By Seth Rosenblatt, CNET.com on 18 August 2009 03:43 PM
Tags: microsoft, operating system, professional, windows 7, 32-bit, windows xp, vista, program
Overall I am not impressed with Windows 7. I carried out extensive beta testing and found many usability problems, as well a bugs particularly when working with files over networks.
Those upgrading from Vista will fell it is a worthwhile update, simply to improve usability and speed.
Those upgrading from XP will simply find that has improved security.
The good: * Vista's service pack
The bad: * Retail version very expensive when compared to Ubuntu or other Open source distro's * Crippleware when compared to Apples OS or Linux * Poor language support on lower versions, * Slow install * Slow boot when compared to Ubuntu * Long development cycle * Final product being build while Release candidate is being tested * No live boot * No partition editor * Still a heavy reliance on anti virus software. * No central software management. * Many features designed to lock users in to OS to later milk user for $ i.e. Live Mail * Pricing more expensive than Vista * Desktop is not intuitive to a new user that has never used a computer before. * No sandboxing facility for testing applications that may contain viruses. (I loved Sandboxie in XP 32bit) * NTFS file system still requires defrag's now considered out of date. * Licensed is a major problem, particularly with those having frequent hardware changes. * Interoperability between other OS is limited and mostly crippled unless you buy the Ultimate version * The Home edition (Bottom end) is totally crippled.
Clearly a Linux zealot trying to find fault where possible. DT Linux is still crap and just because it was developed by a load of geeks doesn't make it any good. you should do PR for the Linux community. NB. I don't work for Microsoft or any of its partners.
You found bugs in a Beta version - how bloody magnificent! Take a gold medal out of your next box of Weetbix, after all that is where you got the instructions on how to use a computer.
I agree with the yawning Anonymous user - you are just a whinging Linux weenor with no clue on anything.
Dunno where you get the idea about a slow install either. I installed the RC in 27 minutes on a 4 year old machine.
wow, they've taken OSX and slapped a Windows logo on it.
Not a review. Just wanted to say thanks to Patanjali for the honest review. Can't take the two below posters seriously, as they're obviously Linux/Apple fanboys.
Seriously that review that Zdnet is so biased. There's no way I can rate an OS that's merely just a facelift from WinXP, that costs $449, nine over 10. No way!
They must be getting free copies of Win 7 from MS.
Apple Snow Leopard, which doesn't change must from Leopard in Visual appearance, but changes a lot in system performance is costing Mac users only $20 to upgrade.
And if the benchmarks are to go by, it's actually slower in Office performance, and booting up and shutting down than its predecessors. That's completely unacceptable. Who the hell does MS takes up for? I just cannot afford to fork out $400+ for an OS that will make my system go slower, without adding anything significant.
I can't see any more excuses for me not to upgrade to Mac OS X. Besides, I've heard so many good things like no viruses, faster booting and shutting down, better battery life management, more user friendly, and it supports Office 2008/10. I already own an iPhone, so it should work even better with the two.
I'm seriously done with Windows, it's pathetic. Microsoft has always been like that anyway.
The idea with such a big upgrade to software is that you buy hardware that can power it correctly. If you prefer blowing your wages on cigarettes and pay TV then you can hardly blame your inability to budget for a new computer on Microsoft.
I installed a copy on a Dell Netbook (the one Vodafone sells with xp home) and am amazed with results.
Runs for a dream. two thumbs up Microsoft.
I have used Windows 7 RTC and I am very impressed with the layout and how it works. I use Windows XP for most of my needs since linux is a bit too clumsy with hardware support. Havent tried a mac so cant really compare windows with a MAC.
However, i find windows 7 installs within 40 minutes, and boots up in seconds ready to use from the word go.
As to date I have not found any incompatibility issues with regards to drivers or games or any program i've installed.
From a user ready to give up on Microsoft, I must say it is a break through from vista and though it may run slightly slower in overall performance there is still time for them to improve on this.
I find windows 7 runs a lot smoother than XP when it comes to applications.
Network side needs a bit of tweaking since downloads seems to be a slightly slower. This may be due to drivers/hardware or all.
Vista users will definately love this as they will be use to the layout and will enjoy the crisp clean flow.
Windows XP users may not like the layout as much since they will have to get use to where device settings are and the many other things they were use too. However once you learn how it's all organised, you will learn to love the responsiveness of the system.
I did have a couple of times where I thought I was going to have to reset the computer due to a lock out, but if you give it a minute it actually does work its way out of it and runs again with no problems. Unlike XP where by if it froze you were probably forced to press that reset button and if it did work its way out, it was still slightly trying to catch up.
Overall impression is 8/10 but will still need tweaking before final release.
If you have vista i would definately recommend upgrading to it.
If you have XP I would still recommend upgrading to it, although some games may say they don't support windows 7 they still play and havent found no problems.
Linux is good for a server/basic office tasks but I wouldnt go saying linux is good as a common desktop operating system.
I agree - Windows 7 is going to be recognized as a pretty darn good desktop OS. Linux has definately lost in this race. Mac OS is way better than Linux KDE and GNOME because of such chaos in the ranks of hackers that create the Linux industry. Yes - Linux makes a great server OS because it runs headless (without KDE or GNOME) and you can limit the amount of ports subject to attack and the modularity of the system makes it less prone to viral attacks and you don't need to use disk compression or defrag programs because Linux does it automaitically...and Mac is in the same boat but half in and half out when it comes to the server issues. But, for now -- Windows 7 is going to be my new OS and I'm loving Windows 2008 which I did beta testing on. I'm by no means a Windows centric lover -- I hate Balmer and his antics - but, facts are facts -- Windows 7 is better than Linux or Mac in my opinion.
