vista really 'should have been.' Given the importance of TTM in Microsoft's marketing, I'll stick with XP for the near future and may consider upgrading to Windows 7 in six months to a year – let the rest of the world beta test for them! At home I've been extremely pleased with Ubuntu 9.04 but don't need applications that require Windows. If more professional applications were available for Linux, I'd be first on the boat away from Microsoft island.

Windows 7. I like it…a LOT.

I've been using it for 10 months now and can't wait to download my pre-ordered copy.

I hated and refused to use Vista and haven't gone back to XP since loading Win7 beta.

I game and have been using beta drivers for my graphics card(s) and sound card. NO crashes, NO bsod's

It rocks. Phillip you don't know Jack whats-his-name about this product.

Go back to your Macbook because I'm NEVER going back to XP

@ejr1959 — Bob is gone. Just like the Apple Pippin. So your precious fruity company also has its share of flops and duds. Apple TV, anyone?

@Louis Wheeler — "I have great hopes for Google's Chrome OS and Web apps. Between it and VMware to run Windows application, there should be much less spam and phishing attacks."

Google Chrome? I will be surprised if that goes anywhere. Look at all the Linux flavors out there, and none of them (and all of them collectively) has managed to catch people's interest, despite every single one of them being free.

Besides, if Chrome were to become really huge, that means your precious OS X would also be a victim. Most surely before Windows.

As for Web apps… get back to me the day you need work done and your Internet connection is gone.

Whats interesting about this is most of these companies and firms will have to actually upgrade their computers as well.. or atleast it components. Windows Vista alone required more minimum Ram and processing power to run then XP and I'm sure Windows 7 will be no different. And if the companies have to upgrade their hardware anyways this may leave the door wide open for Mac and other OS's. I'm sure a big factor for many companies who may have tried and enjoyed OS beyond windows, would have been the overall cost of upgrading hardware.

I love how Mac users talk always with a "we" in mind. Never realizing that others can have much different experiences.

Forget Windows. That's ancient history. MSFT has lost the momentum. They don't matter on the web; they don't matter to developers; they have lost search and phones. What's left? I tell you what's left, they can start selling the hell out of keyboards and mice and xBox. Oh yeah, whatever happened to MSFT BOB

Foo said:
"Companies should start deploying a mixed environment of Windows, Macs on the desktop, and Linux on the server.

The simple fact that they do not commit 100% to Microsoft will allow them to get better deals, and will make their entire infrastructure safer. (Monocultures are often subject to devastating plagues.)"

Yes, Monocultures are just as bad in business as they are in biology. They invite attacks which take your whole system down.

Windows is very bad in Servers. That is not just because of the cost of the Cals. It's how most of the Botnets work — on Windows servers.

"Forget MS Office. Move your legacy applications to the web. Adopt OpenOffice where you can.

It is possible to save big bucks with Open Source."

I have great hopes for Google's Chrome OS and Web apps. Between it and VMware to run Windows application, there should be much less spam and phishing attacks.

Fixoman said:
"I hate to break it to some of you – but there will hardly be a mass exodus to Mac. Mac's only selling point is they are idiot proof and "virus free" – but that is because hackers dont mess with Mac because there is no money in it. "

There will be other reasons coming from Apple in the next six months. Mac 64 bit apps will be much faster than Windows apps on the same computer.

We Mac users like having systems that hackers can't make money from. We don't share in the billions of dollars being lost to malware each year. That makes up for paying more for our computers. Of course, we keep our machines longer than you PC users do, so we wring out every dime of value. I have a four year replacement cycle, so I will be waiting for Mac OSX 10.7 to be released.

The iPhone App store will be extended to regular Mac apps, since they use the same development tools. Apple needs to fix some logistical problems, first, so it might take a year. There will be the same frenzy in Mac Apps as is currently in the iPhone app store. Same low prices too.

