Hard Light Productions Forums

Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: MP-Ryan on June 26, 2009, 04:24:12 pm

Title: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: MP-Ryan on June 26, 2009, 04:24:12 pm: For those of you running legitimate copies of Windows in Canada, the US, or Japan, Microsoft is presently offering a discount of 50% off on the Home Premium and Professional upgrade versions... meaning if you have a legitimate Vista or XP license and want Windows 7, you can buy it for potentially as little as $50 USD.

I just pre-ordered a copy of Windows 7 Professional from Amazon.ca and it came to $131 CAD... which, considering it will retails for $250 (for the upgrade version alone) in October, I think was well worth it.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/buy/offers/pre-order.aspx
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: BloodEagle on June 26, 2009, 05:14:12 pm: Is Windows 7 any good (as compared with XP/Pro)?
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: MP-Ryan on June 26, 2009, 05:34:16 pm: Quote from: BloodEagle on June 26, 2009, 05:14:12 pm
Is Windows 7 any good (as compared with XP/Pro)?

Apparently it is everything Vista was supposed to be but isn't.

XP wasn't a bad OS but Vista did have some significant improvements, which Windows 7 has continued but also minimized it's memory footprint and "noise" as well (the much maligned UAC in Vista has been entirely re-worked for Win7). There are reports of people running Win7 on older hardware and performing faster than XP Pro on the same hardware.

It's been in wide release beta testing since this winter (it was open to the public, actually) and I'm hearing nothing but praise.

Certainly, you will eventually need to move from XP to a newer OS in order to get full support for things like graphics hardware and firmware, so this wouldn't be a bad time to do it and skip Vista altogether.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: Galemp on June 26, 2009, 05:53:56 pm: I still need a good reason to switch from XP Pro. Seeing as I turn off all the interface goodies anyway for performance reasons I don't think it's worth my Benjamins. Next time I buy a new PC, I'll upgrade.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: CP5670 on June 26, 2009, 06:17:58 pm: I'm interesting in upgrading to this from XP mainly because of the 64-bit memory support. I will probably end up configuring it so that it behaves similar to XP anyway.

I need to have a good workaround for unsigned drivers though, and hopefully the XP mode will have some form of 3D hardware support. I would otherwise have to keep an XP install around or get a downgrade in midi music quality for some old games, since the virtual midi driver I use won't work on newer OSs.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: Scooby_Doo on June 26, 2009, 09:47:58 pm: I'm in :)
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: Ford Prefect on June 26, 2009, 10:03:05 pm: Is Windows 7 any more demanding in terms of system requirements than Vista? I'm currently using Vista Home Premium.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: Scooby_Doo on June 26, 2009, 10:05:41 pm: Seems to be quite a bit less.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: FUBAR-BDHR on June 26, 2009, 11:10:45 pm: Let's see with 10-12 computers that is still way to much for an OS update. I'll stick with XP. Maybe one day I'll install my copy of Vista that I've been using as a foot rest.

I really wish someone would come out with a nice simple OS that only installs what you ask it to and nothing more. When did an OS stat needing 50K files just as a base install? No wonder so much goes wrong. Not to mention the wasted space on backups.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: High Max on June 26, 2009, 11:44:00 pm: ;-)
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: FUBAR-BDHR on June 26, 2009, 11:50:56 pm: Wait so you are saying that just because you have a faster hard drive with a new 64 bit OS that FS2 will be faster? Did someone all of a sudden rewrite FS2 specifically for a 64 bit OS? It was written for wind 95/98 so that means max 32bit with probably a lot of it still 16 bit. That's a lot of 0 filling for the processor to do for all those 16 and 32 bit operations.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: Scotty on June 26, 2009, 11:53:57 pm: Ehhh, Vista isn't too bad. I still get a laugh out of some of the times something has to ask permission to be installed.

"Badthing.blah is trying to access your computer, input administrator password to allow. :drevil:"

Also, Love the new title Max.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: High Max on June 27, 2009, 12:09:12 am: ;-)
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: Spicious on June 27, 2009, 12:21:52 am: Most hard drives will not experience better performance with 3Gb/s over 1.5Gb/s.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: High Max on June 27, 2009, 12:25:30 am: ;-)
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: Fury on June 27, 2009, 02:03:04 am: Mechanical hard drives aren't really pushing SATA2 and won't benefit from SATA3. In most single user environments even SATA1 would be enough. SSD's on the other hand are a different story, but they are not cost effective yet. Let's see again in a year or two.

