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A quick Windows 7 review

Posted on 14. Feb, 2009 by IBM in Miscellaneous, News. 

Tags: apple, Microsoft, operating system, Ubuntu, Windows 7

I am using windows since 1998 and honestly could not get away from it since then.  I know there are plenty of Linux flavours out there as well as pricey buck sucker OSX with its proprietary mac machines. Ubuntu is promising but still its not reached to a point where I can say that its comparable to windows or for that matter OSX. I must admit that OSX is perhaps most creative operating system to date, however, i very much hate their pricey tagged machines. Another thing that always bother me is the fact that OSX is suitable for home users only. The only noticeable thing i see on MAC OSX  is really ilife. Yet it lacks the abundant list of softwares available for windows. On the other side of the story is bit different, Unix/Linux & Windows solutions are way ahead than OSX when it comes to business. You also have 1000's of different priced PCs available but as mac user you have to rely upon the Apple  to upgrade  their machines. The purpose of my brief overview above (and little bit of rant on Mac) was to show you that i am one of the MS Windows die hard user: not fan but user :) and therefore Windows vista was quite revolutionary and to me it was the  right move, however contrary to how i have seen it so far, many people were really disappointed by it. My Personal experience wasn't bad as i used Vista Business on brand new machine having Intel's Core2Duo processor. People were, however, bothered about the incompatibilities and the sluggishness of Vista. Even worse was that there was frequent bugs kept coming and i know for a layman its just too hard to get it over. So despite the few unheard voices like me, its almost a unanimous consensus everywhere that Windows vista was a disaster for the end users. Microsoft has recently released Windows 7 beta and I am so happy to see windows 7 and the initial reviews of Windows 7. That really prompted me to download and install windows 7 beta and i guess there is no more looking back to other old (and dare i say obsolete) operating systems like windows XP. Its good to know that Microsoft has learnt their lessons quickly. Honestly Windows 7 looks much improved and refined version of windows Vista. Its such a shame that they are going to release it as a separate operating system. That would means either we have to upgrade or buy it as a whole.  i believe that MS should have released the Windows 7 as a SP2 of windows Vista or at least they must come up with a huge discount that makes Vista user to seriously think about upgrading to Windows 7. This will not only make windows vista user's happy but also increase the lost credibility of Microsoft Windows. One good example are the iphone firmware's upgrades. Apple has not made it absolutely free but priced it so cheap that everyone can easily upgrade to that firmware without emptying their pockets. i wish Microsoft do the same. An upgrade price around 30 to 40 dollars will probably be affordable to everyone and this will encourage every Vista user to upgrade rather than retrograding to a 5 years older software called windows XP. Anyhow that is one of the Microsoft's welll wisher's wish and i hope they will listen to it. OK. Lets move on to windows 7's review  now. Its awesome and promising. There's so much to speak about the windows 7 but mainly:

• It really boots fast
• It runs really fast. Even on old machines
• The graphical experience is improved and even better now
• Like other Windows Operating Systems, its compatible to a huge list of old written softwares
• office 2007 runs much faster now. it seems like Office 2007 was meant for windows 7
• Microsoft has also improved the interface of MS paint and wordpad etc. Now you see office 2007 Ribbons on most of the applications
• Windows Live experience is awesome
• Desktop context menu is similar to Vista but you get 3 new options. Share with is used for new Home Groups, Display Settings directly launches the Graphics card Properties tab and Gadgets launches the Sidebar Gadget list.
• Overall new Explorer looks better and more simple. Also they have moved the "Group By" arrow to the left from right.
• Control Panel window has also been modified. The left sidebar takes very less space and resizes itself whenever any control panel item is opened in the window. It provides more space. You can also switch to Small Icons view by right-clicking in empty area and selecting the option. As you can see now you can save the view settings which was not possible in Vista and people complained a lot about it.
• Now icons in System tray are highlighted when you move the cursor over them. Also you can see a little difference in icons when you click on them. The little arrow at start shows the hidden/inactive icons.
• The empty space at last of the taskbar is new "Show Desktop" shortcut. It minimizes all opened window and shows the Desktop. Very handy and cool feature.
• Now taskbar and Start Menu Properties contains a few new options and has a re-designed interface.
• Windows Defender got a new interface in Windows 7.
• Windows Firewall has been improved a lot in Windows 7. Now its more customizable and provides more security.
• Calculator has also been re-designed. It provides 2 new options: Programmer and Statistics.
• Only time will tell how much secure windows 7 is but its overall experience does suggest that Windows 7 will be a lot more secure than its predecessors. i am also going to write an article that will suggest how you can organically keep your computer antivirus and virus free

So far so good, Windows 7 is enjoying its honey  moon period and there are praise words pouring from everywhere. Honestly there is nothing much to criticise MS and windows 7  at this moment, however,  i must say that i hate Microsoft's approach to version everything.  Imagine with windows 7 basic you can only run three application at one time, in year 2009 if you are restricting people in that respect then there is something serious going wrong in Microsoft. Windows 7 has given me a hope and optimism and i surely believe that very soon we will hear and good news from Microsoft that its abandoning different Windows 7 versions and windows 7 will only be Windows 7 and there is no premium and ultimate versions. Please  Microsoft, stop it now. One little suggestion in the end, i love the new task bar and i quite like little task bar area on the right side that shows/hides desktop but i would still like to have old fashioned show desktop icon right next to the start windows button. Its been such a long time since i am using it and its part of my habit. [gallery link="file" orderby="post_name"]