The Official Windows 7 Thread

Alexia · Tue 27 Oct, 2009 19.38

To respond to Sput and Hyma --

You obviously didn't read my post correctly. I bought the laptop on Monday. The Monday before 7 came out. Therefore it had Vista on it. To upgrade would have cost me money.

All I was doing was conterpointing the various posts about upgrading to 7 with my own little story of staying put on XP. If you don't like me doing that, then ban me. Please.

Sput · Tue 27 Oct, 2009 19.41

Oh I read it perfectly well. You just HAD to put a big haughty "I am ignorant about this, so obviously it's pointless" sort of statement up.

I think you read my user level wrong. I don't ban people.

Alexia · Tue 27 Oct, 2009 19.52

I am not ignorant of 7, I just don't have any use for it. It's like owning an old version of a car. Yes, it may look pathetic when everyone's driving around in the latest model; but if it gets me from A to B and I know where all the controls are, I'm not necessarily going to go and replace it willy nilly. If Windows 7 proves that it can do everything XP does for me now but better, then maybe I will purchase it one day. But for now, I don't want it, I don't need it. I just thought it was ironic that on the day everyone rushed out to purchase 7, I was also improving on Vista...but by going backwards.

Pete · Tue 27 Oct, 2009 19.57

Alexia wrote:You obviously didn't read my post correctly. I bought the laptop on Monday. The Monday before 7 came out. Therefore it had Vista on it. To upgrade would have cost me money.

Then you would qualify for a free upgrade to 7 would you not? Unless you got a very poor deal that is.

What I was more countering was your assertation that 7 was poor when you didn't even appear to be giving it a shot. I don't like pie, i've never tried it, but I don't like it.

Alexia · Tue 27 Oct, 2009 20.10

I'm not sure when I said that 7 was poor - if I somehow inferred that I apologise, I didn't mean to. Let's just say that since I helped my other half set up her brand new Vista computer and watch it chug around for half an hour before it loaded up, I'm more wary of Windows than before. And since PC World is on the wrong side of town and Currys won't let me play with Windows 7, only watch a demonstration; and Tesco only have a Powerpoint slideshow running, I have very little opportunity to try it out. And, as I keep pointing out and I apologise for repeatedly repeating myself, I have little need to upgrade. If someone demonstrates that I can design my websites, use Facecheese and BBC iPlayer and play Spider Solitaire much better on 7 than XP, please do.

Dr Lobster* · Tue 27 Oct, 2009 20.12

Alexia wrote:To echo Cwathen's comments above, I must confess I purchased a new laptop on Monday and it was delivered on Friday. I immediately downgraded it from Vista to XP. As it is a brand new super-powered dual-core etc etc machine I obviously have the ability to upgrade to 7 somepoint in the future, but for now, while XP does everything I want and more, the words are "why bother"?

in a sense, you're right and that's how i felt until recently - the applications i use the most are going to work just the same in windows 7 as they are in windows xp.

but after using the release candidate for the couple of weeks i realised that whilst there is nothing earth shatteringly new in this release, if you work with lots of applications at the same time and have lots of files scattered around your disk it's somehow easier to manage it all in windows 7. the new taskbar really does change the way you work for the better, you quickly get used to it and you wonder... why wasn't it like this in the first place.

the windows xp mode spoken about in the higher-end skus is also really useful. it's a bit clunkly but a couple of my old applications which don't work in 7 work well enough in the virtual machine environment for me to continue using them.

if you qualify for the cheap student edition, i'd certainly splash out and give it whirl.

Alexia · Tue 27 Oct, 2009 20.17

Dare I stoke the fire even more and point out that you can get various 3rd party applications that will bring Vista/7 functionality (like preview windows hovering above a taskbar that can pin programs and only show logos not text) to XP?

Sput · Tue 27 Oct, 2009 20.18

I wouldn't if I were you, because it's almost certainly untrue that having window previews is the sum total of the windows 7 experience.

Andrew Wood · Tue 27 Oct, 2009 22.58

Hymagumba wrote:Then you would qualify for a free upgrade to 7 would you not? Unless you got a very poor deal that is.

Regretably, I think there has been quite a bit of con work done by some sellers of PCs and laptops.

I bought a new Toshiba a few months back on the basis of it qualifying for an upgrade to Windows 7 - only to find out there was a 30 quid charge for the media and accompanying driver disk. To cap it all, it wouldn't be available until early December.

If I had a spare genuine non-OEM key for XP, I too would be downgrading from Vista to XP on the laptop.

Alexia · Tue 27 Oct, 2009 23.06

Having checked the website I bought it from, I can confirm I was not offered a Win7 upgrade. It did come with Office 2007 preinstalled though.

Sput · Wed 04 Nov, 2009 08.28

I've just learned that if you work in retail for any of these companies (i.e. if you have a retail outlet number):

Currys, PC World, Asda, Tesco, Sainsburys, M & S, Orange UK, Carphone Warehouse, Woolworths, Toys R Us, Game, Gamestation, Comet, Blockbuster, DABS, HMV, Morrissons, Microsoft, Zavvi, Dixons, KCRS.

And are willing to sit the microsoft indoctrination online tests (by lying about Linux, frankly), you can get windows 7 ultimate for £10 for about an hour of your time at http://expertzone.microsoft.com

Not sure if anyone here actually does work for those places, but thought I'd pass along the tip!