http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/ Engadget Comments for Windows 7 RC 7100 making its way to OEMs, a torrent tracker near you http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/Apr 24th 2009 9:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
Btw, I'll be seeding both the 32-bit and 64-bit images over a line with 50Mbit upload ;)]]>Apr 24th 2009 9:59AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/Apr 24th 2009 10:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/Apr 24th 2009 11:00AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/Apr 24th 2009 11:11AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/;)
]]>Apr 24th 2009 11:12AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
A few other things I've noticed. Setting up my internet connection took about 20 minutes. The whole control scheme is just confusing. Even when I managed to get it working, I realized that I had misspelled the name of my ISP. It took another 10 minutes to figure out how to rename it. Okay, it was very anal of me, but in OS X it's literally plug in and play. If you absolutely have to get to the network interface, it's two clicks away (System Preferences/Network).

The only impressive thing I have to say about Windows 7 is the themes, but that's right before I discovered where the desktops pictures were stored (they're hidden for absolutely no good reason). You can reveal them by unchecking hidden files and navigating to \Windows\Globalization\MCT\.

I now have those themes in my desktop folder on OS X.

I finally got bored with Windows 7 when I realized that the only thing I was really doing in it, was playing a couple of games that I have on OS X in crossover games, that is, Counter-Strike: Source and Team Fortress 2. The only benefit really is that Windows supports widescreen 16:9 resolution, which looks good on my 24" iMac screen. Crossover Games only supports 4:3 or 16:10 and 16:10, while beautiful, funks up the meters at the bottom of the screen, but that was not enough to keep me in Windows. I can live with having about the same resolution at a different aspect ratio in OS X.

The only real good thing I have to say is that at least Microsoft seems to be trying.

]]>Apr 24th 2009 11:14AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
don't take the bait.

btw, that 24" iMac of yours is actually 16:10, not 16:9. Games in Crossover should display as they're supposed to, without cutting off the meters at the bottom.]]>Apr 24th 2009 11:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/If you had to put in your isp info on Windows 7 then you have to put it in on OS X as well, which hardly makes it plug and play. Sorry to call out your BS but it has to be done. If you have an isp with dhcp then all you have to do in 7 is plug in your ethernet cord or Wifi password and you're good to go.

Should we expect any better though

]]>Apr 24th 2009 11:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
Don't take what bait? I just gave an honest opinion of Windows 7. In fact, I'm typing this from Windows 7 right now. Ask me anything about it. I'm running Windows 7 7077 Black Edition Ultimate by Mad69Max.

I didn't say that the aspect ratio cut my meters off. I said they "funked" them up. The meters appear jumbled when you're playing crossover in 16:10. Maybe that's just a kink in the software or just with Counter-Strike. I haven't tried it in Team Fortress 2. I usually run all my games at 1600 x 1200 resolution, with a 4:3 aspect ratio.

If you know a way to fix the problems in 16:10, just let me know.


]]>Apr 24th 2009 11:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
Not true. I'm with Charter. When I got my modem from Charter, I was provided a disk for Windows and nothing for OS X. I plugged it in and it worked. In fact, when I was with Comcast, I did exactly the same thing. Don't ask me why it works that way, but it does. I'm sure every one on this site has had a similar experience. I mean, how many times have you been provided OS X drivers when you get a modem from an ISP? I'm thinking never. Does that mean that no OS X users get on the internet. That would be a no. And most companies don't have OS X software if you ask them, but that's because Mac users don't need it.

When I set it up the internet connection in Windows 7, it asked me what workgroup or homegroup I belong to. I declined either and had to go through a bunch of dialogs, but it claimed that it couldn't get a connection. I had to reboot my modem several times before Windows recognized it.

]]>Apr 24th 2009 11:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/Apr 24th 2009 12:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
What are you talking about? I'm dual booting my Unibody Macbook with Windows 7 and for both OSes I simply had to enter my WiFi password to access the internet, no drivers. Maybe I'm not understanding what you mean, but even when I have to connect to my modem to change the password and set other settings, I don't need drivers. I have Verizon FiOS, btw.]]>Apr 24th 2009 12:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
That pop up you got is just to categorize where each connection is at. If your connecting a Wifi hotspot at the park you label it "public". If you connect to your DSL modem at home you label it "home". If you connect to your T1 connection at work you label it "work". All you had to do was click home. It really doesn't matter for your desktop because it's probably always going to be connected to your home connection but it's pretty useful for notebooks and netbooks.

It's all really pretty simple.]]>Apr 24th 2009 12:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
I'm on ethernet, but a very good point. I've used a neighbor's unsecured Wi-Fi connection and it didn't require any kind of log-on. I'm not saying Windows 7 is bad, but I was expecting to be blown out of my socks and I wasn't. I guess that Windows users are so used to eating crap, that when someone finally gives them something marginally better, like say, Apple sauce, they go freaking crazy.



Here's a few other criticisms of Windows 7.


How come USBs drives don't show up automatically on the desktop and disappear when you disconnect it? I hate having to go to Computer pane to find my drives. And no, short-cuts on the desktops aren't a good answer either. This is one feature Microsoft should steal from OS X.

Why does the Game Folder use a Playstation icon? WTF?

How the heck do you resize the Taskbar? This is very easy to do in OS X.

Why do I have to click the "Show Desktop" button to activate it? Why can't it just activate if my cursor moves over it. When I use Expose in OS X, I can use "hot corners" which allows me to activate "Show Desktop" or "Show Windows" without looking at the corner of the screen.

Why the freak is everything translucent in Windows now? It makes cascading Windows confusing.

Why does everything in the Control Panel have to be at least four clicks away? That's insane.



]]>Apr 24th 2009 12:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
First of all, I have a cable modem. When I was rebooting my modem I tried every configuration. I tried homegroup and workgroup. Nothing worked. Maybe I'm just an idiot, but I've been using Windows concurrently for several years and I've never had a plug and play moment in Windows. You ALWAYS have to install some sort of driver.



]]>Apr 24th 2009 12:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://windows7center.com/news/windows-7-rc-download-build-7100-x86-and-x64-leaked/]]>Apr 24th 2009 12:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
I too used to like Windows 7 until I realize the game icon was a PlayStation icon. That ruined it all for me.

I can't understand your networking issue. I think it's your own error. I use Macs (like the one I'm on right now), and PCs, and both Vista and 7 manage to connect without adding drivers or any crazy configurations. You sure have to click a lot of buttons to get Vista to connect, I'll agree with that, but that's mostly because you are setting up your firewall and sharing settings at the same time as your network.

You can turn off the translucency if you want. It's very easy to do so. I turn off the translucency on Mac OS X too, I can't understand the obsession with it by Apple or MS.

The Control Panel is just screwed. It's even worse than the lousy one in XP and the awful one in Vista. I'm not quite certain how MS can't manage to make this a little bit better.

Still, I like Windows 7 quite a bit. I'll definitely be upgrading my PC to it.]]>Apr 24th 2009 12:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/That's what Microsoft does. That window that pops up when you insert a USB drive asks you what you wan't to do. Just click open folder to view files. How come in OS X USB drives don't pop up automatically? How come I have to minimize all my windows and go to the desktop just to view the files on my USB thumb drive? It's much easier to just click on the pop up window. This is one feature OS X could learn from Windows.

Why does the Game Folder use a Playstation icon? WTF?
A pawn, puzzle piece, and spade are the Playstation icon?

How the heck do you resize the Taskbar? This is very easy to do in OS X.
Unclick "Lock the taskbar" and then drag to resize

Why do I have to click the "Show Desktop" button to activate it? Why can't it just activate if my cursor moves over it. When I use Expose in OS X, I can use "hot corners" which allows me to activate "Show Desktop" or "Show Windows" without looking at the corner of the screen.
So you can move your cursor to the corner of the screen but clicking your mouse button forces you to look at it?

Why the freak is everything translucent in Windows now? It makes cascading Windows confusing.
Change it so it isn't. You have the option.

Why does everything in the Control Panel have to be at least four clicks away? That's insane.
Change the view to classic....or Large icons or Small icons]]>Apr 24th 2009 12:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
I guess you didn't understand my point about the "Show Desktop" button. A button on the desktop requires you to locate it and click on it. In OS X, hot corners in not a button. It's an area that you move your cursor to, which activates either "Show Windows" or "Show Desktop" automatically. After a while, it becomes muscle memory and you can activate it without looking.

The game icon is a Playstation in the 7077 Black Edition. Maybe Mad69Max changed it. I don't know. Not a big deal, but I just thought that was funny.

And okay, I unlocked the taskbar and made it bigger, but the icons are the same size! WTF? That's why I was trying to make it bigger in the first place! In OS X, the dock and icons resize together.

