Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Windows IT Technology

Michael Dell Says Windows 7 Will Make You Love PCs 627

ruphus13 writes "In a recent talk at the Churchill Club, Michael Dell addressed several topics, including the fact that Windows 7 is poised to take advantage of the upgrade cycle. Dell has always been a strong MS OEM ally and it is now hoping to cash in again from the impending upgrades. From the post: 'Dell made plain several times that he sees the installed base of technology as very old, and sees a coming "refresh cycle" for which he has high hopes. "The latest generation of chips from Intel is strong, particularly Nehalem," he said, adding, "and Windows 7 is on its way." (The operating system arrives Oct. 22nd, although Microsoft's large-volume licensees are already getting it.) He pointed out that many business are running Windows XP, which is eight years old. "I've been using Windows 7 for a long time now," he said, "and if you get the latest processor technology and Office 2010 with it, you will love your PC again. It's a dramatic improvement."'"
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Michael Dell Says Windows 7 Will Make You Love PCs

Comments Filter:
  • Hmm... (Score:5, Funny)

    by memphis.barbecue ( 1402253 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @06:59AM (#29755379)
    I can't put my finger on it, but loving my PC seems narcissistic somehow.
    • Yeah, right. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:02AM (#29755393)

      It is a well know fact that Michael Dell uses Ubuntu exclusively at home, and only trots out the pro-Windows stance when paid to by Microsoft, so none of this should be taken seriously. Not that anyone sensible would take anyone saying 'Windows is good!' seriously.

      • Re:Yeah, right. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by postbigbang ( 761081 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:15AM (#29755491)

        As various searches reveal that in 2007 he was using Ubuntu, the "long time now" must mean gosh, what, using Windows 7 a couple of years? Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "early release".

        Seem disingenuous.

        Dell needs a good quarter, folks. Those nasty guys on Wall Street will be all over them if they don't squeeze out a good quarter to make Dell look good against Acer. Or not.

        And computer companies wonder why their credibility is so dubious.

        • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

          Dell needs a good quarter, folks. Those nasty guys on Wall Street will be all over them if they don't squeeze out a good quarter to make Dell look good against Acer.

          I've got of few of those neat Bicentennial quarters they made thirty years back. Would one of those do?

        • Re:Yeah, right. (Score:5, Insightful)

          by noundi ( 1044080 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:38AM (#29755659)

          As various searches reveal that in 2007 he was using Ubuntu, the "long time now" must mean gosh, what, using Windows 7 a couple of years? Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "early release".

          Seem disingenuous.

          Dell needs a good quarter, folks. Those nasty guys on Wall Street will be all over them if they don't squeeze out a good quarter to make Dell look good against Acer. Or not.

          And computer companies wonder why their credibility is so dubious.

          Either way what Michael Dell says as the CEO of Dell doesn't reflect his personal opinion, just like any other CEO, or anybody working within management, your professional opinion can be in complete contrast to your personal opinion. What he's proposing (that everybody upgrade to Win7, and hopefully with that also buy new shiny Dell PCs) is something that will benefit his business, and he would be the worlds shittiest CEO if he didn't. So basically this means nothing other than the fact that Dell also wishes to make profit on Windows 7.
          Also something noteworthy is that the life situation of Michael Dell, as a multibillionare, is very different from the vast majority; thus whatever Michael Dell chooses will most likely not reflect what's best for you as an average income consumer.
          Even though the ape in us wants to try to mimic the decisions of the successful, it can sometimes be difficult to understand why mimicing isolated decisions is more likely to do you harm than good.

          • Re:Yeah, right. (Score:5, Insightful)

            by Moryath ( 553296 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @08:55AM (#29756601)

            Or some marketing droid wrote that statement for him. I remember similar crap mouthed by various computer company CEO's about Vista.

            Windows 7 is, fundamentally, just Vista SP2. There's a little less in the way of "you need to confirm access to continue" screen nagware, and the hardware requirements are about the same as Vista. The only reason it's not getting panned as a resource hog is that Vista only ran well on almost "bleeding edge" hardware, and 2.5 years later that's "hey it runs well on a couple year old sytem."

            • by TheRealMindChild ( 743925 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @09:53AM (#29757463) Homepage Journal
              If Windows 7 is just Windows Vista SP2, then what is Windows Vista SP2 [microsoft.com]?
            • Re:Yeah, right. (Score:4, Insightful)

              by Aggrajag ( 716041 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @10:04AM (#29757629)
              The main difference between Vista and Windows 7 is that Windows 7 runs great on older systems, even better than XP.

