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I'm going to check on a managed client's SA page on eOpen.

OMG.. as hackneyed as it may sound, I'm excited!

Nope.  Not on eOpen.

Not up on MSDN either..

I'm excited!!

Didn't know if you knew this already, Paul, but Microsoft used a quote of yours on the OEM System Builder website:

"...I think Microsoft is going to surprise people."

—Paul Thurrott

Paul Thurrott’s Supersite for Windows

(....right below this one:)

"I'm actually having fun using Seven,

something I haven't said about a Microsoft operating system since Windows 95."

—Joe Wilcox

Microsoft Watch

LOL!

They have an interesting write-up on the OEM System Builder site about SKU differentiation:

"We are pleased to announce the final Windows 7 SKU plan. Our SKU line-up is based on listening carefully to feedback from you—our partners and your customers. These are the main points you made, along with the ways we are addressing your feedback in Windows 7:

1.  Customers wanted clarity on which version of Windows is the right version for them.

For clarity, Windows 7 will be offered primarily in 2 editions: Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional.

2.  Customers wanted upgrading to a different SKU to be easier.

For easy upgrading, in Windows 7 we are using a single image for all SKUs. This means the bits for all the editions are already on your computer if you are running Windows 7. With Windows Anytime Upgrade, users can unlock and upgrade to a different SKU much easier than before.

Customers did not like losing features when upgrading to a different SKU.

3.  In Windows 7, each SKU is a superset of the previous SKU. No features are lost on upgrade.

4.  One size does not fit all—particularly with a billion users and thousands of partners around the world.

We are addressing the specialized needs for customers in specific markets with Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic, and Windows 7 Ultimate. "

All of this has been said before, but they clarify it for partner system builders.  This is pretty straight-forward here, and they should use a lot of the same wording for the more public-facing pages (such as the public FAQ page on Windows.com).

Can't see the download, neither on MSDN or TechNet. But as soon as it appears it's getting downloaded :)

Thanks for the tip! ;)

WTF?!?

Why is there a "Windows 3.2" listed on the TechNet+ download page?

@Waethorn - why wouldn't it be listed? First time noticing it? :D  What I'm wondering it.. why isn't Win95/98SE listed? Cos of Sun Java vs MS Java things in the past??

And about SKUs.. this sure is true, though some people just won't accept it: "One size does not fit all—particularly with a billion users and thousands of partners around the world."

Oh, and I soooo hate them for making Ultimate "above" Enterprise (in a way..):

"Note: Windows 7 Ultimate includes all Windows 7 Enterprise features, plus multiple-language packs"

Even though we generaly use english-only software, but it's just a matter of principle..

@luxzg:

If you have SA, TechNet+ or MSDN, you can get language packs for Enterprise.

Nobody seems to know if 7 Ultimate will include the 4 extra VM licenses that Enterprise does though.  I'm guessing not, since Ultimate will ship via OEM's.

Oh, and no, I never noticed the "Windows 3.2" before, but I don't have a TechNet+ subscription either so I've never been to this site.  I don't need TechNet+ because I have an Action Pack subscription, which is a better deal.

Shouldn't the release date for Windows 7 be 7/7?

@Wae - well, my company got into partner program, and i can tell you - this is better deal than any other :D I throughly recommend it if you make & sell software, or something similar.. Yearly costs are about less than just OVS for 15 Win+Office licences :)

Anyway, I'm looking at both MSDN and TechNet+ every 30 minutes or so, and still nothing :( I guess better luck in the morning.. At least they haven't pulled down the page that Paul cited, so it's not an "early slip" - I hope :)

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@Lux:

Do you mean you recommend the Action Pack?

So do I.  It's a good value.  I just wish they would switch to electronic distribution instead of making people wait every quarter for DVD kits.  Did you get the survey about that?  I hope they come to their senses and offer it that way soon.  Also, I wish they offered MDOP to Action Pack subscribers.

BTW:  eOpen customers aren't getting MDOP 2009 yet.  It's only for MVLS (enterprise agreements) and MSDN subs, and I think that sucks large.

