running 7 x64 on my laptop, only thing that's broke is my wireless button

uses 200 MB less ram while idling than vista. wtg microsoft(take that how you want to )

While I get tired of people bashing microsoft these days I do have to admit this is really unfortunate news. They may have just lost my purchase, I don't feel like researching what I use to figure out the perfect version for me.

Why does idle memory usage matter? I don't care if the OS use every single bit of available memory when idle, as long as my software has access to as much as possible of that when needed. And that's really not easily measurable.

Just because the OS grab memory when idle doesn't have to mean it's not available for applications.

Oh come on, I mean, how hard could it be?  Microsoft has stated that 2 main versions will be made readily available in stores for the general public, Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional., with Windows 7 Ultimate probably being an 'order in' option if you want it.  With editions lower than Home Premium likely to be less than what the average user needs, and the Enterprise Edition being made available to big business, it doesn't leave too many choices to um and ah about, does it!

It never ceases to amaze me, how some feel the need to over-complicate matters when the choices are pretty straight forward. It's either Home Premium or Professional for most... and Ultimate if they have the bucks for more bang.

Sheesh!

Exactly, it just means MS tweaked Superfetch a bit.  The purpose of which is to use as much memory as possible to speed up the things you are using often.  After all, RAM unused is RAM wasted, since you're paying the power to keep it alive whether it's being used or not...

Use all my RAM, please!

PS and for the record, I just installed the W7 beta (32 bit version) on some 3 ghz P4 machines with 1 gig of RAM and I gotta tell ya, it's way faster on that configuration than Vista was.  So, my unscientific experiments confirm the benchmarks people are reported about the new compiler optimizations under the hood of W7.  Yummy! 

It never ceases to amaze me how nobody can have a differing outlook on life than other people without getting badgered about it.

Badgered, eh? You implied that there were too many Win 7 SKU's to research for your needs, and I responded with the facts... that MS will simplify your options through the release of just 3 commercially available versions.  The other SKU's are not likely to enter the equation as those would be made available to Developing nations, OEM builders and corporate entities, so the choices are akin to those of XP.... Home or Professional, with the addition of Ultimate (combining all Win 7 features) for power users.

Unless you're a power user with the bucks to spare to purchase an Ultimate license, you've got an either (Home) or (Professional) choice.  I mean, how hard is that?

Furthermore, 'badgering' is when somebody latches on to something you said or did and persistently harps on/won't let go.  I did no such thing!  I merely pointed out the folly of your "They may have lost my purchase" comment and supplied you with the facts, as supplied per Microsoft.

As the post hints, by and large we will only see two of these. Home Premium and Pro.

Most of us are not considered to be in an emerging market, so we won't see Starter. 

The other two are more exclusive, with availability being restricted.

So just two versions for us average folk -- Home Premium and Professional.

I'd also like a Gamer Edition with special security features to prevent SuckoROM from installing.

Also a Mobile Edition. Comes with a Wireless LAN Cable.

Personally, I will be going for the Barack Obama Edition... when a 'fatal error' message comes up and I type in: "Can we fix this?", it will reply: "Yes WE Can"

I had thought about the Win 7 Bankers Edition... but then I learned all the gratuitous bonuses are paid in Monopoly money.

Better than the b.s. MS has been spouting at me, at least.

The Obama Edition is pretty honest considering almost every issue I've ever had on windows was fixable by me and about 5 minutes on google (5 minutes for the really bad problems).

I take it you've never installed Outpost alongside AVG.

(That takes 10 minutes.  And a bit of luck, because you BSOD on boot into safe mode...)

I'm a bit slow when it comes to fixing Windows issues (anywhere up to a day if it's a real doosie), so the Obama Edition would be a blessing to me.

Even better would be the Bill Gates Edition... MS support would work extra hard to resolve issues that may arise.

However the ultimate would be the Yrag Edition... it would have ALL the answers to EVERY cock-up you ever made... though it's likely to call you a dickead every time you made one.

Rofl, I love that.

Then you'll appreciate this one, then...

Win 7 Childproof Edition - a special unbreakable release for Jafoesque type persons who seem to be able to break Windows with ease.

And... Win 7 Bebi Edition - Looks like WOW unskinned and is the best 'naked' Windows EVER! 

Ha! I'm not so sure about that.

Yeah, it was more a play on words than anything.  However, after suffering 'naked XP' a while when I built my daughter's machine, I can assure you that an unskinned Win 7 Bebi Edition would be a huge improvement.

I can tolerate the Vista and Win 7 GUI's OK, but I can't stand the XP GUI in any default colour scheme since discovering the power WindowBlinds... so having that awful memory of 'having' to work with default XP on my daughter's machine etched in my mind is the source of constant nighmares.

No wonder I suffer with insomnia... I'm afraid to go to sleep now

i have a few questions:

i already have xp and vista installed on my pc as dual boot, i have 4 gigs of ram, will i be able to install windows 7 as well, or do i need a new drive for that?

will sk6 be used to skin windows 7? or will there be a new sk for that?

does anyone have a general idea of the cost of w7 basic (or home?)

you might have to free some space up but it is possible to triple & quad boot a machine.

you just have to install them in the order released & i would suggest into seperate volumes(drive letters) on the physical boot drive

I have multi-booted xp,xp64,vista32 & vista 64 on one computer and on another xp,windows7,windows7 64bit, and they were installed in that sequence

hope this helps you

harpo