              I have a friend who is handicapped and partially paralyzed and to her usability is the key when using computers. Also she doesn't have that much money as she cannot work. Windows 7 gave her 6 year old PC running a Northwood Pentium IV a new lease on life, all the hardware properly detected.
              • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

                by cyphercell ( 843398 )

                That was Vista's worst crime as far as I'm concerned. Listing system requirements when in reality what was needed was the "Certified for Windows Vista" sticker instead of the infamous "Vista Capable" sticker. But, you couldn't just tell people to look for the sticker, because they're just going to look for a sticker that says "Vista". And you really couldn't tell people to go by the system requirements for an upgrade either (I did and the system is a dog). Point blank, there is absolutely no reason to put V

            • Re:Yeah, right. (Score:4, Interesting)

              by Starayo ( 989319 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @10:09AM (#29757681) Homepage

              The only reason it's not getting panned as a resource hog is that Vista only ran well on almost "bleeding edge" hardware, and 2.5 years later that's "hey it runs well on a couple year old sytem."

              Runs smoothly (with aero etc off of course) on my 7-year-old barebones computer I never got around to throwing away, and on my gaming PC it runs just as fast as linux did. Well, it feels as fast, anyway.

              I rather like it, myself. It's got the very few features I liked about vista (sound mixer! :D) and some of the UI improvements are pretty nifty! But then again I'm a gamer so I need a windows-based PC, so I suppose I'd be a bit biased.

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by node 3 ( 115640 )

            Either way what Michael Dell says as the CEO of Dell doesn't reflect his personal opinion, just like any other CEO, or anybody working within management, your professional opinion can be in complete contrast to your personal opinion.

            But when someone's "professional" opinion doesn't match their personal opinion, neither opinion is worth shit.

            If he's trying to tell us how good Windows 7 is, when he won't even run it himself, that takes *all* of the legitimacy out of his statement.

            Also something noteworthy is that the life situation of Michael Dell, as a multibillionare, is very different from the vast majority; thus whatever Michael Dell chooses will most likely not reflect what's best for you as an average income consumer.

            There are "rich people" cars and "rich people" vacation packages and "rich people" clothes, etc., but there isn't a "rich people" OS.

            There aren't even "rich people" computers. There are high end PCs and Mac Pros, but these are just expensive variants of their ch

        • Re:Yeah, right. (Score:4, Interesting)

          by Lumpy ( 12016 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @08:34AM (#29756329) Homepage

          Then they need to stop making crap and go back to quality. High priced Studio laptops are built like low grade toys, the keyboards squeak and a host of other problems of flimsy... how about the screen hinge screws backing out making the screen floppy...

          Sorry but dell quality has tanked HARD in the past 4 years. If I'm going to drop over $1200.00 on a laptop it will not be a dell anymore, I want at least some semblance of quality at that price or over...

          Windows 7 will make you love your PC IF you ran vista. Most everyone that I know t hat runs XP looked at it on my laptop and said, "Nahh, XP works for me." They will still have a hard sell.

        • Well, perhaps it really is disingenuous, but Michael Dell can probably afford multiple computers running different Operating Systems. In fact, he was probably given a pre-configured Windows 7 alpha/beta/whatever computer rather than given a disc to install it on his own.
        • Re:Yeah, right. (Score:5, Interesting)

          by WaywardGeek ( 1480513 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @09:36AM (#29757213) Journal

          Dell screwed up, big time, and now they're in a deep hole. In the 90's, I was influential in steering 3 companies to being all Dell houses. It was fun. Someone would ask why we should pay more for a Dell, and I could demonstrate what happens when I called support. I'd call Microsoft for a question about Power Point first... it's always fun being ridiculed by a moron, which is all the support Microsoft offers for us peons who only own hundreds of their licenses. Then, I'd call Dell for the same question about Power Point (or whatever Microsoft product was pissing me off that day). Dell support would say, "That's really a question for Microsoft, and we don't technically offer support in cases like this. However, the answer to your question is ..."

          Dell support was awesome. Then, during the off-shoring mania that swept boardrooms across the country in 2001, Dell fired all their on-shore support and routed our calls to guys in India who make Microsoft's support look good. Sure, Dell has dropped their prices a ton since then, but what matters having productive employees, not saving $100 on their laptop. Dell went the other way - super cheap, low margins, undercutting everyone else, offering crap support. The machines are still pretty good, and lately they've offered "Gold support" on all their products. What morons... don't they know how hard it is to convince your boss to pay $300 for a support contract on an $800 computer? HP went the other way, only offering good support, at higher prices. The difference - happy customers. A couple years ago, my boss overrode my support for Dell, and now all our high-end servers are HP. They're great machines, with incredible support, and we buy them, even though they cost 2X over Dell's.

