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15 Things You'll Love about Windows 7
Eric Dahl / Inside Tech
January 19, 2009
(and Five You’ll Hate)
Microsoft has a lot riding on Windows 7. Vista failed to give Windows users a reason to upgrade from XP, and justified or not, it quickly gained a reputation for being slow, overly complicated, and annoying to work with. Judging by the response to the public beta of Windows 7, lots of Windows fans are more than ready for an OS that delivers what Vista promised and more.
So is Windows 7 that OS? I installed a copy of the public beta on my home machine – a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo machine with 4GB of RAM, a GeForce 7950GT, and a Seagate 1.5TB hard drive. Once I’d burned a copy of the 3.15GB ISO file, I grabbed an old SATA drive and performed a clean install of the beta.
What I found was by far the most stable beta OS I’ve ever tested. Windows 7 is an impressively polished, if not particularly ambitious piece of work. Having lived with the OS for a little while now, I can tell you that Windows 7 definitely offers a few things to get excited about.
I’ve picked out 15 new features I think you’ll like as well as five that you probably won’t. Read on to check them out, or head over to the new Windows 7 Beta gallery for lots of screens from the installation process.
15 Things You’ll Like About Windows 7
yoddel
3 days ago
232 comments
best infomation
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mkdigital
about 1 month ago
4 comments
I can't wait to get it! Even most of your bad points are sellers for me. I need a change of scenery but I still want my computer to be fast. I can't wait to test it out!
BeckoningChasm
about 1 month ago
2 comments
I dunno. A lot of what's outlined in this article seems to be fluff, honestly. What I want is a more responsive OS so that a netbook with a fixed amount of RAM (1 or 2 gigs) will actually be usable, rather than a frustration. With all the emphasis on graphics (transparence, rotating, etc) it doesn't seem like this is much of an improvement on Vista.
bobcohenc
about 1 month ago
4 comments
I have been using the Windows 7 RC for a while now and I have found that in 95% of the cases it out does Vista and XP hands down. I have found a few software incompatibilities of programs that I had used on a regular basis with XP but I am hoping that they will have an upgrade soon as they are important for me. If Windows 7 could be completely backward compatible without going through setting up profiles, that would be great.
evans
4 months ago
4 comments
I still like to try it but because of the drivers being new, it myt go for an extreemly amount of money and myt be abit hard to sell to individuals. Lets see though..
evans
4 months ago
4 comments
Am in Kenya and if its possible would like to give the OS a try am highly interested in Os's and have basic knowledge of Windows, Mac & Linux Based Ubuntu. It will be interesting to see how it performs here in my country. So far from the Likes, it looks a good investment. Let see what the dislikes are..
pratikf
4 months ago
26 comments
No matter how nice an OS Microsoft will build, people will always find a way to complain. I loved Vista, I love Win 7 even more! I'm already looking for a tablet... ;)
alicat2_
4 months ago
2 comments
I already have my files organized like a filing cabinet, as this is the most efficient way of doing things. I DO NOT NEED A LIBRARY.
lpenny
6 months ago
2 comments
OK all the pretty is really cool. I also like the jump to thing for opening familiar files. And IE 8 highlight to bring up a map etc. is nice. You can do that now with Ubiquity, it's still cool though. I think my biggest worry is How much memory does it require to do all these things and is it stable!!
deanmyrick
6 months ago
38 comments
It seems like they are always about 5 years (or more) behind the mac OS. The new control bar aka dock, making open windows transparent aka Spaces and just always trying to make it more mac-like. Guys and girls! Here's a clue: Why not get the real thing instead of a really crappy attempted copy of it. For example, if I wanted a volkswagen, I wouldn't buy a car that is "volkswagen-like". I'd get a Volkswagen!
money
6 months ago
74 comments
I love the new windows 7. You need the Virtual PC pak to go with it! That way everything will run correctly. Also the new Virtual PC has USB options, in which other Virtual PC's do not.. I think it was more responceive than vista.
Gusmackey
6 months ago
10 comments
WEll, let me weigh in as well, I tried the beta on an older machine( which is what MS should have focused on becuase a large number of the home users will be upgrades) and it did not like the older hardware nor could I get some of the Windows XP or vista drivers to work. MS is in for a big surprise when they find they encounter the same issue as with Vista, people will buy it and go back to XP because of the issues was older software and applications. Now to the 64bit, ask HP why their 64bit computers are not selling ( hint!! application compatibility, vendors are not buying it). So it's great that you can runmore RAM with the 64bit, but what good is it when yu cannot run the apps you need and use. Good Luck MS!!!
Account Removed
6 months ago
More driver installs, more peripherals not working, more security breaches - so what's new? The packaging? we have one Windows Vista machine at home and this has been OUR experience. Why doesn't MS offer to put me in one of their TV commercials?? (We got rid of Bush, it's time to get rid of Windoze.)
wolffe
7 months ago
8 comments
Vista is not a bad platform. It takes a bit to digest all the mechanics behind it. Most people today don't want to understand an OS but expect it to be amazing, which in this case is. I enjoy Vista due to the reason that I got an education on it. I suggest to all those "now people" chill and explore all options before knocking off Vista. Mac has its own problems, just like Microsoft. Before you judge a platform, get to know it first.
scbeacham
9 months ago
8 comments
Honestly,
When I first installed Windows 7, I was immediately impressed, and then I cried, because as I tried to download all my favorite programs, none of them recognized my operating system, iTunes, Quicktime, and even my graphics driver from nVidia wouldn't install.
HOWEVER, I went into the windows update and some of the updates in there that they considered "recommended" but not "important" were exactly the ones that my computer needed to be accepted into the community as a legitimate OS. So I installed these, and what's even nicer is IT found the driver for my graphics card so I didn't have to go looking for it after all (even though I already had).
IN SHORT; I was originally very ANTI Vista, and for good reason, it sucked. However, with this Windows 7 release (even if it IS just a knock off of Vista), It has (in my mind) become a true rival to the Leopard OS released by Apple, and if Microsoft continues in this direction they will soon be back in the game.
NOTE TO THOSE HESITANT TO SWITCH FROM XP:
Do not switch from XP to Vista. But feel free to upgrade from XP to Windows 7, I guarantee your programs will run smoothly as soon as run windows update and install the items listed there.