MS is offering RC1 to anyone that wants to install it. I previously thought it expired in June so I wasn't going to bother, but I found out it expires in June 2010, so I just switched from vista. I was not a Vista hater, but windows 7 is a substantial improvement all around. I'll be installing it on my laptop as well. I'll start with drivers and UAC, by far the two biggest complaints as they relate to Vista.
I had tried installing an earlier build and it froze on me during install, but the RC1 installation proceeded without any problems. I installed the 64-bit version and so far I haven't hit any real roadblocks. All of my hardward was detected and the appropriate drivers were installed, including things that weren't installed during the Vista 32 installation. This is a large improvement from Vista 64 or XP 64. It's not much of a surprise though, as Windows 7 uses the same driver model as Vista, and the bulk of the pain was incurred during the vista launch, but now manufacturers have drivers available for both 32 and 64 bit versions. There have been some significant under the hood improvements to Windows 7, but they don't require any substantial driver rewrites like Vista did. For reference, vista used kernal 6.0 and windows 7 uses kernal 6.1.
After installation, the one thing I did need a new version of was Kaspersky Anti-Virus, but Windows automatically flagged the program when I was installing it and sent me straight to the kaspersky download site that had the version that was compatible with Windows 7. They give you a beta license that lasts in to november, at which point i'm assuming they'll have the final version out and i can apply my purchased license to it. I didn't have problems with any other programs.
UAC is much less annoying in Windows 7. Unlike some, I actually like the fact that windows now makes you escalate to perform some operations, but the problem in Vista was the redundancy of the prompts. It would ask you twice for the same operation, and even on fast computer, it would take several seconds for the whole process. That seems to have been dealt with. Since UAC prompts are mostly front-loaded to when you are installing everything for the first time on a new computer, you have to go through a ton of them. This seems like less of an issue now, partly because applications have now be updated to behave properly under the new rules. And you no longer need to escalate to run control panel apps. Personally, I intend to crank it up to Level 3 (the highest level of UAC) once i'm done setting everything up, but you don't have to. The thing I liked most about vista was that it didn't get messed up over time like XP did. I think that UAC is partly to thank for that, and having it at level 3 minimizes any potential vulnerabilities.
The new interface is slick. Although browser tabs helped with taskbar clutter, never again will you have multiple IE or explorer windows clogging up your taskbar. And the text is gone from them. It shows only icons. For browsers, you can even access different tabs straight from the taskbar. The system tray seems to be off-limits to programs now, and most icons are hidden so there's less clutter. Messenger sits on my taskbar instead of in the old system tray, which now only holds my wireless connection, volume, anti-virus, or things actually related to the system. The sidebar is gone. Instead, gadgets are placed on your desktop. This is an improvement. Everything seems very snappy.
On the networking side, things are also improved. You can now easily share libraries to other computers on your network. So even if you have music or several different drives filled with video *cough* Jinda *cough*, you can now make a single library and share it, instead of having to share each folder individually. With 2 TB drives now a reality, this is pretty awesome for someone that wants to fill a case with say 10 hard drives and rip all their DVDs (or soon Blue Ray) and serve them up as one folder. I just bought a mammoth-sized case and that is exactly what I intend to do. It'll allow me to keep my HTPC in the living room small and quiet, with only a SSD drive on it. An always-on, totally silent HTPC is now a possibility. There likely will also be add-in cards available for windows 7 that will allow you to eliminate your HD cable box, as MS has built the required DRM into the OS to protect the content from its streaming source to delivery on your screen. I know that DirectTV has something in the works for sure. Another company is also releasing a video card that will handle the HD audio with high quality components. So unlike windows vista, I expect that windows 7 will eventually be a full-capability media center, eliminating the need for an external HD dvr or blue ray player.
Media Center 7 now has support for movie libraries, which are different from video libraries. I'm guessing that it will display your DVD rips with cover art, but I haven't tested it yet. This previously required an external plugin. Another big improvement is that you no longer need to screw around installing codec packs to get your videos to play. All of my divx and xvid work straight out of the box.
Minor things: calculator got a big update. It now does unit conversions and a bunch of other stuff. Useless crap like windows mail has finally be removed from the OS. This is now part of windows live. Explorer got some minor improvements, mainly related to libraries and homegroups.