          • In the end, there is a real price and value paid. It's possible to shave pennies, but the long term ownership cost is skewed when the sales guy on the golf course low-balls the competition. Stuff costs money; good stuff costs good money.

          • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

            by jim_v2000 ( 818799 )
            Did you not buy from their business store, because one of Dell's corporate support centers is located 3 hours from where I'm sitting (in Oregon). Their corporate support is top notch. If you bought cheap consumer PC's for a business, and didn't pay for better support, then you got what you had coming. And if your boss doesn't understand the value of paying for support, he's a moron and you should find someone more intelligent to work for.

            I can't complain about their consumer support too much. The key
        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by Nicolay77 ( 258497 )

          I look at Windows 7 in this way: do I prefer Windows 7 to be a hit and make MS some money (deserved or not), or for it to fail and having me still be supporting IE6 in Web Apps for decades?

          To me, this means: Windows 7 is tah bezt software EvaR!!

    • Re:Hmm... (Score:5, Funny)

      by operator_error ( 1363139 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:18AM (#29755515)

      Try moving your finger lower and a little bit to the left, and maybe somewhat faster? Oh wait, you said narcissistic. Oops, my bad; nevermind.

    • Re:Hmm... (Score:4, Funny)

      by Carewolf ( 581105 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:58AM (#29755861) Homepage

      I agree, I prefer my love-interests to be NPC's too.

    • Re:Hmm... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by jellomizer ( 103300 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @08:13AM (#29756025)

      I would agree. A computer is just that a computer. The same thing with the OS. It is just a bunch of instructions for the computer. I have a Mac, it is a nice tool for me it does what I need it to do for the most part. I don't expect to switch in the near future... However I could and would if I find that it is no longer the tool that I need to do my work. I have done switches in the past.

      1987 - 1994 I used MS DOS with some windows 3.1 as a toy. By 1993 I had Desqview running on dos as I needed better Multi-tasking support.
      1994 - 1999 I primarily used Linux as I had the need for really good multi-tasking (DOS, Windows 3.1 and Desqview didn't cut it)
      1999 - 2002 I primarily used Solaris as I needed a rock solid system. That can handle high load gracefully
      2002 - Current I primarily use OS X as I am doing more "professional" work, So I needed something slightly more Microsoft friendly but still have many of the Unix advantages.

      Now what will the future hold... I don't know. Right now the Mac does what I need it do. But for the future who knows. Perhaps Ill use Plan-9 or Android, Maybe even Windows.

  • Balance Sheet (Score:5, Insightful)

    by eldavojohn ( 898314 ) * <eldavojohnNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Thursday October 15, 2009 @06:59AM (#29755383) Journal

    I've been using Windows 7 for a long time now, and if you get the latest processor technology and Office 2010 with it, you will love your PC again. It's a dramatic improvement.

    Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Full - Retail [newegg.com]: $299.99
    Cheapest Nehalem Processor [newegg.com]: $279.99
    (note, can't buy Office 2010 yet)
    Latest Office 20xx [microsoft.com]: $399.95

    Total: $979.93

    So Michael Dell, the CEO of the company that is the largest dealer of PCs to businesses and individuals, suggests you opt for the extra grand in order to 'love your PC again.' You don't say. I would be shocked if anyone was willing to fork over more than $900 for an entire computer these days. How am I to differentiate this from any salesman saying, "Buy the most expensive one for the best experience."

    • Re:Balance Sheet (Score:5, Insightful)

      by chrisG23 ( 812077 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:02AM (#29755395)
      For that kind of money I might as well get a mac.
      • Re:Balance Sheet (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:44AM (#29755719)

        I was wondering how many posts I would have to read before someone suggested a Mac. It didnt't take long.

        If PCs are going to cost the same as a Mac, they will have a steep hill to climb. The Mac user experience is vastly different than XP and Vista. So much so, that people who switched are not going back to MS anytime soon. Without the cost advantage, Windows 7 will have to be on par with OS X. Not impossible for MS to do, but improving on XP and Vista is not even the downpayment on the level of improvement needed to compete with OS X.

        • Re:Balance Sheet (Score:5, Interesting)

          by gauauu ( 649169 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @08:51AM (#29756549)

          The Mac user experience is vastly different than XP and Vista. So much so, that people who switched are not going back to MS anytime soon.

          I tried switching. I bought a mac. And I don't like it. (For many reasons, which I won't whine about here). That very different user experience just didn't work for me. So just this week I'm selling my mac and switching to a machine running Windows 7. I like it better than OS X.

          Not that most people are like me (and I know one example proves nothing), but I'm the counter-example to your claim, who is happy to switch back.

