Windows 7 retail boxes hitting stores
By Nilay Patel 
posted Oct 4th 2009 4:03PM
posted Oct 4th 2009 4:03PM
[Thanks, Frank]
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!
Best OS ever, Windows XP users get it for god sake, XP almost a decade old.
That's great! Really... You are the epitome of FAIL!
Dr house - I 100% agree!
I'm talking about i-techs comment.
There's no reason for people to be running XP anymore. Seriously.
Makes me sick to see people running a decade old OS, and every time I sit down at it I'm reminded of its age.
a big moment in human history?
@nerdtalker...
What about those with older computers that either can't support 7 or can barely support it?
I know I'm probably not upgrading to 7 because I don't have a need for it. Yes, I have a Mac and use it most of the time, but the other people in the house that use Windows aren't going to benefit much from upgrading to 7.
OTOH, when I get around to upgrading that computer, I'll probably put 7 on it. That's just for hobbying sake, but to say that there's no reason to run XP anymore isn't 100% right.
Takes 20sec or less to boot, 1.42GB to install making any 16GB SSD just more than enough for portability, less than 256MB of RAM when fully loaded and allows me to run every game i want without having to turn on the page file with just 2GB of RAM, makes the battery last longer on the 1005HA, runs every program i need and want, the start menu is so much easier to use (imo for this one, i hate to have to scroll 2~10 times to get the program i want that is hidden inside 2-4 sub-folders), and the visual is just so clean and intuitive.
Now why should i upgrade again?
@David, he is talking about compatible systems that can runs Win7 smoothly, but still uses XP.
I smell some astroturfing...
Definitely the best OS of all time.
Also, OMGZ THERES LIKE TOO MANY VERSIONS TO COUNT MICRO$OFT, YOU'LL CONFUSE CUSTOMERS WITH CHOICE (yeah, a choice of 3).
/end engadget mode
Best OS, possibly. Best Windows OS, by far!
I've been pretty impressed thus far with 7. Who could have even conceived after the disaster known as Vista there would be another viable, solid OS under Microsoft's sleeve? I sure as hell didn't.
@WindowsFTW
That's still at least 1 more than they really need out there. Why strip down the OS? I can buy everything Mac has to offer - and legally install it on all machines in my house - for under $50.
The fact that Apple still make enough money with less than 10% of the volume in sales that MS has is just another reason I don't see any reason to get excited.
I agree this is still an improvement - hell, a huge improvement - on the arrogance that came with Vista's pricing model. But I still don't know what planet MS is living on when it thinks $120 for the crippled version of Windows 7 is a deal.
Grow a clue Microsoft. Your arrogant days of charging what you wanted has long past. You want to push this latest creation of yours, here's a clue:
1) Drop it's cost to match MacOS. You are already competing with Linux in quality (yeah go ahead and say you're better, just go ahead - I like a good laugh). Compete or you will fall down.
2) Stop this crap of crippling the OS. The code is written, there is no economic reason to have three versions. Two, I can see working - a Pro and a Home version. One with domain features, one without. 3 is just plain silly.
Canny,
You're in a delusional state if you think you're *actually* paying "only" $50 for an Apple OS.
Apple makes their money off of hardware (and with disgusting profit margins that should appall any consumer...but I digress), so if you neglect to factor in the cost of the hardware that you had to already purchase off of them, then all of a sudden the OS that comes with it seems like a reasonable deal. However, let's not fool ourselves and automagically forget that Apple charges a HUGE markup/premium/apple tax for their hardware...and whenever you want to upgrade their OS to a newer one, they don't mind selling it to you for a lesser fee than what Windows goes for, because they've already made a bundle off of selling the machines to you in the first place.
Yeah, people! Rah, rah! XP is so a decade old! Except for those extra two years... but what does that matter, right! 8 years != 1 decade, dumbasses.
@nerdtalker
I have a computer at work that's still running Windows 2000, and one that's still running windows 97.
Believe it or not, Windows 7 boots faster on my EEE PC 1000he than the default Windows XP install; even with Boot Booster enabled. It's too bad one of my programs is not compatible with 7 though, every time I go to open a file, the program crashes. Thinking of opening this program under VirtualBox, everything else works great though; even the default drivers!
The Weekly MANcast Dave
Are you willing to part with your version of Windows 97?
It would make an excellent collectors item.
XP came out 25Oct.2001 seems to me that major OS releases are always on the holiday seasons, what do you think?
