“Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is an important update that includes previously released security, performance, and stability updates for Windows 7. SP1 also includes new improvements to features and services in Windows 7, such as improved reliability when connecting to HDMI audio devices, printing using the XPS Viewer, and restoring previous folders in Windows Explorer after restarting.” Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 Site

Download SP1 : http://windows.microsoft.com/installwindows7sp1

Compatible With Windows 7 32 and 64 bit!

If your like me, when Vista arrived on the scene products started to show the Windows Vista Compatible, however some of the products were not annoyingly not compatible with Windows 64 bit Vista just the 32 bit. However over at the Windows Team Blog, they have announced that…

“Compatible with Windows 7” logo have passed testing for compatibility with Windows 7 – and because 64-bit support is a logo requirement, logo’d devices will work with both 32 and 64 bit!

This is great news! So if your looking for new hardware keep an eye out for the logo and you will know it works with both Windows 7 32 bit and 64 bit.

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium from Amazon for £44.97

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional from Amazon for £89.97

Please Note this Price is for a limited time only and will soon go up that is why I’m recommending you to order yours now rather than later.

Well after 1 Day Amazon.co.uk had fully sold out of the cheap pre-orders so you can now get it from Amazon but at a slightly higher price…

Buy Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium form Amazon for £74.97

Buy Microsoft Windows 7 Professional from Amazon for £179.97

Buy Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate from Amazon for £189.97

The release date for Windows 7 is fast approaching and Microsoft have announced the pricing. There will be 3 versions available in mainstream Europe excluding the Enterprise editions. These will include:

Windows 7 Home Premium ‘E’ – £79.99 before 31/12/09 – £149.99 after.

Windows 7 Professional ‘E’ – £189.99 before 31/12/2009 – £219.99 after.

Windows 7 Ultimate ‘E’ – £199.99 before 31/12/2009 – £229.99 after.

‘E’ is the European version and complies with the European Union antitrust investigations to remove Internet Explorer from the Installation of Windows 7. However, Internet Explorer can be downloaded via FTP or installed separately from the CD.

So after looking at the pricing I felt (as with Vista) they are somewhat high. There will also be no cheap upgrade option available in Europe. Personally I feel anyone running Vista will definitely want to upgrade as the performance of Windows 7 is far superior to Vista. Anyone running XP should definitely give Windows 7 a try too, as it brings in many more features and you should not lose performance, unlike Vista.

A user has managed to run Windows 7 on a Pentium 2 with less than 128mb of ram and a 4mb Video card. So anyone who has brought a computer in the last 5 years should have no problem at all.

Overall, I do feel paying up to £229.99 is rather expensive considering the lack of tools available straight out of the box. Compared with Apples “Snow Leopard” for the Mac, being just £19 (no I haven’t missed a digit),Microsoft again seem to be overcharging us for what should be, in my opinion, a free version of Windows to users who bought Vista at anytime. Nevertheless, if you want new features without sacrificing performance and compatibility, Windows 7 is worth trying out. Just get it before 31/12/2009 to take advantage of those discount prices!

I will hopefully get my version of Windows 7 free as I did with Vista but which version I’m unsure.

Edit: Thought I best add I will hopefully get Windows 7 Free from Uni MSDNAA, I didn’t want you thinking I would use a pirated OS.