          (Of course, also in consideration is that windows 7 actually runs quite well NOT on new top-of-the-line hardware. I'm running it on a netbook and it's chugging along quite happily.)

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by mdwh2 ( 535323 )

        For that kind of money I might as well get an Amiga.

        Actually no, I'll stick with a PC.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Of course he'll say that, but your price comparison is unfair. A Dell package of oem software/hardware will certainly be cheaper than you are suggesting.

    • Re:Balance Sheet (Score:5, Insightful)

      by craagz ( 965952 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:13AM (#29755471) Homepage Journal
      Mac is like a high maintenance mistress, Windows is like a pricey Girlfriend, Ubuntu is like a wife.
      • by sakdoctor ( 1087155 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:24AM (#29755545) Homepage

        Mac is like a really expensive whore; Windows is like a street walker who might not have had been tested for STDs recently, Ubuntu is that nerdy chick who bought YOU a drink.

        • by cabjf ( 710106 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:34AM (#29755629)

          Ubuntu is that nerdy chick who bought YOU a drink.

          But only other nerds really have a chance with her.

    • For starters, you can get an i7 920 processor for $200 from certain stores. You can also get an i5 750 for even cheaper.

      >I would be shocked if anyone was willing to fork over more than $900 for an entire computer these days.

      Prepare to be shocked, I spent $2300 for my latest desktop 3 months ago which I built myself. The Core i7 LGA-1366 processors have also been fairly popular amongst enthusiasts since they were released.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by abigsmurf ( 919188 )
      Microsoft Windows 7 Professional [newegg.com] $139.99
      Cheapest Nehalem Processor [newegg.com]: $199.99
      Latest Office 20xx [newegg.com]: $119.99

      Total : $459.97
      • Re:Balance Sheet (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:35AM (#29755643)

        Those options are nice if you fulfill the requirements of the Office student license and the OEM System Builder License. I don't see how they are relevant generally -- if you are arguing that the licenses aren't important... well you could just get a cracked copy off bittorrent and say the total price is $199.

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by abigsmurf ( 919188 )
          So long as you don't mind the lack of support from MS, there's no problem with those licences for the majority of people. It's not a "student" licence, it's "Home office and student", ie general household usage.
      • Re:Balance Sheet (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:52AM (#29755819)

        >Microsoft Windows 7 Professional [newegg.com] $139.99
        >Cheapest Nehalem Processor [newegg.com]: $199.99
        >Latest Office 20xx [newegg.com]: $119.99

        >Total : $459.97

        "Upgrade Kit" with box, motherboard, modest AMD64 Athlonx2 processor, blank hard disk and basic HD2400 ATI video card - $225.
        Kubuntu 9.10 LiveCD with KDE 4.3, Firefox 3.5.3, OpenOffice 3.1.1, Amarok, VLC and a full suite of desktop applications: - $0.

        Total: $225.

        Far more functionality out of the box, no requirement to agree to any conditions, far better performance and half the price.

        Later this year ... upgrade the kernel to 2.6.32 and get a 3D video driver. All the fancy desktop bling you could possibly want. Sweet.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by natehoy ( 1608657 )

      How am I to differentiate this from any salesman saying, "Buy the most expensive one for the best experience."

      You can't. This is a complete shill-job by Mike Dell, and while I can't blame him and I'd do precisely the same thing in his place, this article is not news, it's advertising.

      Do I detect the delectable odor of some potted meat product in a can? Why yes, yes I do.

      • Re:Balance Sheet (Score:5, Insightful)

        by h4rm0ny ( 722443 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:49AM (#29755781) Journal

        The stupidity is that Windows 7 is actually looking quite good. And then they pull the sort of stupid marketing stunts that you'd only be driven to if it were crap, making them look desperate.

        That said, good or not, Windows 7 is over-priced. Lots of people might want it, but they wont pay hundreds of dollars for it. About $60 - 70 and it would fly off the shelves. Most will not upgrade but just wait until they pick it up with a new PC (which could be a long time for us build-our-own types).
        • Pricing & piracy (Score:4, Insightful)

          by swb ( 14022 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @09:14AM (#29756837)

          OK, MS dumps millions -- tens, maybe over a hundred million, anyone? -- into antipiracy efforts for Windows 7. I'm talking direct work on Win7 to stop piracy (activation codes, backend infrastructure, employees, coding specific to Win7, etc).

          We know it won't stop piracy, although we don't know if it will slow it. And then they turn around and price the product at outrageous prices, which only serves to punish and/or discourage the users who would purchase it and encourage fence sitters and experimenters to pirate it.

