Yay for the Tech Forum! Now to put it to use.... [url=http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2314409,00.asp]Windows 7[/url] is Microsoft's new OS-in-the-making. The "7" corresponds to the kernel version - as is explained in the above link. So, thoughts? Will Microsoft be able to compete with OSX and Linux in the coming years, or will this new OS flop like Vista has? **see edit...I guess that's what happens when rushing a post right before heading out the door**

[b]serfofChrist92 wrote:[/b] [quote]Yay for the Tech Forum! Now to put it to use.... [url=http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2314409,00.asp]Internet Explorer 7[/url] is Microsoft's new OS-in-the-making. The "7" corresponds to the kernel version - as is explained in the above link. So, thoughts? Will Microsoft be able to compete with OSX and Linux in the coming years, or will this new OS flop like Vista has?[/quote] [whisper]I think you mean Windows 7, not Internet Explorer 7.[/whisper] If what they say is true, perhaps Microsoft will regain at least a little respect. I can definitely see why they would want to forget Vista as soon as possible.

[b]MisterNathan wrote:[/b] [quote][whisper]I think you mean Windows 7, not Internet Explorer 7.[/whisper][/quote] Haha, yeah, oops. See edit. They definitely shouldn't rush it. If it does end up like Vista, I think it will really hurt Microsoft. Either way, I'd rather run Ubuntu if I bought a new machine...dual booting Windows, but only using when necessary.

No, absolutely not. Everything I've heard about windows 7 tells me that they know their time is just about up. with XP they "borrowed" several features from Mac OS, and a few from Linux/GNU. With Vista, they copied much more directly from Linux, especially graphically with the Aero Glass themes. These Desktop/Windows manager effects had been around on linux for years, starting with the old Beryl desktop manager (videos on youtube), which later merged into the Compiz-fusion project. The major difference is in overhead. Linux is able to do it with 512 memory and a 64 M video card. Windows requires 128M and 1028M to even try. Poor coding, or conspiracy to make you buy a new computer with the new OS? You decide. Either way, windows 7 takes all this intellectual property theivery a step further. They're saying it's going to be a "modular" windows. So they're going from stealing FEATURES of other Os's, to trying to copy the very heart OF the Linux/GNU kernel... the scalability, the fact that I can use the Linux kernel in a 4 Megabyte OS to watch videos and listen to music directly off a hard drive with no computer, on a standalone media machine, and that same kernel can be expanded to a 12 gig installation to run all the latest graphics, prodcutivity, 3D rendering, CAD, clustered with other computers, or whatever else a computer can possibly do. Windows is not made to be modular. Even with the biggest budget for the most and highest rated programmers in the world, they had to RUSH to market with Vista, after at least 3 delays... which is probably why right now on the net one can find in Vista THE safest and easiest hacked Windows ever. No nudget can compete with millions of people collaborating on something they believe in, which is what the GPL community is. If VISTA was too big a chance to implement fully without major bugs and security holes, NO WAY will they be able to switch the entire system to make it modular. I see it now- They want to break it down, but they won't want to give an inch on security. Theyll go SO far, add SO much extra coding to keep people from ripping off all these teeny tiny specific function apps, that you'll lose any advantage you MIGHT have had by having a modular OS.

Aye, I hate it when companies try to keep you from bootlegging their software, so much so that it completely ruins the product. Wait, are you saying Vista [i]is[/i] hackable, or isn't? I actually heard that it took several days to hack, where as OSX was hacked with shocking speed. I think the new OS will be interesting...but I'm not holding my breath for anything of quality.