Although I think it is a clear step above Vista, I've got a list of issues with Windows 7 after serious testing.

I like Windows 7 but I have some concerns that I'd like addressed before final release

First thing - EVERYONE I spoke to even at the MS booth at CES said they want the UP FOLDER back in explorer - yes there are other ways to go back one folder but the up folder was convenient.

Classic start menu - not an option - classic start menu makes it easier to support clients if they have key components such as network properties and my computer on the desktop. I'm not saying it should be the default but why not make it an option as it was in Windows XP and Vista? I realize you can put some icons on the desktop (not IE) using personalize.

Media Center won't let you click on album art cover once a song is already playing to play the new song from the album art cover. Seems only logical.

Media Center - often has static in playback - using Audigy 2z sound card.

Search works well but it would be great if the search in the start menu had a drop down just like run has in the start menu so you can repeat a search from your search history.

Aero interface stops working without message so flip 3d stops with alt-tab - using the troubleshooting fix sometimes solves it by enabling desktop manager - sometimes it can't - how do you manually enable Windows desktop manager - personalize desktop works but nothing to control the aero interface

Since most current receivers and other media streaming capable devices will support .flac file playback, it seems a shame not to use the native media player in windows as a media streaming server - instead because windows does not natively support flac playback, we have to look at alternative hardware streaming solutions or mediaplayers similar to windows media player but with flac support such as tversity or Twonky or Nero

Winver does not tell you if you are running 64 or 32 bit - computer properties would be improved if 64 or 32 bit was listed in the top section. It never states if you are installing the 32 or 64 bit version during installation.

It would be nice if it was easy to see what version and build of windows you were running by going to computer properties or by running winver - currently it tells you Windows Version 6.1 - Build 70000 - it doesn't say 7000 x64 081212-1400

During Install if you attempt to install with a brand new drive it won't install until you format the drive and reboot.

There is no desktop icon for IE - this was very handy for clear items and change settings etc before going into IE.

Do something with the 200 MB partion in disk manager so it is clear that it is a restore point or whatever - change the color of it, just make it more clearly defined.

while i am in no way an outright windows fan you should try it before commenting it has all been proved this is more than just a tweaked vista .I have tried an earlier beta and found it to be quite fast and stable despite running on my old pc an amd athlon 2400 at 2 ghz far quicker than more resposive than vista machines i have used and this machine oly has 512mb of memory .As far as oses go my current pc has xp and duel boots ubuntu 8.10 which has never had a single problem and as far as sorting things out from a command line go i would rather fix linux than a screwed up windows pc i am no linux expert but with an internet connection an being able to read problems with linux are no way near as hard to fix as people claim .As far as an os goes it all depends on the individual user if it works for you and does what you want then thats the os you will use .I like ubuntu as much as windows both work for me Mandriva is also another linux distro i really like i have not had much of a chance to try a modern mac so can not comment on them my favorite os is the amiga os3.9 and beos as that was the only one that that had any real innovation .

This is realisitically Microsoft's chance to stuff the genie back in the bottle. Right now, they're in a perilous situation- as the monopolist, they were sitting pretty. However, many people tried Vista and found it severely wanting, and thus avoided it.

A lot of people have stuck with XP- or paid extra to "downgrade" new machines.. the numbers are quite unprecedented.

XP is looking very long in the tooth compared to MacOSX or a nice Ubuntu desktop install, the subjective "experience" is poorer, as is the performance and reliability. Thus people are looking elsewhere- something that would have been unthinkable before the Vista disaster. It's traditional to dislike new Windows versions (and for them to be unusably bad before the first service pack or two), but the problems with Vista are deeper and more systemic- when MacOSX runs better on an MSI Wind than Vista, it's telling.

Anyway, love or hate Microsoft (or heaven forefend, not really have strong opinions, but just want your machines to work), Windows 7 is their chance to get back on the pace with a usable modern operating system. If they drop the ball, then their market share will slowly and surely erode. It won't happen overnight, but their stranglehold will end. Think the fall of the Roman empire- small incursions make the difference, not cataclysms.

(Disclaimer: I use Linux pretty much exclusively at work now, MacOSX for music and graphics at home, an eeePC running Ubuntu as a mobile device, and my Windows box is now relegated to playing games, or browsing the web- it's seeming increasingly irrelevant. I have no real issues with it, it just not the best answer to most computing questions for me any more)

Congratulations. You just wrote the stupidest article I have ever read on a pc tech site!

Is this teh retard fest?
Why u not call simple jack?

First we had the "Small children being killed by their dad is just desserts for making me click "delete all" in my spam box."
Then we had "Hacking the DOD is ok if you suddenly pretend that you're a special little bunny, keep American hands off our precious UFO freaks." going on for weeks and weeks, as though the Inq hadn't flushed its moral concience down the sewer just a little while ago.
Now we've got "It's crap, I know because I haven't looked at or used one for 10 years." which is the the sort of troll ridden funhouse humour forum posts are for.