"What are they going to steal? Desktop publishing docs or raid someone's iTunes? "

We Mac users have the money to buy more expensive, better built, better looking equipment, so we should be a target, but aren't. I don't even run antivirus and haven't for eight years. I've never had a malware problem.

"IF (and thats a big if) Mac starts getting much more popular, then dont worry – the script kiddies and hackers will be coming for your precious Macs as well."

That is doubtful from the new security which is built into the 64 bit Snow Leopard Kernel which is not yet the default. Apple is waiting for the numbers of 64 bit apps to rise enough to warrant the change. Every OS, application and process will be increasingly sand-boxed in a virtual machine. If a script kiddie got through a vulnerability, it can't go anywhere. We'd just dump the process and start anew.

"Regardless – I have been using Windows 7×64 RC and love it. "

I'm sure the two of you deserve each other.

Companies should start deploying a mixed environment of Windows, Macs on the desktop, and Linux on the server.

The simple fact that they do not commit 100% to Microsoft will allow them to get better deals, and will make their entire infrastructure safer. (Monocultures are often subject to devastating plagues.)

Forget MS Office. Move your legacy applications to the web. Adopt OpenOffice where you can.

It is possible to save big bucks with Open Source.

"Then why the *&^%$^$# are they still selling brand new netbooks with XP installed on them?"

Because otherwise you might inadvertently try Linux.

I have been in the IT industry since before Microsoft and Apple were, I have used Windows for many years, and like most resisted OSX/Apple simply because it was different. I now us OSX on my MBP and it is not idiot proof, anymore then Windows. I have also tested and run in VM's XP and 7, and in the world of Windows, must continue to use both to do my job. Windows 7 is a very good stable OS, as is OSX and XP, even Vista after SP2 was good, but I also remember when NT4 and 2000 were released, and they got the same press, they both were going to save the world.

@Sean T — If Windows 7 is soooo good why are they already making Windows 8?

Because companies must continue to make new products. The moment one product goes out the door to consumers, that is when a company must think of what will take to improve it and make its successor better.

If that weren't the case, you would still be using an Apple II (not even a Plus model) instead of a flea-ridden, feline-named OS for your Mac.

Waiting for Amazon to deliver my copy of Win7. You folks can keep your Macintrashes.

Forrester Research is saying whatever Microsoft is paying them to say.

One of the biggest frauds is the research paper business. Totally paid for by Microsoft's marketing department, which then quotes the paper in its sales literature to IT.

I am a committed Mac User. I spend roughly 50% of my time using OSX and the other half using OS9.
I am not kidding. OS9 is still easier to use than OSX. The search function works. No viruses ever, ever, ever. Functional VBA with Word 2001 – I found problems with Word 2004 stability on Intel. My Pascal compiler still worked – in OSX I need to use Applescript.
Almost all of my playing is in OSX – video, audio, iPod, iPhone.

However, for connecting to hospitals for info, I have to use XP (PC or MAC). They do not work with my Vista laptop and are not planned to work with W7 in the near future. Until IT allows connection with W7, XP will continue. Note that MS has backed off on all recent attempts to cut support. In that, Apple has been more effective and cruel.
The upgrade path from XP to W7 is bad, but the XP to Vista to W7 is quite similar to the switch from OS9 to OSX. 10.0 was not used much and 10.5 as an OS still did not run faster than OS9, but had more toys and better processors. Mac people, I hate the term fanboys, W7 is a good, seemingly stable OS, and the differences between the OS's are less than before. I will stay with Apple for now, though I think their business practices are often as predatory as MS's. I do plan to buy a copy of XP from eBay soon, I hope it works.

I hate to break it to some of you – but there will hardly be a mass exodus to Mac. Mac's only selling point is they are idiot proof and "virus free" – but that is because hackers dont mess with Mac because there is no money in it. What are they going to steal? Desktop publishing docs or raid someone's iTunes? IF (and thats a big if) Mac starts getting much more popular, then dont worry – the script kiddies and hackers will be coming for your precious Macs as well.Regardless – I have been using Windows 7×64 RC and love it. I can count my crashes on 1 finger – its solid as a rock. I am set to dual boot but have not been back to XP since I installed it.

