Note:
- This is not a WCIF request
- I am not asking for technical help

Windows 7 is coming out very soon. I am going to get a legal copy for $30 USD. Now, the question is, do I dare to install it on the main computer that I use to play TS3 and other games?

With other version of Windows such as 95, 98, XP, and Vista, I would highly suggest against it. Most newly published Windows OS have all kind of bugs so gigantic I wonder how Microsoft QA missed. In fact, the rule of thumb is to wait for service pack 1.

But Windows 7 is a little different. Microsoft gave free fully functional evaluation copy for us to use for a year. When I got it early this year, it is said to stop functioning March of 2010. I have had it on my EEE 1000 netbook. It has been great. I just fall in love with several Win7 features such as much better task bar grouping, desktop peak, and rotating background image set.

Anyone here dares to brave the wind and install Win7 the first day it comes out and risk losing all your games? At least, risk reformatting with Windows Vista.

Even better, who here has been playing with Windows 7 evaluation version the whole time with TS3? Speak up please!

As an IT engineer for the past 17 years, I've 'braved' every version of Windows and each time a new version comes out, there's always a big scare over how all our programs and games are going to stop working! The two times I did have a real problem were with Vista, where it refused to run about half of my games, saying my 'disk emulator software' was 'not compatible'. I don't use disk emulator software, and the correct CD/DVD for the game was in the drive, so I had to go off and Google to find out what to do (run them in Windows 95 compatibility mode, of all things!). And with Windows ME, where so many of my games ran either badly or not at all that I had to go back to dual-booting Windows 98.

I'm on a pre-order list for Windows 7 and have not used it yet myself, but from what I've heard, people seem to like it better than Vista (which is not hard, I guess - I hate Vista with a passion, I think it's the worst version of Windows ever made since version 2.0!)

It will be interesting to see any responses from people who have already been running TS3 with Windows 7, and whether the final version of W7 will have any issues that the beta version didn't have! I do know a couple of guys who have been running TS2 with Windows 7 and say it's fine.

Yep! I've run TS3 on nothing but Windows 7 RC x64 on a Macbook Pro using bootcamp. It runs great, no issues at all! We have already pre purchased our copy and I'm thinking of getting it for my netbook (Dell Mini 9 <3) too as 7 RC runs really well on it.

I'm also running windows 7. I've no issues with sims, either 2 or 3, or any other apps so far. And I think the only app I run designed for dual core is CS3. W7 is far better than Vista in everyway, I still have 2 other pcs using Vista. My only concern is how the "real" copy works in regards to installation, and will I have to reformat over my RC. I've never been in on a Beta/RC type deal before.

I haven't played Sims with Windows 7 but I played many other games on my upper end Sager laptop starting many months ago. I got a noticeable and documented increase in performance over Vista. It also uses less resources to run the OS. Windows 7 is not a brand new rehatch of an operating system. It's built on Vista, and many have dubbed it what Vista should have been to begin with. Windows 7 even uses Vista drivers.

I think for people who are using Vista right now, switching to Windows 7 is a no brainer. Usually, it is highly recommended that people do a clean installation and not an upgrade, but since Windows 7 is so similar to Vista people have been having really good success with the upgrade. Personally, I'd still do a clean install but it's good to note anyway, especially for people who bought a version of Vista that came with a free upgrade. For people still on XP.. XP machine still gets better performance but it's a much lighter OS. People are going to have to upgrade sometime and Windows 7 seems like it's a good time to do for a multitude of reasons.. TRIM support, Directx 11 (doesn't matter for Sims but still), plus lots of other cool updated core applications and features.

That is one of the reason I put it on my EEE1000. It runs on a Runcore 64Gb SSD. Rather small for today's standard in storage (but very good for a SSD), so all I could put on it is the OS, MS Office, GIMP, and 2 other work related software, and I am already feeling cramp. Anyway, I am almost ready to reformat my netbook at any moment. It is a low cost ultra mobile device that can still type up a report (my iPhone can't) and doesn't mind being stolen. At least it does not cost $1500+ like a Thinkpad.

Anyway, back to Win7. The change in MS' marketing strategy basically allowed us to test and use for free for nearly a year. Other windows version would have been selling at this point in early 2009 already. I have high hope that Win7 will be promising.

Someone mentioned it is a lot better than Vista. Care to elaborate? This topic is moved to Tech Support now, extra details won't hurt. I heard it manages resources a lot better than Vista, optimized for SSD, optimized for low end computer like netbooks. But my netbook, while idling, still takes up 780Mb of RAM running nothing but AVG anti virus and a few ASUS utilities (to use the Fn key to change brightness, volume, etc...). That is almost identical to Vista32.

My netbook have had problems with some USB drivers such as several off brand USB drives, iPhone, etc... would take a lot longer to locate driver, while my desktop it would pop up instantly. One of the older USB mouse (Logitech) it took 30 minutes and still could not find the driver for it. Is this a problem with your copy of Win7 as well?
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@EsmeraldaF: I heard somewhere MS did not choose this current RC we are using to be as official product. So there is a slight difference between, and I hope it will not be noticeable. Hope the RC version runs until next year March. I wish I had the opportunity like you. While I was in early junior college, I had only a (very bulky) laptop and I hung on to it with my life. There was no way I would dare to brave anything or risk everything. No laptop to do homework = grade drop = fail class = family pressure = failed social life = failed future .... It was how we kids put it back then, the "endless equation". Anyway, I think ME was just a money making scheme with almost no difference than Win98. And XP is by far the best OS in its time made by Microsoft. Even though I no longer use XP, I still get all nostalgic about it.

@Sif: How ironic is it when you run Win7 on a Macbook Pro, and I have a Sony laptop running OSX. It is mainly to develop some app and jailbreak my iPhone.

And in case anyone ask, if you want Win7 for $30 (in USA), you need to have a .edu email account. And google search for Windows 7 student discount, or something similar, you will find it. I think it is an upgrade version. But Vista upgrade version still let me install a fresh copy, so I hope Win7 will, too. This same website also offers MS Office 2007 for $50, with nearly everything in it (worth around $450 at retail). So for those of you who seek a good deal while in the education industry, or just happen to have friends, relatives, children going to university, go for it.

ME was quite different from Windows 98, it was a cut-down version of Windows 2000, and I hated both ME and 2000! There were so many compatibility problems, as mentioned in my above post, with ME/2000, that I had to go back to dual-booting Win98 until XP came out.

Yes, I absolutely agree that XP is the best version of Windows. I still run XP on my main PC, and have Vista on my games PC. (And OSX, the best operating system of all, on my Macs!)