Comments, Questions and Thoughts on Windows 7

Windows 7 is here. There's been lots of talk through the web about Windows 7 and now that we have this on TechSoup, we want to hear from you. Post any comments, questions, or musings you have about Windows 7 here!

Best,

Megan

I recently installed Windows 7 RTM on my development computer.  I have a subscription to MSDN, so I have early access to it.  The install was perfect. There have been no issues running any of the software that Iuse on it.

I would highly recommend that anyone running Vista make the change to Windows 7.  It is what Vista should have been.

In all honesty, I'm not going to upgrade until I have to.  Like any other "new, shiny" software or hardware, I'll wait for other people to work out the kinks!  Once there's a Service Pack released and a lengthy software compatibility list, I'll feel a lot better.  Until then, I'll keep reading the blogs and news sites about people using Windows 7 and watchfully wait.

I see that you guys are only offering the upgrade to Windows 7. All of our computers are running Windows XP and I was wondering if you can even upgrade from there or if its better to start with a clean install? 

From Windows XP, the upgrade to Windows 7 requires a clean install anyway. You have to make sure you have backed up all your data and have all your application install disks available.

So is the soon to be available "Windows 7 upgrade" a full version or only an upgrade?

In the past the Windows upgrades offered on Tech Soup are Full Version products, that can upgrade and existing install or perform a "clean" install.  It is the licensing requirements that you use the Windows O/S software from the Tech Soup donations to "upgrade" an exisitng license on the machine.  The COA tag on the side of the machine qualifies as the previous license.  So I was donated a stack of machines that came with XP home COA tags on the box, and wiped hard drives.  I used the XP pro upgrade to install the OS on a "wiped' hard dirve but was qualified to use the license since the box had the COA for the OEM XP Home.

I would presume at this time that the W7 upgrade will be the same, and you need to look at the list of qualified OS to use the upgrade.

Dave

Thanks for the clarification.  I received Windows XP upgrade disks in the past and they weren't the full operating system and could only be used for an actual upgrade.  Not sure i really want to do this upgrade anyway but just want to have all my info first.

Half my team is running Windows 7 enterprise and it works like a charm. The only tool that is giving us grief is our VMware Infrastructure Client

It's simple. If you have Vista, upgrade to Windows 7. If you have XP, *seriously* consider Windows 7. There's a cost in training, getting new equipment, and a learning curve, but much better in terms of security, features, maintenance, and support. Productivity should also go up. Also, if you have people in the field with Win7 and Server 2008 R2 in the office, you can setup Direct Access, which allows transparent access to the internal network for Win7 clients. Instead of trying to figure out how to use a VPN (some of my coworkers struggle with that), they can connect to the Internet and the rest is automatic.

For anyone who is interested, you can check out the current status of compatibility with all of TechSoup's donor partners here: Is Your Third-Party Software Compatible with Windows 7?

This only includes TechSoup donor partners, so it's not at all comprehensive across different software and hardware out there in the world.

Carlos - did you work out the issue with VMware Infrastructure Client yet?  I had the same issue with the RC candidate and found a workaround somewhere that makes it all work real nice.  If you need help with it, I'll dig that up and get back to you.

At DonorsChoose.org, we're excited to get our hands on Win7!

We need >50 seats and so we're wondering how best to manage procuring Win7 from TechSoup, given the NFP rules around MS products in general and the Win7 special offer. We've reviewed both closely, but still have some questions.

When we upgraded to Office 2007, we encountered a 50-seat max per title. So we got 50 x Office 2007 Pro and 50 x Office 2007 Standard, which worked fine for us. Those products were "shipped" to us on 12/02/2008.

Does anyone have any recommendations as to how we should go about getting 100 Win7 seats?

Can we do 50 seats x Win7 Enterprise via the special upgrade offer and then do another 50 seats x Win7 Enterprise via our regular MS/TechSoup quota? Or do we have to make the second part of the order for Win7 Pro so that we don't go past 50 seats per title? Or is there another better approach entirely?

In all cases, can we get the respective Win7 versions at $9 and $8 each, or does the pricing change after our first 50 seats?

Thx so much to anyone who can assist!

And sincere apologies if this is the wrong forum to ask this sort of question.  :)

Oliver

CTO, DonorsChoose.org / oliver (at) donorschoose (dot) org

Oliver,

  Based on the history of requests, your organization is still within the first 12 months of the 2 year Microsoft donation cycle which was begun on 12/1/2008 and has so far requested 2 out of the 6 titles allowed within the 2 year period. Your organization will be eligible for the Extra Donation allowed between October 22nd 2009 and January 31st 2010.

 The best way to acquire 100 licenses is to request 50 Vista Upgrade Licenses and 50 Windows 7 Upgrade licenses. The 50 Vista licenses can then be upgraded through Software Assurance.

 Please let me know if you have any other questions!

Autumn

Great advice, thank you Autumn!

Two questions about the 50-seat Vista Upgrade you're recommending:

1. To perform the upgrade, will we need to actually install Vista on the target PCs and then run an upgrade-only Win7 installer? Or is it sufficient to just enter the Vista product keys to activate the Win7 installer and therefore upgrade directly from WinXP Pro to Win7?
2. If we buy 50 seats of Vista Business 32-bit, to which Win7 version will Software Assurance enable us to upgrade? eg. will we be able to upgrade for free via SA to Win7 Pro or Win7 Enterprise?

Thx again so much for your assistance!

Oliver