Back to the topic. Windows 7 does indeed deserve to be bought, it's that great an OS. For a Windows. I've been using RC1 since it was released to public. Just for the kicks me and my friend at work decided to try how little RAM Windows 7 RC1 needs to start without errors. Unmodified Windows 7 RC1 booted and worked with as little as 96MB RAM. Yes, you read that right, 96MB RAM. With 64MB RAM it wouldn't boot, but 96MB is very impressive already.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: Mongoose on June 27, 2009, 02:17:26 am: Wow...that's far less resource-intensive than I would have guessed. Maybe after I throw some more RAM into this box, I'll consider getting an upgrade for a dual-boot just for kicks. XP is still all I really need, but it'd be nice to have for future-proofing purposes.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: Ghostavo on June 27, 2009, 05:56:41 am: Quote from: Fury on June 27, 2009, 02:03:04 am
Just for the kicks me and my friend at work decided to try how little RAM Windows 7 RC1 needs to start without errors. Unmodified Windows 7 RC1 booted and worked with as little as 96MB RAM. Yes, you read that right, 96MB RAM. With 64MB RAM it wouldn't boot, but 96MB is very impressive already.

Hello, hackerman1! (http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Windows-7-Pentium-II,8110.html)
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: Fury on June 27, 2009, 07:34:05 am: Uh, no. I'm not hackerman1 :) Me and my friend made our tests using Virtualbox. :p
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: colecampbell666 on June 27, 2009, 09:33:37 am: My suggestion: Get Windows 7. It's a huge step up from Vista, and it doesn't need much more than XP does. I'm gonna pre-order it.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: Uchuujinsan on June 27, 2009, 11:44:16 am: Good thing I'm getting it for free if I want (like vista) :>
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: colecampbell666 on June 27, 2009, 11:54:29 am: Wait, so what about Windows 7 Ultimate? Is that half-price?
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: CP5670 on June 27, 2009, 12:13:51 pm: After doing some searching, it looks like the "XP mode" is nothing more than marketing speak for a Virtual PC setup, which would be lame. Virtual PC is quite slow and has no 3D support whatsoever, so I have to keep an XP setup around in order to play D2X-XL and a few other games with good music.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: JGZinv on June 27, 2009, 12:34:20 pm: There's also no IPX protocol in Vista or Win 7.

So much for old style lan parties.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: CP5670 on June 27, 2009, 12:47:41 pm: Yes, that would be another reason to keep an XP install. I occasionally use IPX with Hamachi to play Red Alert 1 (with various mods) with my brother.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: High Max on June 27, 2009, 01:17:53 pm: ;-)
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: MP-Ryan on June 27, 2009, 07:51:41 pm: Quote from: colecampbell666 on June 27, 2009, 11:54:29 am
Wait, so what about Windows 7 Ultimate? Is that half-price?

No, but it's also a complete waste of money unless you need multi-language support in real time (pointless) or BitLocker encryption (equally pointless as TrueCrypt is both better and free).

Save your money. Buy Win7 Professional.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: MP-Ryan on June 27, 2009, 07:52:40 pm: Quote from: CP5670 on June 27, 2009, 12:13:51 pm
After doing some searching, it looks like the "XP mode" is nothing more than marketing speak for a Virtual PC setup, which would be lame. Virtual PC is quite slow and has no 3D support whatsoever, so I have to keep an XP setup around in order to play D2X-XL and a few other games with good music.

Dual-boot and/or VMWare?
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: MP-Ryan on June 27, 2009, 07:54:03 pm: Quote from: High Max on June 27, 2009, 01:17:53 pm
I heard how Vista didn't work very well with certain programs and wasn't good for gaming.

Compatibility with ancient games is always a problem; as for Vista wasn't good for gaming, you'll have to elaborate. I've been running Vista Business x64 for over a year and it's been better for gaming than XP.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: The E on June 27, 2009, 08:05:30 pm: Quote from: High Max on June 27, 2009, 01:17:53 pm
I hope the new OS won't break compatibility with older games, like Doom and FS2. Doom does have a form of an SCP and graphical updates like FS2 is to FSO. I heard how Vista didn't work very well with certain programs and wasn't good for gaming.

