Whether or not Windows 7 does launch in October as
previously suggested, those who have (or plan to get)
Release Candidate will be happy to hear that Microsoft won't be pulling the plug until June 1, 2010, well over a year from now and 11 months after its
initial expiration date. After that, you're gonna have to fork over the Benjamins for one of the
retail SKUs if you wanna keep 7 alive. As for those still living in Redmond's past, the company's also extended the life of XP, at least for OEMs. Companies using the older OS will still be able to install it on netbooks for up to one year after 7's official shape date. Seeing as the new system's likely to have a more expensive licensing fee, it's probably the best move if the company plans on keeping that
96% grip on the netbook OS market.
[Via
gadgetmix]
Read - Windows 7 RC extension
Read - Windows XP extension
posted May 1st 2009 12:33AM
Wow, pretty generous of them i would say. Awesome.
Whatever thoughts of generosity you're having would go away once you see Steve Ballmer's face.
****Imagines kicking him in the face****
okay so here's the thing...
My Dell Studio 15 arrived in the first week of February 09, and the first thing I did was download Windows 7 and install it. Now i've been using it for the past 3 months and I must say that I don't want to go back to Vista Home Premium any more. I recently installed Jaunty Jackalope (a.k.a Ubuntu 9.04) which I would use only for programming purposes, but i'm NOT going back to Vista Home Premium.
So now that they have released the Windows 7 RC which they'll letting people "test" till the next year, what do you think their real plan is. They plan on making us slaves again so that when the final version comes out they can charge whatever they want and we'll have to buy it.
You know with all this piracy business with the Windows OS not going on so well, they had to do something like this to make people use Windows for free.
I'm not one to pirate, but Windows is the exception. When the OS is by far the most expensive part of building a PC, I will kindly tell them "thanks but no thanks," and continue to install the same XP Corp that me and all my friends use.
I'll most likely not pay for 7 either, unless they've made it infinitely more annoying to use an unactovated Windows copy since XP. Then I'll pay for an OEM copy on eBay.
this is nice!
I can't wait for this to be release. I hope this launch goes much smoother than vista's.
don't you mean ship?
Their world will come crumbling down if Apple ever releases a netbook. M$ is garbage.
...while typing from his Acer.
[Similarly inflammatory comment regarding Apple computers and systems]
Quite true- It's very clear that in all markets where Apple DOES compete in computers, they have total market share, and only netbooks are saving Microsoft from the brink of destruction.
Er, wait, no...
I dont think so... At least Netbooks offer a full system experience. Apple plan to put the Iphone OS on their new device. On a pc netbook, you can install any of your desktop apps, make music with Reason, Cubase and cie, edit your photos with photoshop lite, download torrents, watch them, play some good old warcraft 3 and other games (morrowind is a must!! - Oblivion ancestor), Do some 3D at the café with lighwave, modo or C4D...
ya daft apple slave :)
I have an Asus, but I like Apple stuff. It's more polished and typically doesn't phuck up on me like my M$ junk does.
Great idea! How about on top of a netbook, Apple releases a full line of laptops and PCs and then they can totally wipe out the Windows user-base. Oh wait.
This is awesome, I actually just barely downloaded it and now I plan on installing it soon to see how it is, hopefully it treats me well and treats my wind well.
do you guys think they'll allow people to get security updates in RC1? if not, that's going to be a huge security risk.
beta had security updates. so will rc
It's good to see that Microsoft are still supporting legacy OSs (yes, as soon as the official release of windows 7 become - well - official, I'm going to start considering XP a Legacy OS.)
Well, XP has a lot of MS-DOS bits in it, so it's kinda semi-legacy already.
Does this still mean that the Beta builds are still going to expire August 1st or do they get an extension too?
the beta key works for rc so download that and reuse your key.
well for arguments sake, aside from not wanting to go through with a reformat, why wouldn't you just get the RC?
so if i'm reading this right the RC will be upgradeable to the retail version? (unlike the beta, which has to be removed and installed over)
Boy, do you have an ego problem.
Oh, wow! A MacBook PRO, you say? Crap, I had no idea those things existed. I thought they were the stuff of the future! Kind of makes this Dell M1530 look like a stone tablet in comparison. I wish I had a MacBook Pro.
Dang... Pro...
whatever !~~~~ Stupid fanboy ........
Oh the irony, it's quite the opposite! Oh, did I mention I'm running Vista Home Premium? Yea, you read it right: PREMIUM!
Troll
my computer cost probably twice what your macbook pro did, and its way sexier. but then again, im not quite sure what your argument is supposed to be on this one. what to boast that you paid o idk double for a laptop than you would with a pc for the same performance?
Successful troll is successful.
i can't believe how many people fell for that :p
@jonny,
*yawn*
If I had bought an Apple I would install Windows 7 and leave it at that.
but then again I would never buy a Mac lol. OSX while it is a nice OS is just not for me.
I'm on a boat!
You do realize the real big boys who use the real computing power aka SUPER Computers run linux? Linux on Macs just plain sucks. So you Mac users are just not Super.
So, uh, what does that mean they've extended support for the RC past when the final release should exist? Does that mean, for example, I could actually download Win 7 RC and expect to use it legitimately into 2010?!
Kick ass, best news all day
look how many comments you got jonny! i want to feed a troll!
I think this is a great move by Microsoft to get people be used to Windows 7. Such that these consumers will eventually get their copy of the genuine OS.
You just gotta love Microsoft!
Can't wait for May 5th, have a new 1TB hard drive eagerly awaiting to have the RC installed onto it.
