Windows 7

[mrwho]

I been using it for a while now. I like it. Nice and stable and all pretty and so on so forth. Windows XP suxz

I might agree Windows XP can be antiquated (although I still use it a lot on old computers around the house), but to say that it sucks I think it's not appropriate - I believe XP was the main reason Vista was so unsuccessful, because it was an almost-perfect windows system (specially after the Win9x architecture).

[kronical]

I'm not yet using it on a routine basis, but I did beta test it and used the release candidates and was pretty happy with it. I wouldn't bother with anything less than Ultimate, the other versions seem too deficient one way or another, especially Home and Starter (a la netbook preinstall). The whole versioning thing bothers me. It's an OS, I'll buy it and choose what to install or not to install, but don't make me choose a version that I may later decide is missing something I need or want and force me to upgrade. This is one of the reasons I use a Mac or PC's running Linux, except for an old box running Server 2003 (that I keep around just cause I can) and my employer's laptop.

Ultimate is a waste of money. All it is is Professional with Bitlocker added.

[kronical]

I've argued with my IT department for well over a year now that I have to have Windows 7 on my notebook to be able to effectively troubleshoot in the field.

I have already proven to them that there isn't a single application that I run that won't run on Windows 7.

I've been told that it will be at least another year or so until I can get upgraded. Sheesh!

While "Corporate America" may still be on XP (and that is rapidly changing), our bigger challenge is when we become the psuedo IT department for the Mom and Pop customers.They buy their PCs online and in department stores, and get no choice but to have Windoze 7.

It's really difficult to have a working knowledge of something that you don't see on a near daily basis.

Although it is true that all of my service apps run just fine in Win7, it is only true if using Win7x86. The majority of the apps will not run on Win7x64.

[zed255]

Ultimate is a waste of money. All it is is Professional with Bitlocker added.

You are correct, I had lesser versions like Starter, Home and even Home Premium in mind due to the lesser networking abilities. These versions do often make it into small offices and make life more difficult than it needs to be. So, I adjust me statement to say anything less than Professional is likely to be deficient in one way or another and should be avoided.

[KenB]

Totally agreed - only Professional and above are supported.

I've had several small offices (one in particular), that had Home Basic or Premium, and none of them worked reliably for scanning to folder.

We called the Ricoh help desk several times, and once they found out that these were Home versions, they all but hung up on us, stating that we're on our own with these 'toy" versions.

Good point on the 64 bit versions, though. I do know that a bunch of things (like TWAIN scanning, for one), won't run on 64 bit.

I had done all my testing with Ultimate 32 bit running on a Micro$oft Virtual Machine session, and it all worked just fine.

[Stirton.M]

Although it is true that all of my service apps run just fine in Win7, it is only true if using Win7x86. The majority of the apps will not run on Win7x64.

I recently upgraded my laptop, including obtaining 7 x64, and have yet to run into a compatibility issue with any of the software I use. This includes the program I use to create firmware images on flash cards, the only concern I had regarding software compatibility.

As to the twain comment. Who still uses that antiquated thing? It's so..... "FAX" like. Kicking and screaming, our users are dragged into the 21st. Upgrade to a machine capable of SMB, leave the convoluted stuff behind.

[KenB]

As to the twain comment. Who still uses that antiquated thing? It's so..... "FAX" like. Kicking and screaming, our users are dragged into the 21st. Upgrade to a machine capable of SMB, leave the convoluted stuff behind.

We still have quite a few customers who need to scan using TWAIN. Normally these are homegrown apps, and sometimes it's Acrobat, Abbyy FineRead, etc... I have one very large account (1,600 MFPs) where they use a proprietary program that uses TWAIN to scan to a mortgage database.

eCopy ScanStation still uses TWAIN, as well.

I get to be the sacrificial lamb / guinea pig who gets to test these MFPs and applications when they misbehave for the customer.

If I had my way, I'd have a 64 bit Windows 7 notebook with a 32 bit virtual machine session of XP, but what do I know... I'm only the resident systems analyst.

[alphakaomega]

window 7 has the best networking setup and makes it extremely easy to setup scanning ability on copier multi-function printers. The ability to setup user security is very good . Best edition of windows yet.

[alphakaomega]

the home editions of win 7 dont have any aility to connect to domains therefor not enough info to scan to correct folders on the network unless they are setup as a peer to peer net.