Windows 7 has been tweaked and tuned a bit since the launch of the operating system’s initial public beta in January, as is evident in the new release candidate Microsoft unveiled Thursday. The RC is now available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers, and it will be released to the general public May 5. Microsoft will also soon release to beta the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, which will check users’ systems for their ability to run the new operating system.
Here's the rub. It would be nice if Microsoft would let us know when Windows 7 will no longer be supported. That is the critical information we need before purchasing yet another incarnation of yet another operating system meant for state-of-the-art computers, and at the exclusion of those who carefully maintain their computers to last a while.
(Like the poor saps who bought Win ME!)
Yes, the statement about requiring virtualization support in the processor ONLY applies if you want to use the new Windows XP mode for Windows 7, which uses virtualization software from Microsoft. If you don't need to use Windows XP mode, you don't have to worry about whether or not your CPU has that capability.
To prove this point, I have Windows 7 installed on a Dell Latitude D600 laptop, which is 4+ years old, with a Pentium M processor that does not have any trace of hardware-based virtualization support, and it runs Windows 7 just fine despite the weak processor and memory. Actually, it's fairly comparable to modern netbook hardware, so that looks promising for running it on new netbooks.
"Users who want to upgrade to Windows 7 when a final version is released may have to buy new computers."
I'm pretty sure one won't need a new computer for Windows 7 unless they want to use Windows XP mode, which as far as I know is the only feature requiring virtualization capabilities in the hardware. Might be worth clarifying in the article.
"Users who want to upgrade to Windows 7 when a final version is released may have to buy new computers."
The end of this article is misleading and taken out of context. The need for a processor with built-in virtualization is ONLY if you need to run applications in Windows XP Mode. The vast majority of people will never run this and don't need new fangled computers. In fact, if it can run Vista now, it will run Win7 even better.
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Microsoft Gives Windows 7 Some Spit and Polish
Posted by: Richard Adhikari April 30, 2009 01:27 PMWindows 7 has been tweaked and tuned a bit since the launch of the operating system’s initial public beta in January, as is evident in the new release candidate Microsoft unveiled Thursday. The RC is now available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers, and it will be released to the general public May 5. Microsoft will also soon release to beta the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, which will check users’ systems for their ability to run the new operating system.
(Like the poor saps who bought Win ME!)
To prove this point, I have Windows 7 installed on a Dell Latitude D600 laptop, which is 4+ years old, with a Pentium M processor that does not have any trace of hardware-based virtualization support, and it runs Windows 7 just fine despite the weak processor and memory. Actually, it's fairly comparable to modern netbook hardware, so that looks promising for running it on new netbooks.
I'm pretty sure one won't need a new computer for Windows 7 unless they want to use Windows XP mode, which as far as I know is the only feature requiring virtualization capabilities in the hardware. Might be worth clarifying in the article.
The end of this article is misleading and taken out of context. The need for a processor with built-in virtualization is ONLY if you need to run applications in Windows XP Mode. The vast majority of people will never run this and don't need new fangled computers. In fact, if it can run Vista now, it will run Win7 even better.
Get your facts straight.