Windows 7 releases this week: After 9 long years, Blackcombe has arrived. You may be asking yourself: “Is this worth the upgrade?” Windows 7 (7) is what Windows Vista (Vista) should have been. Vista (codenamed longhorn) was always meant to be an intermediary OS, jumping between two greater OS’s to hold the market at bay. So of course 7 is a large improvement, you’re actually meant to upgrade and stay with this OS for awhile, not just give them money and suffer.
I’ve noticed a few features that stand out, and performance variations as compared to Vista and Windows XP (XP). I’ve also read about a slew of features touted on Microsoft’s website that are supposed to make 7 appeal to the average consumer, most of which I have never run across or even attempted to use. On the outside they looked ultimately useless or replicated functions of programs I already use- only with less features. I will only discuss what was actually useful to me, but for those who might care, they brought back the multiplayer board games from XP. The excitement you may feel in the air around you should be practically palpable, as you launch Internet Hearts.
I have spent the last five months using the Windows 7 Release Candidate 2 Build 7100 64-bit Version on my main PC. Let’s start with the basics. Installation is a breeze and every piece of hardware in my convulated and over-tweaked gaming PC was installed with the latest drivers from the manufacturers website, with no input from me. It even found all 64-bit drivers, or ran 32-bit ones without fail.
I use my computer mostly for gaming, and luckily this is an area where 7 excels above all previous editions with the inclusion of the DirextX 11 API: which provides much better performance and capabilities over DirectX 10, and is much more liable to actually have software developed for. It should be noted that over the summer I logged around 600 hours gaming without a single crash while playing.
On the topic of 64-bit overall performance was snappy, unfortunately I rarely use any 64-bit specific programs on a daily basis, however encrypting/decrypting or archiving/dearchiving files is ridiculously faster than the same process on the same file with the same hardware in 32-bit Vista or XP. I put 7 through the compatibility ringer, running a battery of stability tests, installing and uninstalling a variety of software ranging from brand new games to old DOS programs and found that out of the 50 or so programs I installed, only three would not work and through all the hell I put this OS through I only had a single crash. This already elevates it far above Vista in terms of actually being able to use your new OS. There is also an XP emulator that worked well with whatever programs I could not get to run in regular or compatibility modes, unfortunately, it requires another gigabyte of RAM to use, but it’s a definite start in backwards compatibility while moving forward to the next level of software.
7 boots much faster, and goes into and returns from hibernation modes with far greater speeds as promised. It includes 64-bit optimizations and support that Vista did not, that make a noticeable difference.
7 touts a new networking standard called “Homegroups” that simplifies the process of sharing files between computers, by having your computer automatically detect Homegroups and requiring only a password to join. 7 also simplifies the joining of Wi-Fi networks and lets you easily do it from the system tray.
7 introduces libraries of files (which are different from indexes) that allow you share, protect, or give a program (such as windows media player) access to all files of one type or category quickly and easily. With a click you can share all of your movies on a homegroup, for instance, or hide all of your documents from other users on the same PC. This eliminates the need for programs to scan your hard drive, or for you to manually share folders “by hand”. While I never found another Homegroup computer to test it out with (my spare PC bit the bullet at a LAN party), I was able to succesfully share files and printers with Vista and Windows XP computers with minimal effort. I can only extrapolate from this trans-OS sharing, that sharing between identical OS’s would be just as painless, but don’t quote me on that.
The quickstart toolbar is gone, and in it’s place, you can have shortlists of libraries or frequently used programs- sort of like mini-customizable start-menus. Dragging windows to the sides of your screen allows you to easilly compare them side-by-side, and by dragging a window to the top of the screen, you may maximize it. All of this functionality is built to support touchscreen computing: The future! I can smell the DeLorean already!
The taskbar has been reworked in the way that it groups programs, and perhaps most cool, there is no longer a sidebar. You can put your gadgets anywhere you want on your desktop.
The best improvement over Vista: the fleet of menus you had to navigate through to perform simple administrative tasks, such as changing how Vista alerted you, have been removed, and are reminiscent of the XP days. 7 also allows you to set it to alert you even less, or my personal favorite, never. Ever. 7 also comes with a great deal of other unlocks to allow you to customize your experience, from changing menus on down to customizing your startbar.
Searches are faster from the startbar and go online with Internet Explorer 8 integration, which is something I’ve refrained from using for obvious reasons.
On a negative note, 7′s system specs are slightly higher than Vista’s. And if you already bought Vista, now you have to buy it a second time. If you read my PSP Go article chiding console manufacturers from selling you the same system two and three times, you know just how much I loathe this business model.
In summary 7 is vastly far and away improved over Vista with the sort of stability and options for power users that we were promised. 7 is far less controlling, performs much better, and isn’t shy about telling you about it. If you are still sitting on XP and wondering about the upgrade, or if you are unhappy with your Vista experience, there’s no better time to move forward than now, with an OS that actually lives up to its promises. I give it a 4.5/5 because it still utilizes that terrible multi-version launch scheme where you decide which version you want and pay too much for so-so “features” that are ultimately unnecessary and confuse the consumer. You never really know what goes on underneath the hood in each individual version, though it is launching cheaper than Vista, perhaps as an apology, they’ve finally realized no one will buy their products when they charge $450 for an OS.
Just don’t invite me to your launch party.
