Win7 Start & .NET development

Other Pineapple Smurf

Other Pineapple Smurf

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I last tried .NET 5yrs ago and getting a laptop this coming week but it has Windows 7 Starter. Anybody know if there is any issue while do .NET development on this Windows version? Need to start picking up .NET skills.

(I intend to upgrade the OS to Windows 7 home whatever with the upgrade pacakge when I upgrade the RAM latter this year)

Oh, I' live in the LINUX world so hence the reason for my question, also there is very little info on the net for the Starter edition.
 
Trust me on this, Windows 7 Starter Edition is crap! At least have Windows 7 Basic as bare minimum:

Only 3 programs at a time, can't even change the wallpaper! Crap crap crap product (WTF were you thinking MS when you released this steaming pile of ****)

/Rant off
 
Re: .Net Dev on Windows 7 Starter

Hi there, I thought I'll reply quick 'cause I couldn't find this info anywhere on the net when I got my laptop with Windows 7 Home Basic 64bit.

Any Windows 7 is fine for doing .NET dev. You will obviously be installing Microsoft Visual Studio 2005/2008 or 2010, right? If you're going to be doing Windows Form / Windows Program development, then there's no issue at all, you'll be fine. If you're going to be doing web development, ie ASP.NET / ASPX pages, then you'll also be fine, 'cause Visual Studio will install the Web Development Server (Casini) - so you'll be able to run and test your apps perfectly.

The only irritating thing about these entry level Windows 7 package (Home Basic / Home and Start) is that they don't come with IIS at all, and you also can't install IIS. I read before I bought my laptop that you can actually install IIS though some amazing hack onto these versions of Windows, but trust me, it's IMPOSSIBLE. Your version of Win 7 either ships with it, or you don't have it.

So what irritated me was just that I didn't have IIS - I like to be in control of the entire development process and there are sometimes some things that you want to tweak in IIS to test before you go live on your server, but it's definitely not a neccesity. All my developers at my company are forced to use the built in development server 'cause I'm too stingy to buy them Win 7 Prof or Ultimate!

So to summarise, any Win 7 is fine for .NET dev, but if you're going to be doing crazy ASPX dev then it would be nice to get a version of Windows 7 that ships with IIS 7 or 7.5.

Another tip, if you're going to be using Visual Studio 2010, you'll find that no matter what spec your PC has, dual, tripple, quadriple core, it's very slow. Replacing your laptop hard drive with an SSD (solid state drive) and installing Win7 and Visual Studio on it will make it fly - a 64BG SSD is about R800 now and it's the best investment you can ever make for a laptop!

Oh, and I forgot to mention - you will see that they always make these nice little claims that you can easily upgrade your Win 7 start or Home Basic to a bigger version of Windows, but when you try to do the upgrade wizard thingy, it will tell you that you can't do it in South Africa (and no matter what you make your regional settings, it won't let you upgrade). Only way is to go and buy a physical CD and upgrade.
 
Linoman said:
Trust me on this, Windows 7 Starter Edition is crap! At least have Windows 7 Basic as bare minimum:

Only 3 programs at a time, can't even change the wallpaper! Crap crap crap product (WTF were you thinking MS when you released this steaming pile of ****)

/Rant off
Click to expand...

Actually they decided to drop that "feature" in Win7 as Starter is aimed for mass deployment in developing markets.
 
@Superhero Thanks Superhero, you've pointed out some things I would have ignore. I will rather get a new OS disk, can source from a German seller on BOB for cheap. Was considering the SSD upgrade too.

Since Starter limits the RAM to 2GB, I will have to upgrade it and the OS. WinXP Pro is a wonderful OS but its part of my past life ... but since I still have a licenced copy I might be temped ... nah, let me move with the times and get a proper Win7.

This lappie will be the first of 3 I need to purchase for the family so will rather look at an i5 with Win7 xxx Pro/Premium as the next one.
 
Superhero said:
Hi there, I thought I'll reply quick 'cause I couldn't find this info anywhere on the net when I got my laptop with Windows 7 Home Basic 64bit.

Any Windows 7 is fine for doing .NET dev. You will obviously be installing Microsoft Visual Studio 2005/2008 or 2010, right? If you're going to be doing Windows Form / Windows Program development, then there's no issue at all, you'll be fine. If you're going to be doing web development, ie ASP.NET / ASPX pages, then you'll also be fine, 'cause Visual Studio will install the Web Development Server (Casini) - so you'll be able to run and test your apps perfectly.

The only irritating thing about these entry level Windows 7 package (Home Basic / Home and Start) is that they don't come with IIS at all, and you also can't install IIS. I read before I bought my laptop that you can actually install IIS though some amazing hack onto these versions of Windows, but trust me, it's IMPOSSIBLE. Your version of Win 7 either ships with it, or you don't have it.

