A week ago, I noticed that Microsoft has released Windows 7 (the release to companies and their developer network users) to my MSDN account.  I have been a long user and have sworn by it because at service pack 3, it is very stable, fast and secure.  Windows Vista came out and I gave it a quick look and decided that it was too big of a pig for what little it improved on from XP. Now I am doing the same stuff with Windows 7 and the rest of this post will detail why I like it!

My first look at Windows 7 came in the form of a beta last April (2009).  I had a spare hard drive on my desktop computer that is meant for testing operating systems like this.  I spent a few hours going through an installation process very similar to Vista and I compared all the memory and cpu usage details to that of a similar Windows XP and Vista install.  Compared to XP, it was about the same, compared to Vista, it was about 50% less.  This alone hinted that I would very much like this version of Windows.  I then uninstalled it and prepared for a Windows XP to 7 migration when the release becomes available to me.

We are now at the release version of Windows 7 that will be supported through the end of the Windows 7 frenzy.  I decided that I should upgrade my systems from XP now because its the final week of summer and I may not get a chance to perform an upgrade without any risk until next year sometime (and personally, I want the new flashier features that XP doesn’t have and Vista sucks at showing).

The Windows 7 install was very much like that of Windows Vista, its a very flashy interface and very easy to navigate.   There wasn’t that much to it, simply do the “next next finish” routine that Windows has implemented so well. After the install, the release version I have looks somewhat like the beta was but is much more refined and clean.  I also see that it uses a touch less than Windows XP does on a fresh install to this computer.  To me, that is wonderful.  On the fresh install, it only requires me to install 3 drivers which is better than Vista and XP combined!

Overall, I would recommend Windows 7 to anyone who can get their hands on a release copy and hates Vista.  I would consider it stable enough to use for every day work and it has caused no harm to me.  Although I have only been on 7 for a mere 5 days, I already like it a lot more than I ever liked XP and its a massive improvement over the failure called Vista.

Tags: 7, Microsoft, MSDN, windows
Posted in Technology

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