technical support tips: I Hate Windows 7 RC

Thứ Năm, 7 tháng 5, 2009

I Hate Windows 7 RC

When Windows 7 RC was released I decided to give it a try to see if it was really living up to the numerous thumbs up it was given.

I downloaded Windows 7 RC 32bit because it was much smaller than the 64bit evalution version.

First there are quite a number of improvements over Windows 6 (aka Vista).

Responsiveness:

The time taken to load folders and preview is a vast improvement over Windows Vista.
It makes Vista seem like a silly snail.
I daresay say the speed either is as good as or even better than Windows Xp!
The entire OS work seemlessly to produce no unnessary delay for User Experience

Appearance:

The appearance is really well designed especially the themes.

I remember there was a PC vs Mac vs Linux parody on Appearance.
Well the Linux among most of you know that it is totally customizable short of tearing out the GUI and replacing it with the terminal which is also possible.
So it was depicted the "Linux" could change "jackets" and image while OS X and Windows couldn't.

In Windows 7 the approach to this was unique.
While you are not able customize the taskbar to the extend of Linux, it was the translucent color scheme and the high quality wallpaper that gives you a totally different feeling when using a different theme, hence I feel it was able to achieve the desired "theme" effect.

Backward Compatibility:

I have to give 5 stars for this all the device work out of box even while using Vista Drivers.
There was no silly messages saying "This driver is not for Windows 7 ..." etc.
Vista or Windows 7 drivers, both works.
It is due to Microsoft deciding not to change the driver framework further to make installation living hell for us users.
Hence you can expect almost all Vista Compatible Device to be Windows 7 compatible as well.

Usability:

Windows 7 is very fast and responsive as I mentioned above.
It was so speedy even though tweaks still exist, I find it redundant to tweak the System.
It is able to keep up with user behaviour any better you have to tweak the user to be faster instead.

File operations (copy,paste,cut) are fast. They have finally return to the Xp speed era.
No matter how fast I tweaked Vista, file operations performance was something that never changed until the advent of Windows 7.

Also Web Browser Windows are integrated into the taskbar to prevent cluttering. This might need some getting use to as you might be surprise when you don't see the taskbar box of the Web Browser minimised.

UAC no longer pop up as frequently. If you did not install any programs you wonder if UAC even existed in Windows 7.

Some basic programs that underwent a makeover:

Paint now feels and look more professional.
Windows Media Player looks fundamentally similar but has some visible upgrades.
The Control Panel UI has under went some interface changes you might get lost occasionally but you will be able to find your way eventually.

Improvements to be made:

IE 8 still lack a spell check
Integrated Zip Utility leaves much to be desired

All in all it is obvious Windows 7 seems like a major improvement over Vista AND Xp.
Whoever says Windows 7 sucks or something either haven't tried it before or is a Mac zealot.
You can see effort put into the UI, design and usability of the OS.

Now you may start wondering why is the title of this blog entry critical of Windows 7 when I found Windows 7 to be so great.

It is because it is still in evaluation period.
However great it is I still have to wait for the release to be able to use it as a proper OS.
It is like tying a carrot to a stick and hanging it over your head.
You can smell it, see it but can't eat it.
Until then I am stuck with a lousier Vista OS for my production system.

Windows 7 has become one reason you don't need a expensive Macbook.
Any guesses what the next Mac Ad might be ?