It's a sad day for a publication when the bottom feeding mouth breathers in the comments are better informed, clearer of thought, and more reasonable than the feature writers. That being said, the writers may be getting it in the neck but it isn't their fault, is it?

Charlie did excellent, old fashioned journalistic work on the Nvidia bump scandal. He did appalling work on the kiddie murdering story.
A competent editor would have known the difference.

...go ---- yourself. There is way too much negative personal emotion in your article. It seems to ONLY portray the folks over at Redmond as blundering ninnies. Currently Microsoft creates solutions that helps to empower the world of PC users - like it or not. Haven't seen it and won't bother to... ok, hope you get your wish to instantly freeze yourself in your current space of time author man. remain ignorant.

Microsoft is its own joke and punchline - Earlier today I installed it under Microsoft's own virtualization - and it BSODed on restart.
Seriously. True. Can't make this up.
But before I deleted the single-use OS's image, I did notice:
- fish wallpaper (what? no toaster?)
- a new Windows Logo
- a modified Getting Start menu item
- it's still Vista, only even worse.
Wow.

shame on u!

I think this guy has every right in the world to judge Windows 7 by its advertised features. Why would anybody try anything marked "Beta" by Microsoft? If you see a pile of dog poo, you don't walk into it, do you? The smell is enough to be pissed. Microsoft has been fined by the EU several times. Microsoft is currently on trial for ripping off consumers with the broken OS. They simply should be ashamed of themselves for forcing endless crap on consumers and professionals: IE7/8 (worst browser), Vista (useless OS), Exchange Server (new version, zero new features, some old features missing), Systems Management Server (doesn't work with Vista, Mac OS, Linux), Virtual PC (pales against Vmware), Softgrid (makes apps run on Windows without breaking each other - uh, wasn't that the purpose of the OS in the first place?), Sharepoint (innards are being overhauled, throw away all your investments up until now), Office 2007 (advertised with millions of rows in Excel but there's no 64bit version to actually supply enough RAM for that). The list of insults goes on and on. This is not to say they haven't done good stuff before: IE6 was really hot in its time, and I still love XP. Unfortunately you can't buy it any longer. Maybe it's the fault of their current alpha monkey: Please get back into that tree were you came from Stevie. There's a good boy!

I'm suprised by how literal the majority of responders take this artical when it's obviously tougue in cheek. 'Never used Vista' indeed! OS's must be a raw nerve for many or why else would they lose sight of what the author was really getting at - namely a backlash from disengenouis marketing and OS monopalisation and as usual a generial bitching session like we're used to.

Tosser!

I'm actually excited for this release because Windows Media Center. There will be a lot of new features, and I'm anxious to implement them on my HTPC. As far as anything else, that's debatable.

I'd like to complain about the "complain about this comment" functionality. For some reason i can't complain and select ALL.
It's obvious no one that has replied has actually tested Windows 7 beta, Vista, XP, Linux, WinME, 98, BSD, and OSX. I have actually done all of the above and your review is dead on. It's easy to just look at the features on Microsoft Vista 7 page or any review and formulate a correct review.

Vista 7 is Windows ME II SP2

Just wondering, if I do get multi-core processor system here eventually, sicking W2k Adv Server on might be better than Vista/W7. W2k AdvSrvr supports 8 processors, which could likely handle a quad-core just fine. Get performance and I can still play my old as hell windows games without spending an additional buck. Guess I'm just el cheapo.

I Think it's time for you guys to quit writing. There's nothing I can bring away from this article that is useful. The writer is simply a Linux® fan-boy writing about a topic he has not researched. This would not pass a 6th graders English class. Wow, I think I will never come back to this site again, as I have been made ill by this. I cannot trust anything this sites says.

Hi there,
enough is enough: yesterday Charlie with its BS about 3dVision he never ever tested himself and today this biased article that is not worth to be called article. Seems that the Inquirer has decided to abandon serious IT journalism for sure.
So I'm abandoning this sinking ship of unserious biased journalism now too(all links to The Inquirer deleted!)

@jaffamonkey: Linux bloated? You fucking n00b idiot! There's a reason for Archlinux ~ Slackware ~ Gentoo.

So many people don't have a clue, yet insist on making themselves look like complete idiots with their verbal diarrhea. The author of the article being a prime example.

Hey dumbass, it IS as fast or faster than XP. You talk about DRM, yet you probably don't have a clue as to what DRM means in Vista or 7, nor how it affects you. You see INQ ranting on (like the tool author of this "editorial") about DRM and you parrot it to the world like you know something. Here's an idea ... Try shit out for yourself and get a real clue, instead of being a sheep. Moron.

Let me know when a new windows comes out that runs faster than xp on my 4-5 year old system that doesn't include some form of DRM. I might buy it.

athlon 4200 running at 2.4 ghz single core
1Gig DDR1 memory
Nvidia 6600GT
40 Gig Hard drive.

This was the biggest piece of tripe I've read on Inq in quite some time. I've never ever used Vista but from everything I've read and dealt with about it told me to stay away from it; which I did.

