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Windows 7 SP1 is out

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Re: Windows 7 SP1 is out

#81

Post by rbanffy »

robryan wrote: post #63
rbanffy wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What features Win7 has that OSX lacks? Why the switch back?

What features does OSX have that Windows lacks? Assuming a user that doesn't really interact much with the terminal. To me unless your a developer I can't see much that would really drive a decision one way or the other. Can't think of anything that either Windows or OSX makes impossible that the other does.

- Virtual invulnerability to malware - no need to buy and use crippling and intrusive anti-malware systems.

- Partly as a result of the above, it's noticeably faster.

- Time Machine (albeit it would be much nicer if it were based on ZFS).

- It comes bundled with pretty computers that have no blue LEDs (and most users, Windows and Mac alike, just stick to whatever came pre-installed). My last HP had 18 blue light sources piercing my retinas all the time.

- The company comes with a very charismatic CEO.

- It's prettier than Windows.

- It just works. And keeps working.

- If you are a developer, it offers a rich Unix environment matched only by Linux machines - that, I have to admit, don't work as consistently. It also comes with a kick-ass IDE for free.

- It already ships with a decent web browser. No need to download and install one.

- The App Store promises near-Linux ease for finding, selecting, downloading and keeping software up-to-date. It certainly beats the Windows way of googling for the software, hitting a malware site, going back, searching more, finding the correct site, downloading an executable and giving it the keys to the kingdom so it can do whatever it wants with your computer, something it may never recover from.

Re: Windows 7 SP1 is out

#82

Post by rbanffy »

kenjackson wrote: post #16

I think we may have some history in the making here. This is the first SP1 for an MS OS release that I have no interest in installing. I probably will at some point, but my system is running so well that w/o new features I fail to see what the upside can be. Who would've thunk anyone would say about Windows... "No need for SP1. The original version is working like a charm."

> This is the first SP1 for an MS OS release that I have no interest in installing.

For me they got there with Vista. And, truth be told, I was a beta tester.

Re: Windows 7 SP1 is out

#83

Post by elxx »

rbanffy wrote: post #81
robryan wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What features does OSX have that Windows lacks? Assuming a user that doesn't really interact much with the terminal. To me unless your a developer I can't see much that would really drive a decision one way or the other. Can't think of anything that either Windows or OSX makes impossible that the other does.

- Virtual invulnerability to malware - no need to buy and use crippling and intrusive anti-malware systems. - Partly as a result of the above, it's noticeably faster. - Time Machine (albeit it would be much nicer if it were based on ZFS). - It comes bundled with pretty computers that have no blue LEDs (and most users, Windows and Mac alike, just stick to whatever came pre-installed). My last HP had 18 blue light sour…

I can't tell whether this is a serious post or not, but as someone who uses both every day:

> - Virtual invulnerability to malware - no need to buy and use crippling and intrusive anti-malware systems.

> - Partly as a result of the above, it's noticeably faster.

If you let Windows Update do its thing and recognize that downloading and launching freevideo.avi.exe and granting it admin access seems like a bad idea, there's nothing to worry about. Microsoft Security Essentials is free, stays quiet, and uses a negligible amount of memory.

> - Time Machine (albeit it would be much nicer if it were based on ZFS).

Backup and Restore. It's not as pretty nor well marketed, but it does the job just fine.

> - It comes bundled with pretty computers that have no blue LEDs (and most users, Windows and Mac alike, just stick to whatever came pre-installed). My last HP had 18 blue light sources piercing my retinas all the time.

So does Windows. You have a choice of whether to buy a Latitude or the pink Alienware XPS Mega 8000 with the Lady Gaga vinyl faceplate.

> - The company comes with a very charismatic CEO.

Windows comes with a jolly bald guy and an awesome well known philanthropist. Can we call it a draw?

> - It's prettier than Windows.

This depends on the person really, but I do love the borderless windows in OSX. The super-fat window borders in Win7 look silly (although you can make them smaller). The other big difference is the Dock, and that probably falls under UX rather than design. I hate how much space it wastes compared to the Taskbar though.

