I've been using Windows 7 Beta
(build 7000) as my main operating system on my Mac Book Pro since the
Beta was released in
January. And I really, really like it! Here is a few reasons
why:
- Performance: The performance of Windows 7 is much better than
Windows Vista. Notably improved. The entire UI seems much more
crisp and responsive, and the memory usage is down about 15% on
average from my previous Vista install. And according to a recent
blog post that tested the leaked 7048 build, Windows 7
performance is going to improve the closer we get to RTM.
- New Taskbar: Some people like, some hate it. I'm in the liking
it camp! And now that I've been using it for a few months, I'm
moving towards the 'loving' it' camp :) Its easy to use, helps
manage multiple windows more effectively, is responsive and overall
I find it a very practical feature. It adds value so to speak. Some
even say its
better than the Macs Dock. The only negative thing is the
'needy window' flashing, which is too short for my liking now, but
I've read that its
being increased to 7 flashes for RC. Side note: check out
this interesting blog post on the
evolution of the taskbar.
- Jump Lists: great concept, well executed. And I now use them
everyday. I can't wait for Chrome (my favourite
browser, but thats another post) to support this for each tab
like IE does, but even the standard behaviour is a great
feature.
I do have a few gripes tho (don't we all ;)
- Start menu performance is not great: now that search index is
getting larger as I add documents etc to My Documents and they are
indexed, I find that my Start Menu search performance is not good,
bordering on horrible. I like to type the name of the application,
like 'calc' for calculator, to launch an application, but that now
takes more than 5 seconds to load.
- Networking performance: I had TERRIBLE network performance when
trying to connect to a few files servers on the Next Digital network. It
ended up being that these servers had tethered NICs, and I had to
disable the network auto tuning feature by running some netsh
commands.
Overall though, I'm really happy with where Windows has come and
very excited about where it is going. From a geeks perspective as
well, the improved
development processes of Windows 7 has been a
interesting story.
