I’m having to do a personal computer upgrade. My Windows 7 RC1 (release candidate 1 for you non-geeks) that I installed last year is about to expire, and I have to update my system with the full version tonight.
Thus I’ll be offline and moderation may be slow or non-existent for awhile. Hopefully the WUWT moderation team can pick up the slack. Thanks for your patronage and patience – Anthony
UPDATE: I’m up and running again, pretty painless actually, I had to re-install a couple of applications, and I finally dumped MS-Office for the OpenOffice.org suite. No looking back now. See my desktop below:
For those who still live with the hassles of Windows Vista, do yourself a favor and buy Windows 7.
Seattle will one day be wiped out by another giant tsunami. Start praying.
AH HA! Proof that you’re funded by wealthy industrialists like the Gates Foundation! AND SINCE THEY BUY GAS FOR THEIR CARS AND PLANES YOU ARE NOW LINKED TO BIG OIL!
God luck and Thanks for All the Fish – I’ll light a candle for you
Don’t believe the official microsoft line about not being able to go from RC1 to the full release. I did it and it works fine – as long as you have matching versions (ie RC1 utlimate to retail Ultimate).
You can easily google the upgrade instructions – you just have to update a text file to tell it which version to pretend it is.
ah, Win7 is fun. It’s what Vista was supposed to be, but they rushed Vista out too soon.
Always use the right tool for the job. My webservers are Linux, of course, and don’t require mega-hardware to run circles around the alternatives. My work computer is Win7 and XP dual boot, since I develop software for a large installed base of Win2K machines and some of our legacy software just doesn’t work on Win7. My home PC is Vista on the Quadcore, where it’s fast and solid. As I understand it, Vista isn’t fast anywhere but on the Quadcore.
My laptops are both XP, and I have zero issues with them. The work laptops are all new, and have Win7 on them. No complaints, no issues.
Next reinstall on my home PC is to Win7, there are exactly 3 MAJOR annoyances in Vista that the SPs never addressed, but they’re not an issue in Win7.
Macs are computers for people who don’t understand computers. Funny, the average Mac fan doesn’t realize that if they spent the same on a PC that they did for their Mac, they’d also have a fast, stable, decent computer. Oh well. I have avoided Apple for years simply because of their loud politics, but there are other great reasons to avoid them.
(was that geeky enough?)
John Mason (17:41:16) :
“I often miss the ‘old days’ when a program was a program. The program ran from it’s own directory and you simply copied the directory from one place to the other to ‘move’ it.”
“I dislike the windows registry.”
Thats .NET you talk about. Its already here. lots of programs do it that way. Registry isnt popular anymore, was just another blind alley to confusion.
I upgraded my RC two days ago. It was pretty painless. If you have iTunes, don’t forget to deauthorise your computer first ;).
Anthony
Are you boasting or complaining?
Lee
You know, you can modify 1 file on the RTM / Retail CD and do an in-place upgrade of the RC- should take about 20 minutes.
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/3075/how-to-upgrade-the-windows-7-rc-to-rtm/
Len wrote “I actually thought about an apple but I can’t give up my DOS box 😉 … run ‘cmd’ return and its there … comforting.”
I develop software, and I totally agree, except that there is a product called 4NT which is a better CMD box. GUI interfaces are too fiddly and change from version to version. Things change much more slowly at the command level, because presumably the Microsoft guys don’t think it is sexy enough. I’d love to go to Linux, but most of my work is Windows based.
Just curious: what software is available for Mac that’s not on a PC? I always thought Mac was way behind PC.
By John Hooper on February 23
Should be the other way around, and why macs are behind.
Mapinfo, Manifold GIS, all goldensoftware, Surfer, Grapher etc, All the mining induatry software packages.
I use M$ for the same reason I use English.
A Mac man since 1984……
For me there is only one problem and Chad Woodburn said it.
“Unfortunately, though, Al Gore is on the Apple board — that’s enough to make me want to destroy Apple.”
When Gore is pushed off the Apple Board, that is when I too will stop hating Apple for appointing Gore in the first place. Jobs needs a smack! Gore must go!
Good luck with Windows 7
MrPete (21:54:40) :
What software do you use for image copy? please.
Thanks for the tip Patrick
Dear Anthony,
Take care of yourself. There is a big battle ahead and your resources are no match for those of the federal government.
E.g., this brand new, slick, and persuasive propaganda sheet:
“New NASA Web Page Sheds Light on Science of Warming World” at:
http://www.jpl. nasa.gov/ news/news. cfm?release= 2010-062&cid=release_ 2010-062
Your opponents have enormous resources to make certain that you do not expose the decades of filth and deception at the base of the Climategate iceberg: Modern science is simply a tool of propaganda.
Hang in there, Anthony. I know that it is not to your liking, but we will hang separately or hang together.
Best wishes on the journey,
Oliver K. Manuel
Interesting, looks like the cryosphere people don’t want to put 2008 or 2009 ice graphs here hahahah
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/seasonal.extent.1900-2007.jpg
Some sites that go well hand-in-hand with an O/S upgrade:
pack.google.com – all the basic utilities – free
ninite.com — even better — check the boxes on all kinds of good utilities and you get the entire set installed in one shot — no registering/configuring just splat onto your pc.
I agree with those recommending Linux. I have moved to Ubuntu on both my PC and laptop and haven’t looked back. I have also experienced less hassles than windows based machines and didn’t have to overpay for an apple alternative.
BTW, this is an excellent site.
Macs are for people who don’t understand computers?
When a room full of some of the country’s best lawyers are all using Macs, I think that’s actually a compliment to the Mac platform.
But so long as you’re not confusing intelligence with how people choose to spend their time, then I guess that’s OK.
Linux.
Try doing any normal non-development work on it and see how far you get.
Windows 7 is once of the most stable, user friendly and ‘best’ operationg systems i’ve ever used, going back to dos 3.1/5 and solaris 10 which i use at work.
I’ve also played with Macs, and i have to support some applications that run on Macs.
New OSX = nightmare, numerous ‘problems’, just google OSX & youtube for starters….
Windows 7 ‘just works’ unfortunately for apple.
Not had a single crash yet, an application fail or something ‘not work’ and thank GOD MS have got rid off vistas AWFUL UAC controls.
Back to work now, i have some uber complicated german SAP systems to look after than run off oracle databases….
Gotta ad my pro Mac comment. Went all Mac in the family last year–best executive decision my wife has ever let me make. No more crashes, no more waiting, no more viruses, popups, adware, spyware worries, panic calls from home, Geek Squad visits, etc. Complete boot in 8 seconds. It has been worth the few extra $.
Hah, Anthony. . . me too, over last weekend. I’m rather bitter about the fact that the RC was only Ultimate, and therefore to put the final of Professional on you are forced to do a clean install rather than an upgrade, with all the PITA that implies of reinstalling all your other software.
OS flame war on!
Will Windows 7 withstand the test of time and the Russian mafia? That’s the big question for the Windows junkies, imho. I’ve yet to see a version of Windows (patched or unpatched) that can withstand basic Internet surfing by an average user.
Vista was not rushed to market, btw. It was smothered to death by Microsoft.
Great time to switch to ubuntu…
Al Gore uses a Mac.
’nuff said.