Yo Wae, can we use IE 8 with GE Centricity as the browser for viewing PACS outside the hospital? Also, my extreme geek partner claims that IE 7 with Vista 64 bit would not work. Is he FOS?

Thanks,

Doc

PS

MS quoted Paul with an email announcement of IE 8.

DRWAM, IE7 has two versions in vista 64-bit.

There is a 32-bit executable

c:\program files(x86)\Internet explorer\iexplore.exe

AND a 64-bit executable

c:\program files\internet explorer\iexplore.exe

Now, they both work fine, however, some add-ons are only available in 32-bit still, so if you're haivng trouble with the 64-bit IE, you CAN still run the 32-bit version even in the 64-bit Vista.

the 32-bit version of IE7 is exactly the same as the one in Vista 32-bit, so I can't imagine how there could be compatability issues.

Thanks Gorath. GE must not have updated the ActiveX control for 64 bit. They are very slow with updates for current systems. That what he told me was happening. It's a shame since many new systems are shipping with 64 bit Vista. GE is really going to need to update this, but they seem to be laying off an awful lot of personnel.

@wae do you need a towel, maybe a cigaret?

"It's a shame since many new systems are shipping with 64 bit Vista. GE is really going to need to update this, but they seem to be laying off an awful lot of personnel."

DRWAM 64bit Vista has greatly increased in the consumer arena, almost like HP especially is pushing it.  That said I am sure GE does not really care to much about consumer PC compatibility.  I am in IT, with lots of friends in IT as well, and Vista period is not being adopted by corporations and in the very few places it is, its probably not the 64bit version.  

Announcements of Windows 7 RC is not going to help Vista get deployed either.  Then again MS needs to move as fast as they can to erase the Vista stigma.  I would not be surprised if 7 came out in June.

Yep Slim, it would cost us between 1 and 2 MIL to upgrade the most needed software to Vista, and more for the extra apps. I'm actually just talkin' about the transcription software. The trouble with GE is that they are way behind. IE 7 has been out for XP for a long time and it was awhile before the PACS browser ActiveX control was compatible. Still, I decided to run Vista 32 on my Mac Pro Tower to use it. Everything else works with Leopard  [we use PPTP VPN which is now built into Leopard].

DRWAM, you could always replace the shortcuts in Vista x64, so that they launch the 32-bit version of the IE7 if you do get a new machine, and it's a problem.

BTW, Mum, keeping old e-mails that are relevant to your job or for other purposes that you may need to revisit is certainly not crazy.  Keeping e-mails and bothering searching through said archive with a tech journalist?  Maybe a little crazy, I was just asking a rhetorical question.

@Doc:  No, and yes, in that order.  gorath is right.

"Announcements of Windows 7 RC is not going to help Vista get deployed either."

Corporations will do what fits their business best.  Some companies ARE looking at Vista, because it's stable and mature now with SP1.  Windows 7 is just a pipe-dream now for most companies.  Companies that are hesitant about Vista won't just shift to 7 on a whim because it's not quantifiable at this point in time.

There will be compatibility problems with Windows 7 when it's released, have no doubt.  Companies that have invested with Windows Vista compatibility testing will see that their labours will turn fruitful when they find that adapting to Windows 7 will be easier than just jumping in from XP.  Companies that think that jumping from XP to 7 while skipping Vista will be easy need a reality check.  7 is descended from Vista, so if compatibility is an issue in Vista, it will be in 7 also.  The reverse is mostly true, but companies still need to confirm it for themselves.

@gorath:

By default, the 32-bit version of IE7 is the primary version.  The 64-bit version isn't set as the default browser on standard installs of Windows Vista, and I believe I read somewhere that OEM's are required to leave the 32-bit version as the default too.  They can only change IE to a completely different browser.

So Doc, if it works in 32-bit versions of Windows Vista, it should also work just fine in 64-bit versions, but you *might* have to use the 32-bit version of IE, unless the ActiveX control is poorly written and contains 16-bit VB code (that would be completely retarded for the developer to do).

As someone who upgraded as soon as Vista came out, I am thinking there will be little to no compatibility problems when 7 comes out. As a consumer, I had no compatibility problems when vista came out. (I just had error messages telling me my programs weren't running correctly when they actually were.)

