Product Review: Windows 7
Posted by | Under Computers Monday Oct 12, 2009On October 22nd, 2009, Microsoft will be releasing it's latest version of Windows, simply named Windows 7. This latest version of Windows is long awaited and holds a lot of promise for Windows fans, but will it provide everything that people are hoping for?
In so many ways, Windows 7 seems like the ultimate service pack for Windows Vista. Microsoft seems to have set out to fix all of the issues found in Vista while being very careful not to add too much in the way of new functionality. For the most part, Windows 7 is based on the same core as Vista, but is much refined. The OS provides much more stability and rivals the performance of it's predecessor on identical hardware, which is something new for Microsoft. Typically, the latest version of their OS requires a hefty upgrade in hardware to perform at that same level as the previous version.
Anyone looking to upgrade to Windows 7 should really not hesitate. One of the biggest issues that plagued users upgrading to Vista was it's lack of hardware support as that OS utilized a completely redesigned driver architecture. The same is not the case with Windows 7. For the most part, upgrading is simple, and if your hardware worked in Vista, it will work in Windows 7. The driver architecture is similar, and in most cases simply using Vista drivers will suffice. There are a few drivers that may need to be updated, but thus far those updates are relatively few and far between. Another nice feature offered in this release is Microsoft's XP Compatibility mode. For organizations or users that rely on applications that will only function in Windows XP, you can run them in XP Compatibility Mode. This mode creates a "sandbox" that emulates a Windows XP system, locating the registry and other essential components in the same spaces at XP. This is going to be a very handy piece for the enterprise where not all required applications are Vista or Windows 7 compatible and upgrading these applications to support the latest version may not be an option. These features were laid out by Microsoft to ease early adoption of the new operating system, something that again is relatively new to Microsoft. With so many organizations still running the older Windows XP operating system, however, this is an essential part of making Windows 7 the success that Vista was not.
All in all, Windows 7 is definitely the most solid OS to come from Microsoft in a very long time. Microsoft spent a lot of time listening to users and fixing all that was wrong with Vista while keeping new features to a minimum. The end result is a sharp looking, smooth running stable operating system that users will enjoy for years to come.
