Bander's Blog

You can checkout my prevoius technical review post here.

Everyone is excited to get their hands on Microsoft’s new operating system Windows 7. Not having its successor’s marketing launch budget – around $400 million – and coming out in a time were the world is going through a rough credit crunch! It must have been a big challenge for Microsoft to deliver the operating system on time and on budget or maybe less. Some people would say that Microsoft went through an operating system features diet to maintain the budget and the timeline. I would defiantly disagree. Microsoft was smart enough to realize that the only key to Windows 7 success was more eye candy, a performance boost, more mobility support, better backward compatibility, in conclusion they needed to nail Windows XP once and for all.

Windows Vista was a leap into a new era where Microsoft introduced a new graphical interface called “AERO”, User Access Control (UAC), a new Start Menu, Sidebar and Gadgets, Virtual Folders, and many other features. Windows Vista was like an alien mother ship descending to XP’s earth or that at least what Microsoft wanted us to believe with their huge marketing campaign. I attended many of these events and even presented some, where Microsofties go up on the stage and show us the future: 3D applications, embedded videos, live feeds, and connected systems. Microsoft overpromised consumers back then with such user experience ignoring the fact that they were selling the future. Its true Windows Vista introduced a new set of features that developers can use to build amazing user experience, but developers won’t simply ditch their current built products and build new stuff just for Vista’s sake! A transmission phase should be taken into consideration. That was the first domino piece to fall. When Windows Vista was on the shelves, none of the applications demoed was there. Many faced a lot of problems with the operating system performance because of its high hardware requirements. Moreover, we all started complaining of backward compatibility and that UAC annoying dialogue.

By this time Microsoft knows for sure that if they promise the future and shoot for the stars again specially in this period of time they would defiantly fail in selling Windows 7. I’m really impressed by Microsoft’s new strategy, in my opinion Windows 7 is in huge make over for Windows Vista! Most of us watched the “Pimp My Ride” show on MTV Arabia where Exhibit pimps rides with a WOW makeover inside out and door to door. I believe Microsoft did the same to Windows Vista. This time no alien features, time travel, or black holes! Microsoft called their “Exhibit” to pimp Windows Vista and introduce Windows 7. It was a work of love and the outcome was astonishing!

More Eye Candy

“There is more than meets the eye, and the eye does not go wanting!” That was Captain Sao Feng’s words to Elizabeth Swann when they first met at his hideout in Singapore. I can’t agree more. I had the same reaction when I first met Windows 7 AERO. It’s no surprise for a Windows Vista user, but defiantly a different experience. Simplicity was there moto.

A New Taskbar

Combining Quick Launch with Window Management

The first thing you’d notice is the window management in the taskbar. The quick launch shortcuts are combined with the running applications and all running applications windows’ are grouped. I’d find it easier to navigate the running windows grouped with live thumbnails than looking for their labels on the taskbar.

Pinning Shortcuts to Taskbar and Start Menu

In Windows Vista: users where able to pin application shortcuts to the Start menu. With Windows 7 users are given the choice of pinning the application shortcuts to the taskbar. This makes sense since the popular quick launch was combined with the taskbar window manager.

AERO Desktop

AERO Peek

Users can have a quick peek to the desktop without moving the stacks of open windows by just moving the mouse over the far right end of the taskbar.

AERO Snap

Sometimes you need to compare 2 documents or web pages. You can simply snap one to the right half of the screen and the other one to the left half of the screen. To quickly maximize a window, just drag it to the top of the screen.

AERO Shake

Try shaking an open window and the rest of the windows stack will be minimized. Try that shake again and everything will be restored back again.

AERO Themes

A feature that disappeared in vista and now is back and even better than before. Users can use themes that contain multiple wallpapers, sound scheme, and an AERO window color.

Ribbon for WordPad & Paint, and a new Calculator

More enhancements have been done for the native applications preinstalled with Windows 7. WordPad and Paint got a face lift using the Office Ribbon and new features have been added to the Calculator.

Less hardware requirements for better performance

Since Windows Vista was demanding high hardware requirements, most Netbooks were being shipped with Windows XP preinstalled. I tried installing Windows 7 on a Netbook and it worked like a charm. I needed to run couple of tests to compare Vista and Windows 7. Office applications are running faster than the Vista box. I tried the Video stress test in Counter-Strike Source, Windows 7 scored higher frames. Referring to a study by Matt Buchanan (http://gizmodo.com/people/iceeee/posts/) published on Gizmodo: “Windows 7 showed faster Shutdown, Photo editing, and Gaming performance. However, it lacked competition with its predecessors on Start Up and Video conversion”.

Internet Explorer 8

Internet Explorer (IE) 8 performs better than its predecessor IE 7 that was shipped with Vista. In Windows 7, IE 8 is preinstalled. This charges Windows with an excellent performance boost in comparison to IE 7 and Windows Vista. IE 8 starts faster, creates tabs faster, and is most stable Internet Explorer release.

Windows Search

Windows 7 includes Windows Search 4.0, which provides faster search and indexing than was possible with the initial shipping version of Windows Vista.

Revolutionized backward compatibility

With the release of Windows Virtual PC as part of Windows 7, a new feature called Windows XP Mode hit the surface. The feature is brilliant. Users can run Windows XP virtually inside Windows 7. This will ease the transition from Windows XP to Windows 7. If enterprises are running applications that are only compatible with Windows XP, they can upgrade to Windows 7 and still run them. Nothing is needed besides a double click on a shortcut. This feature reminds me of VMware Fusion that I use on my Mac Book Pro to run Windows applications.

Windows 7 Pricing

Below is a comparison between Windows 7 and Windows Vista pricing. You can notice that Microsoft is focusing more on the “Windows Anytime Upgrade” offering more than upgrade or full versions offering. Based on the pricing planned for the US market, the only version that gets affected is Home Premium, with Windows 7 it is $10 cheaper for the upgrade version and $40 cheaper for a full version.

Windows Anytime Upgrade offers competitive prices in Windows 7 with comparison to its predecessor. Users can save up to $34 when upgrading from the Starter to the Ultimate.

Upgrade and Full Versions – Source (http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/pricing.asp)

Windows Anytime Upgrade – Source (http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/pricing.asp)

Conclusion

Microsoft did an excellent job in a time were the whole world is still suffering from the recession tsunami wave. They delivered on time, and provided a new user experience. Overall, the Windows 7 user experience is amazingly simple. Still the new UI stuff is one of Windows 7’s primary draws, and anyone using Windows XP or Vista today will be blown away by the new visuals. Let’s hope that Windows 7 would be the last nail in Windows XP coffin after years of domination on Vista’s false bad reputation.