And how do you get rid of the translucency? I'm sure it involves going through several layers of dialogs.

And I still disagree about the USB thing. The problem isn't when I look for files, the problems is when I want to disconnect it in Windows. I have to do three clicks to disconnect the thing. It's Start Menu/Computer/right click USB Disk and eject. That's stupid. Just put in on the desktop!

]]>Apr 24th 2009 12:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
as for pac man, yeah that corner thing is pretty slick, but honestly i get more frustrated by hitting a corner and having the screen flip out on a mac than anything else.

im liking the new aero peek thing, i think its a pretty cool way of doing things, plus theres that little feature where you shake the window and it minimizes everything but that window.

all in all the button to show desktop works fine, and also if you didnt know you just push the windows key + m and it minimizes everything]]>Apr 24th 2009 1:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/Apr 24th 2009 1:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
The problem with your whole point of view is that you're expecting Windows 7 to be OS X. Both do things in different manners. Try reviewing it with out your Apple hat on.
I personally hate the hot corners. A button allows me to move my cursors around more without accidentally triggering the show desktop.
While I agree that translucency isn't the best way to distinguish between open and unopen apps, for me, I'd rather have a big button that changes translucency then a small dot or triangle.
As for the taskbar scaling. Works fine for me. For disconnecting USB drives. Just pull them out. No special disconnect needed.
]]>Apr 24th 2009 1:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
You guys still haven't told me how to get rid of the translucency. I searched everywhere. The Control Panel. Taskbar and Start Menu dialog.

Basically, Windows 7 seems to have the basic layout of XP, the dock from OS X and the rest is Vista but without the bloat. Not much wow here. I wouldn't go as far as to say it's more stable either. I also remember people saying the Vista RC was stable, but that changed when MS finally released it. And I've already had my first BOSD.

I was trying to change the log-in screen and tried a registry hack to do it. When I restarted, instant blue screen. Windows 7 was able to recover it, but I was disappointed because according to the word of most MS fanboys, the BOSD was supposed to be a thing of the past. Nice try. I guess some of you guys forget that Mac users can use Windows in boot camp.



]]>Apr 24th 2009 1:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/Apr 24th 2009 1:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
right click taskbar > properties > make sure you have "use small icons" unchecked (i prefer small icons personally)

You guys still haven't told me how to get rid of the translucency. I searched everywhere. The Control Panel. Taskbar and Start Menu dialog.

right click desktop > personalize > window color > uncheck use transparency (this is also where you can change back grounds with out having to navigate hidden folders the hard way like you were doing)

or

control panel > personalize > window color > uncheck use transparency

Basically, Windows 7 seems to have the basic layout of XP, the dock from OS X and the rest is Vista but without the bloat. Not much wow here. I wouldn't go as far as to say it's more stable either. I also remember people saying the Vista RC was stable, but that changed when MS finally released it. And I've already had my first BOSD.

its been extremely stable for me. i mean, my computer in general isnt very stable and yet win7 is a dream of stability. and the taskbar is not an osx dock lol. its soooo much nicer than the osx dock. previews, peeking, opening new windows with ease (ya, opening a second firefox browser is a pain on osx, and a single click on win7)...ill take XP taskbar over dock, ill take vista over xp, and ill take win7 over vista. your first BSOD maybe the result of....

I was trying to change the log-in screen and tried a registry hack to do it. When I restarted, instant blue screen. Windows 7 was able to recover it, but I was disappointed because according to the word of most MS fanboys, the BOSD was supposed to be a thing of the past. Nice try. I guess some of you guys forget that Mac users can use Windows in boot camp.

"tried a registry hack to do it"

how is that windows or microsofts fault? if you open the hood, of course something can go wrong.]]>Apr 24th 2009 1:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
Try this on Mac OS X:

sudo rm -rf /System

Then tell me if your machine crashes. If it does, then it's clear that Apple isn't doing their job.

If you can't figure out how to right click on the desktop and select personalize, then I think perhaps the problem is you just need to take a little bit of time to learn how to run Windows. I can attest from helping my dad run his Mac that Mac OS X requires learning a few things too. It's just that you already know those, and you don't know the Windows ones yet.