I'm writing this from my PC running Windows 7 and I must say I'm impressed! It found the vast majority of my drivers despite my mobo no longer being supported by the manufacture (last updates are 2yrs old now). I found work arounds for anything it didn't find. In fact the only real issue was my old Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 card which wasn't supported in Vista but I got that working too.

UAC is still a touch of pain but I may have done something wrong. Still, I find it fast even on my Opteron 165 (1.8Ghz DC). I do plan to upgrade this year though.

With that said I've also used Ubuntu and I love it, when it works. I recently installed it on a laptop and couldn't the wireless to work for crap. I don't know enough to play with Linux to fix it though. This is a common problem though for many who try to Linux. They often say, "I love it but...", when there is an issue.

I find it very disheartening that someone would write about something they've never see or touched and then say go to Linux or Mac as if they're the answer especially when you mention the economy being bad and Apple as an alternative in the same article!

Before I even get into that part of it, I want it to be known I own a 2nd hand Macbook one of the original Intel ones.

As some has stated Apple charges for every service pack. .1, .2, .3 ect. Though the price is low they often drop support for previous versions within a yr or 2 which forces you to upgrade. Also their hardware is still overpriced! They just announce at the snorefest that was MacWorld the 17in Macbook for nearly 3K which has similar specs of laptops from both HP and Dell for under 1,000 or more less than the Apple offering with more features; hell even Acer has 18" $1,800 quad-core laptop with a Blu-ray drive (which would bring the cost down if removed). Longer battery nice but not removable and not for 3K. I like OS X but there are times I feel like I wish it did x like you can in Windows as I do with I wish Windows could do y like in OS X.

I'm no fan of Micro$oft but if Apple had to pull off what they do then there would be real competition. Apple doesn't want to release an version OS X as a standalone than can install on any PC because it means it would have to support 10s of thousands of different hardware parts. Something we all have to say M$ does and fairly well considering.

I really don't think the vast a majority of people will have any real issues like they did with Vista once Windows 7 comes out. There are people running it surprising even on as little as 512MB of ram and CPU running under 1Ghz. I can't speak for the speed but they like the fact that they can. So far the press and some early users really like the revamp of Vista if you want to look at it like that. I'm one of them. Give the OS a spin then come back and bitch.

Thanks for the news that the Windows 7 Beta releases today as it was news to me, but I don't get the point of the rest of the article. Especially the part about people moving to Apple because the economy is pants.

"I haven't actually seen it though, and probably won't even try it out."

i highly recommend you do before you say -anything- about it.

i've been using strictly ubuntu for 4 years (except for one gaming pc) because of microsoft's incompetence.

i've also had windows 7 installed on the gaming pc for 2 days now.

it is faster than xp on my desktop. where xp grinds the disk, 7 does not. where i am left waiting on xp at times to do whatever the hell it does in the background, 7 is done in no time. (here's looking at you, application and driver installs)

supreme commander loads in under 10secs, compared to nearly a minute under vista or xp. they rearranged half the UI so that it makes fricken sense this time. hell, it runs on my aspire one with 1gb ram quite nicely, and doesnt choke a 512mb machine like vista does.

honestly, windows 7 is a vast improvement over vista or xp, and until you try it, you'll never know that.

i was -shocked- that this version of windows was actually done right. astounded. nevertheless, that is the case.

(the desktop i speak of is as follows: s939 athlon64 x2 3600+ @ 2.6ghz, 2gb cheap ddr400, geforce 8600gt, 250gb seagate 7200.10)

Egan,
Dude you are such a tool. It has always been fairly popular to slam Microsoft as a company but you seem to be on a personal quest to make it “leet” to slam Vista in particular. You even go so far as to dub Vista as Windows ME II. Windows ME earned its reputation. You could clean install the final service pack version and by the time you had your drivers installed and started installing software it was almost a guarantee you would start encountering crashes and conflicts. Nobody can argue that ME was crap. Vista started out a bit rocky but not really any worse off than XP had started when it first came out. At this point Vista is actually rock solid stable and in a lot of what I do is actually faster than Windows XP. 6 months ago I put a LOT of research into Vista to determine if it was worth a purchase. I read hundreds of reviews and literally thousands of discussions on Vista and the conclusion I came too was that the people who actually tried it, liked it and the people hated it were almost entire regurgitating drivel they had read from uninformed articles like yours. I shelled out for Vista Ultimate SP1 and I have not been disappointed. The only crashes I have ever encountered with it were a direct result of my own attempts at overclocking. Compatibility has also been fairly good. I primarily use my machine to play games and so far I have not had any serious problems getting any of my games to run. Even old dos games run well with only a little fiddling. The early reports of Service Pack 2 have suggested that it improves things even further. Given my own experience with Vista I have come to the further conclusion that the only valid arguments against it are that the hardware requirements are steep and that the interface is a little bit too simplified in some places and too complicated in others. All in all its a very good Operating System.
This piece you have written is an absolute embarrassment for The Inquirer. As far as I can tell you didn't actually do anything even closely resembling research. This piece is nothing more than a waste of space on the Internet. Another uninformed voice adding to the noise from what appears to be several other uninformed voices. As for the other Operating Systems you recommend, I can only conclude that your opinion of those is every bit as ignorant as your opinion of Vista and Windows 7.

