Quite a stir has arisen lately over the release of the latest Microsoft operating system. When I first heard about Windows 7, I was naturally a bit skeptical. My primary computer is a MacBook that dual-boots Ubuntu, so I’m not exactly a Microsoft fan by any stretch. Given the disappointing track record of Microsoft’s recent operating systems, especially Vista, I was pleasantly surprised after experimenting with the betas and talking with users of the new RTM version.
When upgrading from XP to Vista, many were dismayed to find that they had to upgrade their machines quite a bit in order to run the new O/S. If you have ever tried running Vista on a machine with less that 1GB of RAM, you know just how much of a resource hog it is. Microsoft has done a great job of fixing this problem in Windows 7, which uses far less system resources. Windows 7 also features a much faster start-up time in the ballpark of about 30 seconds. Still not quite as fast as my Linux installation, but quite impressive.
Microsoft has also come up with an interesting solution to another one of Vista’s woes: incompatibility with older software. Many programs that work fine on XP will not run on Vista for a variety of reasons. However, with Windows 7 and a processor capable of virtualization, you will be able to use all of your XP applications in a virtualized environment that Microsoft provides. Obviously, you will need a more powerful system to take advantage of this feature, but it will be very handy to be able to run older software such as Office 2000 right from the Windows 7 start menu. I have yet to see how well it works for 3D gaming, and unfortunately it will not be included in the “Home” version of the operating system, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.
Windows 7 definitely looks promising, for a Microsoft product. I have to say I am impressed, and very glad that they have finally fixed many of the issues that plagued Vista. I am very eager to see how it does.
