Windows 7 Desktop

It’s been roughly two years since the ill-fated launch of Vista – Microsoft’s previous Operating System (OS.) If you are one of the many people that has had to deal with it on a daily basis since then, you don’t need a reminder of just how difficult it can be. At launch it was unstable, it was prone to crashes, it was confusing, and it was just plain slow. In two years, the pain has been alleviated to a degree, but the updates have only made a bad thing simply less bad. I’m happy to say that Windows 7 is nothing like Vista.

Windows 7 and Vista share the same foundation. I know that’s a scary sentence, but Microsoft got it right this time. For all it’s failures, Vista did move the ball forward in areas of system architecture, driver management, and security as well as including new features such as DirectX 10 support for better graphics. If Vista moved the ball forward, 7 has made a touchdown. All of the aforementioned areas have been tweaked and optimized to provide better utility and better performance.

A New Perspective

Windows 7 Desktop with Gadgets

The first thing you will likely notice about 7 is just how different it looks. This isn’t just another Windows Theme – this is another Windows. In the screenshot above, note the lack of Icons. This is something that was tried in Vista, but it didn’t work because there was no alternative given to make up for the missing icons. In Windows 7 – the totally revamped taskbar and start menu may give you plenty of reasons to ditch those icons.

The new "Pin to Taskbar" Feature

Here’s a close up of the new taskbar. The first icon is Internet Explorer, the second launches your “Libraries” (More on that shortly,) and the third is Windows Media Player. You’ll notice that the Calculator icon is being dragged to the taskbar. You can pin any program you like to the taskbar and use it to open or manipulate the program at any time. This ties in perfectly with another new 7 feature: Jump Lists.

Jumplists are major time savers

Since I’m using Wordpad to type up this review – the program has been temporarily moved to the taskbar. By right clicking on the icon, I can bring up a Jump List. Basically, this is a list of last accessed files, in this case a punch list, the copy for this site, and a few other documents. This may seem insignificant, but it can be a real time saver.

Yes, But Is It Faster?

That’s a complicated answer. The benchmarks we’ve run are ambiguous at best. Sometimes XP wins, sometimes it’s Vista, and sometimes it’s 7. The really bizarre thing is 7 just feels faster, even when the benchmark says it should be slower. There is either some variable for which the benchmarks cannot account or Microsoft has done some serious interface tweaks. Honestly, I’m not sure which it is. Gizmodo had this to say about the matter:

It runs better on that hardware, or at least feels like it does. Ambiguous benchmarking aside, our experience during the beta period was that Windows 7 actually ran beautifully, even on netbooks that made Vista cry like a spoiled child…

The benchmarks suggest that 7 is not really any faster or slower than Vista or XP overall – but from personal testing I can tell you that it certainly feels faster. As one customer pointed out, “if it seems faster, who cares what the benchmark says?” It’s a good point to make.  Oh, and for those of you that hate how long Vista takes to boot and shut down – 7 is a breath of fresh air. On our test system we went from a 60 second boot to 40 seconds. Shut down took 9 seconds, down from 15 with Vista.

Is it reliable?

In a word – yes. No operating system is without it’s hiccups, but 7 has been fairly trouble free since we started testing it a year ago. It is every bit as stable as XP. Not only is it stable, but it’s just easier to use. Driver management has been vastly improved and 7 has taken a lot of steps to a more friendly environment without pestering you like Vista did. Most devices we connected installed themselves quickly and without any action required on our part. The thing with 7 that is so different is – it just works.

Room for Improvement

7 is not perfect. There are still some carryovers from Vista that frankly are a little bewildering.

• The Control Panel is still a mess, and considering all of the enhancements done to improve user friendliness, it’s surprising that this was left mostly untouched.
• The Network and Sharing Center is still a little confused. It seems like Microsoft created a lot of different ways to get to a particular goal, but none of them is particularly clear. There is also a lot in the Network and Sharing center that could trip up someone not used to the format. XP’s solution may have been simplistic, but at least it was easier to use.
• There are still too many versions of 7. With Vista, Microsoft launched a million different editions, Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, etc. With 7, the options have been reduced, but it can still be slightly confusing. The three main flavors this time around are:

Home Premium: Basic Windows install – this should be all most users need.

Professional: Everything in Home, but XP Compatibility Mode is included, as well as the option to join a domain.

Ultimate: Everything in Pro, with BitLocker and Multi-language support.

Final Thoughts

For those of you that are on the fence about 7, I would give this advice. If you have Windows Vista do yourself a favor and get 7 as soon as possible. If you are still running XP a switch to 7 might not be as urgent. If your applications only work on XP, wait for the reviews on 7′s XP Mode to shake out and then make the switch, or not.

If you are confused about what version of 7 you should get, consider this. For most users, Home Premium is all you will need. Get Professional if you have advanced networking needs or if you need XP Mode, and get Ultimate if you have a burning desire to use 36 languages on PC simultaenously. Even after you choose what edition you want, you still need to decide whether you would like 64-bit or 32-bit, and that’s really going to depend on what applications you need. For that, just give us a call and we can find a solution.

It's Safe to Switch

7 is undoubtedly the best OS Microsoft has ever launched. What I mean by that, is simply this – 7 is stable and secure now. Windows XP eventually became a fantastic operating system, but at launch it was horrific. I remember telling customers to stick with 98, because even though it was old, it was at least working. After Service Pack 2 was released, XP became entirely different, and it became the operating system we all know and love. I can recommend 7 today – who knows what it will be after a couple of service packs?

Windows 7 Home (OEM) is currently $119 at Avec. Windows 7 Pro (OEM) is $159.