Sorry to say this, but you can't expect a brand new OS that was explicitly designed with reduced backwards compatibility for the sake of better forwards compatibility to work with really old stuff. Having said that, there are solutions out there to get even really old programs to work correctly (DOSBox comes to mind). As for Vista not being good for gaming, that may have been the case back in '07, when Vista was still fresh, but at the moment the difference in performance between XP and 7 on current hardware is almost negligible. Besides, it's getting harder and harder to add support for new hardware into a system as old as XP (Which, IIRC, has problems with SATA drives, for example), in addition to severe deficiencies in its security model.
In short, there are several very good reasons for upgrading, and only very few points against it.

Sidenote: If you have difficulties getting old progs to run on Vista and 7, it almost always comes down to application developers ignoring the guidelines Microsoft publishes for developing software on Windows. Blaming Microsoft for the failures of others is a bit stupid, IMHO. They make enough mistakes that they CAN and SHOULD be blamed for without adding other people's deliberately broken software into it.

Quote from: MP-Ryan on June 27, 2009, 07:54:03 pm
Compatibility with ancient games is always a problem; as for Vista wasn't good for gaming, you'll have to elaborate. I've been running Vista Business x64 for over a year and it's been better for gaming than XP.

It was one of the accusations that came up early in Vista's lifecycle, at a time when Computers with multiple cores and 2+ GB of RAM were not standard yet. As with other Vista flaws, this one is always getting dragged out in "Vista Sux"-Threads, mostly by people who can't or won't upgrade to Vista because of some cargo-cultish attachment they have for XP.

DISCLAIMER: I was what you call a Vista fanboy. I now am a 7 fanboy.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: DeepSpace9er on June 27, 2009, 08:35:27 pm: I moved my new laptop and my primary desktop over to 7 RC. Just pre-ordered 2 copies of 7 from Amazon.com the night the pre-orders started.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: TESLA on June 27, 2009, 09:26:51 pm: I liked windows 95. It was cool, clicky, graphics, my computer, all this new stuff for my generation

I liked windows 98. it was similar, but updated, new hardware, and software (new computer) had promise :)

I liked windows 20000. More of the same. But progress. As a teenager could not spend much money on my PC

I loved windows XP. I found it different. A new style, unique in a sense, revolutionary, the sex of computers (in a code sort of way) :D

Then...........

I bought a new Computer.....
This came with Windows Vista.
Direct x10 = excellent

Everything else? I feel like i installed hell on my computer. Nothing has gone right!!!!!
My god what did i do to deserve an operating system like this?
Why must I click three to four times to confirm a single action!! Frak no!!!!!!!!!!!

I felt like Microsoft had raped me!

For the love of God, Vista was such a pile of ****e!
It is as useful as the underwater hairdryer.
Its purpose is as worthy as an inflatable dartboard

I know Vista has its minions and supporters out there, but I don’t fraking care, to me, it was the biggest mistake ever. Like have sex without a condom and 9 months later paying the price.

It ranks along side the same guy who invented cat slippers!

For all that is good and right about the universe,
To give me peace and sound of mind,
To restore my faith in computing and software,
To balance good and evil,
Let the new windows be good…….
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: colecampbell666 on June 27, 2009, 09:31:48 pm: What besides UAC (which is easy to turn off) was wrong after the first little while? I agree that it should have been better tested (we got XP 3 days after it came out and it worked flawlessly), but after a few months when hardware drivers caught up it was pretty good.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: TESLA on June 27, 2009, 09:40:25 pm: Quote from: colecampbell666 on June 27, 2009, 09:31:48 pm
What besides UAC (which is easy to turn off) was wrong after the first little while? I agree that it should have been better tested (we got XP 3 days after it came out and it worked flawlessly), but after a few months when hardware drivers caught up it was pretty good.

Well when you turn off the UAC, then you have to turn off something else to stop that lil bubble in the right hand side of your screen, telling you UAC is off. Its like multiple steps to get where you want to be with your system, just found it very annoying.

