Windows 7 beta reporting

I realize this is the first beta release, and Microsoft has plenty of time to iron things out. That involves moving your mouse cursor all the way down and then back up a notch, which just feels slow and unnatural. If someone from the Windows team is somehow reading this blog, let me suggest the following: keep the application-centric taskbar, but make it so clicking an application icon alternately minimizes and restores all windows for that app.

Then implement a way to toggle only a single window—the current hovering system would probably do a fine job.

It just needs to be implemented properly. And better still, Windows 7 lets you create your own custom libraries. Microsoft has also improved the User Account Control system, so you no longer receive prompts when modifying control panel settings or moving things around in the Program Files directory. If you find those settings too lax or still too strict , Microsoft offers one setting above the default and two below.

Finally, my brush with Windows 7 appears to confirm my previous assessment: Microsoft really does seem to have focused chiefly on spit and polish. Despite the beta nature of this release, everything somehow feels cleaner and less hastily thrown together than in Vista. Core apps like Paint, Wordpad, and the Windows Calculator have received long-needed overhauls, and the control panel has far fewer Windows era relics.

And unlike Windows Vista, it should take a significant step forward without hurting backward compatibility all that much. They seemed like a finely finished product. XP x64 was proof of it as well as Windows 7 beta 1. It is about time.

It seems like you need to grab some morning coffee and wake up to the world of commercial software! Who said anything about updates? It takes about 45 seconds to boot, which is long enough for me to put by bag and my lunch up, as well as turn on my desk light, flip the next page of the page-a-day calendar.

Actually, once it gets to the log-in screen, I swipe my finger to log-in and I usually still have a little bit of settling to do.

Wasting a good chunk of my morning installing updates is not the way to be productive. Auto-updates are the only way to fly.

I disagree about the productivity. Finding programs on Vista is so nice. You hit start and then start typing. The same is true for finding files. Office brings productivity up alot by making it easier to access functions and the auto-preview of formatting and stuff makes it much faster to apply the style you want.

I shut my work laptop down every single day. It only takes about 30 seconds, and about the same on boot-up in the morning. That way I know the encryption is done right and I get a clean slate in the morning. Move to The copy of XP that I have for virtual machine was an evaluation copy that for some reason never expired. It tends to run better on VM than XP on my non core 2 duo machines. I mainly use it for if I want to try out a program before installing it on Vista.

Let me just say that for me Vista is a time saver. You may have noticed that virtual machines do not work with many peripheral hardware drivers. Anyway an XP virtual machine needs a XP license. Stand-alone XP has been officially discontinued. No issues so far. Browsing a LAN is much faster now. Overall a nice refresh of Vista Vista Second Edition.

This is what Vista should have been when it came out. Also dashboard push-button gear selection along with the obvious left-hand swap for certain regions UK, Australia, Japan, etc. Some old cars had multiple gear shift levers and pedals.

Not really directed at you specifically, but sometimes change is good. The determining factors are the how and why of it. Yes, and then after a while nobody will want to own computer. Cloud computing will take over and we can pay per minute to use a computer, while big brother can watch over us, protecting us.

Booted correctly from the x86 DVD and installed over the top. Figured I might as well, considering I took the time to download. Not like my 3GB of memory will benefit from bit Windows. Well done Microsoft, your Marketing department did a great job winning back the hearts of millions, and 7 is not even out yet. It does communicate with Media Player, but it just makes a huge list of shows in alpha order.

I like being able to navigate folders like i were on the computer like it is in Windows, Vista Media Center, or the Xbox As a consummate Vista hater, I was eager to try Windows 7 Beta. I find it to be very usable and smooth feeling. It is what Vista should have been like, it is a pleasure to operate. I wish they would also mimic some elements from X Windows, such as tab-left click anywhere to grab and move a window and alt-right click anywhere to resize a window. Sloppy mouse focus, multiple desktops … the list goes on.

The resize a window trick by shaking, slamming it into the side of the screen …. I might download the bit and try again. Which MBP do you have? That annoys me. The wake up call was two years ago when Vista shipped.