I've messed around with my parents nice new Mac computer. I just don't like the layout, and that is always the thing with Mac's I didn't like. Even using the very old black and white Mac's way back when…they limit you to what you can do, and yse it is easier to use. But I just don't like it at all. Maybe I just needed to try out a demo of the operating system on a seperate partition for a while longer…I donlt like Win much either. And linux seems confusing as hell if you are trying to download the program off the web….I say they all fail.

This IT manager is not really feeling compelled in wasting customers money to change OS on their perfectly working PCs, in times when they're saving money everywhere they can use that same money for better purposes, honestly.

And if that's Microsoft roadmap, all I see is that it's time to start training my customers to use cheaper alternatives, and deploy more web based application to make them OS independent. Five years is enough of a warning.

In the end, it's always the same, win 7, vista, xp … when they're new, they're always wonderful and great, best thing ever inventend after sliced bread and as much necessary, just to be painted as ugly, slow and unreliable few years later. You can't tell the same fairy tale too many times, you know …

Doesn't anyone remember Windows 95? The scenario with XP is no different than what they did to force corporation in particular to migrate from Windows 95 to Windows XP.

Bruce,

I agree, as you truly are ignorant in this topic. Windows has battled Mac OS for AGES, with nothing ever getting close to the ease of use and performance. I guess it is true, ignorance is bliss. Do yourself a favor, NEVER use a Mac OS, NEVER post a comparison comment when you have no idea, and enjoy the lesser things in life.

LMAO, that's funny…. 'Way better than Mac OS X… Although I admit I have never used a Mac' You obviously aren't paying attention to the facts, buddeh! haha

Much of this discussion sounds like the comments made when we all switched from Windows 98 to XP. "Nothing could be as good as good old 98!" I've been running XP for almost five years, and it's been super. I have a netbook and plan to convert it to Win 7 next year after a few months for MSFT to get the latest bugs worked out, and I plan to get a new machine next year with Win 7 on it. I appreciate those folks that enjoy Macs, but this whole thing is about as relevant as who likes what wine, what cars, and which sports team! Different strokes for different folks. Please don't dis those of us that like Windows and look forward to upgrading to Windows 7.

Your iPod is always going to work, look, and sync better on a Mac

If Windows 7 is soooo good why are they already making Windows 8?

For those that want to know, I have been testing the beta release of 7 since Feb. 2009 and have been using the RTM for 2 months now. I can say its a very stable and fast OS. Keep your pettiness to yourself and I could care less if you try to ridicule Windows to make a point about OSX. Thats old tired "make the case" arguments that have no standing with me, just makes you look childish. I have been through all the flavors of OS's in my life and they are all good and have a place in someones life. I recommend using what you want to use, but please come to the table with something intelligent to say or just pack it up and leave.

A lot of us unsophisticated users got horn swaggled into buying Vista because no one told us we could still buy SP. Is microsoft going to give us credit (like $350.00) toward the 7 OS? That would be the ethical and right thing for microsoft to do.

One thing that was nice about XP was that it was a mature platform. For some of you home users, an upgrade every 2-3 years (like Windows 95 to 98 to ME to 2000 to XP) might not be a big deal. It is a HUGE deal to move a whole enterprise of tens of thousands of users running 1,000's of apps (many custom and in house) to a new system. Corporations end up skipping whole OS cycles altogether just because they can't test that fast. XP, like it or not, was a mature stable platform for a long long time. Instead of spending money testing software and buying new versions of applications every few years the platform can take a back seat and real, customer impacting/revenue generating IT projects could be undertaken. Microsoft states they are going to go back to the old release cycle. That may be great for thier bottom line but it isn't great for businesses.

Bruce in DC,

You truly are ignorant if it is true that you have never used a Mac and you can make that statement with such certainty.

