Windows 7 build 7000 (Beta 1) QnA!

[Inctye]

So cards like mine don't support WDDM 1.1?

Your Radeon X1400 is WDDM1.1 compat. Need proof? I am running X1200 on my Toshiba Satellite and Aero works fine.

[Roger H. Veteran]

I doubt the Mobility Radeon x1400 has 1.1 drivers as it's barely Dx9. The x1400 came out like 3yrs ago and isn't DX10 compatible either.

[Mayhem]

anyone with this? it happens on libraries, all that space left of the menu

[x-byte]

I was just about to post that bug myself. Weird issue.

[Eri]

I tried to install it but everytime I get a 0x80070570 error about a file being corrupt and stops at 52%, I've wasted 2 lightscribe DVDs so far and I even spent 30 minutes customising and labeling one of them :( . I've no idea whats going wrong, I even re-downloaded it.

[Inctye]

I doubt the Mobility Radeon x1400 has 1.1 drivers as it's barely Dx9. The x1400 came out like 3yrs ago and isn't DX10 compatible either.

The new ATI 8.12 drivers support WDDM 1.1. I have been using those and not having a single problem.

[crazlunatic]

I'm having a driver problem with my SM Bus Controller, anyone else have that or know how to fix it? Seems to be driver related so I probably have to wait...

anyone with this? it happens on libraries, all that space left of the menu

I get that all the time after I install Winrar it seems

[MycroftH]

Brandon: If you're moving away from the old sort/group/stack/filter UI in explorer by hiding it in all but 1 view, why not show the Arrange By drop-down on all folders, not just Libraries? Also, it'd be alot more useful if it were customisable

[0sit0]

The new ATI 8.12 drivers support WDDM 1.1. I have been using those and not having a single problem.

What card are you using? I have the 8.12 and it still shows as WDDM 1.0.

[Denis W. Veteran]

About the WDDM 1.0/1.1 topic:

While in 6956 I'm pretty sure there were WDDM 1.1 drivers installed; the generic driver first installed by setup installs a WDDM 1.1 driver. But why does the package on Windows Update install a WDDM 1.0 driver in 7000?

[Inctye]

What card are you using? I have the 8.12 and it still shows as WDDM 1.0.

Radeon X1200... it's bottom end integrated graphics card

About the WDDM 1.0/1.1 topic:

While in 6956 I'm pretty sure there were WDDM 1.1 drivers installed; the generic driver first installed by setup installs a WDDM 1.1 driver. But why does the package on Windows Update install a WDDM 1.0 driver in 7000?

Chances are Windows Update still has the same old driver that can be detected in Vista. Nvidia and ATI still have not officially released their Win7 drivers, rather they are just previews that beta testers like us could use for the time being. Once they do finalize these versions, count on them being able to be detected through Windows Update.

[Brandon Live Veteran]

Brandon: If you're moving away from the old sort/group/stack/filter UI in explorer by hiding it in all but 1 view, why not show the Arrange By drop-down on all folders, not just Libraries? Also, it'd be alot more useful if it were customisable

The Arrange By views (except for By Folder) depend on the indexer, and so that UI was introduced to differentiate Libraries and take advantage of the fact that they're indexed (and that the options can be tailored to the file types included in those locations, without "sniffing" and such).

[Loso]

1) is beta 2 comin out anytime soon

2) when is the final release of windows 7?

3) is windows 7 more energy/power efficient than vista?

[Inctye]

1) is beta 2 comin out anytime soon

2) when is the final release of windows 7?

3) is windows 7 more energy/power efficient than vista?

1) Nothing is written in stone. Right now beta 1 seems pretty solid. So there may or may not be a beta 2 and simply go straight to RC1 by June.

2) RTM is expected to come by September, maybe sooner.

3) Results may vary based on your hardware and usage habits. Personal tests seem to show power management is better overall since my laptop battery is lasting a little longer than it did on Vista.

[Loso]

1) Nothing is written in stone. Right now beta 1 seems pretty solid. So there may or may not be a beta 2 and simply go straight to RC1 by June.

2) RTM is expected to come by September, maybe sooner.

3) Results may vary based on your hardware and usage habits. Personal tests seem to show power management is better overall since my laptop battery is lasting a little longer than it did on Vista.

thanks u've been a big help. i've been deciding whether or not to try out beta 1 but since it is stable i'll give it a go

Edited December 31, 2008 by C.R.E.A.M.

[MycroftH]

The Arrange By views (except for By Folder) depend on the indexer, and so that UI was introduced to differentiate Libraries and take advantage of the fact that they're indexed (and that the options can be tailored to the file types included in those locations, without "sniffing" and such).

OK. Surely all the old stuff is using the indexer in the same way though? I never used group or stack anyway so I'm not bothered about that, and the filter functionality seems to be part of the search box now. Fine

I do use sort all the time though on all the different views, so I'd really appreciate some permanently visible UI to display and select the sort property. Such as a universal Arrange By box.

Having the same view options and behavior across all folders and libraries would be my preference. They're both just list of files so I don't see a reason to differentiate beyond any implementation constraints . Image folders and image libraries, video folders and video libraries, general folders and general libraries, the distinction seems artificial. Unindexed folders would be the exception

The interaction between Arrange By and sort is also pretty confusing atm. Eg/ arrange by date modified, sort by date created

[Brandon Live Veteran]

OK. Surely all the old stuff is using the indexer in the same way though? I never used group or stack anyway so I'm not bothered about that, and the filter functionality seems to be part of the search box now. Fine

Locations you add to libraries are always indexed. Other locations may not be (and in general won't be), and I believe the goal was to not have an inconsistent Explorer experience for non-Library folders. You have libraries and you have regular folders, and they're different. But libraries work one consistent way and folders work another predictable/consistent way.

