Windows 7 free?

[smudi]

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/252181/windows-7-free-for-a-year.html

So it begins...

[mamamia88]

not final build. all that tells me is that windows 7 won't be released until after rc expires

[hardyn]

and you can bet that win7rc phones home every few minutes to see if win7 has been release yet; im sure it would shut down that minute.

[MellonCollie]

not final build. all that tells me is that windows 7 won't be released until after rc expires


I don't see why that would be the case. The Vista RCs expired months after Vista was released. Also, this (http://www.neowin.net/news/main/09/04/30/acer-says-that-windows-7-will-be-available-october-23rd) suggests that 7 will be out in October of this year.

[slimx3m]

hahaha,... microsoft is trying to release a better software. :D

[joey-elijah]

I don't see why that would be the case. The Vista RCs expired months after Vista was released. Also, this (http://www.neowin.net/news/main/09/04/30/acer-says-that-windows-7-will-be-available-october-23rd) suggests that 7 will be out in October of this year.

That's the same understanding i'm led to believe; the RC will be "free" for a year however Windows 7 proper will launch before the RC expires. Presumably with killer features that people will say "screw sticking with my free version, i wanna PAY $$ ££ "

[Mehall]

That's the same understanding i'm led to believe; the RC will be "free" for a year however Windows 7 proper will launch before the RC expires. Presumably with killer features that people will say "screw sticking with my free version, i wanna visit the pirate bay"


fixed

[joey-elijah]

fixed

Haha! Perhaps something like that, in all honestly Windows 7 is a very good release for a Windows product so i have to give them credit. of course people are looking at Windows 7 and fawning saying how great it is without asking themselves "shouldn't have these features and functionality have been there from the start?

It's a funny irony that people are calling this the best Windows release ever because it actually runs without crashing so much; without eating up resources like a panda in BambooWorld and actually letting hardware work... You'd think those were the "basics" tbh not the "killer features".

[skymera]

7 may run great while people test it.

But it's a known fact, Windows slows down over time.
So with everyones junk running at bootup after 6 months of heavy usage.

I smell Vista 2

[pwnst*r]

^^ of course you do. that's your nature.

[JK3mp]

7 may run great while people test it.

But it's a known fact, Windows slows down over time.
So with everyones junk running at bootup after 6 months of heavy usage.

I smell Vista 2

Very VERY true. Then again..not so much with XP but with VISTA it was just slow out of the box xD! Windows 7 is a performance improvment, but still and probably always will slack in comparison to Linux. But give them credit, there in the right direction anywho.

[Spiritous]

Not free.
M$ Are the people who hate open-source.
Myth.

[Giant Speck]

Not free.
M$ Are the people who hate open-source.
Myth.

Open source ≠ free

[Name change]

That's cool. I see no problem with it. And Win7 does look quite good OS actually.
I did try it. I won't say that it was quite slower than my Kubuntu 8.10 (at the time)
but still it was as enjoyable as WinXP.
Only thing I see lacking in Win7 is the menu usability, I find them confusing and desorientating.
And you know that comming from a KDE user that means they really are un-usable :D

[Saint Angeles]

would Win7 run on my computer?

Pentium 4 (Cedar Mill) @ 3.2 GHz
2GB DDR2 RAM
X1550 256MB ATI Graphics card
D-Link DWL-G520 Wireless Card

cuz if so, i might replace the XP partition on my computer with that. you wanna know why? my wireless ethernet card DOES NOT WORK in XP! HAH. the computer will freeze seconds after intstalling any version driver for it. I have to boot into safe mode, delete the driver, and disable the hardware if I want to use XP (which I never do).

I only keep the XP partition around for testing my sites in IE so this might be kind of cool (if it supports my wireless card)

[Giant Speck]

would Win7 run on my computer?

Pentium 4 (Cedar Mill) @ 3.2 GHz
2GB DDR2 RAM
X1550 256MB ATI Graphics card
D-Link DWL-G520 Wireless Card

cuz if so, i might replace the XP partition on my computer with that. you wanna know why? my wireless ethernet card DOES NOT WORK in XP! HAH. the computer will freeze seconds after intstalling any version driver for it. I have to boot into safe mode, delete the driver, and disable the hardware if I want to use XP (which I never do).