Apple can sell their OS for as low as they want, it's not going to affect sales or anything.
Because the real work is done on Windows.
@ nerdtalker,
"There's no reason for people to be running XP anymore. Seriously.
Makes me sick to see people running a decade old OS, and every time I sit down at it I'm reminded of its age"
What those XP users have been waiting for is Windows 7.
As it's only just started arriving in the stores, they will only now be able to install it.
They could have bought and installed Vista of course. But let's be honest, it wasn't great experience for everyone, and that's evidenced by it's fairly short life and it's less-than-stellar adoption rate.
Windows 7 looks like a more worthy successor to XP from where I'm sitting.
What makes me sick are MS shills and arrogant, condescending remarks from the uniformed. Anyone using XP that mainly uses their computer for the internet for example, has absolutely no reason to upgrade. I tried 7 and will stick with XP because:
1. I stream music to my AVR with SPDIF, yet like to use headphones only at time. With one of my HTPCs I want to send music and other content via SPDIF to an AVR and just analog to the TV if surround sound isn't needed. Can't do this in 7 without going in and changing the speaker setup in your sound module AND in WMC where you have to run the audio setup over again to switch. Why would I pay to have this headache?
2. A lot of things like Event Viewer are straight forward and easily accessible in XP, yet in their infinite wisdom, MS decided to flower it up and make it harder to read and find sources of errors.
3. When running my external backup of WTV files, getting constant "access denied" errors no matter what permissions and sharing are granted. These same files are not compatible with most other players or editing software as is the recording software I use in XP that works perfectly and is easily edited, even with free editors.
4. 7 constantly waking up the system to run either updates or some kind of maintenance that is most likely unnecessary.
Last but not least, I found a couple of minor things that are improved in 7, but nothing close to compelling me to want to spend money on it when I can do everything I want right now. Simple question is why would I want to change something that works perfectly for something that will inhibit my productivity and enjoyment. Not bashing 7, just stating facts that help me make an intelligent decision.
Any purchase or comment should only be done after careful analysis, such as analyzing monikers:
i.e.: nerd - generaly refers to individual lacking social skills
talker - individual who exercises their tongue without reliance on any cerebral connection.
If you like something, fine, but it's not necessary to denigrate anyone who disagrees.
So, how much are you earning from MS this month FTW?
I heard that Microsoft just printed over the old Vista boxes like they pasted some fancy code over Vista and now they're marketing it as Windows 7.
Most people that are using Windows XP, such as myself, have no need for Windows 7 (aka Vista 2.0). So goes the old adage: If it ain't broken, don't replace it with something that's already broke. I think most of the corporations have taken the same stance. Sure, Windows XP is nearly ten years old and three service packs deep. So what. Nearly everything that was wrong with it has been discovered and I don't ever recall an OS having a specified lifespan. If you just want to throw away money to get Aero, that's up to you. I can tack on Windows XP Aero anytime I want with Sphere XP for a few pennies. In all my years of running XP I have never seen a BSOD. For a corporation to roll out tens of thousands of Windows 7 upgrades to gain so little, it's not even worth the effort.
RTM dont need no stinking box.
Can I purchase Windows 7 from the Microsoft Retail Stores? I'd like a Guru to help me choose which version that best suits my needs. Vista was a "sack of hurt" and I don't want to make the same mistake twice.
@nerdtalker
People running XP makes you sick? What are they supposed to run? Windows 7 isn't even out for retail yet, and Vista is a dogshit taco at best. Wait till Windows 7 has been in a retail state for some chunk of time before bashing XP users. They'll come around in due time.
And just FYI, I am running Windows 7 myself, I am not some XP fanatic. I just think your statement was ridiculous.
@Typical: And can I buy an Apple iPad at retail? You Apple fanboys have been saying that it is the best thing ever, and they have not even announced it yet. A product that people have been running for months you claim is not yet proven and need to discredit it. Meanwhile, a product that is just a rumor without any real pictures and nobody has yet to touch, but it is the best and will sell millions.
@Canny: How much is Apple paying you? You can claim that those who speak well of Microsoft is paid by Microsoft or Microsoft shill, so I can assume that anyone who talks well of Apple is paid by them or an Apple shill.
I'd take one of these;)
@Noh
Mac is currently one of the "for money" competitors of MS. Who else did you want me to compare? Linux? Free. FreeBSD? Free again. Xandros? While not completely free, there is a way to obtain a legally free copy, but it's not even a player, less than 1% of existing desktops.
