180 degree turn RE: Windows 7

I didn't particularly like the Windows 7 beta, nor the RC. The final release, though... WOW. Microsoft has really outdone themselves - heck, they fixed my biggest gripe with Windows (Windows gives no feedback when trying to launch a program) AND my second-biggest gripe (not immediately obvious what's holding up a shutdown, reboot, or log out operation). They also subdued the UAC icon in 7, another change I like. Finally, all the little things Microsoft added... like jump menus, Libraries (which Mac OS X lacks an exact equivalent to), and the revamped taskbar all make Windows 7 that much more pleasant to use. I'll admit that it runs a little slower than I'd like, especially inside a Parallels VM, but I'll take that shortcoming for the new stuff it offers.

I can understand how some of you might find Win7 underwhelming - after all, not all the improvements in it are immediately user-visible. I still hold my stance of liking it... but not so much that I'd switch from Mac to Windows. That just seems silly in light of Windows's security problems. Yes, Microsoft has taken steps in the right direction, which I applaud them for. I think Microsoft will need to do much more, though, to truly solve their problems. Then again, Mac OS X and Linux have problems of their own that are security-related. Out of the various Linuxes, Ubuntu is the one I like best, but even it isn't perfect. I think it could learn a few things from elsewhere. As for Mac OS X, well... its implementation of Address Space Layout Randomization is flawed (this was improved in SL, but not quite to the extent it needs to be). All 3 OSes suffer from the bad practice of, by default, making the first user admin-privileged. The default should be, IMO, two users, one with admin rights for administrative tasks and a standard user for day-to-day stuff.

King Mook Mook said:

@ the OP: You say that you have used the Beta and the RC versions and you were underwhelmed, but when you used the final version you felt a huge improvement. There is quite literally no difference from the RC to the RTM so I am just curious to know what differences you felt there were.

But I do agree that Windows 7 is defiantly a huge improvement for Microsoft as it shows that they have really changed their mindset in making the Operating System. They are focusing more on the UI and making it faster rather than adding many new features that just clog the Operating System down. However Mac OS X is still leaps and bounds ahead as Windows (as pointed out in earlier posts) continues to have it's eccentricities and annoyances.

King Mook Mook

Click to expand...

Good question. There were several things that irked me about the RC... like the default desktop. That was changed with the final build. The improvements I cited I didn't notice right away, because I didn't use the RC for long enough - I quite literally tested it for 1 hour then discarded it.