Windows 7

[BrianG]

The other day, I got a new computer at work (dual core Intel 2.6GHz, 8GB RAM, 80GB HDD) to replace my aging XP box (single core 2.6GHz, 768MB RAM, 40GB HDD). I really didn't want a new box to be honest, this one ran everything I did perfectly fine. If anything, give me a new box with the latest and greatest hardware, just put XP on it (too bad new hardware drivers are becoming rare for XP)! But, I noticed the old box was slowing down and when I checked into it, many caps on the mobo were puffed and some even started leaking electrolyte. Certainly not good for stability.

So anyway, back to Windows 7 topic. Let me start off by saying that I don't like it! "Hate" is a strong word, but it's pretty darn close. Here is my take:

This OS is great for grandma/grandpa, Mac users (), and anyone else who has no freaking idea how computers work, and nor do they care. They need something that prevents them from accidentally messing things up. And they don't care where their documents, pictures, etc are as long as Windows can serve them up wherever they might have been stuffed. Personally, this encourages disorganization since Windows takes care of that for you. Me, I like knowing exactly where things are and the nuts and bolts of how things work.

Like Vista, it's needlessly "pretty". I don't want a bubble-gum interface with semi-transparent windows. All that means is more CPU and memory resources are being used for the base OS. Sure, you can get the shell to look like the old classic style, but it really does nothing for increasing performance.

No "up-directory" button in windows explorer. OK, that doesn't seem like a big deal to many, but I really miss it! So, I either use a keyboard shortcut to do it, or use the left navigation pane to click where I want. Easy enough I guess, but the "up directory" button was easier and more intuitive IMO.

The Start Menu. Hmmm, I guess it's tolerable now that I have my common programs pinned to the main menu. Being able to type programs into the search bar works, but I feel it's too simplistic.

Many dialog boxes are much more "wordy". A perfect example is the dialog box you get when copy a file to a location where a file with the same name exists. WinXP is simple and to the point, Win7 explains things more for the less-than-knowledgable user.

The Start Menu and Explorer can be returned to the XP format via a plug-in called ClassicShell, but it's just one more program running eating resources for nothing.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind "change"; I gladly welcomed XP after dealing with Win98! But to me, an Operating System should be just that: software that operates the system. Period. And 99% of the resources from all the fast hardware I get should go to applications. The OS taking ~1.1GB of RAM to run for around 40 base processes is ludicrous, not matter how cheap memory gets.

But it's not all bad I guess. It does boot faster than similarly equipped (hardware-wise) systems I've seen, and does not have nearly the amount of annoying "Are you sure you want to do this?" messages.