There has been a lot of buzz in the business and technology community lately about Microsoft’s latest operating system Windows 7. Everyone wants to know, what’s up, what’s new, what’s the deal with Windows 7? After several months of testing Microsoft’s release candidate of Windows 7 on our workstations, laptops, and tablets we are able to answer those questions.
What’s up?
Windows 7 is Microsoft’s newest operating system and is basically a follow up to Vista. It is built on the same platform as Vista but is an improvement in many ways. Why all the hype? Windows 7 is what Vista should have been in the first place. It runs faster and more efficient on less memory than Vista, and is an overall excellent experience for the user.
We all remember Vista’s rollout in ‘06-07’. Even more, we remember the rollback to XP shortly after. While Vista was a huge improvement over XP on many levels, it left users frustrated with security prompts, incompatible drivers, and performance lags. Take the majority of Vista’s complaints over the past few years, fix them, add some cool new features, and you get Windows 7.
What’s new?
What’s new with Windows 7? This is actually quite a tricky question. While on the surface there doesn’t appear to be any major new features to use as a selling point for Windows 7 there are a few worth noting.
· The Home Group allows you to easily link workstations, devices and printers that you trust on your home network without a complicated setup process. You simply assign a password that is entered on each machine and you can easily share printers and shared folders.
· There is a new taskbar that changes the navigation experience. By mousing over programs in the taskbar you can view thumbnails of open windows and you can easily open a new window of a program. While this doesn’t seem like a big deal it makes it very easy to open multiple documents and spreadsheets to compare on your screen. Flipping back and forth between multiple windows just got a lot easier.
· Windows can now be docked on either side of the screen or made full screen just by dragging a window to the edge of the screen. Again this seems minor but it makes navigation a lot faster.
· Windows 7 is fully MultiTouch compatible. This is the first OS to completely integrate with a touch screen and it does so seamlessly and effortlessly. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like if an IPhone was merged with a PC you might like to try running Windows 7 on a tablet such as the TX2 from HP.
· What does that windows key do? In Windows 7 it does everything. ÿ+P brings up your projector settings. ÿ + arrow docks your current window on the right or left side of the screen. ÿ + Shift + arrow sends your current window to your second monitor. If you just pres ÿ and start typing a keyword Windows Search 4.0 (which comes standard on Windows 7) will instantly start searching your documents, control panel, and outlook emails. Finally a windows key that adds value to your computing experience.
The rest of Window’s 7’s improvements are just better versions of what already exists in Vista. Don’t get me wrong though, they are improvements. I can honestly say that while there are not a lot of life changing new features in this OS, it’s downright easier to use and faster than Vista.
What’s the Deal?
For the home users, there is no hurry to upgrade to Windows 7. If you’re a casual user just looking for the basic functionality of a computer (internet, MS Office, photos and music) Vista will provide you with what you need. Your money will be better spent on memory and hard drive upgrades.
For the power users, Windows 7 can save you time and make your life easier. If you utilize multiple screens, multiple windows and multiple programs or use a tablet PC with a touch screen you will love Windows 7.