Showing posts with label tech stuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tech stuff. Show all posts

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Windows 7 so far

I've got to say, my experience with the Windows 7 Beta has been very pleasant so far! Since I was reconfiguring the hard drives on my computer into a RAID array, I had to install it from scratch, without upgrading Vista. This is how I would have chosen to do it anyways, since I don't really trust "upgrading" an OS. In any case, I dumped anything I wanted to keep onto my Home Server, and rebuilt my desktop.

The thing I like most about the Windows 7 is that they're made an effort to make it cleaner and faster. There's no more Sidebar, like in Vista. Also, the Quick Launch bar is integrated into the Taskbar at the bottom of the screen. An application is highlighted if it is running, and can be pinned there with a right-click if you want to keep it there. The Start button looks like just another icon, so it maintains a very clean look. Here, Chrome and Paint are running, and I've moused-over Chrome to get a preview:



It's nice, because it keeps your takbar nice an organized. If you click on app that is running, it will shift focus to the app. If the app isn't running, the click will start the app instead.

The Notification Area has also been reworked. You can configure it to hide, show only notifications, or always show anything that goes down there. Again, it's quite easy to keep that area clean.

There are a ton more features, but I haven't had a chance to play with them all yet. So far, this feels like a faster, leaner Vista with some nice UI tweaks. And honestly, that's enough to sell me on it so far.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Probably not as bad as this...

I've become more and more of a Windows geek since I started my current job. Our partnership with Microsoft grants us early access to a lot of nice software that other people can't touch yet, which is pretty fun. I've been pretty busy recently and I didn't even notice the Windows 7 Beta until yesterday. It releases today, and I've already got my keys. 

This weekend, I'm going to back everything up to my Windows Home Server, and install Windows 7 on my PC at home. Worst case, it sucks horribly and I just restore my backup. Best case, it's nice and I keep using it. Either way, it won't be as bad as xkcd thinks: