Pre-ordering: it's what all the cool kids do.

Before we get into any of this, note the title. Yeah, that’s witty; it even references an earlier post, which is always fun.

Okay, down to business.

I pre-ordered Windows 7 today for $49.99. Fine, $55.97 if you want to get technical and include shipping.

It was good. It was lovely. And for a few hair-raising minutes, it looked like it wasn’t even going to happen.

Newegg didn’t officially show it as in stock, and just had the auto-notify button up. Office Depot was out of stock. Microsoft’s online store crashed every time I tried to access it. Enter my hero: Amazon. Ordered, confirmed, and scheduled to arrive on the day Windows 7 officially releases.

Before any of you go off into some sort of anti-Windows / anti-early adopter / anti-other stuff rage, let me make a few points:

1. Other than resorting to piracy (which is illegal, I’ll have you know), this is by far the cheapest way I’ll be able to get Windows 7 onto my current machine.

2. Yes, the $49.99 option is only for an upgrade disk and not the full retail version, but check this out: you can opt to do a clean reinstall. From XP, which is what my main rig currently uses, you HAVE to do a clean install. Upgrading isn’t even a choice, and that’s fine with me – I wouldn’t have wanted to in the first place. Upgrading on top of current operating systems is generally a messy process that leaves you with an install that isn’t as quality as simply doing a fresh one.

3. OEM copies are great, and I heartily recommend them typically, but there are no indications right now as to how much those will cost.

4. Windows 7 is new. I realize that. I also realize that for all the praise it has garnered, it won’t be without faults. The dolts out there writing trojans, worms, viruses, and all manner of nasty stuff will begin targeting 7 specifically, and my computer may end up on the receiving end of that. Regardless, it’ll still be a net improvement over XP, which by now has patches for its patches, hot fixes for its earlier hot fixes, security revisions for its… you get the picture.

5. DX 10 & 11; have you heard of them? Technically my current graphics card supports DX 10, but XP doesn’t. By moving to 7 I’ll be making new graphical possibilities available to myself. DX 11 isn’t available yet, and DX 10 has a tendency to hurt performance as much as it helps, but there’s no reason I can’t just be a little discerning from game to game.

6. I’m not a die-hard early adopter, but I will do so when it suits my purposes. Other technologies I give five or six years before buying into. Windows 7 is coming at the right time, at the right price-point to make it worth my while. If Vista was a well-intentioned but half-baked product, then 7 is what happens when you give that cookie time to cook through properly. Also: I like baked goods.

Tasty.

All that being said, you can expect a nerdtastic post on the 22nd or 23rd of October about my lovely install process. There will be an abundance of Mountain Dew and Cheetos if anyone in the area wants to make a party out of it.

I’m not sure how much longer this pre-order sale will last, as Microsoft has explicitly stated that supplies are limited, but who knows – you might get lucky. Go hit up your online retailer of choice (or e-tailer, if you prefer, but I hate that non-word with a passion) and see if you can still get a copy. If not, you can always do a deal with the devil.

Soso, Funcom meldet also stabile Abonomenten Zahlen. Im Gespräch mit Golem.de vermeldet der norwegische Entwickler Funcom (Anarchy Online, Age of Conan und irgendwann Secret World) ein Umsatzplus. Auf den ersten Blick scheint es also noch relativ gut zu laufen für die Norweger. Mal schauen wann Golem den Fehler mit der Age of Conan Veröffentlichung bemerkt, die war ja nun 2008 und nicht 2009.

Aus dem kurzen Text geht dabei leider nicht hervor auf welchem Niveau sich die Abonoments von Age of Conan nun eingependelt haben. Das sie nahe der magischen 500k Grenze liegen halte ich jedoch für unwahrscheinlich, eher weit darunter.

Für die Zukunft will Funcom das Item-System überarbeiten und auch für Gilden soll einiges passieren. Was mich stutzig macht, ist die Formulierung man will vorsichtig versuchen durch Marketingmaßnahmen neue Spieler zu gewinnen. Das man mit Vorsicht in dem Geschäft auch nur irgendetwas gewinnt halte ich für sehr unwahrscheinlich, allerdings kann das auch einfach nur schlampig übersetzt sein.

Auch das es keinerlei neue Informationen zum DirectX10 Modus gibt wirkt etwas widersprüchlich zu dieser guten Meldung, denn gerade damit würden sich bestimmt zumindest zeitweise einige Grafikfetischisten gewinnen lassen, denn auch ohne DirectX10 sieht das Barbaren MMO ja garnicht so schlecht aus.

Und wo wir bei fehlenden Infos sind, erinnert sich noch jemand an die Angekündigte XBox 360 Version? Darüber verliert Funcom nun schon lange kein Wort mehr. Schade eigentlich, den gerade das mit wenig Knöpfen auskommende Kampfsystem in AoC würde sich noch relativ gut für die Konsole eignen.

Auch für Foncums neues MMO The Secret World geht es vorwärts. Die rund 100 Entwickler haben jetzt eine erste funktionierende Version des Kampfsystems fertiggestellt und  auch die Charaktergenerierung und das Missionssystem soll rudimentär funktionieren. Echte Details gibt es natürlich nicht, man will ja nicht all sein Pulver auf einmal verschiessen.

Ich denke Funcom wird zwar so schnell nicht untergehen, aber wirklich groß werden sie so auch nicht werden. Das ist bei der momentanen Marktsituation allerdings auch quasi unmöglich.

So this evening I was feeling lucky and decided to take the plunge and update Vista tp Servcie Pack 1. Now, it wasn’t automatically coming up through the Windows Update, I had to check for updates first. The download file was only 69MB. I guess I already had the majority of the updates necessary for the update. The file took about 20 minutes to download (Microsoft servers must be taking a pounding tonight). Normally I can download a 70MB file in under a minute. I live in New York and Cablevision is my ISP. Their Broadband service (Optimum OnLine) is amazing.

Anyway, after downloading the file the install began. I recieved a welcome screen and a License agreement screen….clicked OK and off we go. The SP1 install did some work for about 5 minutes and then rebooted my PC. When the PC came back up it started a 3 step install process. Once completed, I was brought to the login screen. The whole update took about 30 minutes. There were no errors and so far all is working okay. This is definitely the first time that I upgraded a Service Pack and it went this smoothly. I must tip my hat to Microsoft on this one.

The majority of the updates in SP1 are bug fixes and performance tweaks. No new shining features and no Windows Ultimate Extras…WTF???

As I continue to look around my PC I will definitely keep a close eye on any performance enhancements. Here is a list of the updates that come with SP1. The list is huge, it’s alot of reading, so gear up.

Here are some of the things I look forward to from Vista:

1. Vista Ultimate Extras – I paid a premium for Ultimate and I want more than “Hold’em” and “Dreamscene”.
2. Sound Card – I want to see manufacturer’s make a sound card specifically designed for Vista’s Open AL standard
3. Direct X 10 – It’s been over a year people, show me why DX 10 is so revolutionary
4. Better HD – more support for High Definition content. WMP11 is way behind as compared to QuickTime. Even streaming video in the SD format is horrible in WMP11

In conclusion, I’m very satisfied with my Vista SP1 upgrade experience. Let’s see if it makes a difference.