.....though I've never sat in one let alone driven one but it still stands they are crap! I've even heard other people who havent driven one say so too...so it must be true! Its a scientific FACT!

Some 'journos' (and I use the term lightly) really need to read their articles at least twice before printing them. The editor really needs to read them too. Very bad form.

Hi, my name is Zuccster. I'm not smart enough to figure out the Windows Registry. I'm also fanboi enough to agree with an author that condemns shit without even trying it. Please listen to what I have to say. I know nothing about Windows, but hear me out. It sucks! And Windows users are so stoopid. That's right. STOOPID!

I'm going to at least take a look at Windows 7 (wonderful things MSDN subscriptions), though we're only just moving to XP at work so I doubt I'll be using it in anger for quite some time. @Mike: If YOU don't know what you're talking about then please shut up. Apple number major version upgrades as 10.x and service packs as 10.x.y (we're currently up to 10.5.6 with 10.6.0 slated for later this year). Look in Windows XP and you'll see that Microsoft numbered it as Windows 5.1, you want a refund on that?

Who the one person that responded to the Inquirer's help wanted ad was. Mr. Orion, seeing as your editors can't be arsed to read anything you write before alowwing it to be published, I suggest you instead go and show this article to your mother, she'll get you the help you need.

Seriously Egan, its fine that you dislike Microsoft. Heck, I hate them too! (My hatred originates from years of abuse from their products: Starting with MS-DOS 4.01 to Windows XP)

If Linux works for you as a desktop, fine. (It works for me quite well such that I've completely dropped Windows!).

But why did you have to drag Linux into your anti-MS retort?

Ok, so alot of people hate microsoft, but having worked on our emergency service applications, and glorified databases that strugle to work on known platforms, i can only give credit to a company that can make that easy to do.

When vista came out so many people bashed it, yet had never tried it, nor knew anythign about it. I found it frustrating, as i still do now, especially with regard to the networking side of it.

The only type of linux i have ever used, and found to be truly useful, and easy to use was pendrive linux. Load it onto a usb drive, plug it in, reboot your machine, and your running something that looks as good as xp/ vista, and jsut works. I now carry it as a backup incase my HDD goes onsite.

Everything worked, and having never used any linux before, i found it very useful.

I will never use anything other that windows, until they start supporting games (properly), and remove much of this text based, and seemingly old hat style of doing things.

I have used osx, and think with time i could get used to it, but again, its only available on ridiculously overpriced hardware, and its not a gamers platform.

So, offer an alternative before you start harping on about ho useless the best product to date is (although i'm referring to xp on that).

vista64 is the only app i can use to properly play supremme commander on as well (with hacks, on large games), as 32bit os's (including vista) run out of mem, and xp64 is laughable.

If you haven't even bothered to use Windows 7, why the hell are you commenting on it? Inq, can someone please fire this moron already? Seriously. I'm considering whether I should even waste my time reading the Inq if you have morons like this writing for you and don't get rid of them.

I agree with many others that Microsoft are simply a greedy, money grabbing, modern day dick turpin and their operating systems suck!

The MAC OS is light years ahead of them, and unlike microsft who bring out 4,5,6 different levels of their operating system to get more money from customers - apple have one version, one level, one package, and one reasonably priced operating system that does things only microsoft can dream of...

... Unless Microsoft go back to the simplier XP way of releasing a product and simply have a 'HOME' and 'BUSINESS' version with home costing around $100 and business around $250 then they can stick it up their tail pipes!

This doesn't sound like something the inquirer would normally post (i.e. unbiased and unobjective). im disappointed. i know it's a comment but still.

That is really all that needs to be said.

More sensationlistic FUD from a moron that should have his oxygen priviledges taken away from him.

Jesus, you can spot a anti Windows fanboy from a mile off!

You spend the entire time slating Windows 7 before even trying it, stating its only a little bit better than Vista, then claim you will probably never try it, as you haven't used Microsoft product for 10 year.

What a load of crap.

INQ, fire this guy.

"I haven't actually seen it though, and probably won't even try it out. After all, it's still Windows, and I swore off using any Microsoft software for anything almost ten years ago now. But I don't think I'll be missing anything, really."

So without having looked at it or researched it in the slightest, I'm going to write it off as complete shite. Brilliant. If only everything was this easy. Can I go to my boss and say, "no, boss, I don't know jack shite about that product, but I know it sucks and we should not bring it in to the enterprise."

Get a clue INQ. I used to enjoy this site, but this kind of crap really turns people off. If you are attempting to be a journalist, please do a little real work so you know what you are writing about. This is just pathetic.

You nerfed yourself and hurt The Inq's reputation as well.

