Microsoft Windows 7 - Test Review

So, I had the chance last night to give a try on the new Windows 7, which was said to debut on this coming October. It was amazing! But to be honest, it is so much alike to Vista. Perhaps the way it looks and its menu arrangements. I think that I am still in love with Windows XP, which it is not much cluttered and easy to use without having to bypass so many security measures.

Ok back to what I had tried, Windows 7. First, we get to install the system onto a Compaq laptop. The installation was smooth! Finishing the installation, we need to update drivers so that the laptop can command to work with its attached peripherals. Other than Intel Wireless, other drivers worked and installed smoothly. Then we had to lookout for XP drivers from Intel website. This part was a bit tricky and time consuming. To look-out and download is one thing and Windows taking a longer time to update and install is another. Other than that, I don't see a reason why Windows 7 can't work with a laptop or its current devices.





Installing 3rd party program seems to be easy, except that Windows tend to take a longer time to verify the executables and passing its own security. Apart than that, these programs worked fine (but have not tried many other programs, just few that I can put my hand into).

The taskbar has new looks, unlike to Windows XP that horizontal bar will stretched to display program's or document's name, Windows 7 just show program’s icon. And it is grouping accordingly. I think this is somewhat alike to Mac, where minimised program will show icon on the deck (the last time I used Mac, my own, was last year's September & October - the version that works on Intel - MacOS X Tiger).





Running installed 3rd party program was easy!! Ah, one thing - the Internet Explorer has been integrated to default search to use BING, Microsoft's own search engine. Another thing, the icons are huge, hate that!

I don't really have a say in this, whether we should migrate from XP (or currently Vista) to Windows 7. Perhaps, we need to wait for some more time until it has been used by many other user and its future holes being padded by SP1.



As for me, I will stay on course using Windows XP (easy and less tricky) as well as Windows Server 2003. Not only these two systems are still stable for common but both use less space and fewer resources. I know that nowadays space cost is not an issue anymore (1GB can only cost around RM0.30), but other things need to be factored in.
In this Windows 7, I don’t get myself to use or find many other significant differences, perhaps it was due to my experience with Vista during my last job in USM.

Why I don't think that I will not be upgrading to Windows 7 just yet? Here can be some simple reasons:

I used my laptop mainly for:
1. Chatting on YM.
2. Checking my facebook & blog.
3. Watching movies.
4. Develop script-based program.
5. Still hooked to Visual Basic 6 (I hate dotNET which slowing down my system).
6. I am still working on some DOS-based program, which Windows Vista & 7 perhaps might not support.

So, why do I need to upgrade to another system I am not familiar with? Perhaps in time, like the last time when I upgraded my system from Windows 98 to XP. I gave so many reasons not to upgrade, only after I get to use other people's XP then I decided that I need to have on my own as a little insurance to cover against the common Windows 98 BSOD (Blue Screen of Death).

Last but not least, I would still like to welcome Windows 7 into the community. Only time will tell whether it is going to be a success (and eventually a successful successor for XP) or another disaster after Vista. Until that time, let's keep fingers crossed.