Windows 7 Slated for Jan. 2010: Microsoft

Here's something I completely missed the first time I read Microsoft's "Dear John" letter to XP. Buried in the letter (.PDF) which Bill Veghte, senior vice president of the Online Services & Windows Business group sent to Windows customers earlier this week, besides re-affirming that XP is pretty much gone after June 30th (with a few exceptions, more later), was a note that indicated that customers wanted a "more regular, predictable Windows release schedule."

[AntiFlag]

Customers want to be left alone to use what they already have. MS sucks. Every release is a bigger rip-off. Bigger, more bloated. More shit nobody needs.

[jscotti]

Windoze 7, eh? I think someone at MS needs to learn how to count. Since Windows 3 we have had Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows XP and Windows Vista. Hmmm, that's 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 - 7 versions of Windows after Windows 3, not counting minor upgrades like Windows 3.1, Win 98SE, etc. Sounds like the new version of Windows should be called Windows 11.

Why does every major version of Windows have to be totally incompatible with the last version? MS should take a look at how Linux operates. A less "throw out the baby with the bathwater" approach might be easier for MS customers to swallow - imagine being charged less for an incremental upgrade every couple years instead of having to buy a complete new version of the OS? And they do the same thing with Office.

[AntiFlag]

I just a new machine with Vista. There are no new features. Everything from XP has just been moved and/or re-named. And despite a GIG of ram it's slow as molasess.

[FreeToChoose]

I have a rock solid XP home setup. Vista is out of the question due to unwieldiness and unreliability.
I have a gotten another machine devoted exclusively to practice and learn Linux.
I will not be cornered by a monopoly. When the time comes, I'll be Linux fluent, Linux will be even better, and Windows will be history.

[RetireedJSO]

I have several computers and laptops, they all run XP, I had Vista, the full version, not the home on 2 of them, put XP on them and they run a lot faster. I do not understand my Micrsoft have to make so many unneeded changes to the operationg system. The easiest anology I can think of is changing from a american car with a left side steering wheel and english displays to a car with a right side steering wheel and metric displays, you can do it but it will take a while to get use to it. Especially as you have to have a more powerfuel enginge to run it.

[jscotti]

The only problem with sticking with XP is that it will no longer be supported and new hardware will eventually no longer include support for XP. As Vista becomes more ingrained, there will be things that just can't be taken advantage of with old XP. One could still be running Windows 3.1 if you like, but you'd never be able to take effective advantage of having 2G of RAM and a 500G hard drive, for example.

I would drop Windows in a second if Linux could do everything I want that Windows can, and I'm actually this close to doing so. The latest Ubuntu is actually super easy to install and maintain and if I could run MS Flight Simulator and Puresim baseball on my Ubuntu Linux box, I'd forget about Windows today. I've been running various versions of Linux on my machines at work for more than a decade now.

[tnorm22]

In my opinion Windows has grown to be a terrible operating system which now needs over a gig of ram to even get to run the most basic processes. Vista is needless to say a major let down. Take me back to the good ole days with some msdos, now were talking. Before windows was a money hungry company selling half-ass products to ignorant consumers.
Its all about open source for me these days. The new ubuntu is straight up sick which is why I am running it on my newly built box.

[Bama Yankee]

I subscribe to Win XP News and Vista News. I've read some real horror stories about Vista.

I just ordered a new workstation that will be networked with 3 others and a Linux based server. I will be taking the downgrade offered for the OS and using XP Pro in stead of the Vista Business.

Just too many incompatibility issues for me to switch to Vista.

I'm hoping by the time Windows 7 rolls out that I can switch entirely to open source. If I find a way to run my GPS map maker under Linux, I'll switch sooner.

[Stuff I have read]

jscotti wrote:

The only problem with sticking with XP is that it will no longer be supported and new hardware will eventually no longer include support for XP. As Vista becomes more ingrained, there will be things that just can't be taken advantage of with old XP. One could still be running Windows 3.1 if you like, but you'd never be able to take effective advantage of having 2G of RAM and a 500G hard drive, for example.
I would drop Windows in a second if Linux could do everything I want that Windows can, and I'm actually this close to doing so. The latest Ubuntu is actually super easy to install and maintain and if I could run MS Flight Simulator and Puresim baseball on my Ubuntu Linux box, I'd forget about Windows today. I've been running various versions of Linux on my machines at work for more than a decade now.

I heard there was a Linux program that would allow you to do that. I'm spelling it wrong, but I think its called Wine.

[jscotti]

Stuff I have read wrote:

<quoted text>
I heard there was a Linux program that would allow you to do that. I'm spelling it wrong, but I think its called Wine.

Yes, wine is available on Linux but it doesn't run every windows program. It's getting better all the time (to quote a Beatles tune...) but it isn't there yet.

[Stuff I have read]

jscotti wrote:

<quoted text>
Yes, wine is available on Linux but it doesn't run every windows program. It's getting better all the time (to quote a Beatles tune...) but it isn't there yet.

Well, I can't comment on that myself.

My feeling is this, yeas, I spent a lot on Windows extr products that are not the normal Win Plus stuff, but after all the crashes and junk updates that cause more slow downs and who knows what else.

If you do switch(?) You did it for a reason!

That is to get the heck away from MS!

(Want a brand new copy of MS Access 2000 free? Never used, it was not backward compatible with 97!)

[jscotti]

Stuff I have read wrote:

<quoted text>
My feeling is this, yeas, I spent a lot on Windows extr products that are not the normal Win Plus stuff, but after all the crashes and junk updates that cause more slow downs and who knows what else.
If you do switch(?) You did it for a reason!
That is to get the heck away from MS!

You're not going to get an argument from me. I use every Opensource program I can find to replace MS products - Open Office, Firefox, you name it. My desktop at home has duel boot - XP and Ubuntu.