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"Corporations will do what fits their business best.  Some companies ARE looking at Vista, because it's stable and mature now with SP1.  Windows 7 is just a pipe-dream now for most companies.  Companies that are hesitant about Vista won't just shift to 7 on a whim because it's not quantifiable at this point in time."

I beg to differ.  Vista and 7 are 90% the same, maybe more.  Even Paul posted comment from Microsoft, as in if it did not run under Vista it wont run under 7.  My point being from a overall compatibility and deployment point of view they are the same, Vista and 7.  I think 7 will run better on slightly less hardware but a dual core with 2gigs of RAM will be the sweet spot for 7.  You will deploy 7 using WDS for the most part which is no different than Vista.  They use the same drivers from what I read, so there wont be the, wait for vendors to get drivers out for 98% of the stuff out there, unlike when Vista first came out.

I just cant imagine any company that is on XP today choosing Vista over 7 (after 7 is out) when they finally decide to migrate off of XP.  I know that my company finally stopped talking about "When to go to Vista" when solid news of 7 came out.  It was like everyone involved came to the same conclusion, lets wait.

"Companies that think that jumping from XP to 7 while skipping Vista will be easy need a reality check"  

I see no difference from jumping from XP to Vista vs XP to 7.  The same amount of testing of applications will need to take place.  Same amount of training of users.  Anyone that has a clue wont upgrade over the top to Vista or 7, it will be clean installs.  

In the corporate world, they will test against the apps the company runs.  Once certified they will create their builds.  There will be a new "hardware min", training for support staff and users.....and then they will at some point flat out stop XP deployments.  All new PC's will get 7 or any XP machine needing a rebuild that meets the hardware requirements will get 7.  So over a period of a 3 years they will roll it out.  They may be circumstances where whole departments go at one time.

I see it like this.  XP is good enough, but its now in extended support so the vast majority of corporations that have not moved are now making plans for 7.  When Vista first came out it needed much more hardware than XP, which stopped many companies right there.  Well that was 2+ years ago and I am sure with normal hardware rotation that the standard desktop that was a single core with 512megs of RAM is now a dual core with 2gigs of RAM and probably 50% of any corporations machines are sitting on that hardware now.  Finally 7 has gone out of its way to improve the performance where ever possible, so for a user going to a new PC with 7 in 2010, it wont be like the performance hit Vista was in 2007.  I am hoping that 7 will run good enough on 1gig for VDI reasons.

Its all about the timing.  XP is dying, Vista is fixed now (7), powerful hardware is in place or much cheaper to get.

This clearly shows Paul's prediction that Windows 7 would ship in April to be clearly wrong.

A uttered by @waethorn "If you don't believe that, then the terrorists win!"

Dumbest thing said on this blog all year. Congratulations @waethorn.

"This clearly shows Paul's prediction that Windows 7 would ship in April to be clearly wrong."

You are one pesky little kid, aren't you? What kind of school do you go to?

@master3: "And what's with Apple fans coming here to tell Windows users how much they think the products they use suck?"

Yet this blog has a large portion of anti-Apple content (at least 30%) and you want people to not comment on that? Please. The biggest joke is the name of the blog. Superwite for anti-Apple, more like it. Someone needs to point this and so many other erroneous FUD you guys spew and eat up.

"This clearly shows Paul's prediction that Windows 7 would ship in April to be clearly wrong."

http://wrongtomorrow.com/  says Paul's prediction is June.

"Keeping e-mails and bothering searching through said archive with a tech journalist?  Maybe a little crazy, I was just asking a rhetorical question."

Keeping an email by a known tech writer and quoting it when it's relevant to the discussion, well, no it's not. God knows the said writer won't hesitate to go decades back to dig up a piece of trivia to make people look crazy (which you think is crazy in itself), or to quote himself when he was the first to say something.

Whatever, a completely valid point by jp was lost when you started the name calling.

Sorry, it was april.

