6 ms·

200+ Windows 7 beta users surveyed: They like it. Quite a bit, actually.

15 points by technologizer 18y ago

joeblubaugh 18y ago
Have the user metaphors changed at all from Vista? I find more and more that the reason I don't enjoy using Windows has little to do with speed or graphics gewgaws and more to do with the fact that I can't customize many commands or shortcuts, and that I am still expected to click to launch most applications.
- briansmith 18y ago
  You can launch any document or application in Vista by pressing the Windows key, typing any part of the name of the app/document, then pressing Enter. Even in Windows NT and later, many (but not all) applications could be run by hitting Windows-R, typing the name of the executable, and then hitting Enter. You've also been able to assign applications shortcut keys since Windows 3.1 (right click on the shortcut in the start menu, choose properties). Windows 7 automatically assigned your applications shortcuts like Windows-1, Windows-2, Windows-3 according to their position in the start menu.
chris11 18y ago
I have to admit I like it. I've been using it as my main os for a couple days. It's fast, and I haven't had problems with stability. There's a few visual bugs, for instance every now and then a very blurry block will appear on top of the taskbar. Also, it seems to run a little faster than windows vista did. I did have one program that wasn't compatible. I tried to download Daemon Tools to mount a linux iso, but Daemon Tools isn't compatible with Windows 7 beta. Other than that, no problems with hardware or software compatibility. And I installed it when I was putting in a clean hard drive in my laptop and was basically choosing between the iso's on my college's network, so it's not like I was really excited about it before the installation.
- zcrar70 18y ago
  For Daemon Tools, you could try the following replacements: http://blogs.msdn.com/charles_sterling/archive/2007/05/14/virtual-cd-rom-control-panel-on-vista.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/charles_sterling/archive/2007/05/14/vi... MS Virtual CD Control Panel http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html Virtual Clonedrive I used to use Virtual Clonedrive, and prefer it to Daemon Tools anyways.
  - chris11 18y ago
    Thanks, I'll check it out. I was really needing a replacement since my dvd drive currently isn't working.
gb 18y ago
Unfortunately it's completely unusable on my machine (longest uptime: ~15 minutes), but it seems that I'm alone in that experience. I also couldn't work out how to set up my home network the way it used to run (sharing Internet connection via my machine - I don't have a proper server or a router or anything like that). I'm sure it's possible, but it certainly wasn't at all difficult to do in XP, so I wasn't too impressed with that. Maybe if the machine stayed up longer I would have figured it out eventually. Hopefully the next beta or RC will work for me.
rbanffy 18y ago
So that was the strategy: generate lots of bad impressions with Vista and then improving the perception with a somewhat better OS a short time later. Not that I dislike 7. It's really a better Vista, faster (less slower) and remarkably stable for a beta, but that is the major problem for me: It's still Windows Vista under the hood.
piramida 18y ago
That's actually a first MS OS which I must say I like without any 'but's. And definitely it comes as a huge relief after Vista, which made me stop by Apple shop more and more often. Performance-wise it seems even better than XP and that's with all eye-candy on, which is rather impressive in itself. I've read some articles on W7 architecture and there does not seem to be any single reason for this speedup, besides new profiling QA team. So kudos to them. Going in the right direction there, MS.
briansmith 18y ago
I think the main advantage of Windows 7 over Vista is just the passage of time. Most developers of mainstream software have finally made sure that their software works on Vista. A lot more old hardware (whose makers did not make Vista-compatible drivers) has been replaced, and other drivers fixed, so that the likelihood of running into a driver-related problem is much lower now. A lot more software has been fixed to work under a limited (non-Administrator) account, which means UAC is practical. I develop software under Windows Vista all day long, every day, using dozens of tools, and I almost never get a UAC prompt. The focus of Windows 7 development has been on reducing end-user frustration. Windows itself is limited in how much it can reduce that frustration because a lot of it is caused by third-party applications and by Microsoft add-ons. So, while the Windows 7 UX has already improved over Vista, the real UX benefits won't happen until applications adopt the Windows 7 style guidelines. For example, applications need to get rid of their "minimize to tray" options and they need to quit installing icons on the desktop. (Actually these were the guidelines even for Windows 95, but Windows 7 really makes it counterproductive to break the rules.) They need to integrate with the new task bar features. They need to integrate with the new restart infrastructure so that installers don't have to reboot your computer due to files being in use.
neilo 18y ago
I've heard and read a lot about people seeing Windows 7 as more of a service pack and one person I know who uses/likes Vista thought it was "ugly". Myself, I missed Vista entirely and given the chance to easily try 7 for free (legally), I plopped it down alongside Ubuntu 8.10 on my aging ThinkPad T60p. And honestly it impressed me, seeming to be the right fixes in the right places from XP and giving me few problems to speak of. I used it as a development workstation on an in-house programming contract and joined the domain without a hitch. At the same time IE8 did irritate me often with poorly rendered pages, slow performance, and many a crash. I also had problems with suspend not UNsuspending, but then Ubuntu did that too which makes me think it was a hardware thing. Now recently I got a T400 with Vista Business SP1 and have immediately felt the pain of usage and now I also see the UAC annoyances which I hadn't noticed in 7. It has had problems interacting with the domain, and just feels heavier. Admittedly it's a factory install whereas 7 was fresh, so I know part of my issues are going to be due to that. Still, I've been seriously considering replacing Vista with the beta so I don't have to figure out why this or that isn't doing what I want. Um ... so, yeah, write me up as one of those beta users who liked it.

