With the end of an unprecedented Microsoft public beta for an OS finally behind us, it’s time to take a look back at the first impressions of Windows 7. Sticking with the Aero desktop theme, Windows 7 keeps much of the look and feel of Vista. When I first got my hands on Vista, I’ll admit that within the first five minutes I had changed the desktop settings to the “Windows Classic” appearance. But with that no longer an option, I noticed it doesn’t take long to grow accustomed to the new interface brought about by the dock… I mean taskbar. Microsoft did very well making this feautre simple and intuitive. The engineers in Redmond also added several other features you will try, say “Wow! That’s cool!”, and then never use again. I am also happy to announce that I have been running the beta nonstop since the day it was available with only two or three restarts and I am yet to see what a Windows 7 BSOD looks like.
As was the case with Vista, my biggest fear coming into Windows 7 is compatibility issues. Most programs still work well when running in compatibility mode. But some applications, such as Daemon Tools, I could never get to work properly. Of course, it is a beta version so some problems are to be expected. Another major concern is that the most economically appealing version will only allow three concurrently running applications. This means that many people will own computers that have more cores in their processor than open programs. Besides, major computer retailers often ship their computers with far greater than three useless programs that run on startup. I hope those don’t count toward the limit.
The moral of the story is this: Microsoft may have done something very right to make up for something very wrong. Though some may seem to think of it as Vista: service pack 2, I see it as clearly something superior, so long as you avoid the Home Basic version. This seems to continue the recent “every-other” trend of Windows versions (purposely excluding ME).
Windows 98 = Good
Windows 2000 = Bad
Windows XP = Good
Windows Vista = Bad
Windows 7 = Good
Here’s to enjoying Windows 7 because I’m sure it will be better than Windows 8!
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May 4th, 2009 at 12:48 am
Hey this is a great post!
September 16th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
windows 7 is the greatest windows OS yet. your article was well written i look forward to reading more of your posts!