          Why not price it much more generously and make it "one" product versus many, with installation options for multimedia, and make "home" a mode or something?

          I'm thinking single copies at maybe $50 and five license packs for $150. I think they would probably sell more, and in the long run probably *make* more versus dumping a ton of money into antipiracy efforts and then pricing it sky high.

          • Re:Pricing & piracy (Score:4, Interesting)

            by _Sprocket_ ( 42527 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @12:39PM (#29759775)

            I'll offer two (devoid of any actual insider insight - but there's a long tradition of that in not only the Internet, but the printed word) theories:

            Some executive at Microsoft made a name for themselves (and thus a career play) by putting together some really nice slides showing how much money Microsoft can make by "monetizing" all the "pirated" copies of their software. This would fly as the culture of Microsoft drifts further and further away from it's old technical base and the reigns are held more by bean counters. That message would also find more fertile ground as Microsoft's numbers start taking hits due to economic changes and market saturation.

            Another, even wilder, theory is propaganda. Microsoft is fighting the perception that the OS is a commodity. Once the OS becomes a interchangeable layer, a lot of the lock-in strategy that's prevalent in Microsoft's products starts to fall apart. "Piracy" once played in to Microsoft's strategy of ubiquity. Illegal copies were helping push market share which put critical weight behind Microsoft's products (which might not been a deliberate tactic, but if it's not broken, why fix it). But as the market has changed, we have this push to commoditize the next layer of computing: the OS. Microsoft is not keen to become the next IBM. So they need to ensure people don't see Windows as this freebie thing you toss on a machine but rather one of the points to having that machine. So even if they know their anti-piracy measures won't stop "piracy", they don't care so long as it provides a way to introduce the idea that Windows has special value; people have a very different attitudes depending on perceived value.

    • Re:Balance Sheet (Score:4, Informative)

      by Seth Kriticos ( 1227934 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:27AM (#29755561)

      But you know, that (almost) nobody is buying this stuff at full boxed retail price. The OEM license for Dell will be around $50-70 for customers, the hardware is bought in big unit counts too, and gets appropriate discount, so the PC's will go somewhere between $600 - 1200 depending on some other factors like graphics, RAM and HDD models/capacities and branding.

      Not many people MS Office boxed version. Most private people will pirate it (and Microsoft is actually more happy about it then if they would use alternatives like OOo). Many will also go legal and use OOo or get a copy from the company they are working for.

      Businesses will go volume license, and the package of software / seat will also circle around $200 - $400.

      That said, I'll still continue to use Ubuntu + OOo + other open source software. I also build my PC's myself, so I get the best fitting solution and opt out of the MS tax (and be it just because of the principle, though the financial aspect is also counting). Considering the current economic downturn (and the fallout that is following as we speak), more businesses are and will also go a more open source way, though not the majority and many only partially (i.e. Windows 7 + OOo).

      One thing is true though, the Win 7 (re-branded Vista) will increase sales of PC's for a little time, especially since Christmas is approaching.

    • re: shocked? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by King_TJ ( 85913 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @09:52AM (#29757453) Journal

      Really?

      When you consider that way back in the 1980's, people were shelling out upwards of $2000 for a new computer, what makes you think it's so "shocking" that people would still pay over $1000 for a new system in today's dollars?

      Although the market has been flooded with "entry level" systems starting as low as $300 or so, that doesn't mean everyone has decided there's no reason to spend more. And although I realize the cheap PCs have been great from a standpoint in getting more people on-board with using a computer at home, they've also resulted in lower standards across the board. I, for one, am tired of the garbage that passes for a power supply out there. You've got the same problem as cheap, imported car and home stereo equipment, where the wattage ratings mean nothing. I can remember when you could pull a power supply out of one of the original IBM AT machines and it might say something really low, by today's standards, like an 85 watt rating. Yet you could add a bunch of power splitters to the thing and hook it up to a FAR more modern system that needed at least a 250 watt power supply to run, and it would still power it! These days, you get power supplies with a 450 or 500 watt rating that conk out if they're asked to output more than about HALF of that rating!

      I'm equally tired of the way manufacturers cut corners on things like cooling fans (cheap sleeve bearings, so the fan quits spinning after a year or two, risking destroying far more expensive components), or sourcing the cheapest motherboards they can find that have the ports and connectors they require. (Again, where's the real savings when your new machine gets flaky and starts refusing to power up half the time, risking all your important data?)

      All of this (and shoddy software!) are reasons I've been "loving my PC" for years now by switching to higher-end Macs. Yep, they cost more.... a lot more in the case of the Mac Pro. But I've had practically NO headaches or hardware issues. (My first Macbook Pro portable did arrive DOA, but it was swapped immediately and its replacement worked great. Even there though, the things were shipping direct from a factory in China. Back when people were conditioned to pay more for computers, all the way around, these things would have still been assembled and QA tested here in the USA.)