Last year, I had more issues with MacOS and Linux then Windows, just saying, because its all about the number of hosts. When die hard users of Linux or MacOS say it just works or never breaks, I chuckle to myself because I could say the same thing about Vista if I were to judge from my personal experience. I work as a Sys Admin for a large company with many datacenters. There are flavors of many OSs, but mostly REHL 4 and soon to be CentOS. We also have LOTS of custom software for management and monitoring. My point is, at an enterprise level and in terms of cost of management, it is way more expensive to maintain this infrastructure. It takes hundreds of Admins and hundreds of developers to do what you could do with off the shelf MS enterprise software and a handfull of MCSEs. What has taken years to develop and takes years to change costing millions could be done faster and cheaper with WAY less staff using Windows. Even with the 'free' OS the deployment cost and management cost for linux in the enterprise eventually surpasses the initial cost of the windows alternative. And Apple does not have any real enterprise products. An overpriced 'pizza box' server doesnt count. I mean ENTERPRISE management, deployment and control. On the desktop, when I got my first Mac Pro, I set up my account and installed the updates, which caused a kernel panic.......just works....right. Linux boxes here, loose connectivity all the time, and cant handle simple network link negotiation....this is a reliable server platform?

I use XP and Vista Home x64 regularly, and while Vista is not as reliable as XP (I'm guessing it's the x64 though) it's not the piece of sh*t people are calling it . Maybe when it was originally released but not now .

I bought mandrake linux a few years ago and found it terribly unreliable .

And tried out ubuntu 6.10? recently and found loads of basic things (i.e. flash in firefox) simply did not work .
I'm sure there are solutions out there BUT windows does these things out of the box
Win Vista - no flash detected - sends you ONE link - it downloads - installs - IT WORKS
Ubuntu - no flash detected - sends you FOUR links (which one am I) - download all the links - try them all - NONE WORK

And anything that requires user input to a console window or config file for a non power user for the respective application is lazy programming . Yet linux seems to think that is ok . I'm a programmer, and most of our production systems run a version of unix/linux .

As Khaotic above said
Sure, Linux is a free solution. Free, only to people who don't put any kind of value on their personal time......

This is lifted from a forum post surely. It bears no resemblance to anything approaching journalism. Shame on the Inq for publishing it.

I am a Windows supporter, but also a long time Inq reader even though the Inq is notorious for its Microsoft bashing. But this kind of article is a large step over the line and just all around terrible journalism. Whoever approved this article to go live should be just as ashamed and at fault Egan themselves.

I can only apologise for this dick's uninformed, highly defensive rant.

Truly embarrassing stuff.

Please get off my internets please, Mr Orion. You have only served to hurt the reputations of Linux users across the globe.

How many of you would switch to Linux (ubuntu let's say because it's easy to install and use) if it would be possible to run 90% of windows applications ?

I feel compelled to echo the negative comments written about this article - publishing such an ill-judged opinion piece reflects extremely poorly on the Inquirer.

There are a couple of writers that seem to me to be hell-bent on marginalising this site's visitors to just linux users with ATI graphics cards. This is unlikely to be a sustainable idea in terms of advertising revenue.

This is such a shame, as it is generally great to read a cynic's perspective to counterpoint other sites which can sometimes appease the manufacturers.

Please Inq editors - sort it out.

Thanks for the most amusing (and unlike the article, mostly accurate) set of comments I've ever come accross!

I have been reading the INQ every day since, ooh, 2003 or thereabouts. In the last year or so I have seen a very sudden decline in quality of the articles. Sad to see.

You have the greatest job in the world. You get to say the stupidest things without even making a pretense at knowing what you are talking about.
"I haven't actually seen it though, and probably won't even try it out. After all, it's still Windows, and I swore off using any Microsoft software for anything almost ten years ago now."

You Sir are a genius

your bosses are monkeys however, and should be fired.

Every time Apple tweaks os X they add '.1' to the name and charge for it.

I agree with the comments on this article regarding the decline of the Inquirer as a witty and objective publication. The out-dated and purile MS attacks without any true background research and well thought argument are worthy of a low end tabloid at best. Surely this site knows better than to follow the mass of unfounded anti-vista hype without poperly backing up the argument. Vista isn't perfect I'm sure but this kind of continuous naaa na naaaa attack is likely to have the almost unheard of effect of making people choose Microsoft as the underdog. Back up your facts in a sensible manner or don't pretend to be a journalist.

The Inq under Mike Magee was funny but thoughtful in a tabloid format. Now it is just a crappy tabloid in a tabloid format....

Dissapointed.

"I haven't actually seen it though, and probably won't even try it out."

I am completely dismayed at this article, and the quote above just says it all.

If you're going to let any old grouch harp on about their pet hate, then stop pretending to be a news website.

Not that I am a huge fan of Microsoft but saying that the products is a respin and sucks and then saying I haven't tried and won't ever - not really the best logic. Personally I usually think if you are going to write an article about a topic you should probably do some primary source research -

Seriousily Inq, you can't have a Journalist taking sides like that unless its an opinion article - which was marked like you normally have it.

Completely shit reporting.

While I agree 100% that 99% of what's in Win7 has been on Linux for ages, the truth is not so simple.

