Microsoft wants you to have a Windows 7 launch party
 

This is really, truly horrible stuff.

I'm not the only one who finds it cringe-worthy.

Thanks for sharing, dar.:rolleyes:
Right now, I'm pissed that the ULI Raid controller chipset on my ASUS A8R-MVP mobo won't have drivers under 7. Apparently Nvidia bought ULI out, and deep-sixed that controller line. (For once, it's not Microsquash's fault!)

AND, my ATi Radeon graphics card doesn't have 3D support under Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty)... The closed-source fglrx just doesn't work with xserver 1.6 (thanks, AMD!) So I'm stuck with Intrepid unless I change cards.

So now I need two more cards for a four year old machine. :mad2:

What language is that, Pie?

:blush: Geek?

I can't watch the vid at work, but I do have a question:

Will there be alcohol?

This makes me cringe
 

Why a launch party for an OS?

This should be used as a method for finding the kinds of people who would hold a party for something so lame and adding them to your "do not invite" list for your own parties.

What model ATI/AMD card?

I have a Dell Optiplex 320 at home. It has an ATI chipset and Intel processor. You can guess what happened when AMD bought ATI. Somehow I don't think 7 will run too well on it, even though Vista runs really well, despite the fact that I am running a Pentium 4 3.0 Ghz with 2 GB RAM.

I only use it for the work VPN and testing. I figure if it works well on there, it will work better on a dual or quad-core machine.

No, only bacon.:D

I don't think Microsoft can handle bacon. There might be spam.

It's based on the R600 chipset -- I don't remember the exact model. Maybe the HD2400? It wasn't a real fancy one, regardless.

Forget it then, I ain't comin'.

I don't think Windows 7 is sexy enough to get anyone to come. <wink>

Well, especially if it's not even providing alcohol!

To make it easier for you Spexx, I've translated Pie's post to binary.:p

BTW, the video said to install Windows 7 'a couple of days' before the party and to call support if you have any problems.:lol2::rotflol:

It's all Geek to me. ;)

I speak fluent geek -- from the software region. Hardware geek, and science geek are slightly different dialects. :D

These "launch parties" soung strangely familiar...
I think these "hosts" are generally called APPLICATIONS TRAINERS and are paid employees of the software vendor!!!1

What makes it even funnier is that the line "call customer service if you have any questions" (at 1:01) is an obvious voice-over.

When doing your launch parties just remember to always cut your cocaine, at least 50/50, with baking soda not backing powder.

I don't think any party I hold could possibly tick as many demographic boxes.

Then again, no-one there looks like a recent cancer "survivor" so I'm one up in that regard.
Oh and none of them are hard of hearing.
Or fat.
Ya know what - maybe I will hold a party after all!
Just have to change the name a bit so the 'rents aren't confused.
I know, I'll call it curry.
We can have it tonight at dinner time.
And maybe I'll open a window afterwards.

Well... is anyone actually going to try Windows 7? I'm intrigued.

We've installed it on 4 machines in our house. So far, so good. I'm going to try to get Dreamweaver CS4 running next -- I hear there are issues with getting the 8.02 patches installed.

If it can be done, you can do it. :thumb:

I heard it described as "the much anticipated update to the flawed windows Vista"

I didn'tknow Vista had such a bad rep. as bad as ME ?

ME worked fine for us for years, until some 'update' started causing it to crap out.

Had Vista for about 6 months, no problems with it except it's not back compatible with some of the really old games, I've read about windows 7 and didn't see any features that would set me to 'upgrade'. I can resize a window to fit on half the screen, and network a printer to print wirelessly. being able to send video to another device is interesting, but still rates as gimmick for me.

I'll think long and hard before I try it. My machine runs fine now, and I have become very familiar with it. Guess as usual I'll be one of the late bloomers on this deal, too. Last "upgrade" i installed caused me a lot off unnecessary grief and in the end it wasn't really that much better.
Excuse me... did I say grief? I meant ISSUES.

I just read if you upgrade from XP to 7, you don't get a full upgrade. In order to do that, you must upgrade from Vista to 7.

link

On all our XP machines, we chose to go with a clean OEM install of 7 on new partitions or harddrives. The one Vista laptop was 'upgraded', though I think we will wipe it and do a clean install as well.

