Guest post by Windows 7 was causing quite a bit of hype months before its release, and now that it’s finally out into the void, you’d think people would be contentedly beta-ing the system and be happy to wait until the wrinkles are smoothed, right? Apparently not, at least for a certain Kelly Poe and now over 2,500 Windows 7 enthusiasts.
Kelly Poe, a fellow Windows 7 fan, launched the “Release Windows 7 Now” campaign because he’s a “BIG Windows fan and have been loving what Microsoft has done with the recent Beta Release of Windows 7,” and he’s just “jones’n” for the release of “beautiful little birdy (with the odd name).”
Aside from his odd way of putting things across (I thought Windows 7’s name was pretty straightforward, and I never thought of any system as a sort of bird before, but to each his own), I found his itch and ache for an early release of Windows to be a bit to overzealous as well as not very well thought out. There’s a reason Microsoft released the beta, and that’s to let users play with it for a while and report any bugs, major or minor, they may find so as to iron out any major wrinkles before the release of the complete system later on. As a side note, Windows 7 is currently estimated at a November 2009 release, though this naturally isn’t solid just yet especially since Microsoft still insists that Vista will have a three-year general availability period, making us believe 7 will be released sometime during or after January of 2010.
Back to the main subject: it seems a bit of a mistake to ask for Microsoft to release Windows 7 early. Who wants a system buggier than it has to be? Certainly the current beta is in good shape, but more often than not an early release for the user causes bad feeling toward the product and overall avoidance and negative talk spread about it forever afterward, as seen with Vista and not to mention the release of KDE 4.0,according to many commenters here on OSNews.
Apparently some people already addressed this to the campaign launcher. He wrote in an updated post on the website:
Just a note to all of you that are saying that I don’t understand about the Beta process… I understand bug fixes and taking the time to make sure it’s ready for mass consumption. I’m simply trying to create a community of people that say they are ready for Windows 7 (when the times right… which we hope is soon) and were proud of it.
It seems he was reprimanded badly as this contradicts nearly everything the campaign was started for:
So here we are… let’s join together and get Microsoft to release Windows 7… enough with this Beta stuff… release it already!!!
Sounds to me as if he wanted 7 released now regardless of its uncompleted beta state. It may be fun to have it now, but really what’s the problem with using the beta? You currently get to use it for free, and if it’s true that Windows 7 will be released come November, you’ll only have to wait several months after the beta expires to be able to go out and purchase it. Patience is a virtue, and good things come to those who wait. As my Mor Mor (Danish for “mother’s mother”) always used to say:
Don’t give up what you want most for what you want now. The best things in life are worth waiting for.”
If you really are itching for Windows 7 and you really truly love Windows, what you want most will be for Microsoft to have enough time with the beta to iron out enough of the problems for a happier experience. I myself, a long time Windows advocate, am fine using the beta, and most likely won’t purchase 7 until around the time SP1 is released. However, all personal thoughts and feelings on this subject aside, if you feel the need for Windows 7 to be released sooner, go right ahead and vote. Microsoft just might do it.
Yes, if you’re nitpicky, there’s really some kind of contradiction here. But I think it’s not meant all too seriously. For me, his explanation of “understanding the beta process” is just fine, he’s an enthusiast and he wants to share it with others. I think the voting should be regarded more as a “has Windows 7 convinced you already by its beta”-question, some kind of “thumbs up” to Microsoft. And not a serious “please release it now”-request.
Edited 2009-02-04 07:30 UTC
I’ve been testing W7 myself. Granted, it’s already more impressive than Vista, but how hard is that?
It’s still nowhere near ready.
I have been using the public beta since it came out and have found it surprisingly easy to bring it to its knees. That is not to say I don’t like it, but rather it is definietly not ready for release to the average Windows user.
If I had to choose between the Windows 7 beta and Vista I would take the beta. That being said there is not enough there to woo be back from the dark side. 🙂
I use my computers for light tasks only, so could you give some examples? I’m not doubting you – I’m just curious as I never get to do any stress testing to find the breaking points myself
.
