Windows 7 RC Is It Time To Install?

The Windows 7 Release Candidate came out on Tuesday and quickly made it onto my Ubuntu laptop.  I downloaded the 2.4 Gig DVD ISO file and burned the image to a DVD.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/installation-instructions.aspx Installation instructions from Microsoft.

Installation took about 20 minutes on my Dell Vostro 1500.  My laptop is running Ubuntu 9.04 and now Windows 7 lives snugly inside  both my Vmware and Virtualbox virtual environments. The 3D affects seem to work better under Vmware but Virtualbox gives me a faster working environment for my testing.  The cool thing about this new test version is that it will work as the full release version until March 1st, 2010, when it will begin to slowly turn itself off.  Read the blurb below for details on how Microsoft will convince you to buy the full version.

"For the RC, bi-hourly shutdowns will begin on March 1st, 2010. You will be alerted to install a released version of Windows and your PC will shut down automatically every 2 hours.  On June 1st, 2010, if you are still on the Windows 7 RC, your license for the Windows 7 RC will expire and the non-genuine experience is triggered where your wallpaper is removed and “This copy of Windows is not genuine” will be displayed in the lower right corner above the taskbar."

I will continue running Windows 7 RC until March 1st and then break down and get a new PC with Windows 7 pre-installed.  Windows 7 should work perfectly....well.... it should at least work better than Vista on a new Netbook by the 3/1/2010 cut off date.

OK, so here are my impressions and thoughts on Windows 7.  BTW, I have been using Windows 7 since the night the public beta came out back  in January.

Windows 7 is lighter and faster that Windows Vista, but you are basically getting what should have shipped as Vista back in 2007.  The environment will be familiar to current Vista users and will not have the learning curve associated with the switch from XP to Vista.

Windows XP Mode is an add-on for Windows 7 Professional and higher that comes in two parts, each of which has its own setup. The first is Windows Virtual PC, a new version of Microsoft's free desktop virtualization platform, and the second is Virtual Windows XP itself, which is a virtual hard drive pre-loaded and licensed with Windows XP Service Pack 3.  There are currently XP Mode compatibility problems with many popular Intel powered notebooks.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10234073-64.html Some Intel chips don't support Windows 7 'XP mode'.

Keep in mind, this is not the official release, so hopefully Microsoft will resolve this issue before the final version.

Most applications that I use have installed and worked right out of the box.  My favorite AV product Vipre by Sunbelt installed without any issues.  My Open Source favorites Firefox, Thunderbird and Open Office are all working fine.

So, should you download and install this version of Windows 7?

Yes .....but wait.

Do not install this product unless you have followed all the recommended steps on the installation link above.

Windows 7 RC is still not the full release product and should only be used in your office on a non production PC.  The average home users should only install Windows 7 RC if they have a PC that is not the main computer in the house.  I plan to dual boot Windows 7 and XP on our current desktop PC that my wife and kids use. I will completely backup everything to an external drive and then attempt the dual boot. Always remember to backup before making big changes to your PC. I have experienced no issues at this point, but Windows 7 will still only be living in a virtual environment on my Ubuntu 9.04 laptop.

Check the following links for more info on this new Windows 7 Release Candidate.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/default.aspx Microsoft Windows 7 Official Page

http://lifehacker.com/5240931/lifehackers-guide-to-upgrading-to-windows-7-rc Lifehacker's Guide to Upgrading to Windows 7 RC

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx Windows 7 Release Candidate: Download instructions

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd361745.aspx?ITPID=carepgm Microsoft TechNet Windows 7

http://www.pcworld.com/article/164485/windows_7_rc_benchmarks.html PC World Speed Test Vista vs Windows 7

http://preview.tinyurl.com/qumqcc Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Beta

Comments

[Ken Reed]

Hello,
I’m a relatively new Windows user and recently upgraded to Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium on my laptop.
I do not want to advertise which user accounts are available on my laptop and would prefer the standard Ctl-Alt-Del
method of logging in.
I tried the various steps of accessing password management, went to the Advanced tab, but the “Require
users to press Ctrl-Alt-Delete” check box is grayed out.
I am the administrator on this lap top, so I am at a loss.
Is this not possible with Home Premium?
Am I missing something?
Thanks in advance,

Ken Reed

[Scott]

Hi Ken,

You should be able to check the box by running the netplwiz command from your start button search box. Click start, then enter the command netplwiz in the search box and click enter. Once the app launches choose the advanced tab and then select the Ctrl-Alt-Delete check box at the bottom. This should work if you are logged in as an Administrator.

Scott