Republished: A look at the Windows 7 RC
Originally published on Benscomputer.no-ip.org 06 May 2009 (Images sadly missing at restoration time)
So, being a fairly well balanced person, I thought I would give Windows
7 at least the benefit of the doubt. So after a surprisingly quick
download (either MS prepped their servers, or everyone else has been
using Bittorrent!), I started installing Windows 7 Build 7100.
Full Disclosure: The recommended minimum requirements for the 32 bit
version is 1 Gig of RAM and a 1 Gig processor. I installed it in a
virtual machine allocated 600Mb of RAM running on top of a 2.6 Gig
Processor.
Because I was using just above the minimum requirement for RAM, I'm not
going to mention speed apart from where things were painfully slow
(there were a few).
So, lets get started;
The installation process has a Disk partitioning menu that is far more
user friendly than in days gone by. Anyone
else remember the XP screen? That said, the increased processing
requirements for the installer does mean that the installer runs more
slowly than it necessarily needs to.
What hasn't changed however is the need to restart the system more than
once. The user see's a section of the installer that mentions that the
system may need to restart several times. Admittedly I didn't notice
these as I had gone to make dinner whilst the system copied it's files.
I did notice two restarts however, so it may well be that I didn't
actually miss any!
After the first restart the installer runs from the Hard Disk, and the
setup process quickly starts. The user is prompted
to set a password. It's not necessarily required, but it is
recommended. If the user enters a password they are required to enter a
password hint to help them remember it.
So far all pretty standard stuff, with the odd tweak here and there.
The system then asks the user what they want to do about Automatic
Updates. I quite like this method, because it should reduce the risk of
users not being aware its off/on by default. That said, as most Windows
7 sales will probably be OEM sales, many systems will probably have
been configured beyond this section before the unit even leaves the
shop. Still a nice touch none the less.
Next the user is asked to setup their network. The user is informed
that Windows has detected a network (assuming it has of course) and
asks them to classify it as either Home, Work or Public. There is a
little note at the bottom telling the user to select Public if they are
unsure. One of the examples given for a public network is a wireless
hotspot, but one does wonder exactly why you would be installing
Windows in a wireless hotspot. But then it's probably just the main
Network wizard.
Now this is where the shock began, Windows 7 loaded the desktop (OK it
took a little time doing the initial configuration) and rather than the
screenshots we've seen in the Beta versions, XP's tellytubby hill or
the God
awful Vista default, the screen displayed this rather nice picture of a
fish!
Unfortunately, this was about the best bit of my first impression. Most
of the Aero features were disabled because of the lack of High end
graphics card (indeed lack of medium end graphics card) within the
Virtual Machine. I was prepared for that to happen, but what I wasn't
prepared for is the awful style of the interface without Aero. The
Taskbar icons are reminiscent of when Worms went Cartoony in Worms
Armageddon. The icons are no longer refined (they were slipping in
Vista though, so should have seen it coming.), and frankly the initial
view was more reminiscent of a toy than a PC.
Still, these things are only cosmetic, lets not judge a system purely
on it's looks.
Talking of cosmetics, apologies about the theme in a few of the
pictures, I was trying to find one I liked.
I figured I'd try out Internet Explorer 8 as I've yet to play with it.
Alas, it was a no go error, crashing almost as soon
as it loaded. BUT, Windows stepped in, told me that a page had failed
to load, asked me what I wanted to do about it. Sadly when I told it to
close that page, IE 8 then crashed. Still it was a nice thought!
Once I had let the system sort itself out, I fired up IE8 again, and
this time it loaded the default home page (MSN) reasonably happily. But
of course, MSN.com has had plenty of time to avoid the need for IE's
Compatability Mode, so I pointed it at my own site. I've made no
changes in the wake of the release, but then
never implemented any hacks just to serve perfect pages to IE6/7. There
have been complaints of IE8 garbling sites that are fully standards
compliant, but as it turns out Benscomputer.no-ip.org loaded pretty
well.
Aside from the initial issues, IE seemed pretty solid, and does seem to
load pages quite fast. Given that it's running on a system inside a VM
I won't comment on Microsofts claims about page loading speeds.
Needless to say, with a minimal amount of RAM it did take a while
longer than I would otherwise be willing to wait.
So what else did I notice? Well the Control Panel has been dumbed down
more than it was in XP even.
But only by default, there is an option to view the Control panel by
icons (either large or small, if you please!), and this has been
expanded quite a bit. Things appear to be far easier to find than they
were in Vista, and almost approach the accesibility found in XP.
This has been quite a basic view of Windows 7 Build 7100. One thing I
will note is that the Beta is Windows 7 Ultimates, so some of the
features noted will probably not be available in the cheaper versions.
It is understood that the Final Release Versions in the UK will be Home
Premium and Professional. However Ultimate will be
available to Home Users for an additional fee and will contain the same
features as Windows 7 Enterprise.
I have to admit, I installed Windows 7 expecting to hate it. I am a
Linux user, and as such figured that the RC would contain (or fail to
contain) many of the 'features' that older versions of Windows seemed
to (fail to) deliver. That said, whilst I wouldn't use it as my main
Operating system, I was pleasantly surprised. Compared to Vista,
Windows 7 is a work of pure genius (Calm down, that's not saying that
much!). The problem, as many others have noted, is that it doesn't
really offer anything that XP doesn't. Or more to the point, nothing
compelling.
OK so users have the option to encrypt their hard drive, they even have
a candyfloss interface without the bloat of Vista, but what else have
they gained? There's no way to change the Start Menu to the Classic
Menu, and support contracts aside, I see very little to tempt
businesses. Those businesses that steered clear of Vista and Office
2007 to minimise training costs will probably try and avoid 7 as well.
Although it is a step in the right direction, I suspect that the
installed base of Windows 7 will consist of two groups. Those that have
bought a new PC with 7 on it, and those who upgraded to escape Vista.