Like

• kept most of the Vista layout
• added support for many of the XP programs which were not supported by Vista
• adjusted the taskbar and made it more useful
• InPrivate mode added to Internet Explorer
• ability to view recent documents by program

Dislike

• not a lot of features which make it worth the money to upgrade unless you’re already buying a new PC
• just like Vista, I would recommend at least a dual core 2 GHz CPU and 3 GB of RAM (this is overkill for someone who just wants to surf, check email, and type papers but becomes a minimum requirement if they are running Vista or Windows 7)
• Microsoft misrepresents the minimum requirements here (1 GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor; 1 GB RAM (32-bit) / 2 GB RAM (64-bit)) This is if you only want to load Windows 7 and want it to be painfully slow.  This is also part of the reason that Vista is perceived as such a bad OS, they say it can run on (1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor; 1 GB of system memory).  In my experience this leads to an insanely slow and unstable system.  Stick with a 2 GHz processor and 3 GB RAM, or more, for good performance.

My over all opinion of Windows 7 is that it will run very well on any system that can handle the overhead of Vista and it add a few useful features.  I will not rush out and spend the money to upgrade as soon as it is available, but I wont hesitate to purchase a new computer with Windows 7 pre-installed either.

I started with the 64-bit version of Windows 7 in the hopes that the kinks of other 64-bit systems had been worked out by now, unfortunately I was mistaken.  I was able to install and run the OS without any troubles which leads me to believe that the problem lays with the other software I use and not in Windows 7.  However, Windows 7 could and should find better ways to support these other software titles as I don’t believe they are that uncommon.  A few of these include, OpenOffice.org, Avast, and driver updates from windows update and my HP printer.  After installing these items the computer would no re-boot.  I was not able to narrow down the exact cause of the problem because I only tried the install and setup three times before switching to the 32-bit version.  It did seem to be more prone to problems if I installed a large program, such as OpenOffice.org or my HP printer software, or multiple programs without restarting the system between installs.

My favorite features of Windows 7 thus far include their decision to keep the general layout of Vista and the updated design of the taskbar.  Have a look at the my Windows 7 desktop.

I like to keep a clean desktop with very few links and icons, but there are a few programs that I use often and typically like to keep readily available.  Now I can pin these to the taskbar, the small list of icons next to the Start menu, and they’re available with only one click.  This has been available since Windows 95 or 98, I forget which had this first.  The difference with Windows 7 is that when you open multiple windows they nest together under the one icon.  This frees up lost of space on the task bar and is similar to one of the features in OS X and has been tried in Windows XP and Vista, but wasn’t very useful.  With Windows 7 this feature is now usable due to the fact that windows are shown as thumbnail views with updated information when you move the cursor over the icon.  Check out the screen shot below.

My biggest drawback so far is the lack of ‘Classic View’ option in the menus.  This has been my crutch for some time and I would like to keep it.  I know that I need to get used to the new menu layouts for future versions of Windows, but I’ve been reluctant to learn a new layout and generally like to avoid change if I can.  It looks like with this version of windows I will be learning a new menu layout.

I will continue to use the 32-bit version, which installed the first time and worked perfectly, until the end of this test on June 3rd.  Let me know if you have any questions or programs you would like me to test while I have Windows 7 installed.

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.