The Mac operating system has been superior to every version of Windows and this comes from someone who actually works with both platforms all day. Good luck with that upgrade to Windows 7.

windows is cludgier than ever. I use MAc , well UBUNTU by default nowadays. MAC by preference due to ease of restore.

7, yeah, don't get me started on 'ease of use' its not easy. And finding things AKA where they got changed to is NOT EASY to remember, nor intuitive.Its counter intuitive and diffucult to implement and work on.I'm a tech. Take it from me. Stuck with Ubuntu or MAC.

don't listen to the hype.Mac has its 1st gen bugs, but they get worked out.Not so with Windows for years.Each 'upgrade' it just more masks to hide the flaws that didn't get fixed, though M$ is getting better. I'm not paying for a $300 otherwise crippled OS when I can pull Ubuntu off the Net for FREE with much bettter support options and quicker bugfixes[posted at trackpad.net for all to see and fix or post workarounds to]. HELL, I'm even writing a Linux OS. Trust me, its about time to switch to Linux.Its User friendly now, maybe a bit backwards on some things, archaeic on others[for time being] but it is getting FAR FAR easier to use and has current drivers. Canocal makes sure of that.They offer paid support and a 'buy me' version at BB if you want to go that route.

It's hard to tell what the response to System Seven will be.

I've heard polls of Enterprise customers which say they will stay with XP for a while. The economy is still down enough that I don't see a big rush for businesses to buy. They are the main users of XP.

I have no proof, but I suspect that…

System Seven will not be as good as we are told.

It will be marginally more secure than Vista, but not by much. Major exploits will occur. Billions of dollars will continue to be lost.

Even so, the world will be better off if users on the internet move off of Windows XP. There will be fewer Botnets. Windows Servers should go Linux or Mac OS. That is much less expensive than Windows and more secure.

The Chrome OS will be out next year and it could be more secure and better handling for many XP users than System Seven. Since it is free, it should take over the lower half of the consumer market — a quarter of Windows users. VMware should do well for those who need to run Windows apps.

We will discover how much of Microsoft's vaunted market share is not used as computers, but are used as stand alone devises which act as Cash Registers, Displays and front ends to Mainframes or the web. I'm betting that this is all of the Windows 2000 computers and as much as a third of XP. Those computers will stay with XP or move to the Chrome OS. Cheap desktop versions of the NetBooks could do those functions when the Wintel computers finally break down.

A substantial portion of the XP users will move to the Mac OS. But, that is the trend now. Being forced to choose to upgrade always shifts people to the Mac. Mac sales are growing at about 30% a year, even in this recession. It only takes six years for this compounded growth to be above 40%. Over 90% of the laptops priced above a thousand dollars are Macs.

Current sales have divided the market into mainly NetBooks and Macs. Apple is making money on the Macs, while the NetBook manufacturers are breaking even.

Having been a Microsoft consumer, proponent, and system administrator for close to 20 years, I was getting a little down on Microsoft starting with Windows XP. Getting a little down turned into a full on mutiny with Vista. About three years ago I began migrating my organization from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org, from Internet Explorer to Mozilla Firefox, and from a myraid of other applications to their open source (and cross platform) counterparts. Recently, we have begun a pilot deployment of the Kubuntu distribution of GNU/Linux. While there is indeed a bit of a learning curve, everyone involved has been content enough after the initial shock. And I've been thrilled to spend my IT budget on things other than licensing, not too mention not wasting time with a key management server for activating the clients.

I have been using Windows 7 64bit RC for quite some time now, at least 4 months and it is by far the fastest, easiest, and most compatible operating system I have ever touched and i been through the list.

Pros:
Fast
Stable
Never had a crash, not even once
Makes Vista look even more like the red headed step child

And another thing I love about it is that its compatible…ive thrown everything at it, from 64bit software to 32bit, and I never had a case where I couldnt get anything to function properly.

As others have said the speed is unrivaled for a OS. I was actually quite surprised when I installed it and noticed the diffrence. My computer boots in about 10 seconds after my Bios splash screen, and from that moment, it is fully functional.

