Windows 7 release candidate coming

Lets hope they don't make the same mistake they did with Vista and release it before it is ready. I'd rather wait an extra year for a good OS than have a Windows ME III.

This "quick" approaching will be bigger dissappointment.Like Vista - it's nothing but a marketing trick :)
Remember my words !!!

Really? how could they be giving us a spanking new OS so quickly? didn't it take ages to make vista? why is windows 7, supposedly much better, so quick and easy to make?

They aren't selling us a revamped windows vista ARE THEY ??

New lamps for old.

"They aren't selling us a revamped windows vista ARE THEY ??"

Of course they are. That's all Win 7 is, that's why it's called Vista SP2.

There's some new features, but it's all based on Vista. It's quiet impressive, but that's what vista should have been.

windows 7 is vista 2.0
vista is simply some upgrades form xp
xp is an upgraded 2000
2000 is an upgraded nt 4
nt 4 is an upgraded 3.x
nt anything was originally born from os\2 works MS did with ibm. MS has not put out a truly new os in nearly 25 years.

its going to be windows 2000/me all over again. its just a 300$+ uber expantion pack :P

I don't think Windows 7 is going to be a rush job, W7 is just SP2 for Vista so it's no wonder they can chuck it out the door so quickly.

This is what Microsoft has been saying for ages, I don't know why it is coming as such a big surprise for everyone in the community.

They have always said that there will only be one beta and then it will go straight to RC, with them hoping to RTM by the end of the year.

This is not a rushed release, when it RTMs it will be about three years from the Vista RTM, which is a normal Windows release schedule.

What you have to remember is that Vista was a really unusual release for Microsoft; it took a really long time to develop. If you look back to Windows XP it was released well within three years of the last version.

It may seem that Windows 7 development is going quickly but let's take a step back for a moment. 7 is a logical extension of Vista so we're talking about a known platform, not a revamp like it was XP - Vista. Once Vista went RTM, 7 was already in the works since at least November 2006. Considering 7 Beta 1 is feature-complete, all that's left is to work on stability and compatibility (i.e. no new code development). Given my personal experiences with 7, where most of the work needs to happen is with drivers. That kind of work is up to 3rd parties to develop and test and report any OS-related bugs back to MS. RC1 is going to outshine Vista in every way even though it's still pre-production quality. Ironic, huh?

I've been running it an there are a few quirks... Nothing more than vista, but it does run exponentially better than it currently runs. IE8 is the only huge flaw, as it isn't at all stable. I think that they would be better off letting developers catch up a bit to iron out problems with 3rd party applications, so they don't screw themselves again.

Let's start by saying that I've shared much hatred towards may of Microsoft products with the worst being Vista and Office 2007. They decreased productivity and efficiency in every way possible.

I've been generally on Windows XP for gaming, video editing and stuff. Linux has been my main OS for a long time now. However, my loyalty to Linux does not mean that I cannot explore the possibility that M$ has done something right for once since Windows XP (though Office XP was like Office 2000 with 2 weeks of work added).

I've used Windows 7 Beta for almost a week now and I can say that this is their lucky release. I've seen good performance from games...switching to desktop and back is snappy as well. Premier Pro 2 works quite well. Memory usage is half of Vista on boot up. It also seems there's more work done to the 3D interface such that it actually does something a bit more than just eye candy where all the students are playing with Win+Tab key in class.

I'd have to say that with this release, I will be using the OS a bit more than Vista but probably about as much as I use XP. As for this being a Linux killer...I can't agree. We have to remember that a large portion of Linux users are either IT professionals or those who love the fact that there's no cost and comes with all software needed! I for one will stick to Linux as it allows me to do most of my work as an IT consultant and sys admin a lot faster.

I would like to raise suspicion that M$ borked Vista so 7 looks like gold. However, since they hold most of the market, Vista was probably just a screw up and they released it anyway cus it will generate revenue cus they get to force it on everyone.

What's all this talk about a Linux killer? It presupposes that Linux is big on the desktop. It isn't. It's a niche product used mainly by a few students and nerds. It's nowhere near ready for general desktop use and Microsoft's development technologies (.NET, WPF, etc.) are far superior to anything available on the Penguin.

