WINDOWS 7

[Chalenge]

Once again we return to driver updates and incompatibility until at least that far along the support trail. I am wondering how many of my devices will start producing BSODs in W7? I am not looking forward to a two day install period any time soon.

[Skuzzy]

It should not be as bad as Vista as the driver API's are all the same.  From XP to Vista was a nightmare.  From Vista to W7 should be fairly painless with only the existing bugs migrating over from Vista to W7.

[Chalenge]

Thats a relief! The first time through I didnt know you couldnt install with all your memory installed but when I upgraded to 64-bit I knew that and Vista was actually the fastest OS to mount then. Of course my hardware for Vista was also much faster and that probably helped.

[llama]

Once again we return to driver updates and incompatibility until at least that far along the support trail. I am wondering how many of my devices will start producing BSODs in W7? I am not looking forward to a two day install period any time soon.

W7 won't be that painful.

Many of devices in my laptop were recognized immediately by the W7 installation disc, whereas almost none of it was with Vista.

Regardless, I downloaded and installed ALL of the Vista driver packs and utilities Lenovo offers for my notebook, and they all worked, including the funky surround-sound soundcard and speakers, the custom energy management, and the webcam. The Intel chipset driver complained that it didn't recognize the OS (it was written for Vista, after all) and quit, but Windows 7 was smart enough to identify the problem, and asked me if I wanted it to re-run the installer with better compatibility. I said "yes" and it automatically re-ran the chipset installer, and it worked like a charm.

-Llama

[Gatr]

 I think Skuzzz may have had a bevie or two.. I thought he said somthing positive about 7 ?
Nahhh 
lol Gatr

[Ack-Ack]

ht/aces high needs to get listed at steamgames.com, or at impulsedriven.com, both are great gaming content delivery systems.

For a small developer like HTC, you have to pretty much sell your soul to the Devil to get listed on Steamgames.  Impulsedriven is far more better for the small/indie development studios.

Actually, HTC needs to sign up with neither.  HTC already has a pretty good digital distribution system, just go to the main site and download the game without any hassles.  Can't get any better or easier than that.


ack-ack

[skribetm]

For a small developer like HTC, you have to pretty much sell your soul to the Devil to get listed on Steamgames.  Impulsedriven is far more better for the small/indie development studios.

Actually, HTC needs to sign up with neither.  HTC already has a pretty good digital distribution system, just go to the main site and download the game without any hassles.  Can't get any better or easier than that.


ack-ack

of course, htc's distribution system via the website works great and is very simple. however, i was thinking that getting listed at those "portals" would give aces high more online exposure to maximize marketing and sales. also, visitors at those sites are primarily interested in gaming, so it's a more precise sales pitch than putting on a t.v. commercial or a web ad at a generic page.

i didn't know getting listed at steam cost a gazillion $$$, but maybe they can always work something out. as it is, the referral/reward system aces high employs already cuts out a chunk from the $14.95 a month we pay to HT.

thanks for your thoughts.

[Fulmar]

I see where skribetm is getting with the exposure aspect.  I'm sure HTC would have to give up a lot of licensing freedom etc if they were to deal with Valve (which by some is the evil empire of the world).  Most of the demographic for steam gamers is 15-25, AH probably being a much older crowd with the majority 25 and older (much much older ).

But lets say did they this huge advertising blitz etc.  I really don't think AH servers could handle a 3-5k player influx.  Which by larger games standards, is like passing gas.

Of course I have no knowlege of HTC and this is purely speculation on my part.

[Skuzzy]

I think Skuzzz may have had a bevie or two.. I thought he said somthing positive about 7 ?
Nahhh 
lol Gatr

If being better than Vista is saying something positive, then yes, I said something positive.  Let's face it, could it really get any worse than Vista?

What irks me about W7, is it is just a new coat of paint on top of Vista, but being sold as a brand new OS.  People who bought or were forced into Vista are getting screwed.  Take what you paid for Vista, add the cost of upgrading to W7 and that is what you will have spent for the OS that should have shipped anyway.

It is still slower than XP, but better than Vista.  Again, how hard did they have to try in order to improve the performance?  Yeah, that had to take 15 minutes of work.  They must have really sweated that one.  Reconfigure the OS to not load all the bloat at boot time took a lot of thought and a bazillion meetings.

I still detest Microsoft's design philosophy.  "Don't worry, we will prevent you from doing things with your computer because we know best."  Or, "Just because it is an OS does not mean we cannot write it like an application."  Or, "We're Microsoft and you're NOT!".

Better? 

[Gatr]

Skuzzy ...  I skipped Vista and so glad I did...   
Gatr

[skribetm]

zdnet re: windows7 RAM/HDD usage

Windows7 Uses 216MB RAM & 8.6GB HDD Space
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=672

free Windows7 upgrade
"This is a consumer-oriented program targeted at individual consumers and small businesses that have purchased eligible PCs during the Program Eligibility Period. End users will have to meet these requirements to be deemed eligible for the upgrade to Windows 7 when it is released..."

"The only Windows Vista® versions eligible for the program are :
Windows Vista® Home Premium
Windows Vista® Business
Windows Vista® Ultimate
* Microsoft Windows Vista® Home Basic, Windows Vista® Starter Edition, and Windows® XP (all editions) are not qualifying products under the program."

"The following are the only valid upgrade paths under the program :
Windows Vista® Home Premium -> Windows® 7 Home Premium
Windows Vista® Business -> Windows® 7 Professional
Windows Vista® Ultimate -> Windows® 7 Ultimate"

http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=609&pgno=0

[Max]

Question: those of us clinging to XP (pro) by our finger nails, going under the assumption that Microsoft will support that OS thru 2014...are we safe assuming that hardware manufacturers will continue drivers for XP until MS pulls the plug?

[Skuzzy]

For the most part Max, that is probably a safe assumption, but you can bet there will be new hardware that hits the market without XP drivers.

Currently, all motherboard chipsets are supported under Windows XP.  Video cards, network adapters, and sound cards also still have XP drivers.

Windows XP still occupies about 70% of the Windows marketplace.  Anyone not supporting it is foolish right now.

It would not surprise me to see most all hardware still being supported under XP through 2010 or 2011.  There will be exceptions, as there always is.

I figure the computer I just built, with Windows XP will see me through W7's growing pains easily enough and by the next build, W7 should be in good enough shape to be useful.  As it is built from Vista, it has an edge due to the number of bug fixes that have already been doen to Vista.  Now with the default bloat being disabled by default and the more than stupid ways to navigate around being dropped for something more sensible, for the most part, it has a decent shot at being a decent replacement OS.

I am watching with a bit of pessimistic caution.  I think Microsoft has earned that.

[Fulmar]

Question: those of us clinging to XP (pro) by our finger nails, going under the assumption that Microsoft will support that OS thru 2014...are we safe assuming that hardware manufacturers will continue drivers for XP until MS pulls the plug?

According to the Steam Hardware Surveys, 65% of the gamers playing their games are still running XP.  In the immediate future, I'm not too worried.  But there will be a day.  New features that just can't be supported under XP, or they don't think its worth it to write XP drivers.  Right now you'd be foolish to release a Vista only product.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

W7 is not 100% compatible with Vista anyway and the beta has given me two bluescreens so far. Driver problems.

Haven't had a bluescreen that wasn't overclock related in 5 years before the beta.

But I still think W7 is a step in the right direction. It's still bad in same places as Vista was but otoh I'm surprised how responsive it feels with 4 gigs. Opening apps seems faster than in XP but will drive you mad if you try to copy a few gigs of data.