I work in DTP/design for nearly 10 years now, and I think that author of the article knows perfectly well that Gimp and Blender are in no way alternatives to Adobe CS and other software used in this segment of the industry.

Yes, they are available on Macs, but why would I in the right mind spend thousands of dollars on an Apple box that is really worth perhaps 800$. I would never switch my PC for a Mac.

As far as OSX goes... I still opt for Windows just because of the sheer amount of 3rd party software for it.

So, what would the author recommend for the os if I use a quad core CPU and 6 gigs of ram? Windowz is far from perfect.. but it's still waaay better for DTP than mac or linux...:)

Linux is nice... but outside it's server/lab/programing uses, it's just an OS with little to none industry standrad software... It's not Linux' fault... but that's the way it is.

The Inq is really starting to seem as ignorant as mass media like FOX, flaming something that was never seen, used, or verified in advance. Reminds me of the love scene scandal we had with Mass Effect...

i really enjoy reading inq for its "lets ridicule and laugh at everything" approach. this one however has not a drop of humor. the writer acts like arrogant jerk.
"win7 beta is out, i haven't and not going to try it, it is crap though" is this an approach of a journalist ? is the article offer anything of value? why is it published?

this is not inq, this article doesn't belong here.

... the author is a jack@ss, dipsh*t, ignorant retard and plenty of other insulting names that I'm not going to take the time to type...

Author - Not only do you admit never laying hands on Windows 7 and ranting about how much it "sucks" anyway, but you also talk so much trash about Windows Vista then admit you haven't touched a Microsoft OS in going on 10 years. Yeah, you definitely smell like a Mac-fan...

By the way, even a regular competent user can customize Windows Vista to get the experience he/she desires out of her system, and any jack@ss that wants to comment on this kind of subject matter should AT LEAST be a power user with a clear understanding of Operating Systems, hardware, etc. not some fool that regurgitates other peoples gripes and hates that he read after a Google search and claims as his own opinion.

"...will get tired of waiting for Windows 7, or decide not to buy new hardware to support it in the midst of the current economic implosion, and migrate away to Macs..."

How are people who can't afford to buy new hardware to support windows 7, going to be able to afford a Mac?

The characters called Filmore and is, supposedly, very high when prophetized this. It's just an unfair world that keeps wonderful OS's like Mac and Linux under 10% of usage. Maybe there's a slight chance that Microsoft has done something right at least once in its history. Besides people that trash without knowing what they're talking about, it's fairly recognisable that 2008 family products released by Microsoft (Vista, Server and SQL 2008, .Net 3.0, 3.5 and SP1) are rock solid and, most important, real steps in the right direction. Unfortunatly, we can't say the same about the "competion" releases. But I'm totally sympathetic with the article writer. I also can't get over the fact that none of the releases are perfect.

for allowing incompetent people to comment on issues they have no idea about. If you don't use Windows it means you don't know a thing about it - as simple as this. Next time you write an article be sure to pick something you're familiar with. Otherwise you are just a clown.

I haven't actually seen an Egan Orion article, and probably won't even try reading one. After all, it's still The Register, and I swore off reading any Register articles for almost ten years ago now.

Duh.

You should be ashamed of yourself, and I wish the new site design listed authors on the home page, since the list writers I have zero respect for around here has just grown again.

Are you aware that most users of a computer use it to get work done, not just dick around and genital swing? Most don't care what the OS is, how it works, or what it does and doesn't do. They need to get the letter out, the proposal written, the job done.

Windows 7 has developments for a lot of people. Sure, Vista was a bit meh, but for Media Centre users it was progress, and continues to be for 7. I've played with linux over and over, and it just didn't work in a real world scenario. I haven't been able to afford Apple stuff and don't really buy into their ethos. That doesn't necessarily make me a Microsoft fanboy, unless driving a two-wheeled car makes me a road fanboy. Is anyone else utterly tired of reading the word vole around here?

"...how many...individuals...decide not to buy new hardware to support it in the midst of the current economic implosion, and migrate away to Macs or install Linux on their existing PCs.."

This kills me. So for folks who have a working PC are going to be willing to throw it away and migrate to a mac. Which will require buying another completely new system - because even with all the "Hackintosh" builds of MacOS X available, the list of supported hardware for Mac OS is smaller than its software selection. Hey, all you gamers that want to play Solitare! You're in luck - you get to throw away that new ATI 4870 you just bought, because MAC won't support it. And probably your Logitech Keyboard and mouse too....

Sure, Linux is a free solution. Free, only to people who don't put any kind of value on their personal time......

Being one of the people pointed out in this article, as dumb, for having purchased Windows Vista (not just once but for two desktop systems) I'm a little confused at what this article is trying to suggest.....
Is that I should have just stuck with an operating system that was released in 2001 to run on hardware that was purchased in 2007? Or is it that I should be lucky I can use my computer at all, since Vista is SO BROKE that computers are only one step away from totally defunct once Vista is loaded on the hard drive?
The fact that anyone could want to install a Beta on their computer probably puts them in a category we call ENTHUSIAST. Something that a journalist "SHOULD" be. After all, they write about it because they LIKE it. Right? Seems the only thing this author has succeeded in is calling most of his readers....dumb.