  • by mbone ( 558574 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:00AM (#29755385)

    All my Dell boxes run Linux.

    • by 1s44c ( 552956 )

      All my Dell boxes run Linux.

      My thinkpad runs linux.
      My HP servers run linux.
      My home put together from parts system runs linux.

      If dell want my business they are going to have to start making better hardware.

  • by musicgreg ( 308564 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:03AM (#29755401) Homepage

    It seems if you run a Vostro (like me) Windows 7 might not be your friend if you want your touchpad and video card to work.
    http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itprohardware/thread/cf9bc301-e3c2-4c5b-b9cd-9eab8582f45f
    Or maybe they will fix it in the next week, but I doubt it.

  • For a /. geek, what does Windows 7 have that's *really* useful/desired/cool vs. Windows XP? Not trolling, just haven't had the time to install it/play with it yet.
    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by 1s44c ( 552956 )

      For a /. geek, what does Windows 7 have that's *really* useful/desired/cool vs. Windows XP? Not trolling, just haven't had the time to install it/play with it yet.

      It's newer and less awful than vista. But it's still really NT with an updated interface and some new bits glued to the side.

      • by suso ( 153703 ) *

        It's newer and less awful than vista. But it's still really NT with an updated interface and some new bits glued to the side.

        So pretty much the same as any other OS upgrade. Nothing special.

        Honestly, I'm expecting Windows 7 to fall on its face the same way Vista did. I think over the past 15 years people have become tired of buying new computers and the upgrade cycle has slowed down.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by gravyface ( 592485 )
        Teredo scares the shit out of me. Here's a great way to endear yourself with the legions of IT professionals who have to manage your products, MS: let's name a feature that attempts to circumvent a managed IP4 network after the Teredo Worm, "the termite of the sea,".
    • by Splab ( 574204 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:14AM (#29755477)

      It's just better.

      I upgraded to windows 7 pro about a month ago (through MSDNAA) and I've even stopped using linux at home.

    • Honestly, for home? The power management is more customizable, the mac taskbar is nice, and it looks pretty. You also get Media Center functionality on Home Premium or Ultimate. Windows Installer is a little better too, it'll try and close out programs on install to minimize reboots.

      When joined to a domain, I find it to be much better at handling folder redirection and offline files. Less strange happenings, and I have yet to run into a situation where 7 just refuses to take itself out of "offline mode"

    • by sensationull ( 889870 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:28AM (#29755569)

      There are a few things that have improved, most of which were avalible in Vista too:

      Much better use of multicore CPUs
      GPU acceleration of the GUI
      self healing system files(in some instances)
      OS aware of SMART HD readings and able to prompt user
      DLL seperation
      vastly better RDP
      vastly improved central managment and deployment features for businesses
      Easy 64 bit usage with drivers
      Faster installs
      Better power managment and usage of hardware suspend
      better usage of memory (cacheing for very noticible speed gains)
      Media center!
      transparent Bitlocker hard drive encryption (in pro and ultimate) with TPM
      program execution isolation that redirects reg and file system calls to safe locations
      epiclly better wireless support
      support for propper GUI scaleing on high DPI LCDs
      Integrated Touch support and Speech Recognition(not fantastic but alright)
      Automatic driver retrival for most hardware right of Windows update without searching
      Fast search and indexing
      Document libraries for easy organisation
      Faster boot times and UI responce on semi-decent hardware (compared to XP)
      Better moniter support for HD TVs and multi moniters/GPUs (by default)
      Child restricted accounts to limit games and allow usage limits for children.

      Just to name a few, it has been a long time since XP and things have progressed.

      On the cons side I still don't like the superbar much, you can change it to be simmilar to the Vista one quite easily though. They have also removed the email client probably due to the EUs meddeling but live mail is still avalible.

      • by schmidt349 ( 690948 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @08:32AM (#29756297)
        Nearly all of these "features" have been in both Linux and Mac OS X for years. Hell, intelligent processor scheduling was in BeOS way back in 1998. So you're going to start using Windows 7 because Microsoft is finally catching up on basic OS engineering? If they want to get $200 out of me they're going to need to try way harder. I can do at least as well as Windows for no money and way better for $129.
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      As someone who's used the beta / RC of Win 7 64-bit since it came out, it has plenty of useful things.

