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ForumsI recently received an email from a company called M80 that is working with Microsoft to help promote Windows 7. The email said:
“They’ve [Microsoft] created a new site to support Windows 7 and are offering IT professionals a candid look into the product decisions they’ve made, as well as genuine insight from the engineers themselves. The site will serve as an entirely new forum for Microsoft to interact with the community and actively join the conversation surrounding Windows 7. They’re looking to hear any opinions, answer any questions, and get some real insight from their users on how to make Windows 7 as good as possible. “
At the moment, the website is mostly being used as an advertising tool for Windows 7 where IT Professionals and Microsoft developers talk about how great Windows 7 is. Personally, I am not interested in seeing the commercials but what I am interested in is giving Technicians like ourselves who have seen the worst of Windows, the ability to give the Microsoft developers some feedback on Windows 7 and help make it a better product.
There are a handful of videos on the site you can watch and once you select the “Watch Video” link of a certain person, you are able to post a comment directly to that person. I have been looking at the past comments are they are responding to them.
The people you would want to listen to and leave feedback for are:
Gabriel Aui – Microsoft, Director of Program Management
Sharif Farag – Microsoft, Senior Lead Program Manager
Jon Deveau – Microsoft, Senior VP Core Operating System
Mark Russinovich – Microsoft, Technical Fellow.
So, if you have tried Windows 7 (and if you haven’t, you can download the release candidate from here), watch their videos and leave some feedback. The whole intention of this site and the reason why I was contacted is for them to “hear any opinions, answer any questions, and get some real insight from their users on how to make Windows 7 as good as possible.”. So lets give them just that.
Of course, post intelligently and respectfully as if they were paying you to professionally consult for them.
The sites URL is: http://www.TalkingAboutWindows.com
The site requires the Microsoft Silverlight plugin to run (Microsoft’s equivalent to Flash)
Just visited this site. Some of it is really pretty insulting. Microsoft’s PR machine still needs a lot of work.
I was confused/dissappointed/etc especially after viewing their ‘teaser vids’:
http://talkingaboutwindows.com/teaser.aspx
I have been getting calls from customers wanting to know if they have to pay for Windows 7. When I query about why they are asking, I usually find that the end-user believes that Windows 7 is the “fix” for all the things that never worked right in Vista. You just should not have to pay for the fix when you expected the original to work correctly when you bought it.
If Windows 7 costs more than $80, it may be a tough sell outside of OEM’s.
@sys-eng
I’m sure just like Vista Starter or Home Basic, the lowest-end version of Windows 7 will cost like $100+. I didn’t mind XP Home or XP Pro, 2 editions is fine, but Vista’s 6 is asinine. Let’s home Windows 7 doesn’t follow the same pattern. I think people (end users and IT people alike) are getting REALLY sick of M$’s B.S.
Personally, I run Linux. It’s free, as is the software, and I get the full version of it. I encourage everyone to switch as there is nothing that you *NEED* Windows for that can’t be done faster, cheaper and better in Linux.
I’m afraid to like Windows 7 RC too much, since it’s based on their Ultimate version right ($$$$$)!?
Please stop this crap about how immorale MS is and how they shouldn’t be allowed to make money etc. Linux is free and is therefore great. (until it crashes that is)
My issue with this website is that in my opinion it’s a bit of a front. In order to make up the millions of DVDs for Win7 and get it out there by October 09 they really have to finalise the code any day soon.
So even if you were to give them a great idea, would they even have the time to get it in there?
My best idea for Windows 7 – make the 64bit version fully 32bit app compatible. Even if you need to use a virtual box. Because of lazy programmers, most people would see benefits with several GB of ram. the 32bit = 4GB limit is actually a limit these days.
Woah, Queue the music from the X-Files. I love the site personally. Great information and thoughtful contributions from members.
I’ll wait and see what happens. I still run XP as do most of my clients and I don’t see that changing until the new OS develops a track record. Many of my clients are limited in terms of new OS adoption by third party software that simply won’t run on Vista or Windows 7. The vendors/developers of these products are not even trying to port them for Vista at this time and I doubt they will for 7 until it is proven stable and functional.
@Jason
“Please stop this crap about how immorale MS is and how they shouldn’t be allowed to make money etc.”
Yes, it’s perfectly moral to sell the buggy P.O.S. know as Vista and then fix it, but you must pay the price for that. That’s moral? M$ has made more than enough money that they could easily afford to give Windows 7 away. They actually LOST money in a quarter for the first time in 23 years. Don’t tell me they can’t afford it.
“Linux is free and is therefore great. (until it crashes that is)”
If and when it does crash, you simply pull out the DVD you made of your system and restore everything back the way it was. Takes about 25 minutes. If the PC itself tanked, just restore to a different PC. Try that with Windows. I never said Linux didn’t crash or is perfect, but it certainly gives the user far more control of their PC than Windows ever has, does, or most likely ever will.
“My best idea for Windows 7 – make the 64bit version fully 32bit app compatible.”
Windows 7 is the last version of Windows that will be available in both a 32 and a 64 bit version. Everything after that is going to be 64 bit only. I’m not certain if there will be a 32 bit version of Server 2008 or not.
“Even if you need to use a virtual box. Because of lazy programmers, most people would see benefits with several GB of ram. the 32bit = 4GB limit is actually a limit these days.”
If you do use a VM it takes twice the amount of RAM to run the OS as a VM. Also, running it as a VM does not allow it to directly interface with the hardware in the same way it would if it was installed on the real machine itself rather than as a VM.
I will use XP for as long as I possibly can, and by then I feel Linux will be viable enough for me to switch over. Microsoft’s days are numbered, their business model is obsolete and Windows 7 will be their last shot at glory. Interesting times lie ahead.
@InterNet Age
Linux is already viable. Just get beyond the learning curve and you’ll be fine.