So the installation was a mess, but after all of that got sorted out, and I reinstalled all of my apps, I actually got to using Windows 7 Home Premium. So far, I like it. I like it a lot actually. I think it is worth the hassle I’ve gone through, and since I only need to install once (barring major misfortune), I’m hoping for clear sailing from here on out.
If I had to pick one feature that represented the greatest improvement of Windows 7 over XP, it would have to be the search box on the Start menu. No longer do I need to drill down through folders or remember where I put something, I just search for it. This also comes in handy for settings; I have no idea where in the new Control Panel interface the mouse settings are, so I just searched for “Mouse” and found it immediately.
Appearance-wise, it’s a set up. Of course Aero is nifty, but everything else just looks better, from the fonts to ClearType. Looks a lot more polished.
The new taskbar is also great, allowing you to “pin” icons to the bar (getting rid of the old QuickLaunc bar) and rearrange icons on the taskbar (finally!). It’s clear that they took this from the Mac OS Dock, but if it works, it works.
Another thing they stole from Apple is a much cleaner “Devices and Printers” interface for dealing with all of the things that can attach to your computer, be they printers, scanners, card readers, what have you. It looks very Mac-like, and it seems to be a lot handier.
One thing that people complain about, including myself, is Windows security. The best way to minimize the chances of getting viruses, spyware, and other malware is to do your computing as a rights-limited user, not with an account that has Administrator privileges. Normally, Windows makes it a pain to do this (despite the fact that it’s been good security practice for, oh, several decades now). When I was on Windows XP, I used a utility called Sudo for Windows to give Windows a sudo command that made elevating my privileges easier when running as a regular user. In Windows 7, I’ve turned on UAC, the much-maligned beast first introduced in Vista. Although UAC has its share of problems, frankly it isn’t too bad. I invoked it most frequently when installing all of my apps, as expected, but it wasn’t too irritating and now that I have everything installed I’ll be using it a lot less. It’s far better than running as an admin.
I have almost zero complaints about Windows 7 so far. The only driver issue I have is with missing drivers for my coprocessor, but it doesn’t seem to affect anything and finding the correct drivers shouldn’t be too hard. And…that’s about it.
Most people say that you should wait for SP1 to come out before you buy a new version of Windows, but this time, I think upgrading now is just fine. If you are running XP and are looking for an upgrade (and you have the power to run it), by all means get Windows 7. If you are purchasing new hardware, don’t be afraid to go with 7. You won’t regret it.