Sounds like a lot of work. If you do a wipe then you have to re-install all the other programs, and updates for each of them as well, right? I think I am just going to hang with my Dell with XP til I am forced to buy a MAC Pro.

I don't think I have my Photoshop original install disk... it's been 10 years since I installed.

The system is urging me to pirate stuff.

Yes, we do have a lot of the original disks. We also use a lot of free and/or open software. I'm trying to see if I can get by with OpenOffice; that just leaves Photoshop and Dreamweaver as my must-haves.

Have you tried Gimp? It's not bad. Setup is pretty easy on Windows now.

I had Photoshop 3.0 for Mac years ago. Paid full price for a legal copy of that bad boy. Three computers and operating systems later, I switched to GIMP and am loving it. It's got different controls, and takes a while to get used to the new interface, but it has basically all the same things Photoshop had. Very powerful, and free.

Yeah, I like The Gimp. My father had a full license for PS and DW, so I'm mostly keeping them out of a sense of continuity.

Somehow, I couldn't hold on to the really important things -- like where is the original artwork for the site logo? Sucks that the only version I can manipulate is a moderate resolution jpeg.
And. . . I couldn't hold on to him. For the first few months it seemed like the bizarrest thing that I couldn't just send him an email when I had a question about his site.

How do I go about doing a "clean install", rather than an upgrade or repair?

User title?

xoB, it's pretty much just boot the install CD and follow the instructions, but here is the best page that explains the steps. The only tricky bit, I think, is the partitioning bit, but (I happen to know) since you are reinstalling, you can select NTFS Quick format and get good results. It will delete everything and start fresh.

Yeah, on Barb's PC hopefully it can repair or replace.
But when mine puked awhile ago, it wouldn't repair and ended up with a new set up on a partitioned C drive. That takes up room and slows the start up, plus when AVG or Malwarebytes is doing a C scan, it takes a lot longer scanning a lot of unused crap. Because I don't know jack shit, I'm leery of going to the C drive and deleting stuff.

http://gallery.roadbikereview.com/da.../NukeOrbit.jpg

So, I'm still not seeing why I or anyone would need to sidegrade to windows 7, even from XP .

Well, it seems a lot faster. It's certainly prettier. There are a lot of built-in gizmos to smooth the user experience.

Oh, and Windows XP will cease to be supported by Microsoft on June 30, 2010.

Even as far back as moving from Winblows 3.1 to 95, I've found it's often asking for trouble to upgrade Windows in place. I always recommend staring from scratch whenever possible.

Bruce, one option is to buy a new hard drive and install the new OS on it. It's especially attractive if you've been thinking you could use the extra space anyway. But once you're up and running, you can copy all your files off your old disk (install it in the computer as a second drive, or buy an external enclosure for it). This gives some peace of mind for people who are scared to just wipe out everything on their computer.

The only reason I'm reluctant to do a full wipe of that laptop is that it was my Dad's, the one he was using during his transplant last year. I keep expecting to stumble upon one last document, or an email, or something that will give me two more minutes of his time...

We do have a doubly-redundant full bare-metal backup of the laptop, so I know I'm being silly. The other option would be to buy a $70 hdd and cache the old one (as SD suggests).

There isn't any reason for most people.

Some people that got stuck with Vista get free upgrades to Windows 7. In that case it is worth it.

This video finally talked me into a mac. :)

This made me chuckle:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/10/30/

Oh, guys?
After all this it turns out Windows 7 was a British invention. Yay! Up the Brits!
Sorry if you don't like it (the invention) but then maybe Microsoft shouldn't have listened to a bird in the back of a taxi.

Crystal? Not a common name here.
Still, I'm impressed at her perspicacity. And tenacity! After all, even getting through to the helpdesk is tricky.

Although a little worried she's not been more universally acknowledged. OMG! You don't think they've killed her to protect the patent?! Well, either that or they're LYING in the advert!

Either way I am changing my view of Uncle Gates :)

I just saw this. Those fuckers. That's only 9 months from now, and XP is still by far the number one operating system in the world. It's not like they are getting rid of some old unused system.

I don't believe these announcements. Remember when they said they were going to stop selling XP in June, 2008?