It looks like Microsoft is forging ahead diligently with their release schedule for Windows 7. 

At the recent Gartner Symposium 2008, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stated that Windows 7 is not just Vista SP2, but rather a major OS release.  In fact, Ballmer states “It’s Windows Vista, a lot better”

According to the Microsoft MSDN Developer Conference (MDC), attendees will receive a beta of Windows 7.  The Microsoft MDC is taking place at various locations and dates/times throughout the country, so check their website for locations.

Note:  It also says if the beta isn’t available at the time of the conference, attendees will receive a copy when it becomes available.

So, take it for what it’s worth, but Windows 7 is on the way for sure.  We’re interested to hear from people who have been using the pre-beta releases.  From the early releases, do you see a massive difference from Windows Vista, or are they putting the finishing touches on Vista?

Let us know what you think, what you like and what you don’t!

Windows Vista has been with us for awhile now, and SP1 was released a few months ago to address a number of issues. 

Overall, sales have been less than predicted and reviews throughout the PC world have been less than stellar.  All of this may make you ask, as an IT professional “Should I skip Vista all together and just wait for Windows 7”?

Definitely a valid question, but in all honesty, even though I’m not a massive fan of Vista (I love some things and hate others) there are a number of reasons to deploy now and not wait until Windows 7.

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If you’re like me, you like many of the things Microsoft Vista has built-in, like the ubiquitous search, some of the visual elements, an actual calendar when you click on the clock (it’s the little things in life) and the list goes on (not really, but play along).

There are however, a number of things that really annoy me about Vista, and as I come across them I’ll post to the blog so you can benefit from my frustration.

The annoyance, and solution, for today is the fact that when I have multiple users logged on to Windows Vista, I can’t open task manager, click on the users tab, select the user I want to log off and kick them to the curb.

Instead, I get an annoying message saying [sessionID=X] could not be logged off, access is denied.  Denied!  I’m an administrator on the machine!  The other user is just a user (to make matters even more belittling to my “pretend admin” powers).

Well, after doing a little research I found that you can in fact boot users via task manager, but you must run task manager with elevated privileges (administrator isn’t enough). 

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Migrating from XP or another operating system to Vista can be a little like moving into a new house (but maybe with a few more unexpected headaches). You’re already attached to the old dings and dents in your wallpaper, and you know where all the pots and pans are in your kitchen. You are beginning to realize there are a lot of kinks to this new place, and you’re not sure where everything is or how it functions. To make this difficult transition smoother, these are some shortcuts that will help you improve your Vista experience so you can move in a bit more comfortably (if that’s possible).

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