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Chris Jacob
The Device Stage is a brilliant update to the Device Manager, which wasn't user friendly. This is a much nicer way for those easing themselves into hardware territory to see what's conected and what it can do.
On my little Toshiba U305, Win7 correctly identified the built in webcam (which even XP had issues with detecting/identifying) without specific drivers, as well as the biometric fingerprint reader. Drivers are still wonky; people Anti-MS love to use that as "proof" Win7 is a failure, but seriously, in beta? Hell, half my hardware has gotten beta drivers from developers who are eager to get on the Win7 train, and, Win7 integrates driver updates very nicely.
I think it is important to note, that although the added functionality of the Splash Page requires manufacturers to be onboard, with that support it would have the same, or better, operation as XP ever gave.
I don't understand the taskbar icon...when would it be there? Like, I'm not gonna pin it and if the managing window is already open why do I need the jump list off the taskabr? Maybe I'm confused.
@akashhhhh: The icon can stay when the managing window goes away, so you can get easy access. Maybe a printer isn't the best example, but think of cameras or phones—something with storage that you want to get at randomly. One of my points is that the jump menu is way better than that managing window for most regular workflow stuff, so odds are, that icon will be your friend long after you've forgotten what the XML page even looks like.
@Futrell: as I've said in other Win 7 posts, I've got it on my oldest rig that's about a decade old (except the video card), with full Aero: Single core 32 bit AMD Athlon XP 2600+ @ 2.13GHz w 266MHz FSB; 1GB DDR SDRAM @ 266MHz; ATI Radeon 2600XT w 512MB GDDR3 (gimped by AGP 8x interface, and further gimped by 4x AGP slot on the motherboard).
@Zlevee: My guess is you've got some driver issues. The weakest machine I've installed 7 on was my Wind netbook's Atom. And it works as well if not better than XP. Same story for dual-core Atom 330 and 64-bit VMware'd on my MBP.
It's a huge step over Vista, As long as they get the Beta kinks worked out. I've been overly impressed.
Check the forums (google) and see if anyone else has installed the Win7beta on a system similar to yours. Maybe you can find the conflict.
This feature is very similar to what happens on my Mac, can safely say I have never installed a driver since 2003 and all my printers have been recognised and shown an icon that looks just like the printer!
Nice feature though, more detailed images than the current Mac equivalent.
@mrzippy: i was about to say the same thing, the icons on my Mac arent this big but still they are there. Nice feature but its not the first time we've seen this
@pdditty: Actually, about half of this functionality is stuff you haven't seen before on the Mac. I should know—what do you think I used to type this article? Drivers are definitely old hat. Even XP had certain device drivers pre-installed. But rich, specific menus accessible from the taskbar and the XML pages pushed through a content network as they're built, man, that's all new.
02/10/09
On my little Toshiba U305, Win7 correctly identified the built in webcam (which even XP had issues with detecting/identifying) without specific drivers, as well as the biometric fingerprint reader. Drivers are still wonky; people Anti-MS love to use that as "proof" Win7 is a failure, but seriously, in beta? Hell, half my hardware has gotten beta drivers from developers who are eager to get on the Win7 train, and, Win7 integrates driver updates very nicely.
I think it is important to note, that although the added functionality of the Splash Page requires manufacturers to be onboard, with that support it would have the same, or better, operation as XP ever gave.
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It's a huge step over Vista, As long as they get the Beta kinks worked out. I've been overly impressed.
Check the forums (google) and see if anyone else has installed the Win7beta on a system similar to yours. Maybe you can find the conflict.
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doesn't work if i set my phone to "storage device" mode though.
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Nice feature though, more detailed images than the current Mac equivalent.
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