I do use sort all the time though on all the different views, so I'd really appreciate some permanently visible UI to display and select the sort property. Such as a universal Arrange By box.

I have and will continue to pass this feedback along to the UX owners, you can be sure that this is a topic with a lot of viewpoints and complicated considerations. All I can tell you at this point is that your feedback is being heard, and please keep it coming. The official feedback channels like the Send Feedback tool / links are extremely important in helping to refine the final product. Of course, those are generally only available to people with actual product keys so you'll have to wait until you have one to make use of them.

Having the same view options and behavior across all folders and libraries would be my preference. They're both just list of files so I don't see a reason to differentiate beyond any implementation constraints . Image folders and image libraries, video folders and video libraries, general folders and general libraries, the distinction seems artificial. Unindexed folders would be the exception

Ah, but there are very significant differences :) A normal folder view is just a view over the filesystem, using the same mechanisms to enumerate a folder's contents that existed in past iterations of the Explorer. Libraries on the other hand are entirely new constructs, using entirely new code, and are database-driven as opposed to a view of the file system.

We'd all love to be able to offer the same rich index-driven functionality everywhere, but unfortunately that isn't feasible at this time. On the other hand, I think libraries are a big step forward and offer lots of very compelling functionality.

[MycroftH]

I have and will continue to pass this feedback along to the UX owners, you can be sure that this is a topic with a lot of viewpoints and complicated considerations. All I can tell you at this point is that your feedback is being heard, and please keep it coming. The official feedback channels like the Send Feedback tool / links are extremely important in helping to refine the final product. Of course, those are generally only available to people with actual product keys so you'll have to wait until you have one to make use of them.

Thanks, it's appreciated.

Wouldn't an option to reenable the old "columns that aren't columns" thing for all views be a fairly trivial concession given that those options are still there in the right-click menu for libraries?

Ah, but there are very significant differences :) A normal folder view is just a view over the filesystem, using the same mechanisms to enumerate a folder's contents that existed in past iterations of the Explorer. Libraries on the other hand are entirely new constructs, using entirely new code, and are database-driven as opposed to a view of the file system.

We'd all love to be able to offer the same rich index-driven functionality everywhere, but unfortunately that isn't feasible at this time. On the other hand, I think libraries are a big step forward and offer lots of very compelling functionality.

So sorting, stacking and filtering don't use the indexer to do their work in Vista when available? Seems very fast to not be

Personally I have pretty much everything on my 3 drives indexed excluding system stuff, so I'm rarely looking at an unindexed directory. I realize most people just have the user directory included, and the library stuff seems like a decent way to encourage people to index more.

Edited December 31, 2008 by MycroftH

[Brandon Live Veteran]

So sorting, stacking and filtering don't use the indexer in Vista when available? Seems very fast to not be

They do, and continue to in Win7 if the folder is indexed. But on both OSes the UI is the same regardless of whether the folder is indexed or not. Making it different is confusing to users, and most users have no idea what an index is or how to add folders to it, so the only folders that will be indexed are those included in their libraries.

[CougarDan]

Long-time reader and new member here.

Just installed Win 7 and have been pretty impressed so far.

Like MycroftH, I too would prefer to have the sorting options available regardless of what view I'm currently in.

So far the only other thing that's caught my attention so far is in Now Playing mode in Windows Media Player there no longer appears to be a way to access Menu options. Even hitting Ctrl-M causes WMP to switch back to the Library.

Is there a particular reason for that? Or something that was just missed/overlooked? I for one would prefer to be able to access the menu at any time without the added step of having to switch modes.

[MycroftH]

They do, and continue to in Win7 if the folder is indexed. But on both OSes the UI is the same regardless of whether the folder is indexed or not. Making it different is confusing to users, and most users have no idea what an index is or how to add folders to it, so the only folders that will be indexed are those included in their libraries.

Fair enough. I can see where this is going in future iterations and I quite like it, just wish the old stuff hadn't been depreciated without a universal replacement with appropriate fallbacks

One last point. I can no longer filter by multiple options for the same property without resorting to inserting an OR in the search box. An example would be in Vista it's very fast to filter the types displayed to just pdfs and jpgs by ticking a couple of boxes. The search box won't give me a second type: filter automatically

[Owen W Veteran]

1) Nothing is written in stone. Right now beta 1 seems pretty solid. So there may or may not be a beta 2 and simply go straight to RC1 by June.

2) RTM is expected to come by September, maybe sooner.

3) Results may vary based on your hardware and usage habits. Personal tests seem to show power management is better overall since my laptop battery is lasting a little longer than it did on Vista.

Ummmm didn't MS say that Beta 2 wouldn't be happening? 1 Beta, 1 RC, then the RTM is the reoadmap.

[Sem XL]

Brandon if you do pass feedback about the columns could you ask them to give the users an option to turn it off if they do re-enable it

personally i dont like them on other views except detail but i can understand why some people would want them on all views

[DrunkenMaster]

I know still Beta and Vista had some changes to the file copy and move methods/algorithms.

That said, my main gripe with Vista has been with file manipulation. Simple copy paste functions in Win. Explorer or Console would be snappy - done in a couple of seconds - *allowing me* to do other things. It may have copied in the background fine. But with Vista, it has to do it 'instantly' at least according to MS. Wether it was Vista performance or not, i dunno. I'd like to know if this has been improved - so that in doing file manipulation, you are still able to do other things. Even if older system, it doesn't mean it shouldn't run well compared to XP.

[MycroftH]

Brandon if you do pass feedback about the columns could you ask them to give the users an option to turn it off if they do re-enable it

personally i dont like them on other views except detail but i can understand why some people would want them on all views

How about if they just changed their appearance so they don't look like columns? :)

Something like a drop down to select the property and another to alter the options