Continue reading »]]> New Visual Basic version nearly ready for release!

For those who like building applications in Visual Basic, you’ll be glad to know that Microsoft will release the release candidate of Visual Basic 2010 to the general public tomorrow.

The new version has already been released for MSDN customers and they can download it now.

The new update will include various fixes from the beta, and will hopefully bring a few new features from the last major release.

I’ll be reviewing it shortly after it’s released to the public, so stay tuned to GEEK!.

Continue reading »]]> Microsoft is already handing out the release candidate to a select group of testers.

Microsoft has given a select group of testers access to the latest build of the Microsoft Office 2010 suite – the release candidate.

Sadly, at present, the release candidate isn’t available for public download. However, I would think that Microsoft will probably give it to TechNet customers in a few days (or weeks), and then once that’s done everyone else will probably get it shortly after.

This new release candidate would show that Microsoft is really trying hard to reach it’s target of RTM (release to manufacturer) by June 2010. It’s only February and they would appear to be reaching their final stages.

I have to say that I think the beta was very successful – I am yet to find any bugs or hold-backs. I’ve been using the beta since launch day and haven’t had a problem with it yet.

Update: Thanks to Sebastian (see comments) who has informed me that the RC will not go out on public release. It’s a shame, but many thanks for that information.

Continue reading »]]> Time’s almost up for the testers…

If you’re still one of the few using the Windows 7 Release Candidate, you’ll be interested to know that Microsoft are [finally] starting the bi-hourly shutdowns next month. It means that from March 1st, you’re computer will automatically shut down every 2 hours. Three months after that (1st June), you’ll loose use of the release candidate altogether.

So, now’s the time to be making decisions. You either need to buy a copy of Windows 7 (which I seriously recommend you do if you have previously used Windows) or change your operating system.

Continue reading »]]> If you are still running the Windows 7 Beta and haven’t bothered to update to the release candidate, you’re about to hit the bi-hourly shutdowns.

Starting July 1st, Windows 7 Beta users will start getting bi-hourly shutdowns, meaning that your computer will automatically be shut down every 2 hours.

If you want to avoid the Windows 7 Beta bi-hourly shutdowns, you’ll need to upgrade to the Release Candidate for free. You can download it from here for free until August 15th so make sure you upgrade if you want to continue using Windows 7.

Continue reading »]]> This is just a quick message to remind anybody who hasn’t yet tried the Windows 7 Release Candidate (and wants to), to go and download it now. You can get a copy here.

I’m reminding you because it has come to my attention that Microsoft may well potentially end download availability of the Windows 7 Release Candidate on June 30th, 2009.

From a Microsoft email I have received: “It will be available at least through June 30, 2009, with no limits on the number of downloads or product keys available.”

Yes, it does say “at least”, but that does mean that downloads could end on that day if Microsoft feel it is appropriate too.

Don’t worry if you have already downloaded a copy, as running the Windows 7 Release Candidate will not expire until June 1st, 2010. However, you will start receiving bi-hourly shutdowns from March 1st. But by then, Microsoft should have released the final version of Windows 7.

So yes, if you haven’t got a copy of the Windows 7 Release Candidate, get one now.

EDIT: False alarm, download will end on August 15th. After that you won’t be able to download the RC, but you will still be able to install it and obtain product keys.

Continue reading »]]> Microsoft has recently released a few updates – one of which fixes a bug with the Windows 7 graphics card driver on my laptop (driver for SiS M672MX), which now means I can use the Aero interface properly and without issues. 

Since Aero is now working, I’ve decided I’ll take some screenshots to give people who haven’t downloaded Windows 7. I recently did a full Windows 7 review without screenshots, so if you’d like to see that instead, please click here.

So there you go, a little taster of Windows 7. It still isn’t due for a while, but it’ll hopefully be worth the wait.

Continue reading »]]> Mozilla, the creator of the well-known Firefox, has set a target for the release candidate of Firefox 3.5.

The company claims that they are estimating that the release candidate of Firefox 3.5 will be readily available sometime within the first week on June. This is of course providing that there aren’t any major bugs that get in the way of the release.