Car companies have experimented with moving the shifter around. Behind the steering wheel, on the floor, and paddle shifters. I got that CD boot message to appear as well. I am going to try the x86 version tonight. Do you really think that Windows 7 offers less over Vista than Sure Its 6 in one hand and half dozen in another. I think MS would behoove themselves by recognizing that they goal is to get as many ppl as possible to move to Win7.

We were excited about Windows 7 because our vendors will probably have their crap together for Vista by the time W7 comes out, so we could just jump to that.

So, we obliged. Kinda odd. If you liked that, you probably would have liked the next 3. I wander…. Suppose that car makers would place the gas pedal at the other side of the pedals… Would you appreciate that?

Or the gearshift at the other side. Would you like that? Sony does not own the OS, they will have to write another app for this. So what if Sony bought TVersity? Besides, a multimedia company that would need both capabilities already use a 3rd-party solution that is likely to be superior to Media Center. I have been running Windows Vista Ultimate bit for about a year, I will concede that originally there were some annoyances, that have since been resolved.

What really impressed me about this Windows 7 beta launch was how seamless the transition was from Vista in setting up a dual boot to it. I have been planning to rebuild my system to be running 64 bit as opposed to Originally I had planned to do the upgrade this month with Windows Vista, however having tried the Windows 7 beta I now plan to wait for its release and rebuild with one of its 64 bit iterations.

The business version is not far behind, but varies due to licensing deals. Ultimate -[. I strongly disagree about the new task bar. Cyril, did you upgrade Windows or install fresh? No big surprise there. Can I hide icons beneath other icons so I can lose them, just like on my real desk?

Swapping between a single Word document and a single Excel document happens alot, even though I might have multiple Excel docs open. I want to pin either the Documents library to the taskbar, or preferably, pin a small number of folders. All you XP users have a nice chance to try a flash 3D ish desktop and if you can, get 64 bit which is so sweet. The whole point is for Microsoft to discover and squash any bugs that pop up, and maybe polish some of the user experience along the way if anything sticks out.

Guess what? To do that, Microsoft needs to collect your data. Some of this data scooping is turned on by default , beaming information back to the mothership without needing to warn you that it's doing so. Common information includes your IP address, OS version, hardware ID—device manufacturer, name and version—that kind of thing. The Windows 7 beta automatically sends error reports back to Microsoft. These "might unintentionally contain personal information.

For example, a report that contains a snapshot of computer memory might include your name. Part of a document you were working on could be included as well. But Microsoft says it doesn't use the info to figure out who you are, so no worries if you're just paranoid Microsoft is trying to hunt you down for some reason. Also flicked on by default is the Customer Experience Improvement Program CEIP , which "sends anonymous information about your hardware and how you use this software to Microsoft.

Microsoft lays out what kind of information is transmitted by every major feature in detail here , including when the feature does it, how Microsoft uses it and if you've actually got a choice about sending the info. Activation, no choice or control there, but Gadgets and network connectivity monitoring, yes.

Sometimes Microsoft doesn't tell you when this on-by-default reporting telemetry can be turned off, but bear in mind that if you have to hack too far into the system to shut it off yourself, you may be violating the agreement by not using the software in the intended manner. As it's put so bluntly: "You may not work around any technical limitations in the software. Generally speaking, Microsoft is clear that it won't share the info it gleans with the entire world, but they do reserve the right to "share it with others, such as hardware and software vendors" in order "to improve how their products run with this software.

But you want their stuff to work with Windows, right? It's More Like a Rental This has been well-publicized, but in case you didn't know, the Windows 7 beta is a time bomb that will self-destruct on August 1, and might take your data down with it: "The software will stop running on August 1, You may not receive any other notice. You may not be able to access data used with the software when it stops running.

It's possible they could extend the length of the trial, but since all expectations are that the final Windows 7 is gonna ship by July, expect that Aug. Did you think Windows 7 was a free ride and you own your very own copy now?

Microsoft is very clear here: "The software is licensed, not sold. This agreement only gives you some rights to use the software. Part of the terms here—of Microsoft still owning Windows 7 and you owning approximately dick—are that you can't tell anyone benchmark results unless you get Microsoft to okay it first.

You also can't reverse engineer Windows 7, "work around any technical limitations in the software" or use it to host your own server.