Currently, these are the two systems that are out there in the consumer market, in the "for money" category.
I mean seriously, you use the extra $100 a Mac costs over the same equivalent hardware in a Dell as your excuse why MS can bum-shag you with $220 for all the fruit? If you had any sense of economics at all (and I'm not suggesting you do); you'd realize where you go somewhat wrong fairly quick.
Canny, ummmm, what? I asked if you can call people who talk positive about Microsoft paid by Microsoft, can we say you are on Apple's payroll becuse you are talking positive about Apple? And yet you went on about something completely different than what I asked you.
I know I will be confusing you more, but let me throw in a few other questions about what you wrote:
1) If Microsoft is crippling software, can't the same be said about Apple? There are many software only (don't require special hardware) features on my iPhone and iTouch that are available on more recent devices. Why is Apple purposely crippling my iPhone and iTouch? Why does Apple cripple some of the software available with OSX? I have Garage Band on my Mac, but then I go to the Apple store, and they have Garage Band Jam Pack: Symphony Orchestra, Garage Band Jam Pack: Voices, Garage Band Jam Pack: World Music,Garage Band Jam Pack: Rythm Section, and Garage Band Jam Pack: Remix Tools. I bought my Mac and got Quick Time, but it is a crippled version, and to use all the features I need to upgrade to the 'pro' version. Not only that, but they have an MPEG-2 decoder for Quick Time, they have the code written, why not just include it (be careful when you answer this one, remember how people liked to criticize MS for them not including the MPEG decoder in some of the so-called 'crippled' versions of Windows). They have all the code there, why didn't they just include it? There were laptops that had N wireless built-in and people paid for that hardware, why make them pay for the driver? They already wrote the code, why not just include it with the device that people bought and paid for rather than crippling some laptops?
2) You do realize that when you are writing about how you can install your copy of Snow Leopard on multiple computers, you writing about an additional SKU of Snow Leopard, correct? There is the regular upgrade, then the family pack. How will people be able to decide what is correct for them? Oh, that is right, deciding between 2 options is not hard, choosing between 3 options is impossible. Especially with names like Home and Buisness, what is the home user to buy?
Snow Leopard for me please!
So you can get the v3.0 Bootcamp drivers and run Windows 7 on your Mac better I presume.
Ah... I never get tired of seeing a moron talk about Mac OS in a Windows article (or the opposite).
(^_^)
I would like a snow leopard as a pet as well.
Go to macrumors fanboy
I'm on it!! I'll have the animal delivered to you on your bed while you sleep... careful though i heard they love meat and have a nasty bite!
so true! people bought macs and then boot up in windows to do real work.
some people just have more cents than senses.
My cat is cuter.
I thought snow leopards are endangered, what is Apple trying to tell us?
please be affordable please be affordable
LOL!
It says not to put them out before the 22nd on the box... If I was Microsoft, I would sue =p
If i was the ruler of France, i would surrender.
If I was the ruler of France, I would have already been sued and lost
There is a big difference between putting them on the floor for sale and snapping a picture in the warehouse.
If I were the ruler of France, I would get decapitated.
Why sue? This is great for Microsoft. It's another article on news sites talking about Windows 7.
Any smart software business would LOVE to have people do this on a exiting product.
If I were ruler of France, I would be having Freedom Fries.
...in Soviet Russia you sue microsoft!
.
If I was ruler the of France, I would be metric.
If I was Fry, I'd Show Ye...
as long as they don't go on the floor Microsoft isn't likely to do anything. other than perhaps a little hand slap.
as for the comments. I'm going to disagree that Win7 is THE Best OS ever. Potentially the best version of Windows sure. an improvement over Vista I certainly hope so. but for what some folks do (myself included) Windows fails horribly, whereas Mac OS X and Unix and Linux are the rulers. Which is why I really dislike seeing the snipping. If Windows works for you, great. use it. But if something else works for someone else, let them use it as well. Agree to Disagree. From a market stand point, Microsoft might finally have a competition worthy product and I congratulate them for it. But I won't be buying it anytime soon.
As for the "Apple Tax" comments, how do you think they pay for those trainers and techs. Cause even if they are making minimum wage, no way is the Apple Care fees and the training memberships covering those costs. yep. that's in the mark up. which is why you should be going to the Genius Bar at the first sign something could be bad, going to those free workshops etc. Get your money's worth (without being obnoxious)
I wish they'd just lift this arbitrary october 22nd date -we know it's ready already. I need to get a new laptop and I don't want to play the stupid waiting for an upgrade game.
