I installed Windows 7 Beta 1 as my primary operating system last week. Due to some glitch on TechNet I had an x86 named ISO image that installed an x64 edition of Windows 7. I only noticed once the installation was done. That stopped me getting two drivers I needed for my Vaio – Sony only have x86 drivers for my model. That only annoyed me because I lost the scroll function on the scratch pad.
Everything I pulled down from MS for the installation worked well. Office 2007 Pro and Visio were OK. Live was fine. There was a link to 3 AV companies participating in the program. I ran AVG free (as usual at home) and it was fine.
My only hassle was with the wifi NIC driver. It didn’t like that my wifi network was set to channel 13 – an unlicensed channel in Ireland. Everything was fine once I reset to 11. I don’t know if I can blame MS or the vendors of the NIC for that one. I didn’t like that I didn’t get any explanation for the failure to connect. I’m a techie; I want information to diagnose the problem and not to be left guessing/shooting in the dark.
The performance has been superb. Battery life was good.
I had PhotoShop CS3 (the most important app on my personal laptop) running and it was fine.
I’m reinstalling now with and x86 installation of Windows 7 Beta 1 so I can get all of my drivers up.
Now, I really hope 3rd parties don’t act like Windows 7 is a surprise. It’s a public beta. It’s available with unrestricted downloads to TechNet and MSDN subscribers. There are no excuses not to work on compatibility and verification – other than economic pressures 🙁