In my experience with 7, the main problems I’ve had are:
-Graphics drivers. The system sometimes will randomly crash after the screens flicker in and out for a few minutes, not letting me do anything. I don’t believe I was doing anything graphics intensive, either. This has happened to me in Vista, too, but not as much. For the record, I have an HIS Radeon HD 2600 XT.
-Printer drivers. The driver base for printers seemed reduced compared to Vista– in that the drivers for my printers weren’t included as they were on Vista. I had to go out and download Vista drivers, and even then the printing for me seemed a bit buggy at times.
-Having dual monitors wouldn’t allow the screensaver to work nor my Google Talk to go idle. Definitely not bringing the system to its knees, but still annoying nonetheless. It suddenly fixed itself, though.
-My sidebar (which isn’t really a bar at all anymore) gadgets won’t appear anymore, and I can’t open the sidebar config program. Again, not to the knees, but still.
I’ve yet to edit video with Adobe Premiere with it or to run any games on it. Once I get Supreme Commander back from my brother-in-law, I may try it with 7. That’s a pretty graphic-intensive game. I may also try running 3DMark with it to compare with the points I got with Vista.
Overall, I think the system’s shaping up pretty well, especially for a beta. But I don’t think it’s ready for a release now. As for whether the site is for Windows fanboys to band together and give MS the thumbs up, I don’t know– it sure seems more like he wanted to petition MS to release it prematurely– but here’s my thumbs up:
**gives a thumbs up with a cheesy smile**
I approve, MS. I approve. Just work out the bugs, and I’ll be a happy Windows user.
I will give you a simple example.
I installed it on my eeepc 1000hd.
It detected all drivers except ethernet and intel video.
I installed the drivers, played an xvid and windows 7 locked up couldn’t move the mouse or press the start key on the keyboard to shut it down.
PS. I didn’t try playing an xvid file before installing those drivers. It may have been a driver issue.
But it did lock up on a fresh install.
I’ve got the beta on two systems… a homebuilt AMD / NVidia desktop, and it’s been fine. No crashes, and very few quirks.
Then there’s the year old Vaio laptop. Not all the vista drivers work (some won’t load, some will load and not work, some load and work), and playing a video usually results in a BSOD and a memory dump. It was too unstable for use, so I went back to Vista.
It’s not finished. Vista failed because it wasn’t finished (and never has been). So why on earth would they want to release thier beloved win7 now potentially throwing it to the same fate as vista??
They can use the beta! For free! Why on *earth* would they try and ruin the fairly workable release schedule just so they can go to their shops and spend thier money now? For a release worse than it would be if they waited?
I blame sheer idiocracy.
Sam
P.S
‘good morning all…we’re almost to 2,300 votes on http://www.releasewindows7.com WOW, thank you so much…make sure you download the beta of Win7 ‘
(Off his twitter)
Implying that some of those that voted haven’t even used the beta?? I rest my case.
Microsoft should not release now, in fact, they should postpone the release date.
Instead of releasing when they are ready, they should listen to the feedback people are giving them from the beta test. Alter the code and then put out a Release Candidate…. If the feedback from RC is good, then, and only then, should they release the FINAL version. If the feedback from RC is bad, they should then release RC2…
However, this will not happen with greedy shareholders (not me, I am prepared to wait on my dividend), baying for a version to hit the shops.
Vista flopped… In more ways than one…. This is me speaking as a shareholder. I seen my shares drop from £39 each to just over £2.60 since Vista was released. Not successful.
And I blame this purely on Microsoft releasing after 2 public betas. There was Vista public beta 1 and shortly afterwards Vista RC1. However, the timeframe between beta 1, RC1 and Final Gold was not long enough for Microsoft to take the feedback and act on it. That is why they were telling people who were holding off adoption to wait for Service Pack 1.
It did not work.
The majority of Microsoft shareholders are speculators who spend all day working out the prices of pork bellies, oil barrels and orange juice. They know when to pull out or stay in.. (ooooer missus). However, this is detrimental to an IT based company who needs the shareholders to remain firm when they KNOW the product will be a roaring success….. IF and only IF they have the backing to WAIT until the product is complete.
