About this project
I have downloaded the latest release candidate of Windows 7 and will begin a 3 week trial of this latest OS from Microsoft. If you want to fallow along you can download a trial copy here. I will begin by formatting my laptop to convert from Vista to Windows 7 on Wednesday of this week, 5/13/09, and will continue to use the new OS until Wednesday 6/3/09 when I will format back to Vista. I will begin with the 64-bit version and only change to the 32-bit version for the last week, or if there are too many problems with the 64-bit version. If there are major problems with the new OS then I will have to go back to Vista sooner, but if this goes well I may continue using Windows 7 past the end of my coverage of it on this blog. This will be a no holds barred look at the latest OS from Microsoft. I will take into account that this is only a release candidate and therefore not ready for retail release and will probably tend to be a bit buggier than the final release. However, I want to allow people to know what they may be getting into before buying this new OS. Unfortunately anything new for Microsoft also comes with ridiculous upgrade requirements and countless bugs which drive everyone crazy for a couple years until they fix the bugs and release another new OS to begin the cycle again.
About my laptop
For the other geeks in the room I have listed below the technical specs of my Toshiba laptop which will be running this trial. For everyone else, you should understand that my laptop is faster than anything you would have paid less than $1000 for more than three years ago and at least as fast as anything you would have paid $500 for within the last three years.
- CPU: AMD Athlon X2 QL-60 1.9GHz
- RAM: 3GB
- Video: ATI Radeon
- HDD: 250GB
- DVD burner
About the OS
I am very excited about the release on Windows 7, unlike most of the other OS releases from Microsoft. The thing that excites me the most is the multi-touch capabilities, but I don’t expect this to effect most homes for at least 3 – 5 years, and I do not have the hardware to test this feature either. The most important features for most users are going to be the compatibility modes for Vista and XP programs. This should make the transition seamless and add support for many of the programs that used to work in XP but never got updated for various reasons. Check here for more information about the list of feature built into Widows 7.
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