      The easisest to see, and one of the nicest changes, is the new taskbar. The quick launch toolbar has been merged with the taskbar (sort of like the dock in OS X). All open tabs go under the icon for the program running and if you mouse over the icon you see a preview of every open window (and in the case of IE, each open tab as well) which you can then click to select or close. It makes things cleaner an

  • Translation (Score:5, Insightful)

    by 1s44c ( 552956 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:10AM (#29755449)

    Translation - Buy stuff from me. I won't sell you poison again, honest. You can trust me and my stuff is less bad than last time.

  • you'll love your PC, does he mean the same love that gynecologists give their patients [thatsweird.net]?
  • Dell Financials (Score:5, Informative)

    by mosch ( 204 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:14AM (#29755487) Homepage
    Revenue Q2 2008:  $14,147m
    Revenue Q2 2009:  $10,623m

    Profit YTD 2008:  $1,400m
    Profit YTD 2009: $762m

    Yeah... If I was Michael Dell, I'd be working to sell the idea that Windows 7 is going to make you love a PC too.  Especially if you bought a lot of other expensive shit.
  • by Just Some Guy ( 3352 ) <kirk+slashdot@strauser.com> on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:15AM (#29755493) Homepage Journal

    ...much like Ike loved Tina (or Chris loved Rhianna for our newer readers).

  • by Futurepower(R) ( 558542 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:20AM (#29755523) Homepage
    My experience with Dell is that the company is tricky. I try to avoid Dell because for me the company does not make a good business partner, which is the relationship you have when you buy something technologically complicated from a company.

    Quote from the story: "He pointed out that many business are running Windows XP, which is eight years old." [Should be businesses.]

    That's a bit tricky, in my opinion. There is no migration path directly from Windows XP to Windows 7. If you are using Windows XP now, it is necessary to re-install ALL your applications, and re-configure ALL your settings. For us, that easily takes 40 hours. Windows XP has had a VERY high cost of ownership for us, and here we go again. Microsoft did not want to finish the work, apparently, and provide a way to convert automatically from Windows XP to Windows 7.

    Also, Windows XP is not 8 years old, in my way of perceiving the matter. Windows XP was very troublesome until service pack 2 was released on August 25, 2004. So XP is actually 5 years old, because that is the date of what could be said to be the first release candidate.

    It doesn't matter how old an OS is! We are not in the OS business. We are happy with what works for us.

    In our experience it is better to buy components and build our own computers. The inside of a mass-market computer is amazing. Everywhere costs could have been cut, the components have been made a little cheaper, and sometimes a lot cheaper.
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by RulerOf ( 975607 )

      Microsoft did not want to finish the work, apparently, and provide a way to convert automatically from Windows XP to Windows 7.

      Um... You can transfer your profile, and programs can be reinstalled using the same MSI's.

      If you're in a managed network (and business users should be), you throw a Windows 7 machine into an Active Directory OU, and all of your policies, including Software Installation ones, apply to the machine and it behaves just like the XP ones in the same Unit.

      Business users don't "Upgrade" operating systems in the classical sense anyway. When it's time for an OS upgrade, the disk gets nuked and re-imaged. There's

  • by Little_Professor ( 971208 ) <littleprofNO@SPAMdodgeit.com> on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:29AM (#29755577) Journal
    While I agree Windows 7 is a leap forward from XP, I think Intel are going to struggle to get people to see Nehalem as the same category for upgrades. The Nehalem processors (and the associated required DDR3 RAM) are significantly more expensive than the Core2Duo processors, without providing any noticeable benefit for the vast majority of users. Unless you are a gamer or into heavy video/photo editing, the current Core2Duo generation is more than sufficient to outperform your needs. Ironically Windows 7, by running better than Vista on lower system requirements, will actually hurt Nehalem sales, by breaking the "software bloat"-"hardware upgrade" cycle
  • by MrCrassic ( 994046 ) <deprecated@ema.HORSEil minus herbivore> on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:30AM (#29755593) Journal

    After installing Windows 7 (started using it at RC level, I think), everything just feels smooth. It actually made me want to use Microsoft's included products for everything. It definitely has more appeal to me than OS X now.

    Disclaimer: I am not affiliated in any way to Microsoft or its subsidiaries. I just really like Windows 7.

  • Here's the problem: Windows XP, for the majority of normal use cases, works. There is no business case for spending the kind of money necessary to upgrade everything, just so that your CEO can have "that big task bar".

