First Look: Windows 7

INTRO


Over the weekend, I downloaded the Windows 7 Beta from Microsoft. Interestingly, the TechNet site isn't compatible with the Safari browser which meant that after an hour of assuming that the download site was busy, I finally had to boot up my trusty Windows XP/Boot Camp image to download it. The file 7000.0.081212-1400_client_en-us_Ultimate-GB1CULFRE_EN_DVD.iso contains the Ultimate version of Windows 7 and as such contains all the features.

AT A GLANCE

At first glance, not much has changed except that the task bar has been slightly redesigned. The quick launch icons are integrated with the task bar in such a way that programs that are assigned a quick launch icon also now contain their window title. Not sure if I care for it or not yet. Also, the widgets for sidebar are no longer confined to the sidebar dock, they can be detached and displayed anywhere on the desktop.

PERFORMANCE

I haven't done any real benchmarks as of yet, but I can say that the response time of the full screen VMWare Fusion image of Windows 7 running on my MacBook Pro seems to run better than a similarly configured Vista image. Not quite as fast as my Windows XP Boot Camp image, but close enough to make most productivity apps run quite well.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This one's still fresh with a few subtle graphics anomalies, but certainly nothing that I would consider a show-stopper. Compared to previous betas, this one appears quite usable and unlike Vista which barfed at a lot of my XP drivers, Windows 7 seemed to take all my legacy Vista drivers without a hitch. I'll update this item once I've had more time with Windows 7, but so far, I have t say that this one looks a little more promising and might eventually replace my Windows XP in my Boot Camp partition. I've also downloaded OpenSuse 11.1 and OpenSolaris 2008.11, so look for those "First Looks" soon.