Windows 7: The Long Awaited XP Replacement
Balmer's keynote is finished and the reports are everywhere. Ballmer said that the next Windows O/S is the best version yet. The world may agree with him soon because Windows 7 Beta will go public as of today, Friday, January 9th. I find this an excellent time for everyone who has an unused computer to break it out and install the beta. I've been testing it out for a while with multiple combinations of software, my favorite suite of system protection, and a lot of non-Vista friendly productivity software. As a friend of mine said, my thoughts exactly, Windows 7 beta build 7000 seems RTM already.
Once again, flocks everywhere are comparing Windows 7 to Mac OS X and their taskbar. I have to admit that I was not only skeptical of Windows 7 as a whole, but the new taskbar dubbed Super Taskbar. I am not only impressed, but it forks off from any taskbar I've seen in all the dozens of operating systems I've used. You are able to pin an application on the taskbar, as promised, but you gain a wealth of easily accessible Recent History and other options by one lonely click. No longer will mousers worry about the keyboard enthusiasts preach about wasting time navigating with the cursor. The new taskbar is fantastic.
Another jab at Windows 7 is the dreaded resolution to DLL hell called the SXS folder. Windows 7 possesses virtualization for backwards compatibility. The problem has been that this folder can climb to enormous levels quickly, especially so soon after installing Windows 7. After I was done with my first sweep of applications, the SXS folder was between six to seven gigabytes. After another week of testing, the folder did not increase. 7GB is a worthy trade off. This beta actually ran smoother than Windows XP on my current desktop, especially after I combed through services.
Next up I should mention multiboot capabilities. I have a GRUB controlled boot load that has Windows on default next to several Linux operating systems. After installing Windows 7 in a separate NTFS partition, it did take over as expected, but I was able to update the GRUB with no issues. After the boot configuration update, Windows 7 will boot up as the primary by default, but you have 30 seconds to choose either an Earlier Windows Operating System or boot into Win7. After which, you can choose to boot into any other Windows operating system. Simply put, I have had no problems with WinSeven in a large multiboot environment after installation. That might mean something to someone other than me.
Aside from most of the eye candy, Windows 7 is stable and impressive. It runs well enough on the old Dell I have laying around without turning off any visual effects. Not to mention I had a fleet of software running at full capacity. I may only have 2GB of RAM in this system, but multitasking not only became a lot more manageable, but customizing how you want to multitask is a huge perk. You can now easily edit the taskbar button grouping options in Taskbar Properties among other choices.
Microsoft will finally release an operating system that not only seems secure and stable on release, but one that doesn't irritate us with user control prompts for every action. This brings up the mention that UAC can be configured to be relaxed for the most part without shutting the entire service off. Helpful options like this are sprinkled throughout Seven nicely and are not difficult to find. If you have a very basic idea of what you want to do, you will probably stumble into the necessary radio button or check box. While Vista was geared towards gamers and PC enthusiasts, Windows 7 looks to be geared for everyone else.
We will mark Vista down as the second black eye from Microsoft following Windows ME. While not nearly as terrible as ME, the constant annoyances, lack of backwards compatibility, and heavy hardware requirements deserve to be placed near the mantle of failure ME currently resides. I don't know why Microsoft decided to follow up an operating system that has been around for seven years with a possible successor that could not run any software or drivers dated before 2006. At least they managed to release a proper beta before people began to lose hope. Windows XP was resurrected with SP2, Windows 98SE had SP 2.1a, and a lot of software and updates cannot install without SP4 in Windows 2000.
Microsoft also discontinued Live OneCare and will be releasing their own free antivirus program for Windows. I see this as another great move by Microsoft considering the wealth of garbage antivirus protection that can cost an annual subscription of $80. I trust this is an action taken to push Symantec to try to push out quality software for once, along with Trend Micro, AVG, and others. Too many consumers are being duped into buying protection suites that do little for protection and more in terms of setting up, registering, dealing with spam as a result, false positives, and lengthy, resource sucking scans.
This year is beginning to look up for Microsoft, but consumers may feel cynical after purchasing Vista. These may be the same people that felt cheated from investing in an ME machine. They are undoubtedly a lost cause, but Windows 7 definitely picks up the slack after losing a portion to Mac and Linux. Those that have found love in Linux may vow to never return again, but we have not hit that pivotal point in history where we no longer need to run Windows. Many will have to return, but at least it could be a delightful reunion with what appears to be an actual replacement for Windows XP.
Sorry Microsoft, I’m Done
Update: The reason behind this blog is undoubtedly that Microsoft may be dropping Vista in favor of Windows 7. Excellent. Let Vista rest in stagnation because there are too many issues by users crying out to be fixed or give options to adjust certain annoyances. Ah, well. Windows 7, for me, will be the answer, but I feel sorry for consumers everywhere that invested in Windows Vista. This includes the latest expensive productivity software when earlier purchased versions should have sufficed and brand new Vista certified hardware.
Everyone has that one friend in their lives that never seems get things right, but try their best. They may imitate others because they probably have this crazy notion they aren't good enough on their own. What's worse is that they make mistakes. A lot of mistakes. Though, I wouldn't call this friend lazy, but he or she will sit on a resolution for months, or years, before attempting to repair the error. This kind of friend is not just a teenager, but is displayed through all spheres of life. This friend is quite literally everywhere you go. At first, regretfully, when you lose contact permanently, you seem to become a better person.
In my spheres of life, Windows has been that friend of mine. Microsoft has never learned from past mistakes, which has led to serious security compromises. We all vividly remember the Blaster worm and numerous other exploits. Well, here is a lovely little networking flaw that can be abused to crash Vista systems. It can allow rootkits to be hidden and DoS attacks to create chaos for your daily computing needs. Meaning that your Vista machine could be exposed to damaging attacks.
Well, I've been trying to keep up with Windows and stay optimistic, but I have to finally admit, Vista was a failure. Windows 7 seems more and more like what Vista would have been if they let it stay in the oven a couple more years. Windows 7 is going to be a failure as many people who already painstakingly upgraded to Vista now feel they will be pressured into upgrading to Windows 7. Though, Windows XP will not be retired for quite a while until Vista/7 get their game together; you will not be able to purchase XP in stores on preconfigured manufacturer computers. Only online through the same retailers.
I was sad to hear that Microsoft will address this vulnerability in their next service pack. There is no estimated release date for SP2 and I feel it will bring little to the table to resurrect Vista. The damage has been done and so many Windows users have felt cheated by a half-finished product, which is clearly evident now with videos displaying Windows 7 features and technology. Sure, it may be feature rich, but just like Vista, there is nothing that changed the productivity and convenience for Windows. Well, aside from easy to use parental controls.
Sadly, I'm telling Microsoft I'm done defending and supporting them and now it seems the once proud software giant has taken a knee during an important play. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have two more days to wait until the official release of Fedora 10. With a speedy GUI boot process and many other amazing changes, there will be no reason I will have to do anything Windows again besides emulate Windows XP. Come to think of it, I don't recall the last piece of software that won't install properly with Wine. Hell, even recent big name MMOs install under Linux now.
I used to actually enjoy Windows with the amount of customization and choices. Even though Windows XP wasn't quite "good" until Service Pack 2, that does not entitle M$ to give the same treatment towards Vista. At least try to hammer out security flaws when found. Albeit, Mac OS X is full of security flaws, at least Apple will hot fix them as soon as when it matters.
