Microsoft unveils the final/product name for "Windows 7"

[Dominik D]

Obviously you don't know much about Windows PE then.

Please. Don't patronize me. I know it's Internet and stuff but just because we're anonymous doesn't mean you can make any assumption about other people you want.

Windows PE in XP/2003 boots from an SDI file, which is a hard-drive-in-an-image file.

No, it's 'load-me-into-memory' image. It's closer to hibernate file than file system let alone virtual drive.

Better yet, Windows PE in the Vista platform boots from a WIM file, which provides pretty much the same data storage platform as VHD minus sector-level emulation.

It's handled by a minifilter driver that exposes file level APIs only. That means there's no block level functionality and no interaction with another file system (there's no NTFS partition on WIM file). Not only that but you load this into memory and don't have to deal with the volume this file was on initially. In case of VHD you have to deal with file system on a volume on a virtual drive which is file on a file system on a volume on a real hard drive (or another virtual drive if that's also supported). Add to that the fact that you can't load entire image into memory and there are dynamic VHDs which grow as you add data. And that's not all the complexity.

Nevertheless, both the SDI and the WIM boot image process required bootloader support, so again, why is VHD so "radically different" this time around? You've still yet to make a convincing argument of this.

I don't think there's any argument that would be convincing to you. So I'll pass on this one. You're right, VHDs are like SDIs.

 

[Albuquerque]

GOod, glad yoiu see it my way -- in other words, "it isn't that big of a deal."

 

[Xmas]

Let me add another feature I'm pumped about: fonts.

Yay, Y-direction antialiasing for ClearType is long overdue!

 

[hoom]

Uhm, you know with the launch of Nehalem comes what should have been the obvious reason for Windows 7: Marketing synchronicity.

Kind of like how everything had "x" es in it for a while and more recently products got all wordy like Windows Vista and 3Dmark Vantage etc.

"Run 3DMark VII on Windows 7 with your shiny new Core i7 CPU"

 

[Ike Turner]

Uhm, you know with the launch of Nehalem comes what should have been the obvious reason for Windows 7: Marketing synchronicity.

Kind of like how everything had "x" es in it for a while and more recently products got all wordy like Windows Vista and 3Dmark Vantage etc.

"Run 3DMark VII on Windows 7 with your shiny new Core i7 CPU"

And don't forget Windows Mobile 7 (wich MS is obviously taking their sweet time with it to get it out at the same time as Windows 7)

 

[pjbliverpool]

Uhm, you know with the launch of Nehalem comes what should have been the obvious reason for Windows 7: Marketing synchronicity.

Kind of like how everything had "x" es in it for a while and more recently products got all wordy like Windows Vista and 3Dmark Vantage etc.

"Run 3DMark VII on Windows 7 with your shiny new Core i7 CPU"

But Windows 7 isn't launching yet so by the time it does, Core i7 will be getting on a bit. In fact Core i8 or whatever it will be called can't be that far away by the time W7 launches and it will certainly be launched within a year or 2 of W7's launch (so while its still considered a pretty new OS).

 

[chavvdarrr]

:7 .

 

[Richard]

Achievement Unlocked: Windows 7

Rafael has made available his unlock tool for the PDC build of Windows 7. Currently only a x86 version is done but he promises a version for x64 systems tomorrow.

 

[Skrying]

But Windows 7 isn't launching yet so by the time it does, Core i7 will be getting on a bit. In fact Core i8 or whatever it will be called can't be that far away by the time W7 launches and it will certainly be launched within a year or 2 of W7's launch (so while its still considered a pretty new OS).

Huh? By the time Windows 7 launches we'll just then be getting into the meat of the Core i7 lineup. We won't be seeing mainstream Core i7 processors till mid 2009. You can expect at least two years if Core 2 Duo (a short life time processor by Intel regards) is any indication.

 

[Blazkowicz]

will there be virtual desktops? years ago, it seemed evident to me that feature would be in Vista.
I don't really use it in Gnome but it's nice to have the option, for the rare occurence I do some amount of work with window-hungry apps like Gimp.