Im not a fan boy, I just know what works and what I like, but if you want to stick with XP pro, im all for it..its also a great OS I have used for many years.

Open-minded towards operating systems as I am, I will admit that I have had no qualms with my experience of the Windows 7 preview. It still runs on my desktop now months later, and has performed well. I'm all for pointing out the obvious flukes in any operating system, but I think Windows 7 will do well for what I personally need it for. My only gripe is the pricing model complexity. Whatever happened to having simply a Home and Business version?

I have only been running Windows 7 for a week but it is so far fast and reliable.

Networking is so easy. Less memory usage. Faster startup.

I even tried to do a hard shut down in the middle of a windows update but at the next starup it just rollit back and the computer started up with no errors.

Windows 7 is awesome. Way better than Mac OS X. Besides Windows is way cheaper, more secure, more apps, just more & better. Although I admit I have never used a Mac, and everyone knows the facts. After all, it's what "They" say. You know it's true.

I expect Windows 7 to be a lot a like XP SP2; a major update to an existing okay product. XP was okay, but not great until they fixed a lot of the bugs w/ SP2. Vista was okay (other than they pushed it out before vendors were ready with drivers) and Win7 will be a spit shined update that should work well for enterprises. MS shouldn't have any of the driver or application issues this time because the frameworks are substantially the same as Vista. So any company that already ported their drivers/apps to Vista should be good to go.

I've tested out Windows 7 up until now and don't see where it blows anything away. Theres nothing spectacular about it. And you never see anyone actually list out these spectacular features that blow other OSes away. They just say "it blows OSX/Linux/Vista/XP etc. away".

Now of course I've been able to use the so called amazing usability/desktop effects features for a year or two now so its not amazing to see them finally come to Windows. Its anti-climatic to see that they have only caught up. Right off the bat the performance sucked against the ALPHA of Ubuntu 9.04 in side by side VM's simulating the resources of a netbook. I've seen no improvement in Win7 and tons in Ubuntu 9.10 so Win7 is even less exciting now. Windows is a great niche OS for gaming but a waste of money for anything else.

Honestly most of this "Win7 is so great" talk is nothing but fanboys trying to rally around anything they can since the world laughed at them with Vista.

I've been using Windows 7 for a couple of months now along with SQL 2008, VS2008, and other development tools, all on a five year-old laptop (2GB Ram)that XP was wheezing with just to load the apps. With Windows 7, it's fast, smooth, and exactly what Vista should have been. Plus, it's compatible with some of the much older software I still use. Sorry, Applebots…

Now I'm sure I'll get blasted by others for posting this, amongst other reasons, but OSX Snow Leopard is vastly superior to Windows XP, Vista, or 7. Using my MBP for the last 2 years it's never put a "foot" wrong (pun intended). The OS just works. Like everyone else on the comments here "I do pro IT work" and have been doing so since the Intel 8088's came out. Yes, I am showing my age with that. Simple fact is that Microsoft made good products in the past and hasn't been able to touch Apple for a long time now. I just wonder where we would all be if Jobs hadn't been forced out of the company when he was. Would be sitting around bashing their products and saying how great Microsoft is? Doubtful but plausible I think.

The power IS with the consumer. Remember that Microsuck tried to shut down XP after Vista was released and dropped that plan after a substantial number of customers (and quite a few corporate ones) refused to downgrade to Vista from XP. Just don't buy Windows 7 and stick with XP- it's a perfectly usable op sys (I do pro IT work), you'll save money you can spend elsewhere and Microsuck will just have to ZIP IT and do what they're told. And if someone wants to punch Gates and Ballmer in the mouth, they could really use the A-adjust.

Smith, AZ:

using Windows 7 from the first public beta. not much different between Beta and RTM. contrary to what Applebots want everyone to believe Windows is lot more useful and functional than OSX.

I use iTunes for syncing my iPod touch and can't explain how inferior the software is.