15 points by technologizer 18y ago

Have the user metaphors changed at all from Vista? I find more and more that the reason I don't enjoy using Windows has little to do with speed or graphics gewgaws and more to do with the fact that I can't customize many commands or shortcuts, and that I am still expected to click to launch most applications.

briansmith 18y ago
You can launch any document or application in Vista by pressing the Windows key, typing any part of the name of the app/document, then pressing Enter. Even in Windows NT and later, many (but not all) applications could be run by hitting Windows-R, typing the name of the executable, and then hitting Enter. You've also been able to assign applications shortcut keys since Windows 3.1 (right click on the shortcut in the start menu, choose properties). Windows 7 automatically assigned your applications shortcuts like Windows-1, Windows-2, Windows-3 according to their position in the start menu.

chris11 18y ago

I have to admit I like it. I've been using it as my main os for a couple days. It's fast, and I haven't had problems with stability. There's a few visual bugs, for instance every now and then a very blurry block will appear on top of the taskbar. Also, it seems to run a little faster than windows vista did. I did have one program that wasn't compatible. I tried to download Daemon Tools to mount a linux iso, but Daemon Tools isn't compatible with Windows 7 beta. Other than that, no problems with hardware or software compatibility. And I installed it when I was putting in a clean hard drive in my laptop and was basically choosing between the iso's on my college's network, so it's not like I was really excited about it before the installation.

zcrar70 18y ago
For Daemon Tools, you could try the following replacements: http://blogs.msdn.com/charles_sterling/archive/2007/05/14/virtual-cd-rom-control-panel-on-vista.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/charles_sterling/archive/2007/05/14/vi... MS Virtual CD Control Panel http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html Virtual Clonedrive I used to use Virtual Clonedrive, and prefer it to Daemon Tools anyways.
- chris11 18y ago
  Thanks, I'll check it out. I was really needing a replacement since my dvd drive currently isn't working.

gb 18y ago

Unfortunately it's completely unusable on my machine (longest uptime: ~15 minutes), but it seems that I'm alone in that experience. I also couldn't work out how to set up my home network the way it used to run (sharing Internet connection via my machine - I don't have a proper server or a router or anything like that). I'm sure it's possible, but it certainly wasn't at all difficult to do in XP, so I wasn't too impressed with that. Maybe if the machine stayed up longer I would have figured it out eventually. Hopefully the next beta or RC will work for me.

rbanffy 18y ago

So that was the strategy: generate lots of bad impressions with Vista and then improving the perception with a somewhat better OS a short time later. Not that I dislike 7. It's really a better Vista, faster (less slower) and remarkably stable for a beta, but that is the major problem for me: It's still Windows Vista under the hood.

piramida 18y ago

That's actually a first MS OS which I must say I like without any 'but's. And definitely it comes as a huge relief after Vista, which made me stop by Apple shop more and more often. Performance-wise it seems even better than XP and that's with all eye-candy on, which is rather impressive in itself. I've read some articles on W7 architecture and there does not seem to be any single reason for this speedup, besides new profiling QA team. So kudos to them. Going in the right direction there, MS.

briansmith 18y ago

I think the main advantage of Windows 7 over Vista is just the passage of time. Most developers of mainstream software have finally made sure that their software works on Vista. A lot more old hardware (whose makers did not make Vista-compatible drivers) has been replaced, and other drivers fixed, so that the likelihood of running into a driver-related problem is much lower now. A lot more software has been fixed to work under a limited (non-Administrator) account, which means UAC is practical. I develop software under Windows Vista all day long, every day, using dozens of tools, and I almost never get a UAC prompt. The focus of Windows 7 development has been on reducing end-user frustration. Windows itself is limited in how much it can reduce that frustration because a lot of it is caused by third-party applications and by Microsoft add-ons. So, while the Windows 7 UX has already improved over Vista, the real UX benefits won't happen until applications adopt the Windows 7 style guidelines. For example, applications need to get rid of their "minimize to tray" options and they need to quit installing icons on the desktop. (Actually these were the guidelines even for Windows 95, but Windows 7 really makes it counterproductive to break the rules.) They need to integrate with the new task bar features. They need to integrate with the new restart infrastructure so that installers don't have to reboot your computer due to files being in use.

neilo 18y ago

I've heard and read a lot about people seeing Windows 7 as more of a service pack and one person I know who uses/likes Vista thought it was "ugly". Myself, I missed Vista entirely and given the chance to easily try 7 for free (legally), I plopped it down alongside Ubuntu 8.10 on my aging ThinkPad T60p. And honestly it impressed me, seeming to be the right fixes in the right places from XP and giving me few problems to speak of. I used it as a development workstation on an in-house programming contract and joined the domain without a hitch. At the same time IE8 did irritate me often with poorly rendered pages, slow performance, and many a crash. I also had problems with suspend not UNsuspending, but then Ubuntu did that too which makes me think it was a hardware thing. Now recently I got a T400 with Vista Business SP1 and have immediately felt the pain of usage and now I also see the UAC annoyances which I hadn't noticed in 7. It has had problems interacting with the domain, and just feels heavier. Admittedly it's a factory install whereas 7 was fresh, so I know part of my issues are going to be due to that. Still, I've been seriously considering replacing Vista with the beta so I don't have to figure out why this or that isn't doing what I want. Um ... so, yeah, write me up as one of those beta users who liked it.