Will the moderators be able to separate the beta and RC from the RTM?
I am now only interested in seeing threads and posts regarding the RTM. It is difficult to sort through all of the prior posts regarding the beta and RC.Can you come up with a way to distinguish between beta and RC versus RTM posts? Doc
August 21st, 2009 3:01pm

I am now only interested in seeing threads and posts regarding the RTM. It is difficult to sort through all of the prior posts regarding the beta and RC.Can you come up with a way to distinguish between beta and RC versus RTM posts? Doc Hi DocThis is a good idea, but would be impossible to implement. The only way the threads could be separated would be from the information that the members include in their posts and many will not include the build they are using. One thing that can be done when performing a search from the main category page is to use dates in the search terms. For instance, if you are looking for threads that include Windows Explorer, you could enter "August" "2009" "windows Explorer", including the quotes. This would likely give you more RTM oriented results. Hope this helps.Thank You for testing Windows 7 Ronnie Vernon MVP
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August 21st, 2009 3:42pm

Well, what about a separate forum:Windows 7 beta and RCWindows 7 RTM/ReleaseThere really needs to be some way to distinguish between the two. Starting a separate forum for the RTM/Release would be a good thing. Currently, it is difficult to determine if a reported problem or issue is with the beta, the RC, or the release.I'll even contribute to the extra disk space needed<g>Doc
August 21st, 2009 4:00pm

Greetings Ronnie,what about having a single Windows 7 RC subforum under the Windows 7 main forums and leave everything else as it is for the RTM? RC has an expiry date anyway.RegardsW7 RTM x64 running along with Office 2010 x64 TP hope my computer won't crash! ;)
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August 21st, 2009 5:06pm

What about a sticky thread asking people to tag their posts with RC or Beta if they aren't RTM-related?Want to know if your hardware will work on Windows 7? Check out these links: **Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor ** **Microsoft Logo'd Hardware List**
August 22nd, 2009 4:30am

What about a sticky thread asking people to tag their posts with RC or Beta if they aren't RTM-related? Sounds good... if the use of tags were something widespread.RegardsW7 RTM x64 running along with Office 2010 x64 TP hope my computer won't crash! ;)
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August 22nd, 2009 11:15am

What about a sticky thread asking people to tag their posts with RC or Beta if they aren't RTM-related? Want to know if your hardware will work on Windows 7? Check out these links: **Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor ** **Microsoft Logo'd Hardware List** Mark, there are people in the W7 forum asking Vista and XP questions. Do you really believe people will read a sticky, and post in the correct forum, or tag their posts appropriately?I actually doubt that having a separate forum for beta/RC and RTM would work. But something needs to be done. It makes no sense to wade through the mess of beta/RC posts by people who were only interested in a free OS, and not interested in actually testing. No one (or very, very few) reads the sticky threads, and the same lame questions continue to get asked over and over. Most seem towant a free OS to run on legacy hardware, and refuse to go to the appropriate hardware manufacturer to look for current drivers.It is time to support only those who have a legitimate copy of the RTM, and move on.Isn't it possible to determine, via THISFORUM software (if appropriately coded), to extract what OS the visiting user is running? If so, Microsoft can do the organizing automatically. Whatever the case, this problem can be solved, if the forum moderators and forum developers want to.I also believe there should be a separate forum for people who claim to have lost their key. But, one step at atime...Doc
August 22nd, 2009 3:03pm

Hi FolksSome of these ideas are good.I'll bring this thread to the attention of the Forum Owner.Keep the conversation going.Regards, Ronnie Vernon MVPForum Moderator
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August 22nd, 2009 5:22pm

Hello Ronnie,personally I think the easiest way to implement this is to have a single Beta/RC subforum where all mods could move the non RTM threads there.Regards.W7 RTM x64 running along with Office 2010 x64 TP hope my computer won't crash! ;)
August 22nd, 2009 7:45pm

Whatever the case, this problem can be solved, if the forum moderators and forum developers want to. They probably can be solved, but at what cost? I don't think the solution in bold above is a good idea, because people may not be posting from the system that's having the problem. We have to rely on people posting issues in the right place.You raise a great point about the sticky posts. The way I was thinking about it was that if people want help with their issues, they'll need to read some of the sticky posts and provide that information. But I recall having posted probably 5 or 6 times and linking back to the sticky on how to install drivers in compat mode, so I guess that's not working well :)I like the idea of having separate forums for RC issues. But it all depends on how users are finding these forums. If it's just with a web search, they wouldn't get to a main forums page to notice that there were separate forums for RTM and RC. It would require the moderators to move posts there constantly, and I think they're already overworked. Also, it wouldn't be reasonable to expect them to go back and look at posts that are weeks/months old and move the relevant RC threads over to that new forum. So you'd still have the problem of people searching in the right forum, then bumping a thread that was originally filed back in the beta timeframe. Unless you want to lock all threads older than a certain date, and that may also require moderators to take a specific action on each thread.Many of these problems have existed as long as forums have.Hopefully more MVP/Answerer folks will post in the thread with their thoughts on what they'd like to see.(Please note that I don't work on the forums software/team. I'm just sharing my personal thoughts on forums.)Want to know if your hardware will work on Windows 7? Check out these links: **Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor ** **Microsoft Logo'd Hardware List**
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August 22nd, 2009 8:30pm

I don't think the solution in bold above is a good idea, because people may not be posting from the system that's having the problem. We have to rely on people posting issues in the right place. "Would be easy with the use of a com-pu-ter..."Yeah, a pop-up asking them to verify the intended forum would be too much to handle.Doc
August 22nd, 2009 10:15pm

I believe there should be two different forums, or just simply kill the beta/RC posts.Also, it would seem to be a great improvement to have this forum software interpret what browser and OS the poster is running, and use that information to help put posts in the proper forum/catagories.Selt
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August 23rd, 2009 2:15pm

What does the link say to this forum say? If I read it correctly it says "Windows 7 Forums". It is my understanding that this would include operating systems commonly referred to as "Windows 7". For example "windows 7 beta " is a windows 7 operating system. Therefore you would find it in "windows 7 forums". Example #2. "Windows 7 rtm" is a windows 7 operating system so I would not be so supprised if it was being discussed somewherein the "windows 7 forums". What I can't understand and is a bit frightening to meis that some people really are supprised to see this happening.
August 23rd, 2009 2:50pm

What does the link say to this forum say? If I read it correctly it says "Windows 7 Forums". It is my understanding that this would include operating systems commonly referred to as "Windows 7". That's the main reason why others are requesting a separated forum for versions that are doomed, only built for testing purposesand that will never have any type of support fromMicrosoft anymore. They have an expiry date.On the other hand, I think that the closest the GA date it is, the lowest threads we will see about RC.Regards.W7 RTM x64 running along with Office 2010 x64 TP hope my computer won't crash! ;)
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August 23rd, 2009 3:31pm

Where you have a Windows 7 operating system you will have a windows 7 forum. As you say those versions will be phased automatically after they expire and will be not be heard from as much. Windows 7 forum = windows 7 operating system.
August 23rd, 2009 3:40pm

Also, I can promise you any windows 7 evaluation version that has expired will not be supported or discussed in this forum.
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August 23rd, 2009 3:43pm

I feel this thread is no longer productive and move that it should be locked.
August 23rd, 2009 4:04pm

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