 

[Richard]

Das Boss Sez. I wouldn't be surprised if this, or similar functionality, crept into the Win7 mainbuild at some point.

 

[Blazkowicz]

They have had that tool for many, many years as a "powertoy" (tried it in windows 98 I think). And it somehow sucked (3rd party tools are better). I would like it in the default build so you can count on it and it gets better integrated (should be a toolbar object like Quicklaunch, not an icon in the tray).

There should be an ssh client and scp as well but hell, this is microsoft . (I don't even ask for an X11 server. well I did now, and I want a POSIX subsystem that can run compiled linux apps, no licensing restriction at all and a 50€ price. with fries and beer)

 

[ShaidarHaran]

Did anyone else read the utterly idiotic piece on Windows 7 on Dailytech today?

They really need to stop putting blog posts in with the real news.

 

[chavvdarrr]

Did anyone else read the utterly idiotic piece on Windows 7 on Dailytech today?

They really need to stop putting blog posts in with the real news.

hm, what about it?
With 7 launching ~8 months from now, current build is supposed to be almost "feature frozen", with just removing bugs.
Anyone expecting big changes in consumed memory or performance in everyday usage without using SSDs or such is nuts.

 

[Sxotty]

Did anyone else read the utterly idiotic piece on Windows 7 on Dailytech today?

They really need to stop putting blog posts in with the real news.

Shaidar is right.

The article says it is just like Vista then says compatibility is crap b/c it isn't just like Vista. It contradicts itself within a paragraph. That relegates it to the trash.

 

[Richard]

hm, what about it?
With 7 launching ~8 months from now, current build is supposed to be almost "feature frozen", with just removing bugs.

8 months? The official line from Microsoft is and has always been 3 years after the general availability date of Vista, which means January 2010. Whether MS will launch sooner than that (check out the official screenshots given to the press atending PDC for a hint), the fact is that MS can release this on the last day of Jan 2010 and not have anyone yell "DELAY!". That's plenty of time.

Also, the current build is never feature frozen for MS. Beta phase for windows means a different thing than for the rest of the software world. During Vista's developments many new features were introduced after the first beta was available.

Secondly, because of the different way MS is managing all the different windows components going into Windows 7 (only integrating code that has been tested as if it were shippable) means many features that aren't ready simply aren't in the build.

Thirdly, this isn't even beta. If you want to ignore all of the above and go for the mantra that beta absolutely means feature-freeze-only-fix-bugs then you'd still have to conclude that because it hasn't hit beta yet, it's not feature-frozen.

Perhaps MS will shut down the source control server today and go gold tomorrow. Heck, anything could happen, but as of now, from all the _confirmed_ release date information and operating practices at MS in general and for Win7 specifically, you can't say that it's feature-frozen.

 

[chavvdarrr]

I may be wrong but read few days ago that MS wants to deliver Win7 mid 2009 - hence I wrote "8 months". IF they want to ship 8 months from now they are near frozing point.

 

[Dominik D]

InfoWorld piece Dailytech is writing about is full of crap. Randall Kennedy is benchmarking Office stating that since Office works just like on Vista, OS is the same. Hell knows how much time Office actually spent in OS. He also said that since Vista and Win7 have pretty much the same amount of kernel threads, kernel is the same. Guy is bitter for whatever reason. *shrug*

 

[Skrying]

I may be wrong but read few days ago that MS wants to deliver Win7 mid 2009 - hence I wrote "8 months". IF they want to ship 8 months from now they are near frozing point.

There is a massive difference between wanting to release a product and actually releasing the product. Microsoft has put out a very padded launch date the entire time for Windows 7 to avoid criticism, and that's worked so far even as light has been shed on the fact that Windows 7 will mostly likely see a 2009 release. They really want, and need, to get this release right so if it takes being a bit pessimistic about the release date then so be it.

 

[Davros]

Beta phase for windows means a different thing than for the rest of the software world.

you can say that again, has any ms producted ever not been in beta