@Waethorn - good morning :)

Yes, I do recommned Action Pack (among others), but if you are into software developing & sales, check out prerequisites for becoming Microsoft Certified Partner. It is an even better deal! This is what my company got (on my incentive, should I say), and we're very glad we did so. MSDN and TechNet subscriptions are included in the deal, as well as a LOT of Microsoft software licences (both client and server side).

Cheers!

P.S. RC is still not on MSDN or TechNet.. Paul? Do you have any further news?

Never mind, they HAVE pulled the earlier page as it seems :(

Thanks all. I like the idea of the shortcut. I can instruct everyone to create a IE 7 32 bit shortcut to the PACS link, or have the IT guys do it. Believe it or not, I was the one who sent out the instructions for setting up the VPN on Vista before IT.

It's an interesting discussion about businesses upgrading to Vista vs 7. Many of us have numerous Vista licenses that we did not use after downgrading new computers XP [because of a critical expensive non-compatible app]. It will be interesting to see if they use them or skip to 7.

New Imac owners see Radeon 4850-related lock up issues.

forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php

Uh oh! looks like macs suck!

But in reality, can you get anything better than a 4850? That is a low end card. There goes your 2000 dollars.

Actually Hamilton, my buddy bought a $3,800 custom PC and could not get Vista to correctly configure a two monitor setup. I guess it can happen to every OS, eh? He eventually purchased NEC monitors and a new vid card, spending another $1,000. Then all worked fine, until the motherboard died. The ASUS replacement kept going BSOD, so he replaced it, then Vista 64 would not install. He then bought a $3,200 Dell. How much does that add up? Good luck with DELL, if you read the latest Forrestor report card.

Darn, I forgot to mention that the CPU was that overclocked 2.93 GHz Core 2 Duo, which I am wondering was the problem. He even replaced the 4 GB RAM. He should have bought a Mac Pro Tower like me and dual boot Vista. My 3GHz quad will be 3 yrs old in October and hasn't had a single problem.

Ya I was seeing what it felt like to stoop to a low level. It didn't work out that great.

"Whatever, a completely valid point by jp was lost when you started the name calling."

Or rather, a completely valid point was lost in all the name calling by jp. Paul is probably right when he says that the number of Windows zealots is statistically zero. jp probably doesn't know enough statistics to figure out that Paul didn't say there weren't any Windows zealots.

I'm sure not all Mac users are fanatical, but my guess is: a statistically significant minority of Mac users(maybe even majority) is fanatical.  The average Mac user, in my opinion, is more emotionally attached to one's computer than an average PC user. I think customer satisfaction surveys involving PCs and Macs are bogus because there is a huge bias among Mac users that's not taken into account. This also explains the reaction among the Mac community to Microsoft's ads. And no, I don't believe there's a conspiracy going on here, as lotsa suggests.  

Actually, I bought a refurb Pro Tower and Apple sent the cheap vid card, which is a different sku. They replaced it overnight, but i wonder how many people would have known how to check. I may not be reasonable with my brief anger, but it was not easy to install,l due to it's length. I wonder if these mistakes occur in any frequency and with other companies. Another story is that the Apple geniuses told another buddy that his$4,5oo Pro Tower came with a wireless card. The option was not included, but gave a busy doctor a big headache trying to setup a wireless connection without a card. The Geniuses claimed "that all 'Pro's had one", when they do not, obviously. Heck, even I knew that it was an option. Real genius!

Most of the Mac users that I know don't seem to give a crap about their computers, but probably bought because of the halo effect as they own iPods, and/or have kids that DL malware from P-2P networks. But this is anecdotal and most use both Win and Mac, so we may not really qualify as a true Mac user. I almost do, but like using Windows also. My first computer was a Mac and I'm used to the OS, but as Ken and others have been psoting, the line of distinction for the two OS'es is blurring. especially for the average user. Win 7 should be a big hit if stable and secure, and less switchers may result. I'm just really glad I read here as I may have never install Vista or setup Exchange [I could have just use the browser]. You guys were right, the software does some 'good stuff'.

@Waethorn - "Corporations will do what fits their business best."

So, now you agree with Lindy and I? I believe that is what we were saying last week when you and mikegalos insisted that we were letting our IT environments sit and rot for a few years(or some such BS).