> - It just works. And keeps working.

Except when something goes wrong, as tends to happen in tech built by anyone running any OS. I think you'll find that the general consensus is that Win7 is rock solid and just as stable as OSX.

> - If you are a developer, it offers a rich Unix environment matched only by Linux machines - that, I have to admit, don't work as consistently. It also comes with a kick-ass IDE for free.

Win7 has PowerShell and MS gives away Visual Studio Express too. It really depends on what you're developing for, of course.

> - It already ships with a decent web browser. No need to download and install one.

IE8 is more than decent - it is by far the most popular and reliable method for downloading Firefox. Also, do any OSX power users even use Safari? All the OSX people I know use either Chrome or Firefox.

> - The App Store promises near-Linux ease for finding, selecting, downloading and keeping software up-to-date. It certainly beats the Windows way of googling for the software, hitting a malware site, going back, searching more, finding the correct site, downloading an executable and giving it the keys to the kingdom so it can do whatever it wants with your computer, something it may never recover from.

My first experience with the App Store was being asked for credit card information when I tried to download the free Twitter app. Ninite is a Windows app that comes close to doing what the App Store does.

Re: Windows 7 SP1 is out

#84

Post by rbanffy »

elxx wrote: post #83
rbanffy wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- Virtual invulnerability to malware - no need to buy and use crippling and intrusive anti-malware systems. - Partly as a result of the above, it's noticeably faster. - Time Machine (albeit it would be much nicer if it were based on ZFS). - It comes bundled with pretty computers that have no blue LEDs (and most users, Windows and Mac alike, just stick to whatever came pre-installed). My last HP had 18 blue light sour…

I can't tell whether this is a serious post or not, but as someone who uses both every day: > - Virtual invulnerability to malware - no need to buy and use crippling and intrusive anti-malware systems. > - Partly as a result of the above, it's noticeably faster. If you let Windows Update do its thing and recognize that downloading and launching freevideo.avi.exe and granting it admin access seems like a bad idea, the…

> I can't tell whether this is a serious post or not,

I am only half-joking

> If you let Windows Update do its thing

I find the "don't turn off the computer just now, applying update 10 of 130" very annoying. I am glad I only see it in VMs these days

> Backup and Restore. It's not as pretty nor well marketed

Time Machine (and the time slider in Solaris) allow you to see and restore last week's version of any file without you consciously having to back it up.

> You have a choice of whether to buy a Latitude or the pink Alienware XPS Mega 8000 with the Lady Gaga vinyl faceplate

You have a strange notion of what would be a pretty computer.

> Windows comes with a jolly bald guy and an awesome well known philanthropist

Both of them accused (and found guilty) of monopoly abuse. I stay with Jobs.

> Except when something goes wrong

The only time I had to reinstall a Mac was when upgrading hard disks. With Windows it's so frequent I keep disk images and VM snapshots to help me.

> It really depends on what you're developing for, of course.

Indeed. Windows is the best platform for developing for Windows.

> IE (...) is by far the most popular and reliable method for downloading Firefox.

Can't argue with that, but, unless I am developing on the Mac, I stick with Safari.

> My first experience with the App Store

Give them some slack. It's a first attempt. Too bad they couldn't decide to just copy what Linux has since the early 2000's...

Re: Windows 7 SP1 is out

#85

Post by JanezStupar »

pero wrote: post #55

I've recently worked for a large bank still running XP and IE6 and their migration policy stipulated that upgrades to the OS weren't considered until a SP has been released; perhaps this is more widespread, and enterprise applications notwithstanding, the insignificance of the Win7 updates could be in anticipation of IE9...

That is a standard practice AFAIK.

Think of it... All previous MS OSes really became feasible after SP1 and started to shine after SP2.

Win 7 seems to be a notable exception (truthfully it is a Vista SP2). Anyways one supper happy Win7 user here - although 64 bit is STILL not what it should be - Firefox memory leaks are a bit worse and it is noticeably slower (I have 32bit W7 on laptop) plus some other minor issues - but that is hardly Microsoft's fault.

