Last month Microsoft launched it’s much awaited successor to it’s previous debacle windows vista. Windows 7. It’s aptly named because it is the 7th windows operating system and somehow for me the simplicity in it’s name itself suggests how the operating system itself is going to be.
The installation was a breeze. no hassles, no worries, just a click of a mouse and you are done. Well actually it did take an hour or so, but still way better than vista.After the set up got over you are invited into windows 7 with a really colourful greenish blue color screen with flowery designs on the background making you feel you are in for a treat. Sadly nothing like that happens. The first impression u will get when u see the desktop is "this is vista!"
It is for the most part similar to the vista, the log in sound is the same, the start menu is the same, the explorer bars are also similar to vista. But then you will notice the taskbar. It is one major overhaul which microsoft has made. And they made it brilliantly. I love the new taskbar. The taskbar looks visually striking, a bit similar to Mac but I don’t care, it is amazing.
The aero features which microsoft had been bragging about, are truly remarkable. One of the most useful function of the taskbar is that you open a couple of explorer windows, the taskbar clubs them under one icon and when you move your mouse on top of it, it will show a preview of all the folders which are open and u can select which one you want to open by hovering on top of it and u get that window. No need to minimize ur windows to get into the other folders. Simple as that.And that’s not all, it has few more tricks up it’s sleeves. it has another feature called the Aero snap. All you do is just drag a window to the top left/right corner and it snaps itself into a small window helping you to compare notes or copy files into another folder with ease. And to the far right of the system clock is a small rectangular button that serves as the Show Desktop Icon. This button is part of the new feature known as Aero Peek. Hovering over this button makes all visible windows transparent for a quick look at the desktop. Now that is impressive.
These features are what makes Windows 7 truly remarkable. The ease of use and presentation style, these are what I had always wanted in my operating system. Since I was using vista before, this made me really really happy. It is better than vista in terms of performance, looks, security, the level of customization you can do. I can go on. But these are only the tip of the iceberg, and Iam not a professional software engineer who tell you the physics behind this OS, or how it’s insides work. I don’t care about that. I have knowledge of computer a bit more than a layman, but enough to understand how good a software really is.
If you are like me and using vista, then definitely go for an upgrade to 7. If ur happy with XP, as most Indians are, then I would suggest stick to it for a couple of months more, till you get more positive feedback about windows 7 from the masses. Which iam sure you will get soon enough. In the end I can only say that Microsoft have done it again. They have corrected the mistakes they made with Vista improved on it and made a product which is truly worth using.