I installed the Windows 7 Beta and then the Release Candidate a few months ago but was too busy and/or lazy to write a review. Here’s my thoughts and feelings on the latest Windows version scheduled for release in October.
Overall, I like it very much. Having used Vista for about 18 months this is an absolute breath of fresh air. It would be hypocritical of me not to mention that in all honesty this version of Windows is everything that Vista should’ve been considering how much I bitched about the iPhone 3G S features that should’ve been there from the beginning. It’s not as solid as I’d like and it’s not free of bugs, though consider that I’m using a release candidate, then again what system is and the real difference is the taskbar, as you can see from the screenshot above of my Windows 7 Desktop, which I really like although no-one needs to be particularly observent to notice that it looks a helluva lot like the dock on OSX.
Of course, Microsoft hasn’t failed to pack in the load of useless features that commonly come with Windows (though this is not exclusive to Microsoft………….iPhone compass), for example, shaking a window will minimise all other windows that are currently open, cute but why? Also, dragging a window to the far left or far right of the screen will maximise it to fill that half of the display, whcih though I can see the application of that I think it’s a far too complicated method of doing it and most people who need that feature have already set up their windows to open in half the screen.
In a similar way to Barack Obama following George Bush, Vista isn’t a hard act for 7 to follow and as a result people have been singing it’s praises for months when it’s really just Vista but better. Early versions of 7 showed a taskbar and general layout that was so very similar to Vista that it could’ve easily been mistaken for it and that’s why, in my opinion, MS made such a big difference to their taskbar, in a bid to seperate the new OS from the bad press of Vista. Also, like Bush-Obama, it would be unfair of me to say that there’s absolutely no functional difference between Vista and 7 because, as I have mentioned, there clearly is. On Vista I was frequently met with crashes and problems, none of which I have experience on 7 yet.
Rumours (and demands) are abound that Microsoft are going to offer Windows 7 as a free upgrade for Vista users, which they’ll never do. Microsoft have blundered themselves into a good position in that Vista users will be desperate to get away from this Vista crap by getting 7 and that’ll drive up sales so offering 7 free would be very damaging and no sensible company would dare, I’m almost certainly going to upgrade to Windows 7 when it comes out and I think a lot of tech literature computer geeks will to, if they haven’t already downgraded to XP. I am by no means suggesting that Microsoft did this on purpose because purposely releasing a crappy OS would be corporate suicide and it was the relatively low press of Apple at the time of Vista’s release that has saved them (Vista barely predates the ‘Buy a Mac’ ads) from visiting Duke Nukem Forever in the land of vapourware. With the announcement of Project Natal for the XBox at E3 and the release of Bing Search Engine, Microsoft is currently at a crossroads, do everything right and this could turn out to be a very good year for them, do it wrong and all their projects this year go down the tubes and Microsoft will be in serious danger. Given the current economic climate, no company can afford 3 fuck-ups in one year, Microsoft is far from an exception.
In the world of Mat Greenfield at the moment, I’ve been a bit slow on TKaM due to short (and breakless) shifts at work and other things at home. I’m looking into a new project that I’m really excited about if I can make it work, if you want to help me out with this go to http://twtpoll.com/r/nnr4so and take the poll. Cheers.
Tags: 7, Beta, Bing, Candidate, Microsoft, Natal, Release, Review, Windows
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