So what irritated me was just that I didn't have IIS - I like to be in control of the entire development process and there are sometimes some things that you want to tweak in IIS to test before you go live on your server, but it's definitely not a neccesity. All my developers at my company are forced to use the built in development server 'cause I'm too stingy to buy them Win 7 Prof or Ultimate!

So to summarise, any Win 7 is fine for .NET dev, but if you're going to be doing crazy ASPX dev then it would be nice to get a version of Windows 7 that ships with IIS 7 or 7.5.

Another tip, if you're going to be using Visual Studio 2010, you'll find that no matter what spec your PC has, dual, tripple, quadriple core, it's very slow. Replacing your laptop hard drive with an SSD (solid state drive) and installing Win7 and Visual Studio on it will make it fly - a 64BG SSD is about R800 now and it's the best investment you can ever make for a laptop!

Oh, and I forgot to mention - you will see that they always make these nice little claims that you can easily upgrade your Win 7 start or Home Basic to a bigger version of Windows, but when you try to do the upgrade wizard thingy, it will tell you that you can't do it in South Africa (and no matter what you make your regional settings, it won't let you upgrade). Only way is to go and buy a physical CD and upgrade.
Click to expand...

So your company uses home edition of Windows for business developing? You do realise that according to the license you might as well be using a pirated edition of Windows? *No not that I agree with it*

Why would a company buy the programming tools for $$$ but be stingy to run a proper version of Windows. Not being rude or nasty here but it boggles my mind.
 
@Linoman - I was quite shocked when I read your post - I never thought of it being illegal to use Windows 7 Home at the office. But I immediately did some investigation (Google "can i use windows 7 home for business") and you will immediately see that the license doesn't mean you can only use home at home and professional at the office. It's merely a license for the features built into that particular version of the operating system. You can use it anywhere.

As for the reason that I don't buy anything better than Win 7 Home for my developers - it's cheap and you can do everything on it that you need to do. It supports enough RAM, the Visual Studio Wed Development Server acts as a perfect replacement for IIS, they can test additional IIS functionlity on our Win 2008 testing servers. Don't know if you run your own business, but when I was an employee I always wanted the best of everything and I used to think companies have bottomless pits of money! When you run your own business, you think very carefully about these things and only spend money on what you need to spend it on.

Trust me, the moment I realise that any of them can be more productive on a better version of Win 7, I will immediately go get them each a copy.

Anyways, at least we know now that you can use Windows 7 home at the office, on holiday, and even at the coast!
 
Superhero said:
@Linoman - I was quite shocked when I read your post - I never thought of it being illegal to use Windows 7 Home at the office. But I immediately did some investigation (Google "can i use windows 7 home for business") and you will immediately see that the license doesn't mean you can only use home at home and professional at the office. It's merely a license for the features built into that particular version of the operating system. You can use it anywhere.

As for the reason that I don't buy anything better than Win 7 Home for my developers - it's cheap and you can do everything on it that you need to do. It supports enough RAM, the Visual Studio Wed Development Server acts as a perfect replacement for IIS, they can test additional IIS functionlity on our Win 2008 testing servers. Don't know if you run your own business, but when I was an employee I always wanted the best of everything and I used to think companies have bottomless pits of money! When you run your own business, you think very carefully about these things and only spend money on what you need to spend it on.

Trust me, the moment I realise that any of them can be more productive on a better version of Win 7, I will immediately go get them each a copy.

Anyways, at least we know now that you can use Windows 7 home at the office, on holiday, and even at the coast!
Click to expand...

I know Google says that, but having had the BSA at the office. I know having gone through the experience that Microsoft does not recognize the license as valid. We even hired experts who train Microsoft employees on the license structure. It has to be either Pro, Ultimate and Enterprise.
 
Linoman said:
I know Google says that, but having had the BSA at the office. I know having gone through the experience that Microsoft does not recognize the license as valid. We even hired experts who train Microsoft employees on the license structure. It has to be either Pro, Ultimate and Enterprise.
Click to expand...

Interesting but then again any MS dev house should be using action pack and will have access to more affordable upgrade licenses.
 
cbrunsdonza said:
I last tried .NET 5yrs ago and getting a laptop this coming week but it has Windows 7 Starter. Anybody know if there is any issue while do .NET development on this Windows version? Need to start picking up .NET skills.
Click to expand...

I'm on that same road.

This .NET framework is a big monster. Studying it is like eating an elephant, you do it "byte by byte".

What language will you be using: C# or VB.Net ?
 
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