Microsoft Releases RAW Codec Pack for Windows 7 & Vista

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Um, intel have had problems with their SSD and firmware as well. Also their Sata 3Gbps motherboard controllers in the Sandybridge support chips.

It is of course your choice, but a) I'm not a gamer, and b) I've not had problems with OCZ, Crucial or others over the past 3 years, plus it was only a suggestion ;-)

Memory for SSDs is only sourced from a handful of manufacturers e.g. Micron, Toshiba, Samsung. The OCZ controllers (until recently are not theirs), just the firmware etc.

Crucial makes very good memory, they do make their own(they are part of Micron), and they are worth considering, as are Samsung and a few others.

The issue for OCZ is the early switch to 25nm technology.  Intel has not yet switched to 25nm because it has about 60% of the life of 34nm chips.

http://www.storagereview.com/ssds_shifting_25nm_nand_what_you_need_know

I've been using Kingston SSD's for some time now, I now have three of them with no  failures, but since I will be upgrading some of my seven pc's within a year, I'm going for SATA6GB SSD's to get ready for the future.

[Stu_bert]

With respect, the article states there is a longevity issue with the memory not OCZ, and that most end users will not see it, only notice a reduction in usable capacity. The memory in the 25nm OCZ is Micron.

OCZ "dubious marketing" was also picked up by Anandtech - more on performance than storage size, and OCZ agreed to make this clearer. Intel will still go to 25nm, so will face the same challenges.

We stick with the brands we are used to, and I completely understand why you will be more risk adverse when your own company is reliant upon it. I've just not personally had those problems.

[Mt Spokane Photography]

With respect, the article states there is a longevity issue with the memory not OCZ, and that most end users will not see it, only notice a reduction in usable capacity. The memory in the 25nm OCZ is Micron.

OCZ "dubious marketing" was also picked up by Anandtech - more on performance than storage size, and OCZ agreed to make this clearer. Intel will still go to 25nm, so will face the same challenges.

We stick with the brands we are used to, and I completely understand why you will be more risk adverse when your own company is reliant upon it. I've just not personally had those problems.

I doubt that Intel will go to 25nm until it is mature enough to be more reliable.  I won't go for it unless I see some evidence that things have improved.  I'd get the Intel 510 series right now, but it is really just a stop gap thing while Intel is getting their act together on a high speed controller.

Once they do, then others will start hitting the market and we'll see some competition.

We do all see things thru our own filter, I certainly hope that OCZ works out OK, but I won't risk it.

[Edwin Herdman]

well if you read the provided info you will see that VIEWING IS the ONLY thing this codecs are good for.

what else do you expect?

M$ will not give you a free raw converter....
M$ will not add support in Adobe programs.

Sorry, just wishful thinking. I don't really feel liking buying Photoshop CS5 or Adobe Lightroom 3 at the moment. I'll have to deal with Digital Photo Professional for now.

Once again, if you can run Irfanview, you can view your RAWs (unless there is some DSLR not supported for some odd reason or other).  There are some free choices out there besides this RAW codec.  This is mainly intended for viewing - I would suppose and hope that you use DPP for the basic editing steps.  Anything beyond and you can start exporting files to other free programs (panorama stitchers, the GIMP for editing, etc.)