Windows 7 gets mixed reviews

As developers received their copies of Windows 7 on Tuesday in the US, they offered varied reactions to the Microsoft operating system update.

Attendees of PDC 2008 received this
160GB Western Digital portable hard
drive and a pre-beta copy of Windows 7
(Credit: )

Windows 7 arrived in various forms at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles. Windows vice president Steven Sinofsky showed its key features on stage, the OS appeared on PCs throughout the convention centre, and developers also received copies to take home.

Attendees at PDC 2008 received pre-beta copies of Windows 7 on DVD, as well as a 160GB Western Digital portable hard drive packed with code.

In addition to the Ultimate Edition of Windows 7, the hard drive came with the following additions:

• .NET Micro Framework development kit 3.0
• Azure Services Training Kit, a set of hands-on labs, presentations, and samples
• Live Framework SDK, documentation, samples and tools to build on top of Microsoft's Live Services
• Software Development Kit for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 (pre-beta)
• Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 Express Edition
• Visual Studio 2010 & .NET Framework 4.0 CTP
• Windows Azure software development kit

During the keynote on Tuesday, all the PCs around the convention centre for attendees to use for checking email were switched to Windows 7. Not everyone appeared to notice the change: one attendee, for example, said he didn't notice that it was Windows 7 until a reporter started taking pictures of the screen.

Some attendees took the opportunity to try out the new Windows 7 operating system in hands-on labs in the main hall of the event. The reviews were mixed.

"It needs some work as far as usability is concerned," said Matthew Firth, chief technology officer of online pet pharmacy PetCareRX, as he tried to move an image across a touchscreen with his hand. "The controls could be more intuitive. I guess there's a learning curve associated with it. If they can get it right, it could be just as revolutionary as the mouse was."

Falling touchscreen prices and the eventual adoption of Windows 7 will mean Firth will have to optimise his company's website for touch, he said.

In the meantime, Firth said he's thinking of getting a touchscreen monitor and Windows 7 for his children to use at home. "They like to paint. It's less messy and my son won't eat the crayons," he said.

Allan Thraen, a software developer for Swedish content management firm EPIServer, said the touch capability was "totally cool" but complained that the operating system overall seemed "still a bit buggy; not totally smooth".

He and others added that the Windows 7 user interface was too similar to Vista.

"It looks like a re-packaged Vista [with] a little bit of eye candy," said Daniel McGloin, a software engineer at Intuit.

Keeping the underlying code similar means fewer incompatibility issues with applications and drivers, but McGloin added: "Is it compelling to the end user? I don't know."

Other users saw Microsoft's decision to keep many things the same as a good decision. "This is what Vista should have been," was a response heard several times on Tuesday.