--tayme

@REAL - "In the corporate world, they will test against the apps the company runs.  Once certified they will create their builds.  There will be a new "hardware min", training for support staff and users.....and then they will at some point flat out stop XP deployments.  All new PC's will get 7 or any XP machine needing a rebuild that meets the hardware requirements will get 7.  So over a period of a 3 years they will roll it out.  They may be circumstances where whole departments go at one time."

EXACTLY...mikegalos and Waethorn, if consistent, will disagree with you on this point.

--tayme

Windows 7 may or may not be the panacea for all that ails corporate upgrade needs, but I do believe that it will boost netbook sales substantially. More function than Linux is worth the small price.

I keep posting [on a Mac G4 tower from 1999] cause I'm lifting weights and don't have much to do in between sets.

@DRWAM - People like you and I are the minority...we see the value in both Windows and OS X. Paul's sites have become the haven to the zealots on both sides of the perceived "OS war". I think that Paul likes it that way...it gets him lots of clicks. Meanwhile, those of us that do see value in multiple OSes continue to be much more productive in both our professional and personal lives.

BTW, Doc...I am down 15 lbs and up to running a 10 minute mile. Going out for a bike ride soon!!! Cheers!!!

--tayme

Keep up the good work tayme! Remember that small gains add up to big ones, and are more easily achievable, but it sounds like you have the job done.

Doc

Slim,

One of Steven Sinofsky's personal testing units for Windows 7 is EeePC running an Atom processor at 1.6 Ghz and 1 GB of memory.

Ed Bott tested Windows 7 in a virutal machine with only 512 MB of memory with the x64 version. You can read the results for yourself down here.

blogs.zdnet.com/Bott

My brother who works for a vendor doing tech work for the City of Dallas is currently testing Windows 7 Beta on an XP era Dell Optiplex mid tower around 2003-2004. Pentium 4 processor with 1 GB of memory. In our tests, Windows 7 ran just fine with 1 GB of ram on 5 to 6 year old hardware.

I don't think anyone with 1 GB of ram will have issues with Windows 7 either corporately or in the consumer arena. I do agree with you that the 2 GB is the sweet spot for 7.

WinJihadist fantasty:

"Uh oh! looks like macs suck! "

Actual reality:

"Market research firm Forrester on Friday released a report measuring customers' overall satisfaction with computer manufacturers. Apple not only topped the list, it blew away the competition.

"Apple's overall customer satisfaction rating was at 80 percent, 14 points above the closest competitor, Gateway, who came in at 66 percent. HP and Compaq were pretty close with a 64 percent and 63 percent customer satisfaction rating, respectively.

"Dell brought up the rear with a satisfaction rating of 58 percent."

www.macworld.com/.../satisfaction.html

@tayme: "@DRWAM - People like you and I are the minority...we see the value in both Windows and OS X."

No offense, but I don't think anyone is as unbiased as they'd like to believe they are. Most people here (except for a few like robertsjoe) see value in both Windows and OS X. The fact that I prefer PCs does not mean I don't like Macs. Everyone has biases and preferences about the kind of products they buy. You might like to buy a particular brand of toothpaste because you like the ads or maybe the packaging or even the taste. Of course, I doubt that anyone, but robertsjoe gets into fights with people about the choice of items like toothpastes and toothbrushes. I think a lot of people have an emotional attachment with Apple - the kind that they have with their religion. Being a smaller community, they see the need to protect themselves from the larger Windows community and maintain their identity. This has resulted in an increase in the number of fanatics on the Windows side. (This is similar to the rise in Hindu nationalism in India following Islamic attacks on Indian cities.)

I see what you mean Shark, I really dislike alcohol-free mouthwash ;)

Everyone has biases, but some of you people really go over the edge, and these may just be the ones that answer surveys to protect their belief, or vent frustration. It makes you wonder if the mixed is balanced or not, but I agree that it's probably closer to 'not'. As I have posted before, I am not loyal to any computer company, but expect them to be loyal to me. When I find one, I'll let you know;)

Doc

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