I only keep the XP partition around for testing my sites in IE so this might be kind of cool (if it supports my wireless card)

All I can say is that if you are interested, then try it. I'm not going to guarantee that anything will run well on your setup, whether it be Ubuntu, Winodws, OS X, or even buttered toast. For me to assume that anything will work just as well on your computer as it does on my computer would be stupid and ignorant.

[gjoellee]

I think you will be able to upgrade from Vista for free in a limited amount of time.

[Paqman]

I think you will be able to upgrade from Vista for free in a limited amount of time.

Pigs might fly. There will be an upgrade option, but there's no way it'll be free.

[forrestcupp]

I don't see why that would be the case. The Vista RCs expired months after Vista was released. Also, this (http://www.neowin.net/news/main/09/04/30/acer-says-that-windows-7-will-be-available-october-23rd) suggests that 7 will be out in October of this year.That's what I was thinking. Vista RC ran quite a while after Vista final was released. Even after the expiration date, all it did was reboot every 2 hours. 7 final will be released way before this expires.



But it's a known fact, Windows slows down over time.
So with everyones junk running at bootup after 6 months of heavy usage.That's not necessarily true. That's only if you don't know what you're doing and you install a lot of crap. I've had Windows installs that never slowed down.


I think you will be able to upgrade from Vista for free in a limited amount of time.Totally untrue. We can use the RC until June 2010. But after that, everyone will have to pay, even Vista users. Nobody gets it for free forever, except maybe some MSDN subscribers that get everything free. But then again, they pay a lot of money for those subscriptions.

[Giant Speck]

Totally untrue. We can use the RC until June 2010. But after that, everyone will have to pay, even Vista users. Nobody gets it for free forever, except maybe some MSDN subscribers that get everything free.

Considering an MSDN or TechNet subscription is upwards of $300 per year, it wouldn't truly be free.

[forrestcupp]

Considering an MSDN or TechNet subscription is upwards of $300 per year, it wouldn't truly be free.

You must have ninja'd me before I edited that last part in.

[HappinessNow]

Considering an MSDN or TechNet subscription is upwards of $300 per year, it wouldn't truly be free.

Just curious how much is the Canonical Tech support for Ubuntu?

[Giant Speck]

Just curious how much is the Canonical Tech support for Ubuntu?

For standard, 9AM-5PM desktop support, Canoncial charges $250 per year. For advanced, 24-hour desktop support, Canonical charges $900 per year.

[Kareeser]

Hm. RC valid for an entire year.

Do you realize that by the time the Windows 7 RC expires, we'd be running Ubuntu 10.04? We don't even have a name for that one, let alone any idea what kind of amazing features it'll contain.

... and Windows 7 will have just finished testing. Heh.

[mamamia88]

any reason you can't screw with the windows clock to make sure it never expires?

[crossfirevirus]

It expires in June. But it'll start shutting itself off every 2 hours, starting on March 1st.

https://partner.microsoft.com/US/40084742

Still get plenty of time though. :)

[gletob]

Ok I'm going to say a few things:

Stop bashing MSFT and Windows.

Whoever said that there would probobly be new features in the Final version: Uh no, Why do you think they have beta's and RC's?

To the Vista 2 person: I could tell that Vista was going to be that way because it was rushed and Microsoft went off course from what they originally planned.

Obviously there is a set date at which the RC license WILL expire and be that before the final is released or after it will expire at that time.

To the person who said vista was slow out of the box: Out of the OEM box maybe but a brand new install with no crapware of Vista was not that bad.

To the pigs will fly person: They did that with Vista if you don't remeber

"... and Windows 7 will have just finished testing. Heh."
NO the windows RC will have expired.

"any reason you can't screw with the windows clock to make sure it never expires?": You can and many will

"It expires in June. But it'll start shutting itself off every 2 hours, starting on March 1st.": True simply a warning to customers

Now could we please just stop the bashing. Get over it Microsoft is a company that release a product if you don't like it don't buy it.

I personally don't like the fact that Windows has a Majority market share but they worked hard to get there and if we want to get there we'll have to work hard too.

And to any trolls that feel like flaming me for defending Microsoft Sit down and shut up.