Re: Windows 7 SP1 is out

#86

Post by stonemetal »

larrywright wrote: post #62
jquery wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here. Then I discovered Windows 7 and switched back to PC.

Can I ask why? I'm really curious, I don't believe I know anyone who has ever switched back to Windows from OS X. I use Win 7 at work and OS X at home, and while Win 7 is the best version of Windows I've ever used (and I started on 3.1), it's no match for OS X.

For me it is the fact that the system seems to have multiple personality disorder. There is a unix system in there and a Mac system in there, the two are not well integrated. There were a number of times I would do something in bash and not be able to find it in finder. It has been a while since I used it but at the time smp support was quite poor. Running a build that would max out one processor of a dual processor box would cause the system become unusable, as it tried to load balance the one job between the processors. Sadly in my experience so far, Win7 has been more stable than OS X.

Re: Windows 7 SP1 is out

#87

Post by bep »

rbanffy wrote: post #84
elxx wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't tell whether this is a serious post or not, but as someone who uses both every day: > - Virtual invulnerability to malware - no need to buy and use crippling and intrusive anti-malware systems. > - Partly as a result of the above, it's noticeably faster. If you let Windows Update do its thing and recognize that downloading and launching freevideo.avi.exe and granting it admin access seems like a bad idea, the…

> I can't tell whether this is a serious post or not, I am only half-joking > If you let Windows Update do its thing I find the "don't turn off the computer just now, applying update 10 of 130" very annoying. I am glad I only see it in VMs these days > Backup and Restore. It's not as pretty nor well marketed Time Machine (and the time slider in Solaris) allow you to see and restore last week's version of any file wit…

> Time Machine (and the time slider in Solaris) allow you to see and restore last week's version of any file without you consciously having to back it up. Previous versions do it, but with less eye candy

Re: Windows 7 SP1 is out

#88

Post by sajidnizami »

elxx wrote: post #83
rbanffy wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- Virtual invulnerability to malware - no need to buy and use crippling and intrusive anti-malware systems. - Partly as a result of the above, it's noticeably faster. - Time Machine (albeit it would be much nicer if it were based on ZFS). - It comes bundled with pretty computers that have no blue LEDs (and most users, Windows and Mac alike, just stick to whatever came pre-installed). My last HP had 18 blue light sour…

I can't tell whether this is a serious post or not, but as someone who uses both every day: > - Virtual invulnerability to malware - no need to buy and use crippling and intrusive anti-malware systems. > - Partly as a result of the above, it's noticeably faster. If you let Windows Update do its thing and recognize that downloading and launching freevideo.avi.exe and granting it admin access seems like a bad idea, the…

Generally I despise comparisons as they tend to get overboard, however I agree with everything you've said.

I've only been on OSX for about four months but I can attest to one fact. OSX and Macbook hardware is so well integrated I get uptime of more than 30 days easy. Since I got my macbook, I've only restarted it handful of times. My work Macbook hasn't been restarted since it was bought a month ago too btw and I spend about 14 hours on it ever workday.

It is the type of performance I remember getting from Windows server OSes on very optimized hardware.

Anyway, Win7 is pretty rock solid. I never had problems with it and I've been using it since beta phase. Though I have to reboot the laptop after a day or two of working on it.

Re: Windows 7 SP1 is out

#89

Post by altano »

npalli wrote: post #21

Just installed SP1 on 64bit professional. Went smoothly in 20 mins. Freed up 7GB of diskspace on my SSD. Nice!

Humm. I just successfully installed SP1 and my winsxs folder is 9.8GB, ~1GB larger than before.

Did you have to do anything other than install SP1?

Re: Windows 7 SP1 is out

#90

Post by bonch »

jquery wrote: post #32
dotBen wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...and so how are they going to buy the next version of the operation system in a years time? I had this with Win XP - I prob used it for 8 years+. Vista was no reason to upgrade. Then I discovered OSX and made the switch over to Mac.

Same here. Then I discovered Windows 7 and switched back to PC.

That seems unusual. My experience with Windows 7 is that it's simply a repackaged Vista with an OS X dock.
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