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Will Win7 last as long as XP?

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f0dder:
Who knows. I'm happy to see Vista didn't last long. It's a pimple on the face of computing. But how is 7 any better?-tranglos (September 13, 2009, 11:28 AM)
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I wouldn't exactly call SuperFetch, UAC and usermode graphics drivers pimples on the face of computing... Aero is also pretty sweet, especially in Win7 with WDDM 1.1 :)

tranglos:
Who knows. I'm happy to see Vista didn't last long. It's a pimple on the face of computing. But how is 7 any better?-tranglos (September 13, 2009, 11:28 AM)
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I wouldn't exactly call SuperFetch, UAC and usermode graphics drivers pimples on the face of computing... Aero is also pretty sweet, especially in Win7 with WDDM 1.1 :)
-f0dder (September 13, 2009, 12:05 PM)
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UAC? We'll just have to agree to disagree, then!

Aero looks good on screenshots, but I'm not convinced it wouldn't be too much lucre and visual distraction for me. And I would probably disable it anyway, since I want my CPU to be there when I need it :)

Now, as a translator I'm bound by all sorts of non-disclosure agrements, so I can't be specific here - but I've seen a little bit of internals (system messages, not code) in my work. I would never want to run an OS that can display the kinds of error messages Vista is capable of displaying, related for example to network connectivity and missing updates or some validation procedures. If "code is law", as said by Larry Lessig (the lawyer who instituted Creative Commons), then Vista is a prison.

I suppose Windows 7 is going to be even more so, and I will nevertheless upgrade when faced with the choice of upgrading or changing jobs. But I'll be kicking and screaming when I do.

f0dder:
UAC? We'll just have to agree to disagree, then!
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It's the best thing that has happened for Windows security for a long while, and it really isn't that annoying when you're done with the initial program installs and setup after a fresh Windows install.

Aero looks good on screenshots, but I'm not convinced it wouldn't be too much lucre and visual distraction for me. And I would probably disable it anyway, since I want my CPU to be there when I need it :)
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The cute thing about Aero is that it runs on the GPU, not CPU :) - and that it allows for live previews on alt+tab (without being hacky and resorting to the cpu-sucking "take constant screenshots" approach that some fancy switchers use). This allows for a very smooth Exposé clone, which I've quickly grown fond of.

. If "code is law", as said by Larry Lessig (the lawyer who instituted Creative Commons), then Vista is a prison.
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Dunno; I'm not fond of the DRM (which hasn't bitten me yet, but I haven't attempted to hook up a TV via HDMI), but other than that I don't see big issues with Vista. Given beefy enough hardware, I'd even choose Vista over XP these days (yes, it's more demanding than XP, but it's also better at utilizing a powerful PC than XP is - SuperFetch rocks.)

tranglos:
UAC? We'll just have to agree to disagree, then!
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It's the best thing that has happened for Windows security for a long while, and it really isn't that annoying when you're done with the initial program installs and setup after a fresh Windows install.
-f0dder (September 13, 2009, 12:57 PM)
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I only know what I've read about other people's experiences, and from the interminable confirmation messages I've had to translate. But as a philosophy, I think it's flawed. First of all, users don't read stuff. If you put up a dialog box, you have a lot of people who will hit Enter (rarely Esc) without reading. And often for a good reason too, since the system is asking them a question they don't know how to answer. The other group of users, those who do read messages and do know the good answer - I don't think they need UAC in the first place. These are the same people who install their AVs and their firewalls and basically know what they are doing.

That is a theory (though advanced by long-time practitioners like Joel Spolsky, linked above), and in practice you may be right :) I just don't like the idea, without having been personally subjected to it yet.

Aero looks good on screenshots, but I'm not convinced it wouldn't be too much lucre and visual distraction for me. And I would probably disable it anyway, since I want my CPU to be there when I need it :)
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The cute thing about Aero is that it runs on the GPU, not CPU :) - and that it allows for live previews on alt+tab (without being hacky and resorting to the cpu-sucking "take constant screenshots" approach that some fancy switchers use). -f0dder (September 13, 2009, 12:57 PM)
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Thanks for the correction. I've found though that I can't use the "snapshot" task switchers of any kind. I've tried TaskSwitchXP, for example, and there's a Firefox extension that does a similar thing with tabs. It's weird, but I just can't use those, because I'm lost. I can't instantly recognize a window by its downsized graphical snapshot - they look all the same to me. When I switch, I recognize apps by their icons, and tabs by their titles. Every time I tried a snapshot-based UI like that, I end up randomly switching to things in panic, can't tell which window is which. Don't know whay that is, but it just doesn't work for me at all.

Innuendo:
I'm running Windows 7 RTM now and I have been for quite some time. I see people in this thread saying that Win7 isn't worth upgrading to & I imagine their opinions are based on screenshots they have seen. This really is the best version of Windows yet & one needs to experience it in person to see how smooth MS has made things work together. Sitting down in front of a Vista PC is now awkward for me & sitting down in front of an XP PC is a painful experience.

As for whether or not Win7 will last as long as XP....XP wasn't supposed to last as long as XP did. A screwed up development cycle for Vista is what prolonged XP staying on store shelves for as long as it has. Microsoft has stated that from here on out there's going to be a new OS released every 2-3 years just like in the past. The Vista development cycle length was an anomaly.

Having said that, though, Microsoft and Apple are running out of evolutionary enhancements to make to their respective OSes, IMHO. Things are getting to the point where the OS you have is good enough & there's not enough that can be added to a new version of your OS of choice to warrant an upgrade cost. There may need to be a revolutionary change to the OS to get people to upgrade to Win8.

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