What Windows 7 means to Me

I've posted quite a few musings about Windows 7, all of which are overwhelmingly positive and optimistic.  I'm sure I've hyped it to the point of making my Linux and OSX friends nausious, but that's ok, I forgive them for their misguided ways.  (chuckle).  I was impressed enough to roll it onto all the computers I have strewn about the house, which consists of three desktops and two laptops.  My home "server" is running on Windows Server 2008, so the environment is essentially "homogenous" and I have never been happier with the results, features, capabilities, performance and most of all: the reliability.  But...

What I'm holding my breath over is the announcement of official pricing and licensing terms.  I've seen some semi-official releases, blog postings, magazine articles, and podcasts, but nothing set in stone yet.  If the rumor about home use allowing 5 installs per license (like Apple allows with OSX), that will be a major point for me (for obvious reasons).  Another will be the upgrade costs.  However, there's another issue I'm a bit bummed about which is the "closed" beta program this time around.  This was expected of course, after all, it is Mr. Sinofsky's world now, not Mr. Allchin's.

All of the past beta programs I've participated in culminated in a nice gift of a free license for the product being tested.  While I cannot comment on specific products (NDA's and all that), it was very much appreciated and indeed helpful.  That's not likely to happen with Windows 7.  The beta was "closed" from the start.  There was no inside alpha program this time around, and the "beta" might as well be an RC (release candidate) since they're not entertaining any feedback unless it's a "stop-fix" bug.  Requests for feature changes, even the smallest of tweaks, are being completely ignored this time around.  The windows are closed, the sign is hanging "Closed - Come back later".  I can live with that I suppose.  Like a lot of things in the past 20 years of my life: the run of good luck seems to run out eventually.  But I still have my family and a job, so hey.

I will keep using Windows 7 until the pricing and licensing terms are announced and I have something to help guide where I will go next.  If it kills my plans to continue in that direction, I will stick with Vista.  I can never go back to XP, geez.  XP is horrible.