Also somewhere in appearance is a setting which can adjust for your high DPI screen (somewhat). This is a feature Windows has had for 8 years, and Mac OS X still doesn't have. It was (and perhaps still is) stupidly called "large fonts" or something on Windows.]]>Apr 24th 2009 2:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
If you want to see whats on the desktop just move you cursor to the right side of the taskbar, if you hold the cursor over it for a second it shows you what's on the desktop. If you want to go to the desktop just click your mouse. It's not hot corners like OS X but it's just as easy. I just use the Win+D key combo...it automatically goes to the desktop.

I'm using build 7068 so they probably changed the icon in 7077, I still have no idea what's going on with that though.

Having huge icons in the taskbar wouldn't really be a great idea because unlike OS X's dock not only does it house shortcuts to programs you want and minimized windows, it also shows EVERY window you open...except multiple instances of that program. If you had huge icons for your shortcuts you would only have a few spaces left over for other programs that you open up.

If you want to get rid of translucency just bring up the "personalization" window by right clicking on the desktop. Click on the "Window Color" option at the bottom and uncheck "Enable transparency" In total it's less steps than in OS X

If you want to take out your USB drive just pull it out. In Windows you don't have to unmount the drive like you do in OS X when you want to take it out, Windows takes care of that for you.

Windows is a lot simpler than most fanbois think.]]>Apr 24th 2009 2:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/Apr 24th 2009 2:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/I have 7 USB drives connected to my computer, and I really don't need seven more icons on my desktop.
And if i want to eject any one of them, i simply click once on the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon at the bottom right of the taskbar, it pops up a little menu with my hard drives and I click the one I want removed. 2-clicks, thats all.

Also, I've had modems from TWC, college dorm, and even from TelMex in Mexico, and I've neevr needed drivers from anyone. I once needed an install CD from AT&T, but thats becasue it was DSL and the damn thing needed my account number and some other BS to connect to the network, but no actual drivers on my computer.]]>Apr 24th 2009 3:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/

"make sure you have "use small icons" unchecked"

Yes, I saw that in the Taskbar and Start Menu dialog. Use small icons is unchecked by default and my icons are still freaking small.


"ya, opening a second firefox browser is a pain on osx, and a single click on win7"

WTF? Hitting CMD + N is a pain? And haven't you heard of Tabs? Who the heck opens up multiple browser windows these days?


Okay, but thanks to the guys that didn't act like total douches because I dared to not like Windows 7 instantly. I finally found the transparency setting and boy, I have to say, that's not intuitive at all. I would have never thought to find it there. I also noticed that most of you keep saying [so and so] setting is somewhere in [general location]. In OS X, just about everything is in System Preferences. If you ask a Mac user how to change something they won't say they think it's somewhere in this location, they'll say, System Preferences and be done with it.

And to whomever said, "OS X crashes too." Give me a break. I've had one OS crash in six years. Apps crash all the time in OS X, but it's never bad enough to shut down the whole system.

And to insky, I know about Aero Peek. I know I referred to it as "Show Desktop," but that's what the function is called in Expose. That's a lot easier to understand than saying, "Hey, just use Aero Peek." You say "Show Desktop" and people immediately know what you're talking about. Apple is better with their naming conventions.

And I don't have a Win+D key combo. I'm using a Mac. I don't think the Option/ALT button works that way, if that's what you're talking about.

And to whoever said the taskbar is better than the dock on the Mac, I'm sorry to say, but it's not. Microsoft only innovation here is to include a couple of Expose functions in the dock itself and as I discussed, Hot Corners are a lot easier than Aero Peek. You can also assign keys on my keyboard to activate Expose functions. You can also assign Hot Corners or keys to Dashboard, and your Screen Saver. The OS X dock also allows you to put folders in it.

And that "Show Windows side by side" function in the Windows 7 taskbar, how is that different from "Tiling?" People keep saying it's a new feature. It's not.

]]>Apr 24th 2009 3:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
Why would I want to go through three clicks, when I could just go to my desktop and click on the drive I want? And what do you mean by clutter? The only thing on my OS X desktop is the MacintoshHD. I know it's a Windows custom to decorate the desktop with countless shortcuts, but in OS X, our short-cuts are in the Dock. That's what it is there for.

So, in other words, stop talking to me like I'm a Windows user. We do things differently.

