Are you using Valve‘s digital distribution service, Steam? If so, did you make the upgrade to Windows 7? According to a recently published survey done by Valve, the answer to that may very well be yes.
As you can see from the above chart, Windows 7 is making enormous gains on both Windows Vista and XP. As of this posting, around 23% of the online Steam community has made the switch to Microsoft’s latest operating system. Of course, the much loved XP is still on top with Vista trailing in second but honestly, who games on Vista anymore?
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Many have feared that Microsoft would increase the price of Windows 7 compared to Vista, but that has turned out to be false, as Windows 7 will actually be cheaper than Vista, which is always a good thing, especially if you’re upgrading from Vista or XP.
If you’re buying a new copy, the price will be:
- Windows 7 Home Premium – $199.99
- Windows 7 Professional – $299.99
- Windows 7 Ultimate – $319.99
If you’re upgrading from Vista or XP, the price is:
- Windows 7 Home Premium – $119.99
- Windows 7 Professional – $199.99
- Windows 7 Ultimate – $219.99
Windows 7 will launch this holiday season.
The upcoming Windows 7 operating system apparently can’t get enough praise, even from game developers. Stardock CEO Brad Wardell said that one of the great features from Windows 7 was WARP (Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform), which allows offload of DirecX work from the GPU to the CPU, which greatly improves performance on systems with weak graphics cards. WARP is standard with Windows 7 and DirectX 11, which includes further GPGPU features which will help use the graphics card to do things a CPU normally does, like AI.
Microsoft is gearing up for an epic marketing campaign mainly for the upcoming launch of Windows Vista, but also to shrug off that horrible decease which goes under the name “Windows Vista”. Windows 7 is slated for release on October 27, just in time for the holiday shopping season, and Microsoft just release the official box art for the three version, Windows 7 Home Basic, Professional and Ultimate Edition. Microsoft is yet to announce specific details and pricing on the new OS.
Despite the warm reception of the Windows 7 beta and RC1, there has still been some doubt when the OS would be released. Microsoft has now confirmed via a press release that Windows 7 will be launched this year, in the final quarter, almost certainly meaning that it will be available for this year’s holiday season. While pricing has not been revealed by Microsoft, it is certain that Windows 7 will come in six different versions.
According to Info World, Microsoft accidentally confirmed the RC1 release date of Windows 7. On the official Windows 7 website, Microsoft revelaed (and confirmed the many rumors), that Windows 7: Release Candidate 1 will be available this May and will be active for one year (the previous Win 7 beta expires this August).
Windows 7 is the successor to the much criticized Windows Vista. Win 7 will bring DirectX 11 to PC gamers (alongside a ton of other improvements), and is scheduled for release this fall.
Building on the gaming functionality built into Windows Vista, Microsoft seems to have expanded them to incorporate more robust PC gaming features into Windows 7, its upcoming operating system.
This image from ThinkNext – taken from a recent build of Windows 7 – shows that the OS has an option to automatically alert users to updates for PC games. An option box is present to allow Windows to also download information and news about “games and games providers.”
Windows 7 is expected to be released in 2010.
