Essentials of the Windows 95 user interface remain in Windows 7
Posted on 11/05/2009 8:58:34 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Nevertheless, Windows 7 on its launch today is a better experience than Windows Vista was when released in early 2007, thanks to a UI polish, faster hardware, better drivers, and new features that users actually enjoy - Taskbar, Libraries, Aero Peek - rather than features that were detrimental to usability and compatibility even if there were good reasons for them. Yes, User Account Control, I'm thinking of you.
It is a good effort from the Windows 7 team, though its task was easier than that facing the Windows Vista crew. Windows 7 is a refinement of Windows Vista, whereas Vista was meant to be revolutionary.
Essentials of the Windows 95 user interface remain in Windows 7
The interesting questions about Windows Vista concern not what was delivered, but what was omitted. I attended Microsoft's 2003 Professional Developers Conference (PDC), where we heard about the now-notorious "three pillars of Longhorn": Avalon, later called Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF); Indigo, later called Windows Communication Foundation; and WinFS, still called WinFS, still not shipped.
WinFS was the relational file system that was itself a delayed variation of the Object File System promised for the Cairo project originally talked about in 1991. Making it work sensibly, though, proved too difficult. With two of three pillars removed, no wonder Windows Vista tottered.
Ah, but surely Avalon was left in? It is true that WPF did ship with Windows Vista, but Avalon as originally ....
(Excerpt) Read more at channelregister.co.uk ...
Nothing like looking back and comparing what was promised to replace windows 95...and what we have now...we still don’t have everything.
I read somewhere that people installing S7 their PC’s kept booting over and over - didn’t matter where they got S7 - retailers or download from MS ... anymore truth to that???
If it's not "really different," how can it be "much better?"
You can purchase an Windows Upgrade Key from Ebay for about $25. I think it is well worth it if you intend to keep your present computer for a couple of years.
It’s “better” because it looks different, I’m sure. I have a free upgrade to 7 that I am afraid to exercise. Vista on one computer keeps trying everyday to back up all my files and I can’t stop it. Annoying as hell.
I can’t even find a decent directory structure and the computer updates itself regularly and causes Word Perfect to make backups in a directory I can’t find. One “update” knocked me off the net for about a month right after I bought the computer because it updated to the point the aircard wouldn’t work. Sierra and AT&T both lost trying to figure it out.
Microsoft just oughta make a bare bones operating system for those of us not on the cutting edge. An OS that runs the hardware and software without all the crap.
parsy, who will one day migrate to Apple
The author is really not that competent.
To be fair, Win95/98/ME and WinNT/2K/Vista are completely different OS’s under the covers...
When MSFT decided to end the 95/98/ME product line, everyone perceived a huge increase in the bloat and complexity of Windows - because there in fact was a huge increase in the complexity under the GUI. So there was no getting around that.
The mistake MSFT made was trying to make the GUI appear to “be” the OS and branding the GUI relentlessly as “the OS” to customers. As a result, the customers have (on average) little to no appreciation for the huge increase in functionality under the GUI. MSFT makes each new release do a whole lot more things, especially in what they’re providing for 3rd party app developers, but the end consumer continues to just see gratuitous GUI changes - that can be undone with a simple system setting to make the system look just like Win98 or thereabouts.
There’s some things MSFT has done pretty well, but the planning of the long-term future of their flagship product... hasn’t been one of them.
I’m going to hang onto XP for another year. It works for me.
I’m sure that’s happened to a couple machines....but not enough to bother mentioning it.
parsifal just posted an excellent summary of what I’m talking about - the jaded “it is better because it looks different” reception by customers.
That’s MSFT’s failing, not the customers’. They make these huge, sweeping and largely gratuitous changes to the GUI, confusing users to a point where MSFT has to put in a “give me back my old GUI!” knob in the system. Click that box, poof the system reverts and you’re left with the following, unshakable feeling:
“I’ve been gypped.”
You won't regret it. I'm doing a "creeping" changeover at home: Replacing Windows machines with Macs as they get old. But they do cost a bit more.... For a few apps I have that absolutely, positively must have Windows, I use Parallels (which creates virtual machines that can have any operating system, like Ubuntu Linux).
Is there one of those in Vista, or just W7?
No one has ever made so much money (Bill Gates) selling such a crappy product (Windows) in the history of this world.