]]>Apr 24th 2009 3:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/5426/starwarsstartrekjpg.jpg[/IMG]]]>Apr 24th 2009 3:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/Apr 24th 2009 3:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
Also, it is not a custom to decorate a desktop with countless shortcuts. I actually have no icons on my Desktop. I removed MyPC, Recylbe Bin, everything. I have a really nice Shadow of the Colossus background in a sort of washed-out water-paint style, so icons would block it. So once again, my question, why would i want all my 7 drives to show up on my dektop. Most of these are permanent storage drives that I rarely eject, so tehy would be there constantly.

And apparently, you're posting here because you are not using Windows 7, yet for some reason complain about it and ask how to change settings, so I apologize for mistaking you for someone who uses Windows.]]>Apr 24th 2009 4:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
I was testing Windows 7 to see what the hype was about and basically people are just happy it doesn't suck as bad as Vista, which really doesn't impress me. We've had the majority of the "new features" in Windows 7 for a long time in OS X.

And where did I say it took two clicks to eject the USB drive? I never said that. Maybe you should be more careful when you read.

]]>Apr 24th 2009 5:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
first, you fucked with your registry, and the system crashed. how is that MS's fault?

and it requires 1 single click to get to content on a USB drive. plug in you drive, and you get a popup from which in one click you can view all the files, or depending on the content, play media files or some other options. seems stupidly easy to me. also, safe ejecting drives isn't necessary for usb, but if it'll help you sleep at night, click on "safely remove hardware" in the system tray (bottom right) and click your drive. so that's 2 clicks from whatever window you're at, whereas in OSX you have minimize your windows to get to your desktop, click to get the drive options, and click to eject. by my count thats 2 clicks for windows (or 0) and 1 action plus 2 clicks for OSX.

you say guiding someone to an option in OSX is easier because you just say "go to System Preferences." well guess what, all Windows options are in Control Panel, just go there. and if you don't think it's obvious that the transparency option would be under "Personalization," use the search function. I'm in Vista right now, but all I had to do was type "tr" in the search box and the first option was "Enable or disable transparent glass on windows." i think its the same in 7.

you complain about the Expose function not working in 7. well new flash: they're not the same OS's.

you say it's a habit of windows users to clutter the desktop with shortcuts, whereas in OSX you just use the dock. my desktop may be cluttered, but it's not just shortcuts: also folders, files, program installation files, and more. the desktop is there to put stuff on, why not use it? even if you don't want shortcuts on your desktop, just put them on your taskbar.

and i don't know what's up with your network. i've never heard of anyone having to install drivers to get their network/isp to work with windows.

the one point i will concede is that it doesn't look like 7 resizes the icons in the taskbar when you enlarge it. though if you're having trouble reading/seeing them in 1920x1200 (i assume) at 24", you should get your eyes checked out. my 15.4" laptop screen is 1680x1050, which is even more dense, and i have no problem with it, nor do my friends with 15.4" 1920x1200 screens. even if you just like bigger icons, i don't know why you would want to take up that much screen space with the taskbar. i like to leave the space for the windows. that could be a preference you've developed from using OSX, which has a relatively large dock/taskbar.]]>Apr 24th 2009 6:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
i use multiple firefox windows to make use of different "thoughts" in each window. for example, i use one for my street fighter 4 forum browsing, i use one for email + home page etc, and ill pop open a new one if i want to look something up real quick on wikipedia. then ill open a new one for my Quake Live-ing. think of it as adding tabs with-in tabs. except in OSX its a hassle so of course you wouldnt bother to do that. its actually quite easy to do it in Win7.

"..In OS X, just about everything is in System Preferences..."

Control panel. and making things like the function keys act like function keys instead of shortcuts is pain to do on OSX. youve got to go to 3 different spots to disable them completely.

"And to whomever said, "OS X crashes too." Give me a break. I've had one OS crash in six years. Apps crash all the time in OS X, but it's never bad enough to shut down the whole system."

i crashed my room mates brand new Macbook Pro with in 5 minutes of its very first boot. he hadnt even installed or uninstalled anything. i can make certain programs crash on OSX consistently and on Win7 ive rarely have anything crash at all. system or program...Win7 is definitely more stable than OSX in my use.

"And to insky, I know about Aero Peek. I know I referred to it as "Show Desktop," but that's what the function is called in Expose. That's a lot easier to understand than saying, "Hey, just use Aero Peek." You say "Show Desktop" and people immediately know what you're talking about. Apple is better with their naming conventions."

