Windows 7: What you need to know
Posted in News on October 22nd, 2009 by gkrakow
If you like running your computer on a Microsoft Windows operating system you will like Windows 7.
If you hated Windows Vista you will like Windows 7.
And if you’re running an older version of Windows – such as XP (or earlier) you should seriously consider upgrading to Windows 7 now.
Are you catching my drift?
Windows 7 is the real deal – and Microsoft’s best operating system in years.
It’s good because they learned from their mistakes with Vista.
The bottom line is that Windows 7 just plain works – and works well.
Operating systems – however good they are – are still just operating systems. All of the best ones, Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Unix, present you with a software platform to do what you need to do. OSes give you a set of tools to complete your tasks with ease. The best of the best do their job without getting in your way.
Vista was more nuisance than helper. Windows 7 is what Vista should have been.
I’ve been testing “7″ on a number of computers for months now. It was the first time a Microsoft OS Beta worked first time, every time. It installed with ease on a number of different computer hardware configurations and is stable like tank.
I can tell you from months of experience that the new interface is crisp and clean and that the OS allows your computer to work quickly and efficiently. That’s exactly what an OS should do.
For instance, on a 2-year old Toshiba laptop/tablet, upgrading from 7 Beta to the final release version of 7 Ultimate tool just less an hour. Overall, boot-up speed is about the same as it was when the computer was running Vista – but all the programs I use open and save-to-disk faster than with Vista.
What really amazes me is the speed of my Wi-Fi connection. The Toshiba hardware used to peak at 200-300 kb/sec. downloads. Now, the same computer says I’m getting downloads between 875 kb/sec and 1.3 MB/sec. I spent an afternoon downloading programs just to see if the speeds I’m getting were for real. They are.
Windows 7 seems to give lots of hardware and software processes a big speed boost. It may not seem like much but added all together – Windows 7 seems to fly compared to older Windows software.
Not everything is new. The start menu is pretty much the same as it’s been since XP. And, if you know how to deal with a Windows computer then 7 won’t throw you for a loop. You’ll just need to get used to a cleaner home screen/interface. That’s not a hardship by any means.
Starting today, Windows 7 is available on DVD (upgrades or full installations). Expect to pay anywhere from $120 (Home Premium edition) to $220 (Ultimate edition) upgrades. Add $80-$100 for full install disks. You can check out the different versions here.
The other way to get Windows 7 is to buy a new computer with the new OS already installed. Computer manufacturers would like that a lot. I’ve seen new models from nearly every hardware manufacturer – including a super-nifty Eee PC Netbook with 2 GB of memory running a full-featured version of 7. In the past, Microsoft only allowed Win XP Netbooks to run 1 MB of memory).
Finally, if Microsoft was able to do such a good job with Windows I can’t wait to see what they have planned for the next version of Office. We’ll know soon enough.