New Operating Systems this fall! no comments
Windows 7: Sort of like Vista but better…
Retailers http://www.amazon.com/b/?&node=1286119011 are taking pre-orders on version 7 at discounted (50%) off prices at the moment.
And to make it just as confusing, there are multiple versions of Windows 7 like Vista. We have Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate. We are going to disregard Enterprise as that won’t apply to us home and small business users. I’m tempted to say forget about Ultimate as well, unless you already have Vista Ultimate and want to upgrade.
What are the differences: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions#Comparison_chart
My recommendation is that if you are currently an indvidiual using Home Basic / Home Premium, that you’d purchase the Home Premium version of 7. If you need to take advantage of special software that only runs in an XP environment or you are going to join the computer to a domain you should pick up the Professional version. Ultimate no longer has any of those cheesy extras and is really only useful for the few of us who need to load our computer into a different language (35 to choose from).
One other excellent thing is any new (Dell/HP/Lenovo) PC purchased through us starting this week that currently come with Vista Home Premium/Business/Ultimate , are eligible for a free or almost free (might have to pay up to $10 for s&h) copy of Windows 7 sometime on or after Oct 22nd. So if you were putting off a new purchase until October, you don’t have to.
Microsoft has also made a Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor to see if your computer and peripherals are compatible and capable of running Windows 7. It’s a free download, check it out here http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/upgrade-advisor.aspx
On the complete other side of the spectrum, we have Apple!
Apple just recently announced Snow Leopard Is coming in September (10.6). Early reports say it is much faster than 10.5 and will have full Microsoft Exchange support. It will not support any non-Intel machines (this means if you have a G4/G5, you are out of luck!)
Apple system purchases prior to June 8th of this year, you can get the upgraded OS for only $29.00 ($49 for the family pack) and those who have purchased recently or up until the point of the release, can purchase it for $10 in shipping fees.
One of the other cool things for us Macbook users with 80 GB hard drives, is the new OS will actually free up 6 GB’s of Hard Drive space! Yes, that’s just how efficient it is.
Expect a hands-on blog for both Windows 7 and Snow Leopard this fall from me.