The shutdown times noted for XP are way out. My 7 year old PC (athlon xp2000) consistently shuts down well within ten seconds, unless an app has hung requiring manual shutdown, otherwise XP performs very well in the benchmarks listed in the article.
I have to agree with others that the price is simply unaffordable unless it comes installed with a new PC. I do look forward to trying it out when it becomes available.
I wonder what they are measuring for startup times.
To compare the OSs, the time has to:
- start AFTER the BIOS has done its stuff. The boot loader on a multi-boot system is the obvious point
- end when all services have finished, NOT when the background appears. On XP, the system is barely usuable when the background appears but only can really be used when all services have done their stuff (when the taskbar is fully completed loading. On Win 7, when the background appears all services have completed startup.
I think using these times will show how dramatically Win 7 (and Vista to some extent) have improved startup.
Why not have both? It won't cost you any more money. Ubuntu 9.04 works well for me but I still use Windows to run software made for WIndows.
I've loaded Win7 on a test PC. The best thing I have found is that by default clicking on the red power button actually turns the computer off, unlike Vista.
Best thing about this article is I have learnt that Vista has a "Configurable power button" on the start menu. So I guess I can make the Vista power button turn the PC off too.
For those out there on Vista SP2, I would suggest that it is not worth the expense of upgrading to Windows 7 unless Microsoft offers an attractive upgrade deal.
What is the story with upgrading to Windows 7 from Vista? Seems to me it should be a free upgrade considering that Vista was such a disaster. In fact they should give us a free upgrade and reimburse any therapists' bills incurred during the time Vista was in use...
thank you! i could not agree more. if vista was any other commercial product the replacement would be just that - a free replacement for a faulty product. just about threw my otherwise brilliant pc laptop through the window an hour ago (thanks microsoft). i should not have to pay more money to replace something that has never worked properly.
this is why i love my macbook and my imac. the toshiba lappie is a great computer ruined by a microsoft OS that i have to run for research programs that wont work on any other OS.
every windows machine I have ever had just grinds to a halt after 3-6 months despite maintenance and I have to do a clean install to get my performance back. I have not experienced this with the one Macbook (OSX) and the Ubuntu install I have.
Has anyone reviewed that aspect of Win7? This is a much bigger end user problem than most of the points mentioned in the article
I have Windows 7 running on my computer, as an MS Partner as a programmer. With Vista, I installed it and then formatted my computer within 10 minutes. Windows 7 will accept your Windows XP Driver (inf) files to install your drivers, which is very good. As for program compatability, there is a little left to be desired for the businesses out there with "legacy" applications. For example, getting Adminpak to work for AD admin is painful. However that said, Windows 7 does actually tell you if it expects there to be some compatability issues, and if a rogram is not compatabile, it actually does not allow you to install it.
Irriatating things, Windows Live Messenger, does not minimise to the taskbar, you have to change the application file to be Vista or XP Compatible in order for it to do that.
The taskbar has been vastly improved both in space management and visual appearance, where a thumbnail exists for each app that is open, whether 1 or more instances.
All in all, comparted to vista, 1000% better. Compared to XP, I think that is a much closer race, not to take anything away from Windows 7, but XP is possibly the best OS that Microsoft have built since DOS 6.22.
I think until the corporate world catches up, on the server side aswell, which requires alot of businesses to fork out thousands of dollars, XP will still hang on in the corporate side, and therefore with Administrators, as alot of the tools required to service these servers are not compatible with Windows 7.
For the home user, if you hated the look and feel of Vista, you will not be a big fan of Windows 7, but it may grow on you. The UAC or User Access Control feature has been relaxed a fair bit, but is still overly annoying compared to where it should be, in my opinion anyway.
Windows 7 is more than what Vista should have been — it's where Microsoft needed to go. How much damage Vista did and whether Windows 7 is enough for people to finally abandon Windows XP are questions that nobody has the answers to right now.
RRP: AU$449.00
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So many well thought out usability features.
Hard drive running Vista 64 Ultimate died. Decided to run Win 7 on our main computers.
Finding more to like about it every day.
I run multiple monitors and a lot of the usability features, while very useful for single monitors, make window management on multiple monitors much easier. And the UAC can be set so it doesn't turn the room dark (dims all the monitors).
The good: Shutdown in < 10 secs. Starup to all processes running in not much more but then we are using SSDs). Formats SSDs correctly (uses correct partition offsets). UAC can be set so that it doesn't blank all your monitors when it displays the dialog box. End to XPs "multiple configuration points" PITA - now the deep changes are a link on the simple changes' dialog boxes, instead of being on some other menu or whatever. Win-Left Arrow = Expand current program to left half of the current monitor. Win-Right Arrow = same to right side. Extend top of a window to make it expand to the full height of the workspace (of all monitors!) - great for those times looking at long lists or documents.
The bad: Have to reinstall when the official version comes out. Hopefully, there will be so many already using it for real work that MS will allow the official version to install over it. Overall, I have not found any "that is really dumb" 'features'.