It gives companies time to get ready for it. Sure MS is ready, but is your video card? Sound card? Lots of drivers out there that need to be reworked and prepped.
think i might hold off for another couple weeks after the release just to see how buggy it'll be. by then millions of people would have tried it, no wait hundreds of million. cant wait!
Vista drivers work perfectly in 7. I installed the 90-day trial of Enterprise and almost everything had at least decent support; I then installed my laptop's specific hotkey utility, touchpad and Bluetooth driver then for fun I loaded the Mobility modded Catalyst 9.8 drivers. Runs like a dream. I just had to test it out before I get my free upgrade anyway.
Having Vista Ultimate Retail I'm expecting microsoft to offer some type of trade-in or discount....because it makes no sense on paying $300+ for Win7 Ultimate.
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
No.
It's called an upgrade! The upgrades cost $100 less than the full version. Or you could get it free from msdn (I got it W7 pro free), or $30 if you're a student. Or you could always cheat and buy the system builders version from newegg.
WOW. You expect WAY to much. The day M$ does that is the day I use a Mac and enjoy it.
Just sign up for MSNDAA via IEEE and get 10 legitimate copies of W7 Pro for a mere $30.
No excuse for complaining about the price when you have multiple options of obtaining legitimate copies of it for a fraction of the price that retail ones go for.
Just head over to slickdeals.net to see what I mean.
Courtesy of MSDNAA and my university, I have been running Win7 Professional (x64) for about a week now. I actually really like it. I didn't "hate" Vista like a lot of other people, mostly because I didn't suffer the same performance issues as others (although Windows Vista on my mother's laptop is quite annoying as others have complained), and I disabled UAC, but I really love Win7. It really is what Vista should have been.
The brand new taskbar setup was sort of annoying at first, and then after a day or two, I realized its genius and now I really love it, much better than the traditional taskbar setup. Performance wise it's been just great, better than Vista. Also, UAC has been cleaned up and made significantly less annoying - so much so, in fact, that I have NOT disabled it and will just leave it on.
Only issues I had was that during installation (clean install), I had to try about 2-3 times to get it to finish without either crashing, or just failing to "expand files." Not sure what's up with that - never happened with XP or Vista installs. But anyway, the final time it worked of coruse, and the rest of the setup was headache free.
I suspect that once Win7 final gets released to retail channels, people will really like it.
Lucky you. I missed out on that at my uni due to technicality.
Yeah I had that exoanding issue once, Thereafter it was perfect and I like pinning things to my start-menu. Also I haven't had a single driver issue and I like how it actually finds *new* driver updates with out you looking =]
I had the same problem with my MSDNAA win x64. Tried to download the iso 3 times and burned it at different speed but nothing worked and the installation would always crashed when expanding file at about 33%. I thought the iso that they put up was corrupted and downloaded a torrent version and that one would crash too. Finally i found out that if your mother board has a sata mode(like mine had) you need to turn it on in order to install the OS. I turned on the SATA mode and the installation worked flawlessly.
I'll just be happy that I won't have to go to Windows Update a thousand times after installing the OS. I'm rebuilding a machine right now and once Vista installs, you have to D/L about 1gig of updates, reboot, go to Windows Update, DL, reboot, repeat, rinse...
Windows XP? Don't even get me started... Why can't "Windows Update" get all the fixes the first time? GRRRRRRRRRRR!
Saving Grace, no fixes for Windows 7 out yet.
@paul34
Wow you missed the bus, Win 7 has been out for academics for almost 2 months. I got it loaded up on August 6th.
I'm so excited for windows 7 i'm getting it free from Lenovo because i bought my computer just a few weeks ago.Its gonna be the best OS ever from microsoft.
Check out this article:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/173069/free_win_7_upgrades_have_fee.html
Lenovo is charging $17 for your "free" upgrade.
Also note that the people at PC World are morons and MSFT isn't charging anything for the Win7 upgrade, it's all OEMs.
my party pack is coming on wednesday...cant wait to get my steve ballmer signed copy.......
"Do not sell or display this product before October 22, 2009."
Well, Engadget doesn't give a shit.
You realize that means "do not physically display this product in-store", right?
Well, the builder of the Microsoft website must be in the shit right now... Pictures of the boxes are plastered all over that place.
They've been selling them on our campus for 3 days now. Geeze, behind the time.
