Windows 7 First Thoughts

I've never been big on examining pre-release software, especially operating systems, but for some reason Windows 7 was too tempting... and with the Build 7000 beta finding its way to the usual torrent sites, I decided to take it for a spin. The 2.5 GB-ish file is in the form of an ISO, and for the most part, is pretty solid.

I don't intend to do any real computing with this beta - obviously, I wasn't handed a beta key (that's for those attending CES next week). But I did get to try it out for a couple of hours today, which was all I wanted to do. My initial thoughts based on my time with Windows 7:

• From the moment I hit the desktop after a sloooooow installation (I installed Win7 in a virtual machine via VirtualBox), I instantly reconized what Windows 7 was: a finished version of Vista. As where Vista felt like a rearranged, lethargic version of Windows XP, Win7 is definitely a more complete, unique operating system. The full boot sequence - from power-on to desktop - is fairly quick. More importantly, even on an unoptimized virtual machine, Win7's desktop felt snappy. Speed and responsiveness was everywhere, and it felt great to use.

• The new taskbar doesn't seem as awe-inspiring as I first thought. First off, it's much taller than the XP/Vista taskbar. This is because tasks are now prepresented with an icon, rather than text. I found the lack of text to be disorienting at first, but the taskbar now does some cool things. The icon representations of running programs tell a lot about the status of your desktop without using text, which has a bit of a learning curve (programs of similarity get overlapped icons; for example - Word documents all stack on top of one another). The new window controls (shake to clear desktop, drag to top of screen to maximize, etc.) are immediately useful, and long-overdue. The new desktop features are best used on a hi-resolution monitor with Aero features cranked up.

• The lack of the usual Windows programs - Movie Maker, for example - keep the default Start Menu lean and just how I like it - ready to make it my own - without having to clean up Microsoft's crap.

I know that was a rather quick, superficial look at Windows 7, but I could only form so many impressions in just a few hours. I don't plan to use the beta after this week, but if I do have anything else worth adding, I will update accordingly.

So far, so good, I say. Windows 7 is on track to be what Vista should have been, and I found this beta to be a solid peek at the future of Windows. Come late 2009 I might actually finally give up Windows XP and move to Windows 7. Shocker, I know.

B3 out.