Reminds me of Direct X 3 (Caused many Gateway computers to simply show four green lines across the screen) Ahh the old days, lol
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: CP5670 on June 27, 2009, 11:08:03 pm: Quote
Dual-boot and/or VMWare?

I'll almost certainly end up keeping my current XP install. VMWare and VirtualBox may be worth a try though. Unlike Virtual PC, they have some basic support for D3D and OpenGL, which would make them useful even on XP. I couldn't get the free version of VMWare to work with sound when I tried it a while ago though. Maybe I should give it another try.

WINE probably has the best 3D API support and might be more useful than any of these, but I'm not sure how to get it working on Windows.

Quote
In short, there are several very good reasons for upgrading, and only very few points against it.

There is all of one good reason for me to upgrade (64-bit memory support), and three or four reasons not to (the main ones being that clunky hacks are needed to use unsigned drivers and the lack of a Vista/7 version of my Yamaha virtual midi driver). That one reason is important and will override the others, but there are certainly tradeoffs involved.

However, I would expect any 32-bit program that works on XP to also work on Vista and 7, as long as the hardware is unchanged. I have yet to hear of any confirmed exceptions to that. The issues are mainly with drivers.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: Blue Lion on June 27, 2009, 11:10:27 pm: I turned off UAC and haven't had a problem with Vista. Maybe I'm not cool enough to push this OS to the limits!
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: High Max on June 27, 2009, 11:38:03 pm: ;-)
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: castor on June 28, 2009, 05:10:32 am: I liked NT4. As much as I'm able to like a Windows system.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: ssmit132 on June 28, 2009, 06:15:18 am: Quote from: High Max on June 27, 2009, 11:38:03 pm
I still have that OS. It is still pretty good. I have used someone else's computer before with Vista on it a while back and it sucked that it required 2 steps to access task manager and it took up the entire screen when I pressed Ctrl+Alt+Delete, unlike XP.
You can also access the Task Manager by right-clicking the taskbar in Vista.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: The E on June 28, 2009, 06:21:11 am: Quote from: ssmit132 on June 28, 2009, 06:15:18 am
Quote from: High Max on June 27, 2009, 11:38:03 pm
I still have that OS. It is still pretty good. I have used someone else's computer before with Vista on it a while back and it sucked that it required 2 steps to access task manager and it took up the entire screen when I pressed Ctrl+Alt+Delete, unlike XP.
You can also access the Task Manager by right-clicking the taskbar in Vista.

There's also the direct shortcut Ctrl-Shift-Escape.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: ssmit132 on June 28, 2009, 06:44:22 am: Quote from: The E on June 28, 2009, 06:21:11 am
There's also the direct shortcut Ctrl-Shift-Escape.
I didn't know that. Thanks. :)
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: Mika on June 28, 2009, 11:21:25 am: I guess Vista has been a failure from Microsoft's side. I'm just waiting for most of the people to do the beta testing of the Windows 7 and then replace my aging XP - or wait for 7lite version of it. It is good news this computer can still run Windows 7, though.

Mika
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: spaceranger on June 28, 2009, 12:08:08 pm: Quote from: FUBAR-BDHR on June 26, 2009, 11:10:45 pm
Let's see with 10-12 computers that is still way to much for an OS update. I'll stick with XP. Maybe one day I'll install my copy of Vista that I've been using as a foot rest.

I really wish someone would come out with a nice simple OS that only installs what you ask it to and nothing more. When did an OS stat needing 50K files just as a base install? No wonder so much goes wrong. Not to mention the wasted space on backups.

All I need is for all of my 3D modelling/art tools/audio software/games to run on Linux and it's everything you asked for above plus everything I've asked for. Linux is ready for this, the software isn't.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: High Max on June 28, 2009, 02:14:04 pm: ;-)
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: jr2 on June 29, 2009, 07:12:22 pm: Quote from: TESLA on June 27, 2009, 09:26:51 pm
Vista, aaaieee!!!

Just thank your lucky stars you didn't try ME, which was worse.

Yes

It was.

Worse.

:nervous: Don't ask.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: JGZinv on June 29, 2009, 07:30:18 pm: I'm not sure... I used ME for a couple years after 98se, then went to XP.

