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I'm sure by this point in the day, you've been bombarded with ads, but in case you missed it: Windows 7 is in stores today.
The press has called it "What Windows Vista should have been", which is a back-handed complement at best. Certainly this time around the prevailing forces in the industry are more supportive of Windows 7 than they were for Windows Vista. Drivers are easier to come by and higher quality, and most PC hardware manufacturers have their ducks in a row behind the new release instead of trying to keep their heads buried in Windows XP forever. Most technology and driver support issues with Windows Vista were resolved last year with Service Pack 1, but the OS has become the permanent favorite IT whipping boy.
The biggest improvements in Windows 7 over Windows Vista come in the form of a much smoother UI experience. For those who followed the technical press in 2004, the "Longhorn Restart" was hardest on the UI teams. It is difficult to impossible to fix major UI issues in a Service Pack (which is even more complicated by the 99+ languages Windows get localized into), so Windows 7 is the first time they've had a chance to fix numerous usability quirks. The net result is much better use of the graphics infrastructure, more responsive and smoother UI, and a more polished look.
There’s a lot more to the release than just the UI, but that’s probably the biggest one most users would notice. There’s certainly a hardcore group of people who continue to feel that Windows XP will be pried from their cold, dead hands, but the PC itself hasn’t stood still in the intervening 8 years. I’m hoping Windows 7 will finally push us past the choke-point of 32-bit OS, Direct3D 9 graphics, and all the various technology limitations of Windows XP. Windows Vista may have been too soon for many factions in the PC industry, but Windows XP has definitely overstayed it’s welcome and has been showing its age for many years.
So check out Windows 7. Just as with Windows Vista, I wouldn't necessarily suggest everyone rush out and buy a retail copy to upgrade their existing PC, but if you plan to buy a new one soon don't be so hasty to pooh-pooh getting the new OS with it. I'd personally strongly recommend going with the 64-bit flavor, but the old legacy 32-bit version is still available. If you bought a PC relatively recently, you should be pretty happy with upgrading. There too, I'd never recommend using an 'in-place' upgrade, but the Windows Easy Transfer tool works pretty damn well to save off your data and settings, install a fresh copy of the OS, and then put the data back in place.
The press has called it "What Windows Vista should have been", which is a back-handed complement at best. Certainly this time around the prevailing forces in the industry are more supportive of Windows 7 than they were for Windows Vista. Drivers are easier to come by and higher quality, and most PC hardware manufacturers have their ducks in a row behind the new release instead of trying to keep their heads buried in Windows XP forever. Most technology and driver support issues with Windows Vista were resolved last year with Service Pack 1, but the OS has become the permanent favorite IT whipping boy.
The biggest improvements in Windows 7 over Windows Vista come in the form of a much smoother UI experience. For those who followed the technical press in 2004, the "Longhorn Restart" was hardest on the UI teams. It is difficult to impossible to fix major UI issues in a Service Pack (which is even more complicated by the 99+ languages Windows get localized into), so Windows 7 is the first time they've had a chance to fix numerous usability quirks. The net result is much better use of the graphics infrastructure, more responsive and smoother UI, and a more polished look.
There’s a lot more to the release than just the UI, but that’s probably the biggest one most users would notice. There’s certainly a hardcore group of people who continue to feel that Windows XP will be pried from their cold, dead hands, but the PC itself hasn’t stood still in the intervening 8 years. I’m hoping Windows 7 will finally push us past the choke-point of 32-bit OS, Direct3D 9 graphics, and all the various technology limitations of Windows XP. Windows Vista may have been too soon for many factions in the PC industry, but Windows XP has definitely overstayed it’s welcome and has been showing its age for many years.
So check out Windows 7. Just as with Windows Vista, I wouldn't necessarily suggest everyone rush out and buy a retail copy to upgrade their existing PC, but if you plan to buy a new one soon don't be so hasty to pooh-pooh getting the new OS with it. I'd personally strongly recommend going with the 64-bit flavor, but the old legacy 32-bit version is still available. If you bought a PC relatively recently, you should be pretty happy with upgrading. There too, I'd never recommend using an 'in-place' upgrade, but the Windows Easy Transfer tool works pretty damn well to save off your data and settings, install a fresh copy of the OS, and then put the data back in place.
