First thing I have to say is that this product is fully cooked and ready to serve. Rumour has it that Microsoft has been quietly leaking versions of this product onto the torrent sites for months. apparently, this was so they could get all the major problems out of the way early, before the beta officially launched. It would be a cleaver strategy if it is true, Windows Vista left such a bad taste in many users mouths, Microsoft would want Windows 7 to be a real wowser.
I don’t know (or think) if the rumour above is true or not, that is not really important, all that is important is that Microsoft has delivered. They have delivered on the promise they made 2 years ago, when Vista launched, the wow does start now.
Windows 7 is the most complete, polished and ready to use beta I have ever used. I was a late adopter to Vista, I finally upgraded my machine about 8 months ago. I wish I had waited. Windows 7 is basically Vista done right. Let’s call it Vista SE. And just like Windows 98, 98SE absolutely improved and enhanced 98.
I have only had Windows 7 on the system for a couple of days now, but so far I find myself playing with it constantly. I haven’t been this intrigued by a new system since I switched to Mac OSX two and a bit years ago.
I don’t think Windows 7 would make me switch back to the PC world (I have an iMac and a MacBook Pro) but I think I will definitely be keeping the PC around for a little while longer.
This windows is worth it for the new taskbar alone. Once again borrowing a page from Apple’s book, Microsoft has redesigned the task bar to work a little more like OSX’s dock, and it all the better for it. In function, it is like the dock but not in style. Apple plays with special effects like magnifying the icons as you roll over them, Microsoft has decided to be a little more work like and have added a feature that I hope Apple ‘borrows’ in the future. As you roll over open applications in the task bar, a window pops up that shows you all the active windows for that program, very sweet when you consider the multiple Word or Internet pages you might have open. You then roll your mouse up to the page you want and it is brought forward on your desktop.
The other improvement over Vista is the Gadgets. The sidebar has been done away with and Gadgets can now be freely placed anywhere on the desktop. This a nice addition as I loved the Gadgets (I’m a big Widget guy on the Mac too) but hated the screen real estate taken up by that big sidebar.
I will make regular reports on the podcast as the weeks go by to let you know about this very fun and very usable operating system.
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My head is going to explode.
I am in desperate need of a new computer to replace my very geriatric iBook that has simply given up trying. I had been pretty set on going down the mac path again but really don’t want to spend too much. After listening to the TWiT guys talk about Windows 7, I was looking at PCs again, then I listened to your discussion of the new iLife in ep 22 and I thought I really needed all that wonderfulness, now you, of all people, saying good things about Windows! What’s a retrogeek to do?
atomicbetty
My head is going to explode.
I am in desperate need of a new computer to replace my very geriatric iBook that has simply given up trying. I had been pretty set on going down the mac path again but really don’t want to spend too much. After listening to the TWiT guys talk about Windows 7, I was looking at PCs again, then I listened to your discussion of the new iLife in ep 22 and I thought I really needed all that wonderfulness, now you, of all people, saying good things about Windows! What’s a retrogeek to do?
atomicbetty
Okay, read the above article carefully, I like Windows 7 and I think Microsoft has finally got it right, however, I also said that it wasn’t enough to make me switch from my Macs and you still have a lot of the problems that come with a Windows machine such as Spyware/Malware and viruses. Read the papers lately, there is a doozy of a worm on the loose but it doesn’t hurt Macs.
Another piece of this puzzle is that Windows 7 hasn’t been released yet (no date has been given) and it has been rumoured from later this year to early next year. Until then, any new PC is going to have Vista (shudder).
The iLife 09 Suite is awesomeness incarnate! So if you want all the goodies then a Mac is is ONLY way to go. Also, you have said that an iPhone may be on the horizon, well it integrates with a Mac like a knife through butter, so smooth.
And lastly, remember you can always run Windows as a partition or as a virtual machine on any new Mac so you really get to computers for the price of one….one for work and one for play, so to speak :-)
Hope this helps atomicbetty. I’m going to talk a little about Windows 7 in the next episode of the podcast.
Author
Okay, read the above article carefully, I like Windows 7 and I think Microsoft has finally got it right, however, I also said that it wasn’t enough to make me switch from my Macs and you still have a lot of the problems that come with a Windows machine such as Spyware/Malware and viruses. Read the papers lately, there is a doozy of a worm on the loose but it doesn’t hurt Macs.
Another piece of this puzzle is that Windows 7 hasn’t been released yet (no date has been given) and it has been rumoured from later this year to early next year. Until then, any new PC is going to have Vista (shudder).
The iLife 09 Suite is awesomeness incarnate! So if you want all the goodies then a Mac is is ONLY way to go. Also, you have said that an iPhone may be on the horizon, well it integrates with a Mac like a knife through butter, so smooth.
And lastly, remember you can always run Windows as a partition or as a virtual machine on any new Mac so you really get to computers for the price of one….one for work and one for play, so to speak :-)
Hope this helps atomicbetty. I’m going to talk a little about Windows 7 in the next episode of the podcast.