Vista after 25 minutes of fixing someone else's machine, makes me want to throw it
off a tall cliff, record the video, stick it on YouTube, and change to a Mac.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: Triple Ace on June 29, 2009, 07:58:58 pm: What about poeple with OEM versions of Vista? If it is just an upgrade disc, will another copy of Vista be required to reinstall 7 if the mobo fries?
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: High Max on June 29, 2009, 08:33:41 pm: ;-)
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: colecampbell666 on June 29, 2009, 09:30:50 pm: These are UPGRADE discs, designed to UPGRADE from Vista.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: Scooby_Doo on June 29, 2009, 09:57:44 pm: Or XP or 2K, or even win 7.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: Triple Ace on June 30, 2009, 06:01:06 pm: Quote from: colecampbell666 on June 29, 2009, 09:30:50 pm
These are UPGRADE discs, designed to UPGRADE from Vista.

Yes, but because its an UPGRADE disc, would Vista need to be reinstalled to REUPGRADE to 7. I have an OEM Vista which is locked to my current motherboard. Eventually it is either going to die or I'm going to swap it for a better mobo. I'm trying to figure out if the upgrade would be fine for me and allow me to reinstall 7 as many times as I want with whatever mobo I have, or if I need to buy the full retail disc for 200 dollars or whatever it is to be able to do that.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: High Max on June 30, 2009, 09:27:31 pm: ;-)
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: FUBAR-BDHR on June 30, 2009, 09:52:51 pm: Well when XP first came out as an upgrade it was the full version but you had to either have a previous version of Windows installed or the original bootable CD or floppy before you could install it. So upgrade doesn't necessarily mean it will use any of the files from Vista but it might check for the existence of them.

BTW ran ME for years without any real problems. Not as stable as XP but I found it better then 95 and 98se. Only real issue I had with it was that dang mapped network drives didn't allow you to shut down problem.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: Fury on July 01, 2009, 05:20:37 am: Quote from: High Max on June 30, 2009, 09:27:31 pm
Common sense tells me most likely you would need Vista since that upgrade disk might depend on already installed files from Vista since it is an upgrade disk. It must mean it only contains files to put Win 7 on top of the existing Vista OS and therefore won't include all required files or that many from the Win 7 OS disk itself. This tells me that Win 7 must use Vista core files as its base and is basically Vista, but with some additional stuff added and some modifications and is called Win 7.
The only difference is the upgrade validation check and cheaper license. Otherwise both versions are identical.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: S-99 on July 01, 2009, 06:03:10 am: Windows 7, everything vista was supposed to be but with the hardware requirements of xp and the very nice improvements of vista.

At 50$ for preorder, and free upgrades to 7 if you run vista. It's a good deal. If you run windows, get 7. If you run xp, it's defunct, old, showing its age, and you'll be left out in the cold real soon with it.

Get the cheap newest version of windows that'll run on old hardware while you still can.

Other than that. I don't give a rats ass. Microsoft is still no longer an innovator, despite improvements their quite stagnant, and windows 7 only really exists because of netbooks.

The only reason people still go for windows is because it's familiar. Who cares that all of the notifications, dialogues, and prompts that treat the user like a retard because the user base can't get with the times because they run as admins all the time.

Windows was only truly good with win2k and xp. After that they got into the mood of we can sell our customers **** and they'll bite it up.

So......when the many of you who have microsoft update/windows update set to automatically update the system....how many times does windows still tell you to "click here" to install updates regardless. How many times does windows tell you that you need to either restart or remind you later to restart and apply the updates because microsoft happily doesn't include a "don't remind me anymore" button. How many times does windows remind you that you may have no antispyware/malware/antivirus software on your computer despite having it or not everytime you boot up?

**** windows, i'm not a retard, it's really one hell of a bull**** platform these days.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: MP-Ryan on July 01, 2009, 10:08:20 am: Quote from: Fury on July 01, 2009, 05:20:37 am
Quote from: High Max on June 30, 2009, 09:27:31 pm
Common sense tells me most likely you would need Vista since that upgrade disk might depend on already installed files from Vista since it is an upgrade disk. It must mean it only contains files to put Win 7 on top of the existing Vista OS and therefore won't include all required files or that many from the Win 7 OS disk itself. This tells me that Win 7 must use Vista core files as its base and is basically Vista, but with some additional stuff added and some modifications and is called Win 7.
The only difference is the upgrade validation check and cheaper license. Otherwise both versions are identical.