I LOVE THIS COMPANY !
So does Steve Ballmer :)
As much as I've been running it since the beta, seeing those boxes just gets me really excited now.
Windows 7 Ultimate is a very good OS. It's very stable and haven't had problems. It even boots faster than XP. Microsoft did good on this OS.
I'm glad for everyone who wanted to get rid of Vista and upgrade to W7
inu, the new taskbar is really an improvement over the old one. And this is lots and lots faster than vista.
Di3 - I didn't say otherwise, but I've tried the OS for around 2 months and honestly didn't like the new bar, but i don't even use the "group the same program in the same button thing" on XP\Vista since it severely slows down my work. But since we can change that to the old style it wasn't a problem at all.
My biggest complains about W7 already existed on Vista;
1- It takes a while to find the place we want to go to configure stuff manually, since the "auto-configuration" programs keep getting in the way, and those just don't leave the stuff the way you need it. (so, imagine when i have to explain it by phone... ugh...)
2- The start menu is really bad regarding the programs list; to find the program you're looking for it is required to *scroll* and *click* quite a few times until you finally get there, this gets even more stressful when you have to do it using a laptop touchpad. And while you can change the menu to the classic style, you have to give away the easy and quick access to the last programs used.
@ Inu
Why waste your time with scroll/click to find the program you need? Just hit the windows key, type in the first 3-4 letters of the program you want and hit enter. Done. Single biggest time saver.
That's no good at all for my problem, if i knew every program\file\shortcut name I'd just use "Windows key"+"R" and type the application file name there like I do for the most frequently used applications.
Don't you think the old style menus worked so much better when you don't know the name too tho?
It's sad that people are excited by this level of mediocrity only because XP is archaic and Vista is a disaster. Talk about lowered expectations.
Get your anti-virus, and registry cleaners, and disk defragmenters, and other assorted utilities ready. You'll need them. Modern OS? Not hardly.
i know right?
I haven't had a virus since before Vista hit street, spyware since I don't even remember how long ago anymore.
and "registry cleaners" are the work of the devil and can cause much more problems than you think they will fix.
...and only iDiots troll with such categorical assumptions based on misleading platitudes & talking points perpetuated by other iDiots just like them.
I can't see why people "Low ranked" his post. It IS gonna happen no matter what, some people just love to mess around with their OS, or have to do it for work\school; and end up using them to clean the mess after a without losing so much time as it would take to reinstall and retry to reconfigure
I have to agree the OS is not that innovative either; what is there so new about this system that you never seen before or REALLY wanted for daily use?
The most "required" feature i can think of within a 3 sec thought... is battery life; were the OS completly fails as it is only better than Vista regarding that point. Ubuntu, Moblin, XP, hacked-MacOS, you name them, they all offer better battery life.
7 Has built in virus protection, and a defrag utility that runs automatically in the background, so you don't even have to worry about it. And I haven't had any registry problems since moving to Vista. Yea, vista wasn't perfect, but I'm yet to see a virus for it and I've been running it without virus protection since before launch. Don't bash 7 till you use it, its a modern OS in every way. If you prefer OSX or even Linux that's fine, but be able to recognize that 7 is still a good competitor, and stop acting like it has the same problems 10 year old XP has.
It's not like everything is without problems.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9137992/Apple_missed_security_boat_with_Snow_Leopard_says_researcher?taxonomyId=89
And-
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2009/09/patches_for_macs_and_advice_fo.html
I'm sure after Win7 is released to public some things will surface that didn't show up during beta testing. Either way Both OS's are top notch and moving into the 21st century now.
Agreed. I don't find anything innovative or attractive in 7 worth paying money for. It's still bloated with too much useless junk. I'm sticking with XP.
"I don't find anything innovative or attractive in 7 worth paying money for."
I don't believe for one second you've spent any time at all with Windows 7.
fail.
i've been running windows 7 ultimate flawlessly since august 6th...
works like a charm
couldnt love it more!!!
Anyone know if the NTFS bug has been resolved?
There was a bug? What happened?
@N900
There was/is a major bug in build 16385 that crashed Windows if you run diskcheck on a non-system disk (memory flaw). Many sites speculated that if the bug isn't resolved quickly, it would lead to releasing Windows 7 the next year. I hope it's fixed.
Ouch, that sucks. But I can tell you that I am using the Ultimate version (I think this is the final build for retail release) and it is running fine but I haven't run diskcheck yet. I'll let you know if there are any problems when I run it.