May 11, 2009
CNET: Living With Windows 7
CNET's Ina Fried Test Drives Latest Microsoft Operating System
I've been living with Windows 7 for some time now. Indeed, I've been using it since the first public release last fall.
At work, it has been my main machine for several months and I frequently bring it home and take it on the road. However, I have relied on my CNET-issued Windows XP machine for a number of key tasks, such as using the desktop version of Outlook and when I needed to access the Internet using a Sprint modem. (Our newsroom USB modem didn't work with the beta of Windows 7.)
With the release candidate, I was finally able to take the complete plunge. Since Tuesday, I have been using nothing else -- at work and at home.
And I must say, despite one hiccup that I'll get to in a minute, Windows 7 is shaping up quite well. There's a lot to like about Windows 7 for those using Windows XP or
Windows Vista.
Because Microsoft was urging people not to upgrade directly from Windows 7 beta to the release candidate, my first step, like many folks, was backing up the data on the beta version. I chose to try out Microsoft's Windows Easy Transfer to see if it lived up to its name.
For me, the hardest part was finding an external
hard drive to borrow to hold the 14GB file that Windows Easy Transfer created. Once I managed to do that, the software lived up to its name. It moved the data, somewhat slowly, but effortlessly off my machine. After I installed the release candidate, it moved the data back. Again, the process was slow, but required no work on my end.
The result was a machine that looked very much like the setup I had created with the beta -- minus all my applications, of course. Windows Easy Transfer migrates data and settings, but not Windows programs themselves.
Well, there was one other thing missing. After upgrading to the release candidate, all of the standard windows showed up without the usual close, expand, and minimize boxes. The boxes were actually there, but not visible.
The glitch affected windows created by the Windows Explorer shell and Office, but not programs with their own menu design, such as Yahoo Messenger or iTunes.
A few restarts did not fix the bug, and I left the office with the close box showing up intermittently.
On Wednesday, I went with Windows 7 alone -- not by choice, but because I forgot the power cord for my XP
laptop, which I had also brought with me. I had it as a backup, but was able to make it through the day using only the Windows 7 box to take notes at a health care conference and then for live coverage of Steve Ballmer's speech at Stanford.
As I went to leave the speech, I shut down Windows 7, as opposed to putting it to sleep. Having seen the shield next to the shut down logo, I should have known that I was due for a delay. As it was shutting down, Windows 7 installed a whopping 28 updates. That slowed my commute home by a good 15 minutes, but one of those updates was probably the driver that fixed the window issue. The close box has been showing up ever since.
And really, that has been my only complaint. So far, the release candidate is an even happier version of the operating system I had already grown to appreciate in beta form. It does all the important stuff -- it let me write this blog, use Twitter, and play games on Facebook.
Windows 7 isn't a major change from Vista. It's just better in all the ways that really matter day in and day out.
There are two things I like about 7 in particular. First, it is much faster to start up, go to sleep, and shut down. The second is the improved taskbar, which makes it very easy to manage through lots and lots of open windows and programs.
But for me, who uses a computer for a good half of the day, that's a lot.
By Ina Fried
Copyright © 2008 CNET Networks, Inc., a CBS Company. All rights reserved.
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See all 32 CommentsWhile you are being spirited away from actually using a computer and being sucked into the Redmond experience, there are those of us who actually appreciate still being able to use a machine rather than an overstuffed recliner with a remote.
By the way. If you can't find the Linux support for your distro, I doubt you can find your a** with both hands in a well-lit room. Documentation is hard to avoid.
Wake up, Neo. Redmond has you.
The best thing a computer user can do to live with Windows comfortably is to wash them at least once a year and use Linux, its free, just as easy to use and there's an app for what ever you want to do, FREE!
Get a life!
I sincerely hope that Ina Fried doesn't make a habit of using sentences; like the above, in 99.9% of her literary endeavors. Her sentence actually sounded though she may have been "fried" at the time she wrote. lol!
*Corrected & repeated for spelling error.*
I sincerely hope that Ina Fried doesn't make a habit of using sentences; like the above, in 99.9% of her literary endeavors. Her sentence actually sounded thoug she may have been "fried" at the time she wrote. lol!
I agree! Vista sucks... it's S L O W! I had to take it off my machine because it slowed my production to a crawl even with 2gigs of ram and a 4gig memory stick. Just sending email is excruciating, it takes forever for the window to pop up.
Much faster than the mangled Vista.
Vista is a piece of trash.
I downgrade my clients to XP.
I say MS ripped eveveybody off with Vista.
It has problems in between the UI and core Kernel level.
Microsoft should give Vista's users a free upgrade to 7
I want to click on the menu and have it come down and STAY there!!,,,
But oh no!.,,, the slightest little mouse stray to the next menu or two
while choosing the sub menu and there goes the flashing of menus
all over the place in anticipation,,,
Is this same flashing setup in Linux?
There are times when I yell out loud,, " BILL GATES YOU ,,,,,,,,,!"
Anyone into drawing programs who feel the same way?
I'll take the menu setup from Windows for workgroups with XP please.
I was forced by where live to use a PC for over 6 years and I have not found anything that the Mac does not do better than a windows system. Games, spread sheets, text, video editing, photo editing, all of it is better and faster on the Mac. Even better, the few programs I have had to pay for are cheaper than their window$ equivalents. Yes, the Mac does cost more. But the quality of the hardware and software tells us why. The cost after purchase though, go way down. Then the lower frustration level makes it all worth every penny.
I was forced by where live to use a PC for over 6 years and I have not found anything that the Mac does not do better than a windows system. Games, spread sheets, text, video editing, photo editing, all of it is better and faster on the Mac. Even better, the few programs I have had to pay for are cheaper than their window$ equivalents. Yes, the Mac does cost more. But the quality of the hardware and software tells us why. The cost after purchase though, go way down. Then the lower frustration level makes it all worth every penny.
I was forced by where live to use a PC for over 6 years and I have not found anything that the Mac does not do better than a windows system. Games, spread sheets, text, video editing, photo editing, all of it is better and faster on the Mac. Even better, the few programs I have had to pay for are cheaper than their window$ equivalents. Yes, the Mac does cost more. But the quality of the hardware and software tells us why. The cost after purchase though, go way down. Then the lower frustration level makes it all worth every penny.
Posted by ZombieJeebus
***
The only thing Microsoft does well is market. Unfortunately, most people are suckers for a good sales pitch.
I do a complete backup of my hard drive every day. It usually takes about 5 minutes. Everything is copied onto an external drive that is bootable because it's a complete clone of the internal drive.
Microsoft has never released anything that was not as buggy as an ant farm. I will never have to use a Micro$oft program ever again. "Praise god Almighty, Free at last! Free at last!"
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