Windows 7

Well this is sure to be a controversial post but I figured I would post it anyhow. Anyhow I got a chance to play with the new Windows and used a hack to get the superbar and while I wont be switching to Windows I do think Windows 7 is leaps and bounds ahead of Windows Vista and probably will be a widely accepted release of Windows. why? Microsoft has really refined Windows and the requirements for Windows. One thing I like to do is play with an OS on the minimum hardware requirements and I used Windows 7 on the required hardware you would find for Windows Vista. Since Randall Kennedy said that 7 is Vista R2 I used the minimum requirements for Windows Vista, yes 800mhz with 512mb of RAM and yes, Windows 7 on that hardware is a lot faster than Vista is. While I know hardware that old is no longer used in most enterprises and the companies that still use that hardware pawn them off to the “new guys” with Windows 2000, Windows 7 will breathe a little bit of new life into those machines should it be used. Windows 2000, was the repetitive Windows leader, the best Microsoft EVER released so in a sense I was waiting for Microsoft to replace it with something. Windows XP was Horrible and I do mean horrible, Windows Vista was a bit better than Windows XP and now Windows 7 even in Alpha has finally taken the crown away from Windows 2000. Here is hoping Microsoft doesnt screw it up.

Too Mac like

I have heard too many reports that Windows 7 is too Mac like and I would tend to agree but Im in a toss up with that. There are many elements that remind me of the Mac and a lot of elements that remind me of RiscOS so I think the inspiration came from many places. I dont like Jump Lists, I think they are really unnecessary and stupid, sorry for those that do like the Jump list, I think they will get in the way more than they will improve the user experience, Aero Peek, nice but again, I hope they give UI with which to turn it off. The one reason I dislike the Mac so much is not because I think the Apple ads are stupid but mostly because I hate eye candy, eye candy serves no functional purpose and exists just to make your product look like something Captain Kirk would use and I think Microsoft and Apple really, really need to tone it down a lot. The only time the user would benefit from transparency is in the womens locker room. For those of you that will reply, “I can see my desktop underneath the open Windows”, save your time and energy, Im really not interested. Im sure the superbar was inspired a lot by the dock in OS X. Sorry Microsoft, if you realy expect me to believe you got the idea for that from Windows 1.0, try a little harder.

What Windows 7 will bring to the table

It gives something for the GNOME and KDE guys to copy. In some ways it will improve the user experience, in other ways it will hinder the user experience. Users will have to take the good for the bad. Aside from great performance on older systems I honestly didnt see anything from Windows 7 that makes me go, “Oh yeah, I really want that.” But thats just me, I see a lot of people who may have considered switching to the Mac or to Linux waiting to see what Microsoft has under its sleeve and to see if Microsoft can salvage the Windows brand. Windows 7 really will impact the way people will view Linux on the desktop. For the year of the Linux desktop to be now, Linux vendors will have to find some compelling reason to get users over now rather than later. Once Windows 7 is released and the “WOW” factor kicks in Linux vendors are going to have a hard time getting people to switch and I am sorry FUD mongering and getting people, like self experts Randall Kennedy, eWeeks  Jason Brooks and people  who never used the product to come forth and say “Windows 7 sucks” wont do anything. Too many people like the product already, even in Alpha form and unless Microsoft really really fucks up its actually going to be really really nice at RTM.