Windows 7 RC Available for download now!

[overclicker]

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx

Just got the 32-bit version, getting 64-bit now. It is free to run/test until June 2010 if you have a spare drive/partition.
enjoy!

[petris]

It looks good, have to say ;) I installed it to over 4 years old AMD "minimum budget" pc and it runs nice. Need to skip Vista :rolleyes:

[deletedpenguin]

I'm running the Beta version, and want to get RC1 installed soon. Unfortunately in Australia our internet is shaped - it'd eat up 1/2 my montly internet limit. I'd miss you guys!

[dipps]

any more word on the "unfixable" bootup glitch?
http://gear.ign.com/articles/976/976242p1.html

i have w7 beta on a dual boot system (w/ xp) that's over 5 years old and it works great.

i also have vista on a separate system (dell xps 420) and it works great for me.

[Desertraptor]

Currently running Win7 RC1 with updates on oldish Seagate 40Gb, 4gb DDR2, nvidia 8600.
So far so good
Running CS4 64bit

[Old Finn]

I tried installing Win 7 RC on my new HP Vista 64 PC.. It got about three fourths finished, did one of it's many reboots and determined my machine wasn't compatible. Fortunately it automatically restored my system, apps and personal data files automatically. In some ways I guess I'm feeling better off as my Vista 64 machine has been fairly stable.

[Faolan]

any more word on the "unfixable" bootup glitch?
http://gear.ign.com/articles/976/976242p1.html

That 'news' isn't. Every OS can be comprimised in this manner, there's proof of concept of Mac OS X, Linux and also Unix and have been for as long as I can remember.

In any case if you have let a person have physical access to the machine you've got more important things to worry about ;)

[Zepher]

I've been playing with it via Microsoft Virtual PC 2007. (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=04D26402-3199-48A3-AFA2-2DC0B40A73B6&displaylang=en)

[Electrical]

using it in production for all my pic-editing for a week or two now. definitely better than XP and world apart from vista. got the 64 bit version, and am surprise how SUPER fast photoshop, lightroom etc are.

i only have 2gb or ddr3 ram in my IBM laptop (2.4ghz dualcore) but already ordered another 2gb for some panorama/largefile editing...

very happy so far, no crash and all hardware AND software was totally compatible with the new system.

additionally this here is coming from a hardcore unix/linux user who swore to never touch a MS product ever again. it seems as if they have me converted again. props to microsoft for that one...

[Electrical]

I've been playing with it via Microsoft Virtual PC 2007. (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=04D26402-3199-48A3-AFA2-2DC0B40A73B6&displaylang=en)


*shiver!*

get virtualbox, its free and 100 times faster... just my 2 cents.

[Zepher]

*shiver!*

get virtualbox, its free and 100 times faster... just my 2 cents.

I have that as well. I just started to use VM's a few days ago so this is all new to me.
The thing I haven't figured out is with VPC07, I have the option to move the mouse freely into and out of the virtual machine. With virtual box it locks it in there and I have to press R+CTRL to unlock the mouse from the window.
And it doesn't drag and drop like VPC.

I won't say it's 100 times faster, it actually seems to run XP SP3 the same, which is the only OS I have loaded into both programs at the moment.

[Electrical]

I have that as well. I just started to use VM's a few days ago so this is all new to me.
The thing I haven't figured out is with VPC07, I have the option to move the mouse freely into and out of the virtual machine. With virtual box it locks it in there and I have to press R+CTRL to unlock the mouse from the window.
And it doesn't drag and drop like VPC.

I won't say it's 100 times faster, it actually seems to run XP SP3 the same, which is the only OS I have loaded into both programs at the moment.
you need to install the guest addons, go to the menu of the started virtualbox and select "install guess addons"... follow from there.

then it WILL be 100 times faster and your mouse will be free as well :)

[Zepher]

you need to install the guest addons, go to the menu of the started virtualbox and select "install guess addons"... follow from there.

then it WILL be 100 times faster and your mouse will be free as well :)

Yep, that worked great and it is indeed faster.
thanks.

