Microsoft to put Windows 7 on USB sticks

I put Windows on a USB stick couple of years ago. Got a couple of versions on sticks.

If the only computer someone owns is a netbook they're hurting no matter how you look at it.

I'd imagine most people have at least one desktop or laptop that can copy the contents of a DVD to a USB stick.

If not, well...... they got no business attempting to be a techy wannabe anyway.

Using VLite I used a USB stick to install the Win7 RC on my netbook. It was so easy, and I'll definitely use it again for the next installation. Even back when we only had CD-ROM drives I've hated disc media for its bulk, slow IO, and data integrity (or lack thereof). Good riddance to all disc media installs.

A USB external DVD burner can be had at newegg starting out at $39 with free shipping.
I will upgrade my laptop when Ubuntu releases their next animal.
MS and their proprietary OS and Direct X can kiss my arse. May Open GL gaming come back strong and I hope Games For Windows Live (GFWL) tanks too.
@BB USB thumbdrive is faster but how many times are you going to install the OS, I can afford to wait a couple extra minutes and have myself a nice little piece of hardware too, external DVD burner.

Vole is already bunging copies of Office Home and Student 2007 on USB sticks and has been doing so for roughly 5 months now. Releasing to select department and computer stores as "Exclusive Versions". So putting Win 7 on USB just seems like a logical step, with most new PC's supporting booting from USB why wouldn't they?

Windows and Microsoft suck, and I suppose the idiots who use that crap suck more.

Why isn't USB the *PREFERRED* distribution method these days? A DVD-sized USB dongle is extremely cheap paying retail prices, I can only imagine what it'd be in volume. Faster access times, no disc to scratch, smaller size, let me know when to stop.

.. make USB sticks BIG enough?

Once a netbook has Windoze installed, will there be any disk space left over for other 3rd party applications? I mean, a 2.8 gig install expands to how much?

Yes, MS are going to put Windoze on USB stick"s", and they'll release a new one every week for security fixes and updates.

Erm yes. As a clue, a 2.8GB install takes approximately 2.8GB space. USB sticks are typically available in powers of two GB, so a 4GB stick would be perfect.

This is only for installation purposes, not for Windows to be run from once set up.

It's an excellent idea, and may yet save Microsoft's skin, so long as they accept that they are reaching hitherto unreachable markets so don't try to charge extra for it.

Hell, everyone should be using USB memory sticks for distribution in favor of CD or DVD discs. MUCH more reliable, and just as cheap, especially in volume. Plus smaller in size, which is a big cost factor.

Heck, why doesn't Microsoft develop a USB stick loading kiosk that it could distribute to major vendors that would download latest from MS servers and make available to users at a nominal fee. It's done with movie DVDs now.

dVD IS mUCH mORE sAFE pLACE TO sTORE o/s iNSTALL Its Light weight & When spun UP, FAST As Devil. That Makes Install Clean. USB Sticks Break if, indie Machine Its Flexes about. Maybe use interal usb header & leave it installed. Bios Boot up from Removable, then HDD when complete. At Least Activation Be Close by. Lets See. If Used One with lost cap on Old 'puter, or was i t....

USB For those Whom Refuse ALL Disc Drives. Why Not Put Retail Movies On USB, Seems People Just Are Clueless.

Also USB IS NEVER FREE. Buy Next Beta From Microsoft for, Hummm, $50, Then Reformat When beta IS Done. Such 'R Deal. When At Work You Can Beat Your Micro, Just BEAT IT. You Can Beat It: DVD.

Signed: Dr. Tommy Tommy vondrashek M.D. home invasion specialist....

Don't Change That Dial, PEPSI For DEAD Generation....Burn Ye Face Off If Ye Quit Corps.(Less Value for Artisdt) Kill You If You Start Your Own Business. Who Says MicroExtortion IS Differnt?
Overall Slogan:From Russia With LOVE.

With the stream of consciousness above, but I will say that a USB installer is a great idea, the economics are not going to be as easy as some have suggested. Flash drives are not nearly as cheap as pressed DVDs and are not likely to be for a long time to come, so there will be a slight price premium. The flash drive can be made write only, a desirable feature would allow service packs to be slipstreamed to the flash drive, this could be achieved through a soft writeonly lock.

re: "they got no business attempting to be a techy wannabe anyway"

Don't be a jerk. My 87 year old aunt has a PC. Just because you know what USB is doesn't make you a "techy"

Nice to see you're back on your medications, von Drashek, and back to your fighting form.

Don't be dumb.
"As a clue, a 2.8GB install takes approximately 2.8GB space"

As a clue, the size of the install medium doesn't necessarily have anything to do with installed size. You might have heard of compiling and compressed file systems. Then again, maybe not. Do you think installing an OS is transferring an image onto disk? Duh.