  • I upgraded to a decent middle/upper home built and overclocked system with a cheap video card when Vista was first released. Using it mainly for gaming and serving virtual servers and frankly besides a newer video card I don't need an upgrade.
    I usally did the 2.5/3 year desktop upgrade cycle but I can run modern games with high graphics on a 21 monitor, and don't see a need to upgrade that. Windows 7 is suppose to running faster then Vista, if I decide to upgrade, and I can run multiple virtual machines
  • bullshit advice (Score:2, Insightful)

    by subbyUK ( 922488 )
    I have first hand experience. I've used Windows 7 RTM, and office 2010 technical preview I can honestly say that this advice is nothing more than a joke. In fact the 'type mismatch' errors that Autodesk Inventor throws up when syncing to Excel, make me lean more towards hateful feelings. Win7 / office 2010 are good and expensive, but i don't see how they are justifiably better than XP / office 2003/7. The love inducing factor comes from Michael Dell rubbing his grubby mitts together.
  • by whisper_jeff ( 680366 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @07:50AM (#29755799)

    ...if you get the latest processor technology and Office 2010 with it, you will love your PC again. It's a dramatic improvement.

    Ok, I'm a graphic designer who often works with photoshop files that are 500 meg or larger (files in the 1 gig+ range are not uncommon at all). For me, having a fast processor, a lot of ram, and the other bells and whistles that go along with it will make a "dramatic improvement" because we're talking about a massive file and long processing times for each action I take. When you're using Office - you know, a word processing program, a spreadsheet program, and a presentation program - you shouldn't need the latest and greatest. Sorry, but I just feel that needing the latest and greatest so that you can "love your PC again" when all you're using is an office suite just might be a sign that the office suite is bloated well beyond what is required.

    My two cents. They're Canadian cents so take 'em for what they're worth, eh.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by westlake ( 615356 )

      I just feel that needing the latest and greatest so that you can "love your PC again" when all you're using is an office suite just might be a sign that the office suite is bloated well beyond what is required.

      The Office suite is simply where most users will spend their working hours.

      But "after hours" is just as important to many folks - and a PC that is strong in media play, media production and gaming is the win win choice.

  • by Chas ( 5144 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @08:36AM (#29756359) Homepage Journal

    *SCHLORP*SCHLORP*SCHLORP* "Is that how you wanted it sucked Mr. Ballmer?"

  • Is it an improvement over VIsta? Hell ya. Is it an improvement over XP? That's not so clear. Many operations are still slower - or at least, they subjectively feel slower when I switch between my 3-year old desktop at work (XP) and my 6 month old quad-core 4GB laptop at home(Win7 64 RC) every day. The limitations in themes are frustrating visually - if you don't want to run Aero, you're stuck with specific window decoration color scheme that you can't change (unlike windows xp). Large file copy operations still take much, much longer than they do on XP (though on the flip side, the recovery from copy errors is much more robust). Applications launch times seem to be no better or worse than on my older XP machine -- which I take as a net loss in performance, since the XP machine's hardware is far slower than my laptop's.

    Some of the amenities are nice - the Explorer changes (mostly done in Vista) are very helpful, but at the same time the Explorer interface now takes up much more room than it needs to. The only thing I actively like about 7 is the new taskbar -- but even that has its frustrations, primarily that it's not friendly for running applications that are configured based on command line options. An example is java -- while it recognizes java apps that you "pin" as JRE-based, it loses any additional information/parameters when you attempt to launch a jar file from the pinned menu. Another is putty, which lets you specify a parameter controlling startup profile, but this is not available to pinned instances.

    All in all - it is definitely better than Vista. Whether it's better than the XP-based configuration that Dell is talking about... I think that's very much up for debate.

  • by alfredo ( 18243 ) on Thursday October 15, 2009 @09:41AM (#29757291)
    The more they promote W7, the more wary I become. Maybe MS thinks the problems with its products are not bugs, and shoddy design, but customer perception. Maybe they are trying to build a Steve Jobs reality distortion field sans Steve Jobs. Two problems: Balmer is not Steve Jobs, and Apple, in many cases, lives up to the hype.
    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by JSmooth ( 325583 )

      Exactly, Microsoft is pulling all the marketing stops out (same thing they did with Vista). What's the point? What's the real RTO on Win 7? If I have a computer that performs all of the features I need it to do why would I upgrade?

      11 Years ago my father bought a $6,000 top of the line Gateway with Windows 98 and it was a blazing fast. 4 years later it was a paperweight but will the same be said of today's average machines? I still have 4 - 5 year old PCs in production use with no problems. They're fa

  • is this news? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by secondhand_Buddah ( 906643 ) <secondhand DOT buddah AT gmail DOT com> on Thursday October 15, 2009 @09:45AM (#29757351) Homepage Journal
    Seriously. What do you expect Michale Dell to say? That Windows 7 is crap? Why is this marketing drivel being reported on Slashdot any way?

CChheecckk yyoouurr dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh..

Working...