After using Ubuntu for a couple of years, I'd rather nail my scrotum to a coffee table than have anything to with Windows again. I see the people in my office reinstalling XP, or working out why Vista's explorer shell has bombed again, and I chuckle. As for Linux being hard to use, I'd rather have to edit a well-documented text file to change something the GUI doesn't handle, than flail about in the Windows registry...

nuff said

i actually have tried every new ubuntu release unlike the author and each time nothing works. i want there to be an alternative to windows but there isnt. i'd rather you know run programs instead of have a useless os that i'm spending all day typing sudo blah blah blah and still have it not work, just so i can join the "cool nerds" clique

you linux people disgust me, your a bunch of angry virgin jeolous microsoft hating nerds, fuck you

linux is inferior to even windows 3.1, in fact i cant even say that because at least 3.1 worked, linux is a peice of garbage that is worthless

I'm not going to get drawn into the endless debate of "my OS of choice is better than your OS". I've got my own opinions and I'm going to keep them to myself.

But slating a product that the author openly admits to having no knowledge or first-hand experience of is nothing short of contemptible. It simply exposes him to deserved ridicule, and invalidates instantly everything else he might mention.

Even as flame bait, the piece is pitiful. A poor call from The Inquirer for publishing this dross.

Seriously this kind of article is pathetic. I fully approve of a tech website that doesnt cow down to the big IT firms. But blindly saying you cant be bother to try a OS that probably the majority of new pc customers will be using in a years time is simply pathetic and makes you look a fool. I have used scores of OS over the years, windows almost every version, OS X, god knows how many versions of Linux. However from an true IT perspective the next version of WIndows is hugely importnat.By most accounts 7 is a big improvement on Vista, let be honest that wouldnt be hard. Saying that if MS did the same thign twice they really would have a chance of loosing huge market share, IT departmentscan only keepusing xpfor so long. Of course the real issue is that there isnt really a viable alternative forquite alot of organisations. OS x is great, but it doesnt play that nice with quite a lot of stuff big companies need and of course there is the cost of hardware,god knows why Apple dont release it for normal PC.Cerainly the biggest mistake of job tenure there. And while Linux has some great distros there are some fatal flaws in my opion. Vga drivers have been mentioned. THe fact is an OS willnever be main stream when you expect an end user to recompile the kernel togeta gfx card driverto work. I wouldthink over the users i have probably killed X about 15 times by gettign gfx drivers wrong or incorrectly installing them. That isnt an OS that will evr be mainstream apartfrom in the highly custom installs that some netbook comewith. They just about work, for regualrPC forget it.Until linux people understand this itisand OS which will never take a significant market share on PCs.

I have encountered my fare share of imbeciles but the author of this article takes the cake.
So you swore 10 years ago never to use Microsoft software again and you are writing an article on Windows 7 beta? On what qualifications? If you have not used Windows in 10 years how can you make any sort of comment that is worthy of anything other than cluttering the Internet with more useless junk?
Do us all a favour and stop wasting bandwidth and resources with your totally clueless opinion.
Oh and as for the features that you claim have been around on Linux and Mac for years, here is a clue for you: For years Windows has enjoyed the widest application and hardware compatibility. What exactly has Linux and Apple enjoyed? Do not even mention security because Apple is not only full of holes but they patch them slower too.

The mind boggles how you can pen an article slating Windows 7 to hell and damnation, whilst in return praising Linux to the heavens and then have the audacity to say "I haven't actually seen it though, and probably won't even try it out."!!!

I have never read such pointless, narrow minded guff in my life!

I wouldn't say that Vista was perfect, but Linux has a long, long way to go before it could ever be accepted by the masses.

Please in future, commment on things that you actually know something about. Thanks.

Seriously... Is this article a joke?
I'm quite a fan of the Inq's often 'tell it like it is' reporting, but this guy...

'I;ve never seen it, and won't ever try it' then procedes to slag it off... is this guy an actual journalist, or is this piece just aimed at getting people angry?

I'm not MS' greatest fan, but this piece is just junk and embarrasses the author and the Inq.

Unbelievable! This article reads like some trashy fanboy response rather than the actual article itself!

"I haven't actually seen it though, and probably won't even try it out". Yet you feel qualified enough to comment on the OS and suggest it should just be a service pack. Can I point you here for some homework: http://windowsteamblog.com/Default.aspx

I am not a Windows or MS fanboi, but the way you are bashing them suggests you are some other product's fanboi.

As far as Linux goes: A working collegue who is using Linux all the way on several machines stated just today that the Linux world is working hard on making sure Linux will not get any more popular than it is now; and from my own experience I have to say that he is right on the spot. And both of us love Linux.

There's nothing I could say here about Mac OS X because I cannot afford the hardware. It might be the only real alternative to MS Windows though.

......don't ever bother wasting my time reading anything written by this author again.

Says this -

"I haven't actually seen it though, and probably won't even try it out. "

After ranting how Windows 7 is this, Windows 7 is that..........

