News - UK Windows 7 pre-orders begin tomorrow, will you be placing an order?

[DoomWolf]

AGAIN, you too, are making the fallacious assumption that there's a second computer near by to download a browser setup binary from the internet.

Isn't the obvious solution just to download a browser setup binary and stick it on a flash drive BEFORE you install Windows 7? I'd have thought that most people who are capable of fresh installing an OS would have the foresight to plan ahead and download things like drivers and applications you might need ahead of installation.

Or just pick up one of those free CDs containing IE8 that Microsoft have said will be freely available when 7 ships.

[dangel]

Isn't the obvious solution just to download a browser setup binary and stick it on a flash drive BEFORE you install Windows 7? I'd have thought that most people who are capable of fresh installing an OS would have the foresight to plan ahead and download things like drivers and applications you might need ahead of installation.

Foresight is a wonderful thing, in hindsight.

It's not really worth arguing over is it - people will forget, then perhaps ask a friend, grab it from work etc etc. I don't really think it's something that we should worry over, especially as essentially it's out of our hands and down to the bitch fight between the EU and MS. MS have played a clever hand tho - and now the EU is the bad guy. Personally (i.e. me!) I'd prefer to get IE8 pre-installed (even though I don't really use it) if just for keeping a minimum level of browser functionality in the OS ready for developers (third parties) to use. MS say most stuff works OK (there's still lower level browser components) but they've still had to reduce the available functionality set from the previous version of Windows (which is annoying). The reality is that Firefox is practically a religion for some and has made huge inroads in MS' market share of the browser market without noddy-versions of Windows so i'd argue it's largely pointless posturing from the EU.

As we all know, most folk will get IE8 or some browser pre-installed by their OEM reseller with their new PC.

[Gunbuster]

Ordered two copies of HP as I plan on buying a "I-can't-believe-its-not-a-netbook"

[KidChameleon]

I've ordered Home Premium through Amazon. Good idea by whomever came up with it to release a few preorders each hour. It stops all the orders going to people who stay up late refreshing the page to buy the entire stock in the first ten minutes.

I've been using the Beta, then the RC since they were released and I've been very happy with it. There have been some problems, but on the whole it's been a good experience. It won't be as cheap as £45 again for a long time, so I may as well go for it. Whenever I go back to XP it seems outdated and clunky now.

[Blademrk]

Pre-ordered on Play, needed an OS anyway (currently running the RC on a new build, so I would have needed either a new Vista or XP license anyway.

[Domestic_Ginger]

I've ordered Home Premium through Amazon. Good idea by whomever came up with it to release a few preorders each hour.

I'll say; I thought Amazon had sold out! Save me £5 although I am not happy about XP compatability mode missing. I suppose dosbox is free.....

[looney]

D'oh, no upgrade version. So what should I do with Vista Ultimate that I bought ~9 months ago

Same here I spent like £100 on Vista HP retail just under a year ago and not sure what to do this offer seems too good to miss, but then i dont know what i would do with vista and it would be a waste of money, i think i might just stick to vista since it works and w7 is still vista with a facelift. Hopefully if it comes on MSDNAA at my uni then i might try and get it there for free!

[lodore]

I have ordered it. tbh at £45 its a bargain. ordered from amazon.
im gonna restore my windows 7 rc image and have a play around.

[da_ging]

tempted to get a copy for myself but a quick google about the family pack reveals it's pricing to probably be about $150 although if that follows the $1 to £1 trend it is not going to be worth it

[alexp999]

AGAIN, you too, are making the fallacious assumption that there's a second computer near by to download a browser setup binary from the internet.


Which is hardly giving the consumer a choice. OEMs have always had that choice.

The correct thing to do would have been to add a package manager, and give the user a list of browsers (and even other types of software) they can choose from, the PM would then go off and install said software, and the user is ready to go, all from the same machine without having to revert to sneakernet installation techniques. Why don't we bring back the floppy disk while we're at it?

No I'm not, I call it sticking the installer on your USB before you install Windows 7. Your on the internet now arent you? :S

[Barrichello]

Or you could throw the Firefox setup binary onto the same USB stick.

You could if you wanted to actually install and use Firefox as your browser of choice, and not use the portable "no need to install on your PC" browser to download and choose the actual browser you want to use

[grizzla]

i have read that the family pack only allows you to install each license once, therefore its like OEM software, dunno if anyone else had pointed that out yet. I preordered off amazon earlier today, £48 incl first clas delivery is pretty good imho

[chis]

i have read that the family pack only allows you to install each license once, therefore its like OEM software,

That would be pointless and no-one would buy the family pack, in that case.

Though I can certainly see MS pulling such a bone-headed move.

[Ciber]

From the Paul Thurrott site:

Performance features

Home Premium

Max RAM (64-bit) 16 GB

I find it hard to believe they would limit the majority of users to only 16gb ram. Surely that's not right?

Can't decide to buy 1 or 2 copies of HP.

[Jasp]

Not really, vista home premium is limited to 16gb as well. Lets be honest what are the chances of hitting it before they bring out another OS?

[Ciber]

Not really, vista home premium is limited to 16gb as well. Lets be honest what are the chances of hitting it before they bring out another OS?

Quite high I would say, some are running 12gb and 16gb already.