So, Windows 7 is RTM now. And presales are running rampant. I hate to say it but I haven’t had a chance to preview it (yes, I downloaded an RC or two but I hadn’t had the time to setup a VM to test it on). Maybe now’s a good time to do so!
Vista was a complete mess. There was no reason to upgrade to it unless you were an uber hard-core gamer (like a friend of mine) and really really wanted DirectX 10 support. Well, after watching said friend run into wall after wall (mostly driver incompatibility walls), I sat back with my XP install and continued to enjoy everything Windows XP had to offer…like a stable platform to be productive on.
Will Windows 7 be the anti-Vista and actually bring more people like me back into the Microsoft OS upgrade loop again? Maybe. The biggest single hurdle for me (beyond having to deal with the annoyance of reinstalling everything again) is whether or not all my XP apps and games will install and run just as smoothly (if not smoother) on Windows 7 as they did on XP.
I guess we’ll know in a couple weeks…though, despite not knowing, I do have an outstanding pre-order with Amazon. 
kn
Not surprisingly, someone else has decided to throw their hat into the hosted gaming service arena along side OnLive‘s. Gamasutra’s reporting that said competitor’s got a name, Gaikai. Better still, David Perry, the person behind Gaikai, is boasting that his service doesn’t require all the proprietary crap OnLive’s service has.
At least that means there’s going to be some competition in this market, which I love. Now, OnLive’s got a reason to continue to improve the service (though I suspect they’ll spend more time and effort on landing publishers before Gaikai does rather than spend on R&D).
I think Gaikai might be better positioned, though, since I think they’ll make a killing in Korea, China and Japan. A new PC used to be (and probably still is) the equivalent of a year’s salary in Korea…thus the reason LAN centers are the hub of gaming activity there. With this, they could shell out for an older PC and still keep up with the newer requirements of modern games…or better yet, play the games on their smartphones which I expect the Japanese to be doing already.
The bigger question will be if console makers will give in to these services. It’ll hurt their console sales. Though their business model’s all about game sales they’re still manufacturing those consoles and still measure penetration based on sales of those consoles. Besides, Microsoft and Sony both want to own that last leg (from the ISP to your home) since it’s the most important leg when it comes to exposure and services. If Sony can advertise the hell out of their BluRay’s on your home entertainment center made by them, they’ll be a lot happier than having you use OnLive of Gaikai to just stream your entertainment (yup, don’t forget, if they can stream games, they can stream movies and TV eventually) to your home.
The next couple years will be very telling for this market. We’ll see…
kn