I skipped Vista although I use it at work and so far I'm loving Windows 7. I will be purchasing a copy and replacing my XP install with it.

I'm not the biggest fan of Microsoft, but have all you haters actually tried it? W7 is what Vista should have been, fast and reliable, and not another ME!

... it's just cleaned a bit and warmed up. 7 is 2. That is to say after installing both "leaked" betas, Windows 7 is simply Vista SP2. No more no less. But the corporate world will adopt it this time. As my former IT VP said so well, "We have to keep our OEM suppliers healthy".

I hope they don't charge too much. People are already pissed at Vista. They don't want to fork out lots more $/£ just to get the OS they should have got already and were promised.

I believe Linux will be affected if all goes well. People will have less to hate on Windows (they could even be happy?!) and it will lower motivation to switch. With lower reqs. it will also start appearing on more netbooks one area Linux has been performing well in recently.

I have had the 64bit beta installed for several days now, with the 32bit beta (along with Ubuntu 8.10 64bit) installed in a virtual machine on it.
I have to say that so far I'm quite impressed, there are a couple of minor things to polish and the only bigger issue I have is related to the antivirus integration (full functionality makes it crash all the time, but using Kaspersky beta just with the file antivirus is fine), but being fair they are all beta too.
I'm not surprised they are going for a RC straight away, this beta looks like an almost finished product to me.
Even things like games (like Crysis) work flawlessly in the beta.

Cannot wait until it's released, I only hope they have a sensible pricing strategy this time.

NT was not born from OS/2... it was derived from VMS, by the guy (David Cutler) and much of the team, who created VMS.

I just hope we don't have to suffer another deluge of whiny cheap-asses who expect it to run perfectly on their crappy hardware from 2001, or those folk who claim they will adamantly not buy it because they don't ever want to buy an OS past Win2k or XP. I have to say that *people* were the worst part of the Vista release.

So were Jeffrey Dahmer's "clients".

Since it is a Vista SP2, would we all Vista victim be offered a free upgrade from the ripped off?

By the way, since someone talked about OS/2, I think it is time to wake she up too (as it offer the best of the both worlds [Unix & Windows])... Don't you think?

Windows 7 is NOT Vista sp2, Vista sp2 is a separate thing altogether. Windows 7 is to Vista like XP was to Windows 2000. Windows 2000 forms the base for XP, likewise Vista forms the base for Windows 7. Even after XP was out, service packs were still made for 2000 because it is a different operating system despite the same codebase.

Windows 7 is a reworked Vista, it is reworked enough to be called a separate operating system. In reality, despite what some people say it is 6.1, and this isn't for compatibility purposes (thats just a bonus). Its 6.1 simply because its based on 6.0 (aka Vista). Windows 2000 was 5.0, XP was 5.1, and Server 2003/XP x64 was 5.2.

The reason why Vista had so many problems to start with is because it wasn't widely beta tested until it was RTM! Windows 7 is downloadable simply because its a good way to iron out bugs that would have otherwise made it to the rtm version.

It isn't surprising that people are moving away from the Windows platform, especially when they realise that Windows 7 should really be seen as a Vista SP3....

I've been using the beta for a while now, and have to say it is leaps and bounds beyond Vista. In both speed and comfort of use.

The new task bar really makes a difference, and feels more homely after spending a long time on OS X. This coupled with the few simple changes and additions to the UI make it a much more rewarding experience to use.

And the speed! While perhaps not as responsive as Leopard on the same hardware (Mac/PC alike) it's far faster than Vista. It runs comfortably on an MSI Wind, and apps pop up near instantly.

Hopefully they won't trash it before it's released.

As the title suggests..

Vista owners should be given a free "upgrade" to windows 7, as Vista was rushed out.
Vista was the Windows Millenium for the 21st Century.

Even with that, its still a vulnerubale registry based O/S, same as Windows 95.

Bring Back OS/2 !

Went to a tech fair yesterday for one of my distributors. There were some people from Microsoft there. There was also from the Windows 7 team and he says that Windows 7 should be released within the September/October timeframe.

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