Windows 7 - Loving it!

[Semper Fidelis]

I was going to hold off a bit longer but Costco had a family pack of 3 upgrades for $125. I've upgraded two computers (my wife's Dell and my Lenovo). They both run much more quickly and some of the features are really cool. The upgrade from Vista was very smooth for both. It will identify some things you need to uninstall prior to upgrade. In both cases they were mainly specialized drivers. It also asks you to go into iTunes to deauthorize the computer prior to upgrade.

 

[fredtgreco]

Rich,

Which version of Vista did you upgrade from? I am going to be doing a bunch of upgrades in my house and the church, from everything from Windows 7 RC7100, to Vista Home Premium, to Vista Home Basic, to XP.

 

[JoyFullMom]

Hmm...I'm supposed to get the Win 7 upgrade free from Dell...wonder where it is?

 

[Southern Presbyterian]

I would very much like to know how it works if you upgrade from XP.

 

[Berean]

I would very much like to know how it works if you upgrade from XP.

I believe with XP your "upgrade" involves formatting your hard drive (C:\) and installing a fresh copy of Windows 7.

 

[Southern Presbyterian]

I would very much like to know how it works if you upgrade from XP.

I believe with XP your "upgrade" involves formatting your hard drive (C:\) and installing a fresh copy of Windows 7.

Really!? Don't know if I want to go there, especially with an older computer.....

 

[Berean]

Well, you'd be handing over the Win7 money to Microshaft not knowing how well the new OS would work on your older machine. Bill Gates never gives the money back.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Rich,

Which version of Vista did you upgrade from? I am going to be doing a bunch of upgrades in my house and the church, from everything from Windows 7 RC7100, to Vista Home Premium, to Vista Home Basic, to XP.

It was SP2.

 

[fredtgreco]

Rich,

Which version of Vista did you upgrade from? I am going to be doing a bunch of upgrades in my house and the church, from everything from Windows 7 RC7100, to Vista Home Premium, to Vista Home Basic, to XP.

It was SP2.

Were you able to do a simple upgrade, or did you have to custom install?

 

[David]

I would very much like to know how it works if you upgrade from XP.

I believe with XP your "upgrade" involves formatting your hard drive (C:\) and installing a fresh copy of Windows 7.

Really!? Don't know if I want to go there, especially with an older computer.....

That's correct, you can't upgrade from XP. But if your computer is fairly old, you mightn't want Windows 7 anyway. You can download the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, an official Microsoft tool, to determine whether or not your computer can run Windows 7 happily.

 

[Jim Peet]

XP To Windows 7: "rip and replace"

Microsoft Windows 7 Operating System Debut Launches An Upgrade Debate : NPR

Windows XP users represent the largest population of PC users. Unfortunately, the upgrade for this group isn't simple. The process of migrating from XP to Windows 7 is "ugly," says Steve Fox. "It's not an upgrade. It's basically a rip and replace." Here's why: You'd have to back up your hard drive, reformat it, install Windows 7 and then restore all of your personal files and your application software. The other option, says Jeff Fox of Consumer Reports, would be expensive because you'd have to upgrade to Vista first and then to Windows 7.

 

[matthewd2013]

Windows 7 blows the pants off of vista but I still prefer my good old free kubuntu linux with tons of free programs, forever free upgrades, tons of really cool graphics, faster than windows, no viruses to worry about, free office program. When installed it gives the option to set it up side-by-side with windows so I can reboot into windows if I need to do anything there (which about the only thing is watching a netflix movie online).

 

[Brian Withnell]

I believe with XP your "upgrade" involves formatting your hard drive (C:\) and installing a fresh copy of Windows 7.

Really!? Don't know if I want to go there, especially with an older computer.....

That's correct, you can't upgrade from XP. But if your computer is fairly old, you mightn't want Windows 7 anyway. You can download the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, an official Microsoft tool, to determine whether or not your computer can run Windows 7 happily.

In one sense, this computer is *extremely* old. It has been my main machine for so many years, that I believe I had OS/2 1.2 on it long long ago. Of course the motherboard has been replace at least 5 times, the hard drives were changed, the original card would fit, but several of the intermediate cards (AGP if anyone can remember that far back) would not. I've change the case, keyboard, monitor, sound, power supply, everything at least twice. I wish I aged as well as this computer does!

I have 7 on it, and it was not an easy upgrade. I have both 7 and the old OS installed (Vista Ultimate will not upgrade, but requires a clean install).

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Rich,

Which version of Vista did you upgrade from? I am going to be doing a bunch of upgrades in my house and the church, from everything from Windows 7 RC7100, to Vista Home Premium, to Vista Home Basic, to XP.

It was SP2.

Were you able to do a simple upgrade, or did you have to custom install?

In both cases it was a simple upgrade. It lets you know the few programs it suggests to disable or uninstall ahead of time and reinstall after upgrade.

 

[Webservant]

Is this the Linux Mint thread? Oh wait, I don't see the link - this one I mean Main Page - Linux Mint, so this can't be it. Sorry. Carry on.

 

[puritanpilgrim]

I'm downloading my copy now.

 

[dr_parsley]

If you upgraded from Vista anything is going to seem great!

I'll stick with XP at least until Windows 7 has its own SP2.