I haven't had any issues at all with RC1. I've installed a bunch of programs, including 64 bit versions of Lightroom 2. Everything runs great. No crashes.
I think MS has nailed this release, right down to the freely available Release Candidate straight from them.
I had tried installing an earlier build and it froze on me during install, but the RC1 installation proceeded without any problems. I installed the 64-bit version and so far I haven't hit any real roadblocks. All of my hardward was detected and the appropriate drivers were installed, including things that weren't installed during the Vista 32 installation. This is a large improvement from Vista 64 or XP 64. It's not much of a surprise though, as Windows 7 uses the same driver model as Vista, and the bulk of the pain was incurred during the vista launch, but now manufacturers have drivers available for both 32 and 64 bit versions. There have been some significant under the hood improvements to Windows 7, but they don't require any substantial driver rewrites like Vista did. For reference, vista used kernal 6.0 and windows 7 uses kernal 6.1.
After installation, the one thing I did need a new version of was Kaspersky Anti-Virus, but Windows automatically flagged the program when I was installing it and sent me straight to the kaspersky download site that had the version that was compatible with Windows 7. They give you a beta license that lasts in to november, at which point i'm assuming they'll have the final version out and i can apply my purchased license to it. I didn't have problems with any other programs.
UAC is much less annoying in Windows 7. Unlike some, I actually like the fact that windows now makes you escalate to perform some operations, but the problem in Vista was the redundancy of the prompts. It would ask you twice for the same operation, and even on fast computer, it would take several seconds for the whole process. That seems to have been dealt with. Since UAC prompts are mostly front-loaded to when you are installing everything for the first time on a new computer, you have to go through a ton of them. This seems like less of an issue now, partly because applications have now be updated to behave properly under the new rules. And you no longer need to escalate to run control panel apps. Personally, I intend to crank it up to Level 3 (the highest level of UAC) once i'm done setting everything up, but you don't have to. The thing I liked most about vista was that it didn't get messed up over time like XP did. I think that UAC is partly to thank for that, and having it at level 3 minimizes any potential vulnerabilities.
The new interface is slick. Although browser tabs helped with taskbar clutter, never again will you have multiple IE or explorer windows clogging up your taskbar. And the text is gone from them. It shows only icons. For browsers, you can even access different tabs straight from the taskbar. The system tray seems to be off-limits to programs now, and most icons are hidden so there's less clutter. Messenger sits on my taskbar instead of in the old system tray, which now only holds my wireless connection, volume, anti-virus, or things actually related to the system. The sidebar is gone. Instead, gadgets are placed on your desktop. This is an improvement. Everything seems very snappy.
On the networking side, things are also improved. You can now easily share libraries to other computers on your network. So even if you have music or several different drives filled with video *cough* Jinda *cough*, you can now make a single library and share it, instead of having to share each folder individually. With 2 TB drives now a reality, this is pretty awesome for someone that wants to fill a case with say 10 hard drives and rip all their DVDs (or soon Blue Ray) and serve them up as one folder. I just bought a mammoth-sized case and that is exactly what I intend to do. It'll allow me to keep my HTPC in the living room small and quiet, with only a SSD drive on it. An always-on, totally silent HTPC is now a possibility. There likely will also be add-in cards available for windows 7 that will allow you to eliminate your HD cable box, as MS has built the required DRM into the OS to protect the content from its streaming source to delivery on your screen. I know that DirectTV has something in the works for sure. Another company is also releasing a video card that will handle the HD audio with high quality components. So unlike windows vista, I expect that windows 7 will eventually be a full-capability media center, eliminating the need for an external HD dvr or blue ray player.
Media Center 7 now has support for movie libraries, which are different from video libraries. I'm guessing that it will display your DVD rips with cover art, but I haven't tested it yet. This previously required an external plugin. Another big improvement is that you no longer need to screw around installing codec packs to get your videos to play. All of my divx and xvid work straight out of the box.
Minor things: calculator got a big update. It now does unit conversions and a bunch of other stuff. Useless crap like windows mail has finally be removed from the OS. This is now part of windows live. Explorer got some minor improvements, mainly related to libraries and homegroups.
I haven't had any issues at all with RC1. I've installed a bunch of programs, including 64 bit versions of Lightroom 2. Everything runs great. No crashes.
I think MS has nailed this release, right down to the freely available Release Candidate straight from them.