Between now and the first week of June, the company will be going through a number of stages for finalising the code. Mozilla claims on this page a schedule for what’s going to happen over the next couple of weeks.

Hopefully this release candidate will be something to look forward to – personally I haven’t heard a huge amount about Firefox 3.5 (other than the fact that it’s been under discussion for ages) but I’ll be testing the release candidate when it becomes available to the public.

Continue reading »]]> So now I’ve had a few days to trial out the new Windows 7 Release Candidate, I shall review it as promised. If you haven’t already downloaded it and you feel tempted to, please do so as you get plenty of time to trial around with it. I wouldn’t recommend it if you don’t have much experience in IT, but if you know what you’re doing don’t hesitate to try it out. Don’t forget to think about your internet bandwidth limit as the ISO image is about 2.5GB. You’ll also need a blank DVD to burn the image to.

Anyway, the review.

What do I think of it? Overall, I’m pretty happy with it. The install was very smooth and worryingly fast, but all seemed to go fine and within 30 minutes of burning it to DVD I was up and running in Windows 7. The new Aero updates are definitely well worth it, and I’m very pleased with some of the new features.

Do I have any complaints? A few yes. My main problem was trying to get drivers for hardware, which proved to be an utter nightmare for me. In fact, it wasn’t so much getting the drivers, but trying to get them to function correctly. My SiS M672MX graphics card in my laptop was a right nightmare in Windows 7. Windows Update found a suitable driver absolutely fine, but the driver would not allow me to use a resolution higher than 1024×768. My laptop’s monitor should run at 1280×800 so you can image how skew-if the display looked. In the end, I used SiS’s official Vista drivers for the monitor which cured the resolution problem, but then the Aero interface refused to run. As of today, I haven’t found any way to resolve that problem. I had similar problems with my Realtek HD Audio sound card – the sound was absolutely dreadful with Microsoft’s drivers for the sound card, but this was fixed by installing Realtek’s Vista drivers.

Will I be buying it when it’s released? Most likely, yes. I really love the new ideas that have gone into Windows 7 and hopefully by the time it is released, Microsoft will have fixed most of the driver issues. As long as the upgrade isn’t too expensive, I should think there’s a 90% chance I will get a copy.

Would I recommend the upgrade from Windows XP/Windows Vista? I’m not entirely sure what to say here. I still reckon there are a large chunk of Windows XP users who aren’t going to like Windows 7. Many people are saying that hopefully Windows 7 will encourage some of the users of Windows XP to upgrade, but I’m not entirely convinced. I personally, would recommend the upgrade to most users but you have to consider that many XP users aren’t going to have hardware powerful enough to cope with the upgrade and now many people don’t have the money to be forking out cash on upgrades. So yes, I would recommend the upgrade, but I think we have to consider what people can afford at this point in time. Also, some people just prefer Windows XP, it’s not that they can’t afford Windows 7 – they just have a personal preference for XP.

I think we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. I really like Windows 7 and I’m sure many people would agree that it’s going to be much better than Vista, but in this economic time there just isn’t going to be enough people who can afford to stretch out for it. My verdict is that if you can afford it, buy it. If you can’t, don’t worry about it. Then again, it isn’t going to be out until late 2009 so there might have been a change in economics by then. We’ll just have to sit back and wait.

Continue reading »]]> Yep, it’s out. Anybody can now download it and install it for free. It will be usable until March 1st 2010, and Microsoft want as many people as possible to try it.

You can grab a copy here – but as usual be aware Microsoft servers are overloaded again so it will probably take a while to get through.

I’ll be posting a review of it in a few days when I’ve done some testing of it. Enjoy

Continue reading »]]> The Windows Blog yesterday confirmed the release dates for the Windows 7 Release Candidate. They have said there has been a lot of question as to when the release candidate is coming out, so they decided to post the date online.

Anyway, the Release Candidate will be available to MSDN/TechNet customers from April 30th 2009, and it will be available to the general public from May 5th.

Looking good Microsoft, but remember the havock that arised when the Beta was launched. Hopefully Microsoft will think about this and organise downloads a little better.

Anyway, something to look forward to. I’ll be reviewing it as usual in a couple of weeks time.