To clarify even further: You can install an upgrade version onto a blank drive. You will also need the license key (maybe) or original disc (usually) from a previous Windows version to verify an existing license during installation.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: S-99 on July 01, 2009, 03:41:55 pm: Windows upgrade discs are really the same thing as the normal install disc with the difference that it either looks for windows pre-installed on a computer that it allows to be upgraded from or do a fresh install and it'll ask you to toss in your older version of windows disc to verify that you really are moving from an older version of windows to the new one.

That's how i installed xp on my computer back in the day. Bought the upgrade disc to perform a fresh install, and when it asked to toss in an older version of windows to verify i was moving from an older version to xp, i just tossed in the years old win98 emachines install disc (it probably would've worked with a win95 disc too). After it scanned the win98 disc, spit it back out, and put the xp upgrade disc back in and went on with my fresh install.

Before you buy a windows upgrade disc of any kind. Read to find out what versions of windows it'll let you upgrade from. That'll decide whether or not you should purchase the cheaper upgrade disc. Depending on what versions of windows you can upgrade from with the windows 7 upgrade disc...hopefully it'll let you do the cheesy thing i did for upgrading.

Hell, someone should check out if you can use the windows 7 upgrade and upgrade from a trial version of xp or something like that.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: FUBAR-BDHR on July 01, 2009, 04:12:53 pm: Heck the older 98 upgrade disks even worked with either an MS dos floppy or a Win 3.1 floppy. Of course that doesn't mean they won't make some kind of crazy change it is Microsoft after all.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: jr2 on July 02, 2009, 05:42:21 pm: As far as ME goes, I've heard it was either it worked great, or was horrible (like a 50/50 chance).
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: FUBAR-BDHR on July 02, 2009, 05:50:59 pm: Quote from: jr2 on July 02, 2009, 05:42:21 pm
As far as ME goes, I've heard it was either it worked great, or was horrible (like a 50/50 chance).

As long as you enabled dial up networking whether you used dial up or not it seemed to work just fine. Used it on literally hundreds of computers. Well that and the before mentioned mapped drive shut down thing but I think 98 had that too. You did have to reboot once or twice a week or you would eventually run out of memory but that was every version of the 9x series.

Of course that said I never really did much multitasking. If I wanted to run 5 different major apps I used 5 different computers. :pimp: If I think about it I kind of still have a habit of that. Core2Quad is slowing breaking that habit
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: CP5670 on July 02, 2009, 06:11:08 pm: I used ME for three or four years. It never seemed any different from 98 to me. There was a minor bug with disabling system restore, but it ran all my programs fine.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: Mongoose on July 02, 2009, 09:15:51 pm: We must have received the short end of the ME stick, then, because our family's old machine with that on it BSOD'd or locked up at least once a week, maybe more. Didn't help matters that it was running on a seemingly particularly unstable collection of Dell hardware, but the OS itself had its share of issues. Said old machine is currently running an XP install despite having too little RAM to properly run XP. :p
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: S-99 on July 10, 2009, 05:34:11 am: There was no point for the existence of ME aside from some of the borrowed abilities that it had from win2k (especially when you plug in usb mass storage), and that it made MS money on one hell of a huge ass fluke of an OS from MS. Win98 was considerably better stability-wise.
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: Colonol Dekker on July 10, 2009, 08:33:20 am: By the time I get a new rig 7 will probably come as standard. Plus i'm in England :s
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: Stealth on July 10, 2009, 10:21:31 am: definately run windows 7. i've been playing around with it for the last few months whenever i have the chance - got it loaded up on one of my VMWARE boxes
Title: Re: Windows 7 Pre-Order Discount (50%)
Post by: jr2 on July 10, 2009, 11:06:59 am: Quote from: S-99 on July 10, 2009, 05:34:11 am
...and that it made MS money on one hell of a huge ass fluke of an OS from MS...

Not worse than Windows 1.00 though.

Spoiler:
It was just a tech demo to keep people from buying one of two other competing OSes... and since MS claimed Windows just needed a few more tweaks before releasing, people waited.