I'm waiting until SP1, as usual, but that article is full of FUD and lacking in any facts. And it's not "a totally redesigned OS"; it's just a retooled Vista. And they question a $150 3-pack upgrade as being reasonable "given the current economy"? Give us a break.
I probably install more software than most here, and I have not found 1 that doesn't run on W7 x64. One or two had issues, but this is not a W7 problem per se. All in all, very strong compatibility.
its probably not worth switching over if you cant do your day to day operations with it. I am waiting for my copy in the mail to come but it sounds like my HP printer will be incompatible until the new driver updates arrive. It seems I will have to wait a bit longer until these issues get sorted out I would think that HP among other companies would have these driver updates ready upon the launch of Win 7..... I guess that would be asking too much.
Some things I'm reading about in this thread and sharing my experience: Win XP x64 is very nice. I ran it for quite a while on a homemade quad core DDR3 trading box and it ran great. But why aren't people using dedicated trading boxes? I read of someone having a lockup while running Ninja, ..., streaming music, browser, etc. I run trading and nothing but trading on one dedicated machine. This way trading (most important computing function) has dedicated kick ass system 100% resources dedicated. Then I use junk boxes (like old Dell Dimension) for internet, mail, etc. Suggest building dedicated box and doing a Chris Rock on it "Turn that shit off." Remove and/ or turn off/ disable everything not related to trading. Not only in add/ remove but also in add/ remove Windows Compoents. On my trading rig you can't even read a pdf because there is no reader and there won't be one. No flash, no trash. Nothing/ nadda if it ain't used for trading. I'm using a server OS on my trading box. A server OS by default has everything turned off. It does only what you allow it to do in lieu of doing everything you tell it not to do like with XP or otherwise. Are you really going to be editing movies while trading? If so, do it on a different box. As to Win7 I can't see being a MS guinea pig. If they have finally produced a good OS, that will be made very public. And if it's another junk OS, that too will come out in due time. WinXP is fine for trading. Best place to buy WinXP Pro x64 is newegg for around $135. BTW: Win XP Pro (as most x64 OS's) has a 32 bit (x86) Program Files folder. YOu can run most any application on it. And pretty much everyone has drivers for it now too.
I've been trying to do a build for a new dedicated trading rig but the usual problem of 32 vs. 64 OS keeps cropping up. Do you build for what works right now, or for what possibly may work down the road? Now I am also considering a server, but am totally unfamiliar with the difference between desktop and server. For example, could one do an i7 build and then run it with a server OS? Advantages/disadvantages over windows 7, xp64 bit? Even possible?
Agreed 100%. I'm nobody's bitch boy involuntary beta tester. One recommendation is to put the trading box behind a whitelisting firewall, my Hotbrick has worked pretty well except for the one time when a power glitch horked it up [and it was wide open...:eek: ] and get a MAC for the internet and art work if you can shell out the bucks...
dedicated is a totally bogus notion. if it makes you feel better, then fine, but it's essentially bullshit.
to a point, such that, if i see anyone near my computer with their hand on the mouse i immediately handcuff them to the radiator and start interrogation. otherwise, practice safe surffing.