If you are using Microsoft Windows Vista, than taking the plunge over to Microsoft’s Windows 7 will not be traumatic. Most everything you have done in Vista and their locations are still there, but will have a slightly different look to the menu’s. But overall you will experience few changes that make the switch from Vista to Windows 7 a breeze.
As I previously mentioned I did a clean install of Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit version. The install was quick and uneventful. The nice touch was that all of my hardware was recognized and drivers were provided. This in itself is a huge change from when Vista first hit the streets and there was a mountain of complaints when it came to available hardware drivers. This is no longer a problem unless you are using an old ISA network card. LOL
I could go on to talk about the new taskbar, Aero Peek, Shake and Snap, but these features to me are just gimmick’s than useful features. The average user may not even know that these things are available and most likely could care less. [Ron hides behind his desk as the rocks start to fly his way]. I’m just not a eye candy, gimmick kind of person. Windows XP worked fine for me for years. I’ve now settled into using Vista since last November and I enjoy it. But I don’t use Vista because it is pretty. I’m using it because it has been working great for me.
Last November you may recall that I bought a new laptop that came with Vista. I made sure that the laptop I was buying had all of the hardware drivers for Windows XP. If I found any issues with Vista, off it would of came with a clean install of XP. But Vista has been working just fine. Even better with SP1 and now SP2 installed.
But back to Windows 7. I like it. It runs perfectly on my test rig, which also is a gaming system. But will I upgrade my personal laptop to Windows 7? Nope. I’ll stick with Vista for now. I will be buying another new laptop this November for my wife and will get Windows 7 installed.
The bottom line is this. I have systems with Windows XP, Windows Vista and now Windows 7. As long as they work properly I’m thrilled. It doesn’t matter which OS you use. It only matters that you like what you are using.
Comments welcome.
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I’m almost ready to think about more than 1 copy of Windows 7, since the ability to restore the standard menu (like XP, with drill down hierarchical style) is now there. Other fixes to return the interface back to normal have also been worked out, so that part will be good also.
What I’ve read, and experienced with the Beta (I never bothered to move to the RC, but I have it) is the uncooperative nature of Windows 7 to work in a standard home network situation. In other words, if you don’t have a homogenous Windows 7 network, you have problems. (Windows 7 doesn’t seem to like to join a non-domain-controlled network that is not named Homegroup. This seems especially stupid, since I know most people have specific machine names, and names for their network – forcing everyone to convert to Homegroup just to achieve satisfactory results seems a very bad idea.)
Did that get fixed? I like to be able to simply have things work, and a friend of my son’s has said that with the RC it was still a pain to connect to non-7 machines, with passwords(that did not work) and other assorted problems coming up.
I also saw one of the pundits on ZDNet state that it was MS’s attempt to move more people to 7, by making heterogenous networking difficult.
What’s your experience there?
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Hello Marc,
It is still the same with the RTM.
I used this to get the networking working:
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Windows-7-Understanding-Network-Administration-Configuration.html
See if it helps.
In a shameless plug, I blogged about the PlaReady DRM.
http://izanbardprince.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/microsoft-windows-7-cable-television-and-the-so-called-playready-drm-scam/
Microsoft uses Windows 7 to cripple your cable TV.