What is worse recently while syncing lost several apps from my Touch and no warning/error. I don't like to treated as dumb. You may like it because you are dumb right moment you over paid for your Mac.

That said i think iPod & iPhone are still the best consumer devices out there, if not for them Apple wold be dead by now

I don't necessarily consider XP defaulting to admin a bad thing. Maybe for my grandmother.

I have a theory about Microsoft's business model. I think Me (Millennium) and Vista were reconnaissance missions. Look at the timing of their releases and their proximity to the 2000 and 2008 market bubbles

I like my Windows 3.1, just kidding, though I have heard of some who really do still use it. Windows 8? when is that going to be out? Before Windows 7? I'm going to try 7 on new pc we order, if I don't like it, I'll go back to XP.

Those of you praising and using Windows 7… how long have you been using it?

Attack after attack on Windows 7 someone in apple are scared as hell and paying big money trying to bash is as much as they can.

Sure Chris, I guess you don't understand much about the problem with Windows in the past. XP defaulted everyone to admin, which was a bad idea and a fundamental flaw in the design of XP. Win 7 and Vista are not designed like this, plus with the added protections behind the scenes it will be a very secure OS. Some of you just can't move on with the times and still consider Windows to only be Windows XP.

Vista was too bloated and resource intensive to run on netbooks (or many things for that matter).

Win7 is not and will be on all new netbooks. I already upgraded my netbook with the Win7 Ultimate RC and it works flawlessly.

I've already started my migration to a new operating system — Mac OS X. I've been an MSDN subscriber and developer for over 10 years and my new life-cycle is to replace Microsoft with Apple as PC's fully depreciate and require replacement. I don't know why Microsoft keeps shooting themselves in the foot, but they continue to do so and 1-by-1 they will continue to lose market share. It may be a small amount, but people like myself are starting to realize that Mac's are just better.

I'm sorry – but they said the exact same thing when Vista came out.

Microsoft WILL NOT alienate its user base. I suspect Win 7 to be a good product, but if it's not or if I can't use my hardware and software I already own – I will not switch.

In this economy, no one can afford to shell out for all new hardware and software just because MSFT thinks its a good idea.

It's that simple.

We will see how great it is when it goes wide spread and all the hackers take their crack at it. Then all the flaws will be seen.

The reason XP is on netbooks is because it is the only version of windows that will run on them.

For those bashing Windows 7 you are retarded sheep. I have been running it since beta and it runs better than XP, Vista, and Mac OSX. Stop hating just because it is a Microsoft product. Try it. It is quite good and very stable. What Vista should have been.

The newest Windows version is excellent !!! Blows away the Mac OS's.
Been using it for awhile now , performance is enhanced. Windows definitely got at least a triple out of this possibly the home run they've been reaching for for years.

What does this have to do with Apple?

ex ped: According to Forrester's pie chart, only a thin sliver of blue.

Windows 7 is already on 1% of systems and isn't even released to the public yet? I can say 7 has been flawless for me in the 2 months I have been running the RTM version. Not one freeze, not one app crash, nothing. Fast as the day I loaded it and I use multiple apps throughout the day and they all work just fine with 7. I will also be preparing to roll it out to my users as well, because everyone I have shown so far likes what they see.

Businesses and "upscale consumers" can afford to upgrade. But I suspect there'll be a lot of computers that will continue to run XP because they can't afford to upgrade, particularly due to hardware costs.

I have a radical proposal: REQUIRE any OS vendor to distribute, free of charge, for a long period of time, security updates to an OS. I don't care if someone wants to run WIndows 95 or MacOS 7.1 on his/her machine in 2020, I do care if that machine constitutes a threat to the rest of us… And with the pain this would cause OS vendors, that might be added incentive to be even more careful in the future.

Microsoft. It is disgusting to threaten your users. That is why people are keen to see Chrome OS.

Then why the *&^%$^$# are they still selling brand new netbooks with XP installed on them?