Re: Win7
Posted: October 30th, 2009, 10:23 pm
Boss told me to test-drive Win7 this morning, so I installed it on a virtual machine at work and have been playing with it since. So far so good, but I still haven't really pushed it (networking, messaging programs, appearance customization, things like that). Pros and cons time:
Pros:
- The new taskbar is a welcome change, it's easier on the eyes and more customizable than Vista's.
- Faster and less memory intensive than Vista, but still more than XP (expected, of course, but good nonetheless).
- No more "Are you sure?" confirmation messages, Vista's (arguably) biggest gripe (for me, at least). There are still a few, but it's the same kind of confirmation messages that have been around since WinXP SP2.
Cons:
- They kept the Vista "Start Menu" and I loathe it. They (M$) blamed software developers throwing everything without order in there, but this is actually a presentation problem. That Start Menu needs to go.
- Windows Live Messenger "auto-pins" on the taskbar (it stays there even if you try to send it to the tray) while other messengers (like Yahoo IM) go to the tray. This is contrary to what I was used to (all messengers on the tray, next to the clock) so it felt and looked weird.
I quickly countered the first "con" with a quick Launchy (http://www.launchy.net/) install and the second one by pinning Yahoo IM to the taskbar alongside Live Messenger, so it's actually been a good experience so far, no BSOD or anything like that. Of course after this comes the real test, installing it on a physical box. But that's next week, first I gotta write that review for my boss.
Pros:
- The new taskbar is a welcome change, it's easier on the eyes and more customizable than Vista's.
- Faster and less memory intensive than Vista, but still more than XP (expected, of course, but good nonetheless).
- No more "Are you sure?" confirmation messages, Vista's (arguably) biggest gripe (for me, at least). There are still a few, but it's the same kind of confirmation messages that have been around since WinXP SP2.
Cons:
- They kept the Vista "Start Menu" and I loathe it. They (M$) blamed software developers throwing everything without order in there, but this is actually a presentation problem. That Start Menu needs to go.
- Windows Live Messenger "auto-pins" on the taskbar (it stays there even if you try to send it to the tray) while other messengers (like Yahoo IM) go to the tray. This is contrary to what I was used to (all messengers on the tray, next to the clock) so it felt and looked weird.
I quickly countered the first "con" with a quick Launchy (http://www.launchy.net/) install and the second one by pinning Yahoo IM to the taskbar alongside Live Messenger, so it's actually been a good experience so far, no BSOD or anything like that. Of course after this comes the real test, installing it on a physical box. But that's next week, first I gotta write that review for my boss.