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A gaming OS would be interesting but most people with gaming PC's also use them for other purposes and a gaming oriented OS would limit its capabilities with other tasks. Maybe if Win7 gave the option to optimist performance for different uses, like a wizard that would change the settings to the most suitable for the task assigned to it (like gaming).

I have an idea: what if either the install disk could install a "Gamer" install on the harddrive (in addition to a normal Windows install). You could run a dual-boot configuration: one install of Windows for more standard PC uses, and one optimized for gaming and such.

Even better would be just an in-Windows option to go to "Gamer Mode": the system reboots, and loads only what a gamer would need (and with separate, optimized settings from Windows 'Normal' mode.). This would eliminate the need for dual-boots and multiple partitions, etc. Everything would still be installed like normal; its just a built-in 'boot option', so to speak, and you could still play games in Windows 'normal' mode if you wished (sometimes you just want to kill a few minutes in Doom or Half-Life 2 or something, ya know? ). Something else Gamer mode could do is have better support for older games, such as DOS-based games (via virtualization, I suppose), old Windows games that are hard to get working these days, etc.

Just a thought. ^_^

I was just thinking of a Game Mode. It'd be an interesting thought. Or in the spirit of 'Run as administrator', throw a 'Run in gaming mode' option in there. Games can set the option by default during install if they want to, or leave it to the user. I don't know much about the workings of this sort of thing, but maybe put what's cleared out of memory into something like hibernation--stored on the harddrive--so that it can come right back up as soon as you exit the game.

It's a shame I alt-tab a lot when gaming. I'm much more of an adventure/rpg gamer and don't enjoy being trapped in time-sensitive button mashing games. The casual feel lets me clear my head doing something else if, say, a puzzle is especially parsing me off.

To be honest, this is not going to gain you nearly as much as you'd think.

With multiple cores and loads of memory, and things like background i/o for services/etc., the performance hit that they give gaming is pretty negligible.

A specialized gaming computer is called a console. The vast majority of PC purchasers buy a PC to do a lot of different things.

I totally agree. This would make sense considering Vista already has the "Turn Windows features on/off". Just expand on that to encompass all the crap found in the "Business" versions. Maybe have the user choose a default profile (Home/Office/Travel/All) on installation that would install a certain set of programs. The server version has its place but dividing the stuff aimed at common users into so many versions is not only confusing but also more costly and requires MS to support just more crap.

I don't see a reason for role-based versions either. On my Vista installation I watch movies, listen to music, play games, do coding, graphics, video, 3D modeling, audio recording..all perfectly fine with the same installation, same user and same profile.

You can, actualy, strip down a Windows install to throw out the stuff you do not need to play games with. It's called nLite (vLite if your need to use Vista).

Exactly... Airlink.

And.. after the install, you can strip it down even farther by turning off a ton of useless services, startup entries, themes and the default windows sounds. Afterwards, you can get into the registry and tweak it yet some more.

Windows is a gaming OS. If you haven't learned to tweak it by now.. you don't deserve to be called a 'geek'.

Lawl...this has nothing to do with windows versions you twat. Its to do with dedicating a computer to one thing, rather than making it work with everything.

Um, no. RTFA. The part that says "I've long argued that there should be one version of the operating system." should be particular interest to you.

Lol one line in the entire article says that...but its not what the article is about.

They better not pull that kind of crap or they might as well not even roll out Windows Seven. Nobody is dumb enough to buy an OS that needs critical components that you have to purchase separately. What they need to do is include everything plus the proverbial kitchen sink and then let you de-select what you don't want during the install, setup, and/or boot time.

Microsoft have kind of painted themselves into a corner recently. Nobody actual needs Vista, the only reason it sold at all is that MS made dam sure you couldn't buy a new retail PC without also buying Vista; If they would have let people choose between Vista and XP, probably the majority would have chosen XP because it's what they know, it 's all they need, and it's less expensive. For Seven to sell, MS will either have to pull another Vista and force all the OEMs to sell it or they'll have to come up with a compelling reason for people to actually want it. They're apparently working on the latter, but I'm expecting the former.

Yes yes...because people REALLLY NEEED leopard, people reallllly need office 2007....I can go on.

Vista is a huge improvement to XP. Now if you've ever actually used it for more than 2mins than trusting all the FUD written about it, you would know.

And also...xp at release costed pretty much the same as vista at release, unless of course you want Ultimate. But then ultimate OEM is like 190 dollars. Big difference.

So please...quit your trolling.

I've personally tried the hell out of Vista and I think it has nothing better to offer than XP. I like the look better, but nothing a shell patch in XP can't fix.

So please... quit your preaching...