Windows 7, the new XP
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Loading ...For those of you around long enough to recall, Microsoft has had some pretty good successes, and some pretty abysmal failures (remember Windows 2000, or ME for that matter? Talk about abysmal failures). Usually, though right after those failures, comes something so good that they can’t touch it for years, that the user has to be forced to upgrade for one reason or another.
Well, that time has come once again. Some would categorize Vista as being one of those, though I personally don’t (it’s worked fine on every machine I’ve ever put it on, and progress is pretty damn good), but despite what you think of Vista, Windows 7 has overcome (almost) all of the obstacles set forth by Vista, yet keeps the absolutely stunningly beautiful look.
New features? There’s really not much for “new features”. Vista got the features right there, though, admittedly, it was hard(er) on memory usage than XP, which is where most of the criticism came from.
Windows 7 comes packed with IE8 (at least the beta does), which, while I still refuse to use (I don’t use Microsoft browsers for anything, they are completely insecure), has a LOT more security related features.
Windows 7 makes SERIOUS enhancements to UAC (User Authentication Control), which previously just had on/off, but is now much, much more adjustable. No more cancel/allow or be insecure, no more harassment for running files, it’s a good bit more secure.
Windows 7 also incorporates “homegroups” into the OS. This is nothing new to Microsoft, or even Windows, but they’ve made it just that much easier to create a home network, wired, or wireless.
Windows 7 does away (from what I’ve seen) with the “sidebar”, which was just an annoying problem to begin with.
Windows 7 merges the “quicklaunch” and the “taskbar” into one . At first, I thought this would be a complete turnoff, but it actually is quite impressive. Of course, I have to still train myself to use the QL buttons, instead of firing up the start menu, but it does good.
Windows 7 updates the “themes” capability by allowing multiple backgrounds (if you know how to add your own backgrounds to these “themes”, I’d love to hear it). Currently, I’m running one that is a U.S. theme and rotates the background every few minutes. Small stuff, yeah, but it’s just nice to have!
As well, Windows 7 takes the time to ensure that application compatability actually WORKS. I didn’t try this (too much) in Vista, because it all worked out of the box, but I have yet to find something that DOESN’T work, using the application compatability feature.
Resource usage? 64 bit Vista took a minimum (minimum, mind you) of 2-2.5 gig ram, while 7 cuts that down to 1-1.5. That’s still a good bit, but any modern computer can handle that, and that’s ONLY the 64 bit version (which, you’re probably only running if you’ve got a crap ton of ram to begin with).
Who knows whether Windows 7 will be the “official” name for it, or if it’s just a beta name, but my god, this thing is absolutely stunning. Visually, you can’t really top Vista, they did great work there. Feature wise, again, no real major improvements. Performance wise, absolutely great!
Of course, this is only a beta, but I’ve got to say that I’m duly impressed. While I had no problems myself with Vista, I think that anyone running a PC should be easily impressed with 7.
I’m sure there are many, many other features of Windows 7 that will be released, or are being worked on, but I’ve got to say, for a beta, it looks like Microsoft (again) did an incredible, incredible job. Take a look at some of the screenshots and you’ll see what I’m talking about here.
The beta has only been out for a couple weeks, but since it’s been out, I changed both the desktop and laptop, and am just amazingly impressed. Look for a bit more in depth review as I spend more time working with it.
Tom