The main reason I am trying these virtual PC's is to see if I can get my Kodak 8500 Dye Sub to print from XP inside a virtual box since there are no Vista Drivers.
I am hoping that the USB port can be passed through the Virtual box to straight to the Kodak.
This way I can print when I need to without rebooting my PC and changing the boot drive.

[iamcanonman]

I got it downloaded but I haven't taken the time to install it yet. I'm planning on installing it in VirtualBox on my macbook.

[Menelaus]

Installed RC1 x64 on my photo editing box, and it's running just as well as Vista x64 did. There are a few changes that would make the upgrade totally worth it for me already.

[In2Photos]

Installed RC1 x64 on my photo editing box, and it's running just as well as Vista x64 did. There are a few changes that would make the upgrade totally worth it for me already.
Well, don't keep it a secret, what are those differences? ;)

[Menelaus]

I'm really liking the peek features of the taskbar (hover over open docs to bring them back into focus).

Beyond that, the one that seals the deal for me is the dynamic column width in "list" view. I use "list" view in every folder that doesn't contain pictures, and gaining about 50-75% more viewable files per window is a huge help.

[gcflora]

Another great feature (IMO) is to drag a window a screen edge and it will resize to fill half the screen. Drag it away from the edge and it reverts to its original size. I find this pretty useful when comparing things (i.e. having two 1/2 screen size windows next to each other or stacked). I find it useful even though I have two monitors...

[Menelaus]

I haven't even noticed this yet...does it fill the half that you drag it to?

[gcflora]

I haven't even noticed this yet...does it fill the half that you drag it to?
Yep, drag it to the left edge and it fills the left half; drag to the top it fills the top half; and so on...

[Menelaus]

this could be great for word documents, or even web pages. cool tip!

[The Moose]

I installed it a few days ago and I'm loving it. I installed it on my laptop which I use for school and home every day even though they always say do it on a test PC. It's stable for me and worth the upgrade over Vista.

[gcflora]

I made a mistake. If you drag a window to the left or right of the screen it will resize to fill half the screen (full vertical height and 1/2 screen width). Dragging the window to the top of the screen maximises it.

The Moose: I, too, have it installed as a primary OS. I don't have Vista -- hated it -- and all my computers until last week were either Linux or XP. But Windows 7 seems, to me, very promising and I'm now using it daily.

[The Moose]

The Moose: I, too, have it installed as a primary OS. I don't have Vista -- hated it -- and all my computers until last week were either Linux or XP. But Windows 7 seems, to me, very promising and I'm now using it daily.

I've had XP and Vista. On my first laptop a few years ago I had XP, then I had Vista. I actually liked both. I got used to Vista so much that I couldn't use XP on other computers. 7 isn't too different to Vista. It's different enough and I think that's the key for me. I won't be going back to Vista, I'll just keep the RC build and upgrade to the retail version when it comes out :)

[mdm]

I downloaded the 32-bit version and installed on my hp dv8000 laptop. It's fast and I like it. I haven't tried Vista but have to say W7 is faster than the XP I had on my laptop. I tried the 64-bit and had issues with the sound. I like the chess game that comes with it. Not bad. Comes with Windows Media Center. I'll try one of those usb tv tuners too. I'm going to install some programs this weekend and run them.

[Faolan]

Just a friendly heads up, don't get The RC from the torrents. There is a number of infected versions floating around. Get it from the source!

Just tested it on a 4-5 year old Athlon 2700+ with 1.5Gb of RAM and it ran pretty snappy not brilliantly fast but then again I wasn't expecting miracles.

[The Moose]

I nearly downloaded the RC from a torrent because the Microsoft website was down at the time. I decided not to and 20 minutes later, Microsoft was back up and it finished so quick.