Windows 7

Posted on 2009/10/19 16:43:28 (October 2009).

Well, is anyone else looking forward to the release of Windows 7 ?

I am!

Looking back I realise what a marvellous incarnation of the marque XP was and how great-in-concept-but-lacking-in-practice Vista was. XP SP3 really seems pretty much an apex. True Vista closed some gaps, offered more functionality and looked better but, in my opinion, it crippled most machines it was installed on. Windows 7 promises to give all the advantages but none of the bloat.

Considering XP was released 8 years ago it is a remarkable achievement that it lasted so long. Where I work we use XP extensively and it never crashes... Yes, you read that right. It never crashes. Applications get their knickers in a knot and fall flat quite often, but underneath XP keeps going. It's patched of course, patched until it can hardly move. But it's reliable.

Apple's OS X has always been praised for it's stability. Being based on a UNIX chassis means it has a lot going for it. What Apple's software engineers have done is to make all that messy LINUX/UNIX administration and installation kerfuffle disappear beneath a beautiful veneer of some of the highest quality graphics and artwork you'll find. Applications which run atop the o/s are carefully crafted using a single, rigidly defined set of APIs and a programming language called Objective C. This means it's hard to write a bad program as long as you have the necessary skills. But they tend to all look the same. It's all a bit bland.

Snow Leopard didn't change that. We were promised that underneath the gloss some wonderful code rewriting was done. 64-bit CPUs were taken full advantage of... Security was beefed up... Speed increased... HD footprint reduced (actually just a reduction in the number of supplied drivers).

Bit boring though.

Did I really say that? Well... Yes.

So I'm looking forward to Windows 7. It might be a flop; it might be a bright light across the computing world... We might hate it, but we might love it too. That's possible.

Let's see!

I don't like the way M$ beta tests its products for years asking users to pay for it (customers). At least Apple works straight out of the box, yes there are patches, but I've rarely seen a launch of a new MacOS that went terribly bad like Vista. People pay for those products (usually), I do not understand why they have to be happy with a faulty product that gets patched well only after 2 years of releases... :(

Posted by Lox at 2009/10/20 07:57:40.

Hi Lox. Yes, I agree - however we have to remember that the advantage Apple has is its *very* limited hardware product range. M$ has to cater for everyone else. My guess is that "drivers" are the main cause of Windows hardware conflicts. With Apple that just doesn't happen. As I mention above, because our works machines are locked to a non-changing hardware spec, nothing crashes.

As you know I run both Apple and Windows machines and simply enjoy it all. :-)

I will make a jump off the wall, one way or the other at some time in the future!!

Posted by Nigel at 2009/10/20 11:01:49.

I agree, my PC works perfectly with XP, but I also think at all the people that do not have half the knowledge (litte) that I have of OSs and PCs... It's terrible for them.

Posted by Lox at 2009/10/20 16:57:55.

That's a good point and I agree. I guess that's the same for me too. :-)

Posted by Nigel at 2009/10/20 22:45:47.

My desktop computer is now seven years old and has been running XP since I got it, but has got oh-so-slow over those years - not having had the opportunity to do a full back-up and subsequent format and clean install, as I use the computer for my work on a daily basis. I am thinking of going for Windows 7 Ultimate as a clean install. I am glad I skipped Vista, though - just used my wife's new laptop with Vista and I am NOT impressed!

Posted by Bryan at 2009/10/22 10:18:28.

Hi Bryan! Talking of laptops you might find my "Part 2" to this entry useful!! I know exactly what you mean! :-)

The difference between XP and "7" is marked. I think you'll enjoy the experience!

Posted by Nigel at 2009/10/22 10:36:55.

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