Windows 7

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Nate Smith

Let me throw this out there...currently on Newegg, they have a total of 496 AMD & Intel motherboards available(not counting anything only listed under combo or server motherboards.) With this large of a potential install base for Windows, can we reasonably expect Microsoft to be able to test on every potential hardware configuration to ensure compatability, or can we say that they are doing their part by releasing documentation that tells the various hardware manufacturers "this is how you make your hardware work with Windows"? If the hardware companies are given this info, and then choose not to do anything with it, where should the blame really fall?

As far as Apple is concerned, I think the argument can be made that they are more in the CE (consumer electronics) business than the computer business. Apple's focus is on a system where everything "just works," and they are able to accomplish this by having a very small "supported" hardware base, and simply not letting their software not work on anything else, just as, for example, you could not take your iPod OS and install it on your Zune(I realize the hardware isn't as similar in that example, but I think it makes the point). Not that there is necessarily anything wrong with this approach, I just believe that because of it, MS and Apple can be considered to be targeting different markets.

You have nailed why Apple is recognized as having a more reliable operating system. If OS X were required to run on even HALF of the hardware that Windows supports I think we would find that Windows is actually a better made operating system.

Vista is a nice operating system provided you have the drivers and the hardware to run it.

In my opinion, Windows 7 needs to be stable, needs to trim down on the hardware (hard drive space especially), and it needs to get rid of UAC. Meet those requirements and I think we might have a winner. I would personally like to see their new file system that was promised for Vista.

Just to keep things open, I am a Mac user who only uses XP for Cad.

And I have to agree with Craig, for rock solid uptime very few things can beat linux. My Ubuntu box has an uptime of nearly 60 days and that was only because of a power outage.