Show Desktop is a part of Win7. Aero Peek is different. Aero Peek is when you hover over an icon on the taskbar, and then hover over a preview window and it singles that window out on the desktop. If you hover over the little button in the bottom right, it will show your desktop, and when you pull away, it will go back to how it was. if you click, it auto minimizes everything. if you click again, everything comes back.

And I don't have a Win+D key combo. I'm using a Mac. I don't think the Option/ALT button works that way, if that's what you're talking about.

iirc, its the button next to space. the System button and the Alt key are switched on a mac keyboard.

"And to whoever said the taskbar is better than the dock on the Mac, I'm sorry to say, but it's not. Microsoft only innovation here is to include a couple of Expose functions in the dock itself and as I discussed, Hot Corners are a lot easier than Aero Peek. You can also assign keys on my keyboard to activate Expose functions. You can also assign Hot Corners or keys to Dashboard, and your Screen Saver. The OS X dock also allows you to put folders in it."

Clearly you have not explored the new task bar and its associated hot keys to the fullest extent. for example, WinKey + [number] will launch the program associated with it on the task bar (for example, if you press 1, it will open what the first icon is. 2 opens the second icon, etc).

you should also explore some of the possibilities involving the WinKey + arrow keys and dragging different parts of the window around. drag the bottom of the window to the bottom and it auto full heights it. win + arrow keys can move stuff around (including from one screen to another). up maximizes, down from maximize restores, down from restore minimizes. or you can win + M to go straight from full screen to minimize. win+home minimizes all but current window.

"And that "Show Windows side by side" function in the Windows 7 taskbar, how is that different from "Tiling?" People keep saying it's a new feature. It's not."

this happened in a class just 2 days ago i was in. my teacher wanted to put two windows side by side for comparison. he was on OSX. if it was Win7, he could have just dragged on to one side, and the other to the other side. ta-da, task done. he got it done but it took longer AND it wasnt as clean.]]>Apr 24th 2009 6:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
]]>Apr 24th 2009 6:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/Apr 24th 2009 6:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
you dont have the right to judge an OS if you arent willing to learn about it. have fun fanboy]]>Apr 24th 2009 6:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
the bait...you took it.]]>Apr 25th 2009 12:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
The problem here isn't Windows 7, it's that you don't know how to use it. Some of the things you don't know how to do easily are in many versions of windows.

To eject a USB device you don't even need to go to start, my computer, right click and eject. In the taskbar you click on the usb device with the white check in the green circle, then select the device you want to eject.

And it's also very easy to show the desktop just press the "Windows + D" (the windows key and the d key).

Go whine somewhere else, obviously no one here wants to put up with your shit. ]]>Apr 25th 2009 2:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/stubborn little fuxxer]]>Apr 25th 2009 1:30AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
Ctrl + scroll up.

Done.]]>Apr 25th 2009 2:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
My dear PAC man - let me offer some assistance on some things that are troubling you.

you dont actually have to click the visible "button" to expose the desktop. Hover in the bottom right corner and you see your desktop - while in the far right corner click once (no you dont have to click the buttom - mash the mouse off the screen and just click it son!

oh and btw - Start key + space = view desktop as long as it's held down - i use it to check temp and my stock widgets.....

now for the USB issue - why are you going through my computer - it's like running Apple's launcher just to eject the USB....
left-click (yes left) on the "attached device" icon in your bottom right taskbar and click on the device you wish to remove. DONE - now dont tell me that takes more time than dragging something to the trash?

oh - and a tip - learn window's shortcut keys. It'll make you enjoy keyboards all over again :)

some to try:
Start + (E, F, R, Space, Tab, pause/break, L (note - locks your session - ie screensaver lock)) Those are what i use mostly.
and PLEASE tell me you use alt+tab.... (hold alt - tap TAB)
on that note - add shift to any tab function to cycle in the opposite direction (alt + tab, add and hold shift..... or start + tab, add and hold shift)

You really would do yourself a favor if you looked up a list of them and spent 15 min's reading them all. Might find one that increases your productivity.....

It's not about the OS, it's about how skilled you are at working with the OS....

that said - Win 7 pwns :)]]>Apr 25th 2009 2:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/
@matt: Universities with Tier 1 connections are such wonderful things :D:D]]>Apr 29th 2009 5:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/Apr 24th 2009 10:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/Apr 24th 2009 10:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/windows-7-rc-7100-making-its-way-to-oems-a-torrent-tracker-near/Apr 24th 2009 10:05AM