As a XP user, should I skip Vista and wait for Windows 7?

[stha]

Does anyone know the plan for NI regarding Windows 7? Will they continue to ship systems with XP until Windows 7 is available?

Rumors say that Microsoft will continue to sell XP licences until launch of Windows 7. Personnaly, I would prefer to skip Vista knowing that Windows 7 might be available mid-2009. I don't want to invest in 2 OS migrations in 2009!!! Moreover, Vista has received bad reviews, while feedback from people using beta version of Windows 7 is quite positive.

[Cory_K]

I have both Vista and XP.

For home use, I use Vista. It isnt as bad as everyone makes it out to be, however for technical computing and programming,

I stick with XP. The problem I have found with Vista, is that they think everyone is stupid, so they do a lot of stuff

behind the scenes, automatically assuming that is probably what you wanted (when it is usually not).

I dont know what to tell you about Windows 7, but from what I've heard, it will be a good combination of the functionallity of XP,

and the asthetics of Vista. 

[smercurio_fc]

You know what they say about listening to rumors. Also, never believe what Microsoft says about release dates. They are never right.

I'm not sure what you mean by NI shipping systems with XP. Are you referring to the PXI mainframes? As for OS support, NI is quite good at keeping up with major OS releases.... once the OS has actually shipped. They're also pretty good about supporting older OS versions. 

[stha]

Yes, I meant PXI.

My concern is not support. My concern is that NI will stop selling PXI controllers with XP OS. And we'll have to port our application to Vista and suffer the performance lost. 

[smercurio_fc]

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stha wrote:

Yes, I meant PXI.

My concern is not support. My concern is that NI will stop selling PXI controllers with XP OS.

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Only NI can provide this information. If this is a big concern for you then your best bet is to contact your local sales office and talk to them about this. 

[Matthew_Kelton]

Since the first beta of Windows 7 was officially relaeased on Jan 9, I would be shocked if they relaeased the final version by mid 2009.  I'd be shocked if it was released before 2010.  Even if NI were to stop selling systems with XP on it, you can still find OEM versions of XP online.

[RavensFan]

Also, would you want to be among the first to jump on Windows 7, or wait until they come out and fix that with service pack 1.

From what I've read the vast majority of the complaints about Vista were fixed by SP1.  Although there are still some real nuisance features such as user account control that cause headaches.

[stha]

Bill Veghte, Senior Vice President at Microsoft Corporation gave an update on Windows Roadmap here. My understanding is that MS will continue to make XP available for many years. It will not be possible to buy the XP licence alone, but Vista Business and Vista Ultimate will give you the right to downgrade to XP and upgrade back to Vista when you want to.

Also, people from NI told me they will offer to do the downgrade for me before they ship the equipment.

My conclusion (until someone shows me any evidence that I'm wrong) is that MS will make sure we can leapfrog Vista with Windows 7.

PS: That reminds me I never installed Windows Me at Home. Instead, I kept Windows 98 until XP was available...

[rex1030]

Who would want to wait 3+ years from the release of vista until the release of windows 7? Thats retarded. Vista is good, don't believe rumors and negative advertising from a company that controls less than 20% of pc market.

[RRobertH]

I've been developing apps for testers in Vista without any isues, using Studio 2005 & 2008.

Programing for both the GPIB cards & the NIDaq cards.

Installing Sutido Express 2005 on Win 7 right now for testing.