This thing
Such a simple trivial thing, but it made searching for files so much easier instead of that (*^!@ ribbon BS
What was happening that during install when the PC has to reboot to do its thing it would just keep booting and rebooting. There was no way to stop it and no way to get back to VISTA. Reason I’m asking is I have a laptop with VISTA P. and would like to upgrade to S7 but afraid to do so.
I just bumped my home workstation and older Core duo 1.73 gHZ laptop up to Win 7. It’s a breath of fresh air. The laptop behaves as if it’s got a whole new lease on life, thus extending it’s useful life, and the workstation is much snappier in every respect. This what Vista should have been.
And the point’s well taken WRT the three pillars. I worked in the SQL Server division from ‘94 to ‘99 and there was all sorts oftalk about converging OS and DB functionality into one system. To obad they neve followed through. Whether it was a failure of imagination or lack of agreement on direction, I’ll never know.
Anyone out there remember the Pick OS? How about Metaphor Computer Systems?
That goes back to the late 80's early 90's doesn't it....another flavor of UNIX?
Metaphor Computer Systems
Was that a processor?
I agree that incorporation of the GUI as an integral part of the OS was the biggest mistake. Bloat above and below is also a contributor.
Direct X was another huge mistake.
I use XP on my work machine daily, but my personal machine runs Linux with XFCE GUI. I love the lack of bloat.
There are a few applications that are missing on the Linux side that keep me from never using Windows, but as time passes my need for both is reducing.
The reason this stuff happened with windows has nothing to do with building an OS. It is about enabling developers to spam/scam us and make money in the process. It is about tracking, not security. About control and not freedom to use the machine as I choose.
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Metaphor Computer Systems (1982-1994) was a Xerox PARC spin-off that created an advanced workstation, database gateway, a unique graphical office interface, and software applications that ....
The Metaphor machine was one of the first commercial workstations to offer a complete hardware/software package and a GUI.[citation needed] Although the company achieved some commercial success, it never achieved the fame of either the Apple Macintosh or Microsoft Windows.[citation needed]
I don’t know what was worse......Windows Vista or Office 2007.....
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Marketing guys HYPE the Hell out of it....but the developers can't deliver all of their vision cause it is too big of a change...but they get enough change to irritate those that don't want change.,...
In Vista, right-click on the desktop. Select “Personalize”
Click on “Windows Color and Appearance.”
Then you can select “Windows Standard” or “Windows Classic” if you want to go way back.
In S7, it goes even further: you can run XP in a virtual machine and put application windows that look just like classic windows onto the desktop. The first S7 machine I’ve encountered - I’ll admit the VM was very good. I didn’t know I wasn’t running XP until I fiddled around a bit and noticed “hey... I’m in a VM guest...”
Since the application version the user was running required XP or Vista (and they previously had been running it on XP and didn’t want to upgrade to Vista), as soon as their IT dep’t brought up a S7 machine to test app compatibility, they noticed some problems so they put up the VM and it allowed them to run their app. As long as the users were running one app, they figured “Shoot, we were getting work done just fine in XP before this Vista crap” so that’s what they’re doing: getting work done in an XP guest on a S7 system. The IT department is sort of disappointed — along the lines of “You don’t like the new system?”
The users’ response it “We like it just fine. It runs WinXP, so we get our work done, and it doesn’t act slower, so we’re happy.”
The IT department wanders off, shaking their head, completely missing the fact that for many computer users today, the bleeding edge of technology doesn’t hold any special cachet or fascination, as it does for propeller-heads.
FWIW, this is a CAD/CAM shop. And XP really did do everything they needed to do. A little MS Office, support the CAD/CAM applications and some other drawing programs, and they were happy as clams in mud on their XP systems. They didn’t want for speed, they had good uptime and reliability - except for the occasional virus. So they pretty much sat out the Vista cycle.
MSFT is continues to cater to people who get a stiffy from new technology, and continues to miss the point that their platforms are used to get useful work done. Which means “Don’t force me to change when things are working well and I’m making money with this machine.” If there’s one thing I hear more and more as I continue to move away from the Silicon Valley mindset, it is that point: “Quit messing with me. It works. Don’t [screw] with it.”
When was the last update on that?
Microsoft’s approach is all about making a Busineeesss Decision....
