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Total Number of Subscribers: 464 |
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Date: 25th December 2009 |
Compiled by: M Sathya Kumar |
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Windows 7 This write-up is about Windows 7 operating system and the objective is to highlight the pros and cons about the new operating system. Generally users in their zeal to keep up with the latest technological developments, rarely look ahead before leaping towards the unknown and thereafter blaming others for their folly. This article has been written keeping such average user in mind and for the record I consider myself to be an average user too. Once upon a time there was an operating system called Windows 95 which dominated most of the tech-world/desktop PCs. Windows 95’s dominance continued when its new avatar i.e., Windows 98 took over. And then there were others (Windows CE, Windows ME & Windows NT—CE ME NT?????), but none like Windows XP. Windows XP was a wonderful desktop operating system and it ruled over desktops for a very long time. Even today after it has (officially) passed on the reins to Vista, Windows XP continues to overshadow its predecessors as well as its successor. This is true because many buyers still ask for XP instead of Vista. As a matter of fact many even sought to uninstall the preloaded version of Vista in favour of XP. However, with newer applications and technology being developed every day one needs to move on. With XP being more popular than Vista and people preferring to downgrade from Vista to XP, what did Microsoft do ? ? Did it infuse better code in Vista ? Was XP resurrected from the dead??.... on the contrary it announced the launch of Windows 7. Microsoft has announced that the launch will be in the last week of October 2009. In fact, Microsoft has already begun dishing out trial versions to users in order to get a feedback and plug any bugs. The reactions of the users however, have been guarded. While other operating systems came and went, sometimes in the blink of an eye, yet there were others like Windows XP which stayed firm. But the question that begs to be answered is WHY ? ? ? An industry expert points out that what many neglected to figure out was that Vista needed a different machine and hardware to function properly at its optimum, not an XP designed machine. It’s like when Bill Gates announced the launch of Windows 98, he said it was faster than Windows 95 and better to use. What he failed to mention was that it needed a different machine to work on and not the old machine itself. Oops, a minor detail ! ! !. Another fact about Windows Vista is that it gave dedicated Windows users a tough time. For instance Vista takes up hogged gigabytes of space, users had to interact with the machine saying ‘yes’ (as someone put it) a million times before it starts to even contemplate copying a small file from one place to another. So what did Microsoft learn from all this (and after a couple of million dollars down the drain) . . . looks like very little because (once again)... they have forgotten to mention that e-mail, address book, calendar, photo management, movie editing and instant messaging won’t be available with Windows 7. These have to be downloaded from Microsoft’s website. What’s more, in some cases, additional requirements are needed. For instance, the Windows XP Mode requires an additional 1 GB of RAM, an additional 15 GB of available hard disk space, and a processor capable of hardware virtualisation with Intel VT or AMD-V enabled. OOPPSS ! ! There are news reports stating that while designing Windows 7, users were asked, if it were up to them, how would they make XP better ? What would they want from a new OS ? The feedback was anything that combines simplicity, sleek design, ease of operation and interactivity sits pretty much at the top of a ‘to own’ list. The result ? Windows 7. In fact, the marketing hype from Microsoft says, "To create the next generation OS, which would make everyday tasks faster and easier and make new things possible, Windows 7 simplifies things with a more streamlined design and one-click access to applications and files. It has a faster boot-up and shut-down time and comes bundled with improvements in terms of reliability, battery life and fewer alerts." What’s more, Windows 7 promises not only to be faster but in fact intuitive. Features like multi-touch, JumpLists and HomeGroup have been built in to enable consumers to interact with their PCs in faster and more intuitive ways. Enhancements to the Windows taskbar, JumpLists and search are designed to make navigation much easier. Also, InPrivate browsing in IE 8 prevents browsing history, temporary Internet files, form data, cookies and usernames and passwords from being retained by the browser. Controlling the computer by touching a touch-enabled screen or monitor is another core Windows 7 user experience. But the fact is that these features were always available in MAC OS. For those who’ve used Apple’s systems, it’s easy to see what has been borrowed. The taskbar looks and works like the Mac OS X’s Doc : big square icons of your favourite programs. Other Apple borrowings include the sticky notes programe, multi-touch gestures like rotating an image by twisting your fingers and pinch to zoom. Aero Shake allows you to get all but one window out of the way. One needs to grab the top of that window, shake it and all the other open windows minimise to the taskbar. Shake the window again, and they all pop back on screen. Didn’t we see something similar in Vista as well —it was felt nice initially, but then eventually I used to turn it off because the feature would either slow down the PC or would result in disrupting other programs. Whats the point of an enhancement which cannot balance user experience with costs and performance degradation issues. Another feature in Windows 7 is Snap. With Snap, one can simply grab a window and pull it to either side edge of the screen to fill half of the screen. If one wants to quickly see gadgets or grab a file from the desktop, all one needs to do is move the mouse to the lower right corner of the desktop. Peek makes all the windows transparent and one can view the desktop. Windows Flip is a feature similar to Mac OS X’s Expose. The rate at which they are borrowing the feature may be… one may want to wait for the Snow Leopard (new OS announced by Apple) before switching to Windows 7. There is also the issue of cost of the software. The cost remains unclear, though initial reports had indicated that the estimated prices for the full Windows 7 package in the US for the premium, professional and ultimate versions would be $ 199.99, $ 299.99 and $ 399.99, respectively. The hype however says that "Firstly, the price for the retail versions of Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional will reduce in the range of 15-25%. Secondly, India pricing for these two versions is lower by 25-40% in comparison with developed markets like the US. Pricing for other retail versions of Windows 7 remains the same as Windows Vista." Of course this does not include the additional requirements in terms of RAM/CPU, etc. It’s still a wait and watch for me. After all the cribbing readers may wonder whether its worth the upgrade... maybe... maybe not. Wait for the next write-up before you leap. Cheers ! ! This article is merely an attempt to give the readers a bird’s-eye view of the reactions. This article is not intended to be either an endorsement or critique of any particular software or feature.
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