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Being involved in the technology field as I am, I am a gadget man. I love the new technology and toys! However, being that I must remain productive at work, I have to temper my excitement for new toys to make sure that I can keep productive. That brings me to Windows 7. With Windows 7, I actually have the best of both worlds!
Before I get in to Windows 7, I want to mention a little Microsoft operating system strategy and history. When Microsoft refreshes its operating systems it tends to refresh both the desktop and server versions, although not at the same time, usually a few to 6 months apart. Well, there have been two operating systems with which they did not do this, and both will go down in history as horrible operating systems.
One was Windows Millennium, or Windows ME. At the time, the new desktop operating system was full of gadgets and cool stuff. Unfortunately, this led to bugs and security holes. After working with it for many years, I began telling people that Windows ME stood for "Windows Mess!" Arguably, this was the worst operating system Microsoft made... until Windows Vista. Here again, Vista had a lot of cool gadgets and features, and this time it was actually fairly stable and secure. But it was SLOW. I was actually able to run a virtual pc of Microsoft XP Professional on my Vista machine and have it perform faster than the ista Machine itself!
Being that I work for an IT company that services clients with these operating systems, we have always "eaten our own dog food." In other words we had to run Windows Vista so we could better serve our clients. Well, the day that I required our company to move to Windows Vista, I had a revolt on my hands! I finally got the engineering team to run vista on their machines, but none of the administration staff would convert. By the way... I did convert to Vista. I went out and bought a brand new high performance laptop and put Windows Vista Business 64bit on it. To my surprise, my new laptop was slower than my 3 year old desktop running Windows XP! Lucky for the public, there was enough outcry that Microsoft "allowed" manufacturers to sell machines with Windows Vista downgraded to Windows XP. If not, I think Microsoft could have lost its customers to Apple forever. So, for the last few years, that is what a goodsized percentage of, at least, corporate computers purchasers have done - continue to run Windows XP. Not me, though. I chose to suffer with Vista for the last few years.
Now here comes Windows 7! Again, I have told our staff that we are going to "eat our own dog food," but before I require that of them, I am doing it myself. I can't have another revolt on my hands! So, I took the exact same laptop that I have been complaining about for the last 2 years running Windows Vista, and did a fresh install of Windows 7 64Bit. "WOW" is really the only way to describe it! It is like I just went out and bought a new machine! In my evaluation, the speed is equivalent or faster than Windows XP, with even more gadgets and toys than Windows Vista!
A few new features are prevalent in Windows 7. My personal favorites are the redesigned start bar/taskbar, the desktop backgrounds, and "sticky notes." Now, I know that none of those really increase productivity significantly. But if I am going to spend 10 to 15 hours a day on my computer, I might as well enjoy it! There are plenty of usability enhancements like the control panel, which makes it easier to manage your settings and devices, and it is easier to find some of the most common things you do on your computer. As far as productivity goes... it is really fast! That speaks for itself! It boots up in about half the time of Vista, probably less than that actually. Once you start the login process, it is also faster. The new devices and printers section makes it much easier to manage all of your peripherals. The start bar/taskbar has been changed to allow easier navigation between windows, and the mobile device center comes builtin, if you have a Windows Mobile or Smartphone. Of course, it has the most recent versions of Media Player and Internet Explorer.
One thing to note: If you have and older machine, load it up with RAM to a minimum of 2GB, 4GB if you are going to run the 64bit version. Check out the following link for a full list of system requirements. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/system-requirements
I have not gone in to the really technical enhancements for companies, including central management, administration and security. Frankly, that is icing on the cake - all will help reduce costs over the long run. The most important thing for the small and mediumsized business out there is the immediate productivity increase.
So bottom line... Windows 7 is fast! Vista was cool when it came out, but lost its coolness days later. I think Windows 7 may become known as the BEST operating system Microsoft has made to date. The only thing I think could cause Windows 7 to lose that title is if it turns out to have a lot of security holes, but I don't think that is going to happen. Microsoft, I think, has finally learned its lesson! Now, if we could just get them to lower their prices... Oh well, maybe they will learn that lesson, too... hopefully soon!
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