Pathetic

Biggest pile of rubbish I've read today and I read the BBC News Technology section, so that's saying something.

You've made Charlie seem unbiased you moronic halfwit.

Linux won't be mainstream until it works with games and everything else. Until then, it will just be second fiddle. & every other report so far suggests Windows 7 will use FEWER resources than Vista or at least use them more efficiently, so nerts to your biased opinion on this!

Glen,

When exactly was the last time you used Linux?

Ubuntu Linux allows changing of all these settings without crashing the GUI. I've been running Ubuntu since 5.04 and I've had my ups and downs but 8.04 has pretty much got it spot on. Hey it's so easy to use I even got a friend's 60 odd year old computer illiterate mother to use Ubuntu as a replacement to XP. She actually prefers Ubuntu.

MacOS might be more of an option if Apple actually made it available for everyone rather than just those who either want to pay a premium for their overpriced hardware or mess around trying to get OSX86 working on their machines. Before you go on about me not knowing Macs either, I DO own a Mac running OSX.

I do think the article might be a little harsh though Egan. Of course Microsoft are possibly copying features which have been in other operating systems for years (that new taskbar feature screams OSX to me) and it is a tad annoying that Microsoft are charging it's existing Vista users to upgrade (and no doubt an upgrade won't be cheap either) but I think you should really give it a try first, even if it's just for a week before you start slagging it off.

I'm a die hard Linux user (who reluctantly uses Windows XP and Vista on a couple of machines due to the sort of job I do) and I do prefer Ubuntu over XP, Vista and OSX but I'm still hoping I can at least have a proper look at Windows 7 either on this new Beta which is released later today or when it ships before I start to slag it off as being crap.

Rob

How the hell can you comment on, let alone judge an OS that by your own admission you know nothing about, you haven't even tried it, so how the hell can you expect anyone to take anything you say as being anything but you talking out your ass.

You act like a public beta is a bad thing, no one has to download and install it unless that want to have a play, Linux is one big pulic Beta, and nearly every game released for the last 10 years may as well be consided a beta out of the box, as they all need a half dozen patches in the first month to make them stable.

"I haven't actually seen it though, and probably won't even try it out. "

...on a Windows 7 opinion article.

Remind me why I come here again?

Theres Lipstick, then theres Lemon Merange Flavoured Lips, Ummmm. Those Task Bar Thumbs with Aero, for admin crowd, Automatic internal correcting, constantly, Jeeze cann't figure out Why wouldn't UpGrade Hardware & Beta today. Theres NEVER been anything wrong with Vista Ultimate, Merely Exploitive Hardware Delays & Sales Sqiuds caught in WonderHorn to Pooppoop, this took bit o' time. Yet Seven is significantly improved & modified, Many More Built in Media Features, & better Tracking local histories, w/ Thumbs! Now think of Super Convergence of 7, then think US TV Change Over may be delayed 4 months, To Let 7 be Examined? Ultee' Thinks So. Give Toshiba First Crack on Very HOT Whip? This Is It folks, It Ani't gonna Get That Much,Much better or can ?It. Hummm. Person that Cuts i7 & 7 is making mistake. IT Thats Invests Saves Mucho Dinos & transfers whole mess to forD. TS drashek

If the average user wants to get away from the problems of Windows, the only real option he can turn to is MacOS. Linux has seen dozens of new versions, but it still lacks developer support. It also falls short of Windows 95 functionality, for instance it's ability to detect that a driver isn't going to work with it without crashing the GUI. I'm still surprised how simple things like changing the refresh rate will crash the gui and force the user to try to figure out how to use a DOS-like text editor to revert his settings back to default. We also know that developer support won't come until we amalgamate all flavors of Linux into two at most.

Though never a fan of Windows, it is arrogance to see Linux as a perfect alternative. I am a Linux fan, but it is still very poor usability, and as well as sometimes struggling to find decent drivers for the most basic hardware, media format support is poor. A new experience I have had from Linux distros in last couple of years, is PC-freeze, and this is because Linux is beginning to suffer the same problem as Windows (i.e. very bloated!). The major Linux distros used to be a much more stable product, with real multitasking.

Linux is not perfect, and popular distros such as Ubuntu and Fedora are suffering from the same style of bulky (and sometimes faulty) service pack updates, as with Windows. Fedora history is particularly sad, as up to Fedora 6, it was a thing of beauty. Vista is poor, but it does the job - most people are not interested in the technicalities, they just want to be able to boot up PC and start working. Linux distros have a long way to go, as usability has never been properly addressed, and the two main desktop environments (KDE, Gnome) chew up more processor time and RAM than Windows XP. As a learning tool, I would always recommend Linux over Windows. But if all you do is surf, write documents, and manage media (majority of users), stick with Windows (I cant even bring myself to recommend the overhyped MACs).

As with political parties, you can only select the best of a bad bunch at the moment. When the Linux community gets its head out of it collective behinds, and considers the poor end-user, then it will be a real viable desktop alternative to Windows.