So, uh, what does that mean they've extended support for the RC past when the final release should exist? Does that mean, for example, I could actually download Win 7 RC and expect to use it legitimately into 2010?!
that's what i'm taking from the article too. sealed the deal for me, i'm about to download it now to test it out for the first time.
cool. i think that settles it then. i've been having some problems with my laptop lately and was gonna reinstall Windows. i think i'll just add 7 instead after i do a little research to make sure i can run Zune on it and a couple other key programs.
yes of course you can run zune on it.
definitely download it. you'll love it and really enjoy it.
something totally random, but your cat is so cute! (if that cat is yours, of course).
XP's lifesan extended? Talk about confidence with Windows 7!
Whew! I almost had a heart attack. Oh wait, I don't care. I use OSX, the best operating system on the planet.
Why don't you trolls reduce your birthrates?
96%?? I have no idea why people believe this is true when those statistics are biased because they're given to us by Microsoft.
Can you give us some unbiased information (from say Apple or a troll or a fanboy?)
If you're trying out windows 7 and you like it very much, then you'll spend that few hundred bucks for a copy. So obviously if you plan on getting it, get it when it comes out, instead of sticking with a RC until 2010... (well well, if you're only going to buy a copy when SP1 is out)...
A question:
Will Windows 7 work on my 5 year old Pentium 4 1.6Ghz computer? with 768MB of RAM?
It will, but it's gonna be sluggish. I have the RC (build 7100) running on an old PC down in the basement - Athlon XP 2400+,1GB RAM, on-board GeForce2 and it runs nicely with all the whizbang aero effects turned off.
A friend of mine has the RC running on a Duron 1.2Ghz with 640MB RAM and that works pretty nice too.
Yeah, it will. That processor is about as powerful as the Atoms in netbooks, which run it fine.
It might be lacking for RAM though.
I installed in on my old P4 2GHz with 256MB(lol) RAM, it's quite snappy when not doing anything.
As Zane has said, it'll be sluggish.
There's a couple of things you can do though that may increase performance.
1) Use a USB flash drive or memory card with ReadyBoost. Depending of the size of drive/card you use and the amount you assign to readyboost, you could see some good improvements in performance. Even if you go for the full 4GB though, you wont get the fancy Areo graphics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Readyboost
2) Install more RAM. Maybe not the cheapest option but more guaranteed to improve performance, Bringing your total above 1GB will help and anything after that is a bonus. I'm guessing you're using DDR (which seems to be getting expensive again), check your motherboard specs, see what RAM speeds it supports and if it supports dual channel.
I'm looking forward to trying Win7 on my P4 2.8GHz with 2.5GB of DDR400 RAM and GeForce 6600GT, I'm hoping it runs well (and if it gives me Aero thats a bonus), as a backup though I've got a 4GB flash drive prepped for ReadyBoost.
Thanks everyone for answers! so it will work but might be a bit sluggish, which I don't care 'cause I'm planning to use it as a backup server.
Tried XP, Ubuntu and I always had networking issues going on.Anyway glad to hear that it'll work! Well done MS! I hope 7 will do the trick here! RC, Heeeere I come!
@MikeWard1701
I just upgraded the RAM recently for Ubuntu. it is SDRAM! and quite expensive,it initially had only 256MB, I got another 512MB stick. I hope it would be enough I'm not going to pay $30 for a SDRAM in 2009! :)
That's a pretty sweet deal Microsoft is offering here (regarding Windows Sev7n). I mean I'll put the Win7 RC in the next weeks in replacement for my Windows XP Pro SP2 (not very clear stuff here I must admit, if you catch my drift :D)...Windows Sev7n R.C. will definitely help my decision to stay on a Windows machine or go Apple with a Macbook Unibody. I mean I'm not sold on OSX yet but if Windows Sev7n is as good as what I've been hearing, I guess Redmond is going to get some of what is/ will be in my wallet.
I know it is a R.C. so it may be a little different when it will reach retail version, but I think a R.C. is a better way to judge an OS rather than a beta...So props to Microsoft !!!!
buried for "Sev7n"
Microsft has Smiled on us this day!! I was planning on saving up $400 for W7Ultimate just in case it's that much. Now I can wait for next years income tax! Thank you MS! This is a big push for me to upgrade to RC1. Yes!
Ultimate is going to cost $400?
I doubt it.
Mine was SDRAM too :p
So for those of us who are using the beta, is there an update that converts Beta -> RC? I really don't want to have to download a 3 gig file from scratch, again.
It'll continue "working" until June 2010... However,
"Expiration dates – Make sure you plan ahead when it comes to expiration dates. For the RC you will need to rebuild your test machine with a genuine copy of the RC before the beta expires. Dates below:
* Windows 7 Beta – Expires August 1, 2009. Your machine will begin shutting down every 2 hours from July 1, 2009.
* Windows 7 RC – Expires June 1, 2010. Your machine will begin shutting down every 2 hours from March 1, 20010."
I'm liking Windows 7 and all, but everyone needs to be clear on how this system works.
"from March 1, 20010"
so youre telling me we got some time then?
I put it on a old laptop, an hp NC4010 w/ 512mb, No aero effects, no problem. Idle, it was using 290mb ish of memory.
OK totally Noob question but where can i pick up the windows 7 RC?
www.windows7.com
Just want the earbuds, but will take the Zune too!
If windows 7 also works as windows Xp , i Definitely change my windows Xp into windows 7.
I will wait for this to be release. I hope this launch goes much smoother than Windows XP.