12 just got an update and a patch, didn’t it?
Thanks, my wife and I are going to look into doing that for her Vista. She’s hated it since the day we got it because the GUI’s all different from her old ‘98, and for no good reason.
Never "upgrade" your OS in place. Burn/backup to USB drive, the files you want to keep. Spend the 40-50 bucks on a new hard drive for your laptop and do a fresh install of 7. You will be very pleased.
A new hard drive for my laptop runs about $180 - Toshiba. There should be a way to completely scrub the drive and do a fresh install.
Isn't that like asking for Manna from Heaven?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&SubCategory=380&N=2010150380
You can choose to over write your current drive but unless you have a backup on another computer, that's never smart. You always forget something and it's gone for good.
You know what’s amazing: 7 on a SSD. It just screams.
Wonder if there is a version for Ubuntu and other Unix....Linux systems...?
Faster, more stable, better drivers packaged, better driver compatibility. Changes that actually matter, unlike silly stuff like these guys are asking for, like a different UI.
I'm not budging until the 2012-2014 time frame, depending on hardware and application support.
I just re-installed everything on one of our boxes yesterday, and XP Pro SP3 (with Nod32 and Nvidia drivers running) after the use of msconfig, etc. is only consuming about 260 Mb of RAM at boot (plus it's booting in well under thirty seconds). I think I might purchase Malwarebytes (to get the real-time protection) and maybe DeepFreeze (got a virus? just reboot, and Windows reverts back to *before* you got pwned).
If I budge for anything, it will be to get some CyberPower UPS devices, a real NAS (Synology or Qnap, with dual Gig-E onboard NICs, since my Netgear GS108T supports link aggregation), more Dell SE198WFP wide-screen LCDs (cheap--only $120--but high quality, and includes DVI cables in the box), a Silicon Dust HD Home Run network TV tuner (plus rabbit-ear antennas), a Cisco home router, and AFT kiosk card readers (look on Newegg). Oh, and maybe upgrade to Verizon FiOS from plain ol' DSL or get Adobe CS4 Master Collection or a real Windows 2008 Server box ($$$) some day.
Those are worthwhile upgrades. Windows 7, otoh, is not. Any OS, if managed badly by its users, will be insecure and nasty.
Actually they got rid of the “give me back my UI” button in 7. In the previous versions you right click on the Taskbar, hit properties, hit the Start Menu tab and select “classic”. But in 7 the got rid of it, though with some clever dragging and dropping you can put it back.
OTOH - read where that by hitting the F8 key numerous times you'll get a menu where you can disable the "reboot on failure" command ... Thanks for your info. R/jane
The first statement referred to the OS as a whole, the second one was talking about the taskbar. Plus the first was him quoting others' opinion, with which he said he wasn't in full agreement with, but only "more or less".
I went and searched and found some programs that will do that ... completely wipe a drive ... one called killdrive looked promising ....
I’m still using the last version “X3”. Usually works great and easier for me than Word. Word seems unwieldy tome. Things are harder to do. Been using Word Perfect since Dos 5.1 version.
parsy, who is glad Microsoft don’t own it all, yet
While we’re on the subject - for security purposes I want to boot from a USB drive - meaning you have to have that drive plugged in before my laptop would even boot to my password screen ... ideas?
I remember Pick, but I never used it. Investigated it some but no one around here knew anything about it.
parsy
Or would Open Office be an option?
IBM got tired of having its ass handed to them by brand managers at places like P&G who would drag an IBM AS400 saledroid by their tie to look at a Metaphor screen and say, "Can your stuff do this?" And of course it couldn't.
So IBM did what they've always done with smaller competitors with a better product: They bought the company, "partnered" with it and killed it. I know - I was there.
Somewhere in a basement at Microsoft, there are four Metaphor workstations, a file server and a DB server gathering dust.
$180 for a laptop hard drive is way, way too much. As a previous poster listed, Newegg has good prices. I had an 80gb hard drive in my Toshiba laptop and upgraded it to a 320gb without a problem, or at least a serious problem. :-P
Also, if you want to WIPE your hard drive look for a program called Darik’s Boot-N-Nuke!
Just download one of the Linux LiveCD’s and or Pmagic and rewrite the partition table and maybe do some reformating....then do your install....
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