Another flop like Vista, and I personally will have had enough, I will sell my shares at a substantial loss, but hopefully, selling at £2.60 is better than selling at £0.11
You *do* realise that everyone’s shares have dropped in value since late last year?
Microsoft shouldn’t release until major hardware drivers are properly tested with it.
While you are correct in saying that everyones shares have dropped. I think the other person was saying that as a personal reason, he would prefer if the greedy mouth-pieces would hold off, they will get a better return on investment than they do now.
Microsoft shares have dropped over 1200 % since Vista was released. In fact, Vista has damaged them so much, they are on a share buy-back. They are offering £5 per share. This is bad news for any company.
If, however, your post was stating everyone in all companies shares have lost value, then you are incorrect. There are a lot of financial institutions that are dropping in value, but the majority of shares are fine.
As a side note, I will not loose much money on my shares, I bought them when Microsoft shares were valued at £17.00 and I only have a few hundred.
Hopefully Windows 7 will be a roaring success and the £2.35 share price at this moment. will go about £17.10 and I will make a profit for a few beers… Also, Good Luck to that raver guy, I can’t see them hitting that price again.
Your second point,
I Completely Agree.
There is no way that they should put out another version that is not ready, it would kill them this time.
Edited 2009-02-05 08:53 UTC
Just saying.
Microsoft should not yield to a small group of Windows enthusiasts and rush Windows 7 out the door. I think they’ve made that mistake with other major versions of Windows (e.g., Vista, Millennium Edition) and hopefully learned from the snafu that ensued. Microsoft should instead adhere to a strict “not until ready” policy. That means all major hardware drivers should be in place (and tested) before Windows ships as the default OS. Otherwise, this same small group will be bitching the loudest when Windows 7 doesn’t perform as they expected.
A Windows release is a big operation, so it’s unlikely that a few enthusiasts are going to dramatically change the course of events, though it’s great to see people like the Win7 team’s work.
Groups within Microsoft have been working closely with the larger IHVs to ensure good drivers will be in place by RTM. By now, also, the changes in the riskiest driver compatibility areas (video, audio, and networking) are more evolutionary than before, so there’s a bit less work for IHVs to do.
This is not to say that there haven’t been large internal changes in the kernel-mode part of the OS (a few core areas have been rewritten for greater scalability), but the differences do not cause observable semantic changes in the API.
Thom Holwerda,
Any dane knows its ‘Mormor’, not ‘Mor Mor’!
Danish ancestry, Thom?
Thom didn’t write this, actually, it was me. See? “Written by weildish.” As a matter of fact, I am Danish, but only a fourth. My grandmother came to the United States in the 50’s, I believe it was. I don’t know the language and have spelled it as “Mor Mor” my entire life, so forgive me. At least now I know!
Oh Ghu! This has got to be a joke…
xkcd was right: http://xkcd.com/528/
–bornagainpenguin
Funny, that strip makes me think of this one:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2002/20020722h.gif
Why release it now. There are more than a few bugs in it still.
this is idiotic! when has a Microsoft product even worked well after years of development, let alone a few months? we are leading them via peer pressure to create another windows melenium. good luck to y’all and I hope I’m wrong. But it IS IDIOTIC to rush any development of any system, program, hardware, etc….. just because or because we’re not entirely happy with vista. Specially since windows vista and 7 are… pfft I’ll put it frankly, not much to look at and not enough of a change to get rid of my xp 😛
It is a well known fact that companies have paid for “users” to blog, agitate and advocate, trying to create or influence community opinion without declaring their links or paymasters.
I wonder if it is at play here – not very subtle if it is.
Wouldn’t that make an awesome grassroots marketing campaign? Especially since Vista’s image in the media was what doomed it. It sure would be brilliant of some marketing agency to start a website where people petition to “demand” they release Windows 7 right now because they just love it so much and can’t wait any longer. Even if they only find 2,500 people to sign up, journalists would jump all over the idea of such a petition.
Just saying.
Edited 2009-02-05 02:57 UTC
Why is idiocy like that on the front page?
Do you like to show that – despite the darwin awards – there is still too much stupidity in the human genom?