-----Added 10/25/2009 at 01:04:08 EST-----

Is this the Linux Mint thread? Oh wait, I don't see the link - this one I mean Main Page - Linux Mint, so this can't be it. Sorry. Carry on.

Mint is based on Ubuntu and I was never impressed with Ubuntu. I love Debian but I wasn't comfortable with how Ubuntu handles root privileges and it seems to hide the core settings behind a layer of easy-to-use-obfuscation.

 

[turmeric]

I think I'll wait until I replace the computer, the new one should come w/Windows 7. This one is 10yrs. old.

 

[Brian Withnell]

been using 7 now for a couple of days ... I am in an MIS program, so I was able to obtain the $29 upgrade to professional. (Love being a student! Discounts are usually better than being a teacher, which is strange because if I know the stuff, and teach the kids, you would think the companies would just about *give* the software to teachers!)

7 runs better than XP by far. It loads things in less than half the time. It is so much quicker I am amazed. My "upgrade" had to be a clean install, which is a pain because you have to install all the old software again. So far, everything works, but I am having a little trouble with some of my Libronix DLS (not a surprise, they are a pain in that they do things "the Microsoft way" instead of just making everything work.)

So the most important part of my computer is the part I'm having a little difficulty with ... my Bible software. I can still access 7 versions of the Bible, do searches, see commentaries, but my original language tools are missing at this point.

 

[DMcFadden]

Windows 7 blows the pants off of vista but I still prefer my good old free kubuntu linux with tons of free programs, forever free upgrades, tons of really cool graphics, faster than windows, no viruses to worry about, free office program. When installed it gives the option to set it up side-by-side with windows so I can reboot into windows if I need to do anything there (which about the only thing is watching a netflix movie online).

OK, I'll bite. Is there any reason for me to put kubuntu on my machine instead of Windows 7? I am running Vista SP-2, and most often use Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Outlook, iTunes, Libronix, The Word, e-Sword, Quick Verse, Word Search, PC Study Bible, and Internet Explorer.

 

[David]

OK, I'll bite. Is there any reason for me to put kubuntu on my machine instead of Windows 7? I am running Vista SP-2, and most often use Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Outlook, iTunes, Libronix, The Word, e-Sword, Quick Verse, Word Search, PC Study Bible, and Internet Explorer.

There are a lot of reasons. Kubuntu is $500 cheaper, has arguably better support, and being GNU/Linux, is essentially virus free. If you're already a GNU/Linux user, you'll appreciate the level of customization in Kubuntu that you will never find in Windows. On the other hand, Microsoft Office won't be available without some tinkering in WINE, nor will iTunes, e-Sword and Internet Explorer. But then, you might want to upgrade to Firefox anyway. I have no idea about the other programs.

If Windows is what you are most comfortable with, I would stick to it. Windows 7 is very nice. It's a vast improvement over all previous versions.

 

[Brian Withnell]

OK, I'll bite. Is there any reason for me to put kubuntu on my machine instead of Windows 7? I am running Vista SP-2, and most often use Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Outlook, iTunes, Libronix, The Word, e-Sword, Quick Verse, Word Search, PC Study Bible, and Internet Explorer.

There are a lot of reasons. Kubuntu is $500 cheaper, has arguably better support, and being GNU/Linux, is essentially virus free. If you're already a GNU/Linux user, you'll appreciate the level of customization in Kubuntu that you will never find in Windows. On the other hand, Microsoft Office won't be available without some tinkering in WINE, nor will iTunes, e-Sword and Internet Explorer. But then, you might want to upgrade to Firefox anyway. I have no idea about the other programs.

If Windows is what you are most comfortable with, I would stick to it. Windows 7 is very nice. It's a vast improvement over all previous versions.

Try not to overstate your case. A three license Windows 7 home premium is $150, and he won't have to do tweaking in WINE to get any of his software to work. While I have installed and am a strong advocate for Linux, I am careful to state what ought to be obvious ... about the only people that really succeed in working in Linux are those that are technologically savvy (or have technology people that support them). Even with Ubuntu, you don't get anything as easy as you do Windows ... and it seems to be the closest yet. For a power user that doesn't mind the tinkering, it is an excellent choice. It is not mainstream yet... (and I do mean yet ... eventually it will get there).

As to why spend $150 to move to 7? It is better than XP in my view of it for the past couple of days.

 

[David]

Try not to overstate your case. A three license Windows 7 home premium is $150, and he won't have to do tweaking in WINE to get any of his software to work.

Sorry, I neglected to say that I was talking in AUD, and about Ultimate, but I was still off by $100 AUD, and you are still right. I will have to think things through a little more carefully.

 

[dr_parsley]

7 runs better than XP by far. It loads things in less than half the time. It is so much quicker I am amazed.

Are you comparing it to a cluttered 2 year old install of XP or a fresh install? I'm willing to bet that Windows 7 might be faster than XP but loading things in half the time seems extraordinary. Even a fresh install of XP will load things in half the time of a cluttered two year old install of XP and a fresh XP install on a modern machine will be lightening fast anyway.

I'm not an XP fanboy - I'd go for a small flexible window manager (e.g. fvwm) on a linux system (e.g. built from scratch) for maximum speed any day - but the claim of 7 being twice as fast as XP is very interesting if true.

 

[Augusta]

We've been using it for a while and I really like it. I'm no techie, I just love the new desktop pictures, they're beautiful.