On October 24th I noted that although I've been an early adopter of new Microsoft operating systems in the past I probably wasn't going to leap into Windows 7. I couldn't see any compelling reason since I've been happy with Vista, even though everyone kept telling me I shouldn't be. That is, I noted, unless the Godfather comes along and makes me one of those offers.
It was about four days later that I got a note from a guy on the East side named Vinnie "Big Cheese" Mozzarella. He told me that I really needed to jump on the bandwagon of 7 or possibly bad things could happen to my dog in the yard or maybe my car in a parking lot or possibly my knees in a barroom. "What's in it for me?" I asked.
"I'll let you have a fully licensed CD of Windows 7 for just $19 because of some of your affiliations," he told me. "Just don't ask too many questions, OK?"
There it was, the offer. Naturally, I couldn't refuse.
Three days later a plain white mailer arrived in my mailbox. Inside was a single golden DVD platter in a simple cardboard sleeve. It was sealed as all licensed MS products are and had the requisite license key printed on disc and sleeve. I installed. What else could I do? It was Windows 7 Ultimate Edition. An upgrade from MS would be $220, a full version would be $320. My $19 looked like a bargain.
Install took about two hours for an upgrade of a stable Vista system on a system just under three years old. All settings were retained. All peripherals and networking remained operative. In short, after the install my computer restarted in fully operational, no problems, Windows 7 mode.
It isn't much different than Vista. The Aero interface looks almost the same except the taskbar now offers large icons only but they are more functional than the old sytem. Active applications are framed. Hover over an active one and it expands to show all screens. Got a tabbed browser going? See all of the tabs in thumbnail and jump to one right away. Hover over the expanded tab and your open windows go transparent to let you see the desktop. Want the desktop at any moment and there's an unobtrusive tab on the right end of the task bar.
The notification area on the right end of the taskbar is cleaned up as well. Most background icons are hidden until you click on a small arrow, then a grid of running stuff lets you get to what you need.
No more widgets on the Sidebar. Now place those gadgets wherever you want on the desktop. Much cleaner and more functional.
Best feature I've found is the new Windows Explorer. The familiar folder hierarchy is still there, but the default when you click on the taskbar icon is to open to a display of "Libraries". This is a new metaphor for your files. They still reside in their traditional folders but you can create libraries to organize your projects, establish categories of data, or keep your busiest stuff at your fingertips. The neat thing is a particular file can be accessed through multiple libraries. Very handy. Search for anything anywhere is lightning fast with results coming in faster than you can enter search criteria.
Boot-up is faster as are hibernate and wake-up times. Nothing to complain about.
If you are happy with Vista, I still think there is nothing compelling as far as my work patterns. If you are dissatisfied, then the upgrade makes sense. Shop for your best bargain. If you are using XP, the entire ballgame changes. Unless you are prepared for a tedious operation of backing up all of your data, doing a clean install of 7 and then reinstalling and configuring all of your applications you might not want to make the move. Be sure to check your system resources as well, since many satisfactory XP installations don't have the horsepower for Vista or 7.
If you are on the cusp for a new system, Christmas shopping should offer bargain prices and Windows 7 looks like a weighty input to the decision-making process on the side of leaping now.
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