HomeGroup in Windows 7 Beta
Thursday January 8, 2009
At this year's U.S. Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Microsoft announced the Beta release of their new Windows 7 operating system. Windows 7 should interest anyone who spends significant time configuring home networks, as it contains a feature called HomeGroup designed to simplify the process. Microsoft's keynote speech claimed that ... for most consumers, setting up a home network is way too complicated and highlighted how HomeGroup can help you set a home network "very easily" in just a few steps. "Way cool."
I'm not sure exactly how complicated or cool "way" is, but in networking, easier is almost always better. Does Windows 7 HomeGroup really deliver? During the Beta period, you may be able to install a public trial of Windows 7 and try out HomeGroup to decide for yourself. Microsoft's engineering overview of HomeGroup in Windows 7 is also excellent reading for those interested to learn why this feature is designed to work the way it does.
→ More - Windows 7 Beta Available for Public DownloadConsumer Electronics Show (CES) 2009 Keynote - Microsoft Windows 7 - Steve Ballmer - Photo: David McNew / Getty Images
Been working with the Win 7 beta. Pretty colors for sure. Dealing with homegroups, ridiculous and idiotic to change UI and nomenclature to something many finally figured out with Win XP. If you are loading peripherals and such that count on drivers pre Vista, good bloody luck. I ripped Win 7 off my laptop quick as ya please, especially when MSFT doesn’t even have a fully working, somewhat supported product to offer in the beta. As much $$ as MSFT has made, why would they choose to throw this technical hodgepodge out for review? Guess that’s why we still touch a hot stove.
Sugarpops
This Operating system will rock !
@Sugarpops: Isn’t that the whole point of beta software? If it was fully working and supported then it would be a release candidate not a beta. And for what its worth I have Win 7 running on a laptop and a PC and it found all the drivers automatically, if your trying to run this on pre Vista hardware then you should probably stick with XP.
As to HomeGroup, great idea but horribly bad execution. Both my PC and Laptop can see each other, and the folders being shared, but I can’t open said folders or do anything else. It worked for about the first 2 minutes on a fresh install, but hasn’t worked since. Hopefully it’ll work a lot better in the final release, but past experience tells me it probably wont.