WTF are you going on about? As a clue, DG's comment was precisely about the installation media size and the capacity of USB sticks. Gee, what were those words again? "This is only for installation purposes, not for Windows to be run from once set up." Yes, Ryansway's comment was retarded, but that was DG's core point. Obviously, no uncompression happens at the install media end anyway, considering the current media ROM formats. Don't be dumb yerself.

...I think we're witnessing the birth of a legacy Inquirer term here. "As a clue..." LOL...Epic!

Look, Dr. Von Drashek, "as a clue, don't Change That Dial, PEPSI For DEAD Generation....Burn Ye Face Off If Ye Quit Corps.(Less Value for Artisdt) Kill You If You Start Your Own Business. Who Says MicroExtortion IS Differnt?"

Rolls right off the fatuous tongue!

I'm sure people will flame me on this comment, but anywho..

A lot of people are saying that USB sticks are faster and cheaper than DVDs.....

last time I checked DVDs cost about 50c a DVD (and that's on the expensive side) vs about $15ish for a 4GB USB Key... both of which are retail prices, scaling to bulk is still really unlikely to get it to a similar price as a DVD costs.

As for speed... I'm sure they exist, but I've tried alot of different USB keys that are 4GB or larger and they rarely get much more than about 25MB/s read speed vs an 18x DVD which is a 25MB/s read speed (which I've seen regularly). So at best they are about equal on read speed... USB probably has an edge on the better quality USB keys but then that also adds to the cost..

So how is it that USB Keys are faster and cheaper?

Having said that, I still prefer a USB key and I think the physical size and re-writability makes them better, but as far as an install medium goes I really doubt that they will be anything more than a niche product. Albeit filling a very important niche so its a good move in the end.

As a clue...Just kidding, I'd be more respectful than that to a 911 terrorist. The Internet tends to have rude people. But, hey, everybody's anonymous, so what the heck.

Anyway, the thing about most flash drives is that they're made for reading AND writing many times in their lifetime. I'm not even sure if any major money has been put towards the idea of flash cards that are only readable. I'm guessing that a readonly flash drive wouldn't be more than a dollar a gigabyte, but that's a SWAG. Not having to worry about changing the data would probably reduce the price a major amount.

... the "flash" in flash memory refers to the process of flashing, or erasing, the memory. It makes no sense to have a read-only flash drive. At that point it's just a ROM drive. Reminds me of the ROM cartridges I used to buy for my C64.

Newegg is selling a 4GB flash drive for $9. While that's a retail price and it may be possible to reduce that price significantly by making it read-only, and with bulk discounts, etc., I doubt it will ever get anywhere near the few cents it takes to make a DVD. Seriously, a DVD is a piece of plastic with a thin layer of metal that you shoot with a laser for a few minutes. And probably you don't even do that with DVD-ROMs. You can buy 50 DVD-Rs on Newegg for $10 now, i.e., 20 cents per. That's tough to compete with.

... I agree with the people saying that DVD-ROMs are way cheaper than memory sticks, the advantages of the later are well worth the added cost. Being rewritable is not even its most valuable feature, but the portability and it's small size are something that in the foreseeable future will lead it to replace the optical unit. From a personal point of view, when building a new PC the main reason to include an optical drive was to be able to install WinXP on it. But since Vista and Win7 my ASUS drive became a bit obsolete. The other competitor for the optical drive is, surely, the internet connection. Set a FTP server in less than 5 minutes and you are ready to exchange whatever files you like with your friends or colleagues, without the need to burn them - the files, not the friends :) - using the crappy in-build Roxio burning software or the expensive Nero.

Someone needs to tell Microsoft that having Windows on a 8GB SSD blows chunks because no matter what you do, you can't get pagefile.sys any smaller than 1.5 GB!!!! That is almost 20% of the drive gone. Then there is the space XP itself takes up. Why do you need a swapfile that is 50% larger than the memory itself in a device that is really good for nothing more than as a browser/e-mail tool? I love my little netbook, except for having to constantly free up space on the SSD. :(

"I mean, a 2.8 gig install expands to how much?"

That was the question that DG was responding to. The poster was querying whether netbooks would have enough drive space and asked that question.

Of course that poster is pretty dumb too because netbooks frequently come with 180G harddrives and USB sticks in the multiple gigabytes have been around and cheap for some time now.

As a clue newhomo, you have to read the entire reference, not just select one line.

yay?

a portable dysfunctional operating system?

oh the joy!

Experience the inability to address sufficient ram for 32bit windows 7 (vista sp3) to fully function on any machine with USB!

oh, 64bit windows 7 (vista sp3) with all its driver woes? can't wait for that delight

While Solid State Drives will make windows7 use less tortuous, much like slower USB media, it does not unbork the essence that is the bloatware known as microsoft's new OS