It used to be a general rule with Microsoft that the third version of its products was the good one. With Windows 7, the company got it in two.
I’ll explain. First off, that rule of thirds: Windows 1 and 2 were jokes; Windows 3.0 was where it hit the mainstream. Ditto for third versions of Word for DOS, Office, and probably a lot of other products. (Or maybe it’s my imagination.)
Anyway, Windows 7 is, really, the second version of Windows Vista. It’s being released, almost quietly, in the next few weeks. The final release candidate is going out Tuesday. I’ve been using an evaluation version.
I am no fan of Vista; I’ve written about that before in a few places. I’ve been using it for the past few months because it takes advantage of RAM in a better way than Windows XP, and I wanted the processing speed. So I’ve been putting up with Vista’s annoyances. (My fave: In order to get it to permanently recognize that I wanted my data on a second hard drive, I had to create a special installation disk with my settings built in. We’re talking about finding bits of obscure software and creating strange configuration files.)
Vista does do some things better than XP. It’s smoother and often “snappier” — things happen faster. It’s more polished. The built-in tools are better. But behind the scenes, for tweakers like me, it was just annoying in a host of small ways.
So here comes Windows 7. Unlike Vista (and unlike products from another technology company), there isn’t a huge bru-ha-ha about it. Certainly it’s reasonably big news in the tech community, but it’s kept out of the mainstream. (Maybe that’s because, unlike Vista, years and deadlines haven’t passed us by.)
So I loaded it. And it is good.
Essentially, Microsoft took Vista and fixed many of its annoyances, added some nice features, and made the new OS that Vista was supposed to be. It’s little things like getting rid of Vista’s sidebar (which took up way too much real estate on the desktop) and letting users move gadgets anywhere on the desktop.
It’s the taskbar (or “Start bar”) being streamlined, with the Quick Launch bar now integrated with the rest of the taskbar, so you have links to your favorite programs sharing space with open documents. It works nicely.
It’s the use of “Libraries” — virtual folders that allow you to group folders and documents no matter where on your hard drive they resides. For example, let’s say you have Quicken and Tax Act installed, along with some separate documents relating to your personal finances. You can create a library called “Money” and put all those files into it. The files are still stored in their original folders, but now you’ve grouped them in a more useful manner. (I’m not going to go into the details of things like Libraries — others have done a better job.)
It’s not perfect, of course. Only Apple products are perfect (and every one is). But for the small but growing number of Windows users — about 95 percent of the market these days — it’s a worthwhile upgrade. Unlike Vista.
The Fray
Andrew says:
Gosh, I forgot all about that. But the odd numbers doesn’t work with Trek: 2, 3, 4 were good; 5 was [shudder].
With Microsoft it’s the rule of thirds. The third version of the mouse, for example — ergonomic and had a wheel.
Regardless, the more time I spend with Windows 7 the more I like it. So much of what’s to like is subtle that it’s hard to remember to mention it.
User Access Control, for example. It was an annoying nightmare in Vista, but in Windows 7 it’s simple and streamlined. It pops up when it needs to, and only then.
There are still some annoyances. Customizing your look and feel, which used to be right there in Control Panel/Display (or Personalize) is hidden under, of all things, “Color.” That’s where you can choose the titlebar font, icon spacing, etc. Weird.
gnomic says:
Really? I’ll have to see if I can get a copy without spending a fortune… again. Otherwise, I may have to bite the bullet and go with Linux. The new release supposedly solved some of the graphics problems that bothered me.
Thorndike says:
Libraries?
Sounds just like a folder with shortcuts to the programs/documents in question.
I will give Windows another chance when the following happens:
1. They offer one product for one price. None of this ‘tiered’ software
2. They remove ‘Windows Genuine Advantage’ garbage. With MS, you are guilty of piracy until you prove you aren’t. Over and Over.
3. They fix the underlying code base to fix the need for anti-virus / spyware / rootkit issues.
All of the above can be done. Apple did it by using the BSD code base while staying proprietary, and Linux has been doing this for years.
Thorndike
Leland says:
They still got it wrong. Microsoft has a bad habit of trying to be my conscience when it comes to my software, my music and my movies.
I can understand Microsoft taking steps to protect their own products.” That makes sense even if the excuse of avoiding “a poor experience and impacts customer satisfaction with our products” could not possibly get any more lame.
But here is where I draw the line. People testing Windows XP and Windows 7 discovered all kinds of DRM management problems. Vista beta testers attempting to rip music without some non-existent license were stopped from doing so. Vista even interfered with non-Microsoft products trying to do the same trick. (That “feature” was removed Vista after beta testers began dumping it in mass rebellion)
One television network testing Vista came in one morning to find legitimately bought and paid for Adobe, Avid and other software identified as “unauthorized” and shut down. Attempts to reinstall that software using the OEM CDs were denied once the license keys were entered. (The Avid software uses a dongle which was present on the machine.)
The same thing is going on only worse with Windows 7. Beta testers discovered that Windows 7 degrades digital audio inputs through sound cards and allows software vendors to penetrate firewalls without your knowledge. Some of those findings can be found here: Slashdot: Draconian DRM revealed in Windows 7
Microsoft is not my conscience. Nor is it my mother, a law enforcement agency, a copyright clearance house or royalty collection agent.
Microsoft is nothing more then a software house that sells an operating system that runs on my machine. They need to remember their roll in this transaction. Their software is running on my machine. My computer is not their machine to command.
When I tell my computer to rip my brand new CD to MP3 it had better do it. I will not have a machine that checks with Redmond, WA first.
AG says:
Don’t forget the rule of odd-numbered releases, dating back to DOS — even numbers bad, odd numbers good. Go ahead and work out your comparison to Trek movies on your own.
Also, RC’s 30 April, I believe.