Being forced to upgrade to win7....

[bob4432]

software i use is forcing a upgrade to win7 since they are killing of support for xp in about 4mos or so. after doing a bit of reading, it appears that win7 doesn't have a built in mail client like oe. i do have office 2k7 so i have outlook, but in oe i have i 7 or so identities/profiles. i am assuming i can just backup the current oe profiles, make new profiles in outlook and then import them into outlook? what about the rules that have been made?

i really don't need more than 4GB of ram in xp, how does win7 handle the ram? better? i will be running a cpu that supports virtualization so i could go 64bit if needed, but has anybody had any issues w/ it not working for certain 32bit apps? i have the adobe cs2 suite, 32bit - stuff like that - is it ok to run under win7 64bit because i am not putting out more $$ for the price of some of the software i am using. this forced move is going to be a real bitch....

fwiw, machine will be used for web design, graphic design, 3d modeling & gaming. will probably go w/ one of the skt775 quads that support virtualization, 4GB ram and a 4850 for the time being. this hardware is still working fine for me under xp so i am assuming it will be ok under win7. in the mean time i am running a cpu that doesn't support virtualization, should i wait till i get a new cpu before the install for virtualization support? or 32bit mode - whatever it is being called?

D:

 

[rootaxs]

FWIW, i also upgraded to 7 Ultimate recently, coming from XP.

All my CS3 apps are working just fine. I, too, have 4gb of RAM on a QX6700. CS2 supposedly won't run right away, there's a trick upon install to get it working. Something akin to:

Right click on the setup executable > Properties
Compatibility Tab > Select XP SP3 mode
Check the box "Run as Admin"
Start the installer

If you end up upgrading, may i suggest an SSD for your boot/app drive? I did that with this upgrade and everything is just so much snappier, including multi-tasking. Other than 3d modeling, we're in the same field, and can relate to slowdowns once those large projects spread across different Adobe apps start coming into play.

 

[xSauronx]

ive been using 7 for several months now and havent had any issues with 32 bit software. windows 7 is pretty decent and my complaints are few and far between.

/wants virtual desktops ala compiz

 

[Nothinman]

software i use is forcing a upgrade to win7 since they are killing of support for xp in about 4mos or so.

Awesome, I wish more developers would take a hint from whomever you're talking about.

after doing a bit of reading, it appears that win7 doesn't have a built in mail client like oe.

You can install Windows Live Mail if you want, but I personally hate it and OE pretty badly.

i really don't need more than 4GB of ram in xp, how does win7 handle the ram? better?

Much better.

i will be running a cpu that supports virtualization so i could go 64bit if needed

64-bit and VT are unrelated.

in the mean time i am running a cpu that doesn't support virtualization, should i wait till i get a new cpu before the install for virtualization support? or 32bit mode - whatever it is being called?

There's a patch to disable the VT requirement for XP Mode. Or you can just install another, better virtualization tool like VMware.

 

[tibandit]

yup Nothinman your spot on.

i really wish all the software makers switch over. I do alot of work supporting small Doctors and Dentist offices and most of there software does not like or does not say approved for windows 7 or server 2008. and 99% of it does not support Server 2008 64bit witch sucks when you only have 4GB of memory for 15 users RDPing into the server.

 

[Nothinman]

and 99% of it does not support Server 2008 64bit witch sucks when you only have 4GB of memory for 15 users RDPing into the server.

Windows Server Enterprise edition has supported >4G of physical memory since at least Win2K3, probably even Win2K.

 

[xSauronx]

yup Nothinman your spot on.

i really wish all the software makers switch over. I do alot of work supporting small Doctors and Dentist offices and most of there software does not like or does not say approved for windows 7 or server 2008.

seems typical for medical-related software. its slow to be changed and updated...or the offices are slow to purchase new stuff if the old stuff is working (which is understandable)

the hopistal I intern at is going from win2k to XP on the desktop *right now*, after starting the upgrade process over a year ago. there are still going to be some workstations that wont get upgraded from 2k due to software support issues.

 

[stlcardinals]

the hopistal I intern at is going from win2k to XP on the desktop *right now*

Looks like they are trying to beat the EOL of 2k this summer.

 

[bob4432]

thanks for the info. realized i had cs3 and not cs2 except go live (yep, i love go live and have cs2).

it is good to hear that you can use the win32 option but not need the virtualization on the cpu. is there a large or noticeable performance hit when doing this? and when i was talking about vt, i thought that when you would run a app in 32bit mode it would be in a a vitualization mode. i am familiar w/ vmware, currently use it, funny enough had a 32bit win7 setup in it along w/ ubuntu, but i would rather not have to run vmware on my main rig just so i know where everything is.

as for the ssd comment, i have really been kicking around the idea of going that route. i grabbed an ssd when they first came out - the ones w/ no cache and still use it but it is only 30GB and does have the stuttering issue. problem is is that i need ~75GB in a xp enviornment so figured i would need at least 80GB on the ssd and those are still a bit expensive and i know they are going to be coming down shorlty, on the opposite side of the coin, i have read w/ the newer ssds it is better to do the fresh install directly onto it so the os only only knows ssd...so possibly put off the cpu purchase and put that $$ towrards the ssd. fwiw, i currently run 15k scsi as my boot drive and have for years, so i am not as bad off as running 7.2k hdds 🙂

as far as the software that is making the push a necessity, it is soidworks 2011. last time to get me off of win2k pro it was adobe premiere.

any other advice on the mail situation keeping in mind that i want local mail and not to do everything from an online setup?

thanks again for all the info

 

[Modelworks]

Every once in a while you will run into an application that doesn't handle the windows 7 Aero desktop that well, like with redraw problems or flickering. I saw it in a few video editing applications, but it isn't a real problem. For those you just right click on the desktop, click personalize and switch to the non -aero desktop. Takes about 3 seconds and the only thing you lose is the flashy look of Aero, the speed of windows and the interface is actually faster without it.

I had a friend ask why my windows desktop was so much faster than his, things just appeared. I told him to turn off animations. They are only eye candy and do nothing but slow down your switching of windows , opening files, etc.

 

[stlcardinals]

Outlook is 100 times better than Outlook express. You could probably export all of your current mail to pst and then re-import it into Outlook. You will probably have to setup your different profiles manually and your rules. I believe you should have a more robust rule set in Outlook.