[Stupendoussteve]

7 may run great while people test it.

But it's a known fact, Windows slows down over time.
So with everyones junk running at bootup after 6 months of heavy usage.

I smell Vista 2

I would not call it Vista 2. However, it does (as of now) slow down with use and does get strangely buggy. In my case it began with refusing to turn off.

[rpwdh]

^^ of course you do. that's what it is.

fixed.

[SunnyRabbiera]

It wont truly be free, even if Win7 had a free downloadable version MS would go out of its way to restrict what it can do.
Imagine the Netbook version wants you to pay up for having more then 2 apps open at the same time, what would a so called "free" version would be like.
I can imagine a nightmare where simply right clicking on the desktop requires an extra $300.
If Win7 in its final form is subscription based then the tide will turn to our favor in no time.

[forrestcupp]

Imagine the Netbook version wants you to pay up for having more then 2 apps open at the same time, what would a so called "free" version would be like.

True, but I doubt if very many netbooks will actually come with that version.

[Giant Speck]

True, but I doubt if very many netbooks will actually come with that version.

I'm pretty sure most netbooks, or at least the ones that will be around when Windows 7 will be released to OEMs, will be powerful enough for Home Basic and Home Premium.

[Johnsie]

Netbooks are alot more powerful than alot of people think. Don't let the figure of 1.6ghz fool you. CPU frequency is no longer a good way of measuring the processing power of a CPU. Also, there are already some netbooks being sold with a significant amount of RAM and that is set to increase over the next year. It's not a matter of if Windows 7 will run on netbooks, it's a matter of when.

[Kareeser]

"... and Windows 7 will have just finished testing. Heh."
NO the windows RC will have expired.

Who said I was bashing? I was making a statement which you took and blew out of proportion.

RC expiring and wrapping up of public testing are in essence the exact same thing, so my statement is correct.

[geoken]

RC expiring and wrapping up of public testing are in essence the exact same thing, so my statement is correct.

No they aren't. Public testing is complete when the gold copy is stamped. At that point it doesn't qualify as beta testing anymore because all bug reports are invalid.

[forrestcupp]

RC expiring and wrapping up of public testing are in essence the exact same thing, so my statement is correct.

After the final is released for sale 6-8 months before the RC expires, they're basically just being nice to the RC users. It's a grace period to give the RC users some time to make their purchases before it just craps out on them. It's not still considered the RC testing period.

[joey-elijah]

It expires in June. But it'll start shutting itself off every 2 hours, starting on March 1st.

https://partner.microsoft.com/US/40084742

Still get plenty of time though. :)

That's the beta, the RC will be active for 13 months starting May 5th 2009. All hints and "oops i didn't meant o let that slip" points to October being Windows 7's release date, however Microsoft will not confirm this publicly until nearer the time because people would have no incentive to buy Vista or a PC with Vista preinstalled when you will get a new OS/Free upgrade to Windows 7 during the month leading up to Window 7's release.

Also to the guy accusing most of the thread respondents as Microsoft bashers, whislt i'm sure many here dislike microsoft credit where cridit is due - this is the best version of Windows... which isn't saying a lot when it's "hailed" as the best because of how stable/good it works/doesn't crash/hardware works - those things should have been there since the start.

[joey-elijah]

would Win7 run on my computer?

Pentium 4 (Cedar Mill) @ 3.2 GHz
2GB DDR2 RAM
X1550 256MB ATI Graphics card
D-Link DWL-G520 Wireless Card

cuz if so, i might replace the XP partition on my computer with that. you wanna know why? my wireless ethernet card DOES NOT WORK in XP! HAH. the computer will freeze seconds after intstalling any version driver for it. I have to boot into safe mode, delete the driver, and disable the hardware if I want to use XP (which I never do).

I only keep the XP partition around for testing my sites in IE so this might be kind of cool (if it supports my wireless card)

Google is your friend, y'know!

The official system requirements of Windows 7 area 1GHZ processor or better, 1GB RAM or better, a Direct X 9 or better video card/graphics chip and 16-20GB free HDD space.

So to answer your question - yet it wil run flawlessly on your rig. It even runs very happily on an atom chip!