Windows 7: Oops! Microsoft did it again!

infoWorld ^ | October 28, 2008 | by Randall Kennedy

[Swordmaker]

My initial evaluation of Windows 7 shows that it's really just Vista with a fresh coat of paint

I have seen the future, and it is bleak. Windows 7, the next big version, the one that was supposed to fix everything that was wrong with Vista, is here (at least in pre-beta form), and I can now say -- with some confidence -- that Microsoft has once again dropped the ball.

Based on what I saw in today's keynote speech, and on what I discovered while testing the Windows 7 M3 build during some down time this afternoon, Windows 7 is:

• Just as slow as Vista. In fact, Windows 7's performance is virtually identical to that of Vista SP1 on the same hardware. If you were unhappy with Vista's CPU-hogging, memory-sucking ways, Windows 7 will provide little relief. And don't start with the whole "it's still in beta" crap. This is NO beta – at least not at a kernel-mode level. As I predicted months ago, Windows 7 is very much Windows Vista "R2" under the covers. Microsoft established its platform baseline with the SP1/2008 kernel and nothing significant has changed since, nor is anything likely to change before RTM. This is the reality we face. Get used to it.
  

• Just as consumer-focused as Vista. Home Groups. Media Sharing. Federated Search. All very cool. All very slick. And all very much irrelevant to the enterprise desktop customer (though the Search stuff might be useful in certain scenarios). In fact, from what I can see with the M3 build, there's virtually nothing new here that would address the very real migration concerns that have stalled Vista's deployment among larger Windows shops. I was looking for a "mea culpa" and some solid integration tools and compatibility features. What I got was a prettier GUI and new ways to share music with my dog. Ugh!
  

• Just as confusing as Vista. Microsoft has once again moved stuff around in the UI. After baffling its loyal users by completely upending the XP UI, Microsoft has decided that it wasn't satisfied with the end result. So it started moving stuff, with the Control Panel taking the brunt of the abuse. Need to add a printer? Welcome to the new "Devices and Printers" applet! Looking for the "System and Maintenance" subgroup? It now has a new name: "System and Security." And can you guess where the Security subgroup went? No? Then it's time for some retraining!

Overall, I'm extremely disappointed with Windows 7. Far from atoning for Vista's sins, Windows 7 simply carries them forward, visiting them upon yet another generation. All of which makes me even more convinced that I was really on to something last summer when I posed the question: Is it finally time to cut and run?

Maybe. Maybe not. But one thing's for sure: Windows 7 is no panacea. Rather, it's just more of the same: slow, bloated, and frustrating as hell.

[Prole]

http://blimptv.net/mostpopularV1.html

[Redcloak]

I spent a few days this week trying to actually work on a Vista box. (As opposed to what could have been, at the time, fairly described as the knee-jerk, ripthatpieceofcrudoutandinstallsomethingelsebeforeIpuke reactions I’ve had after brief exposures to Vista in the past.) I really did try to give it a fair shake this time.

What a pile of junk!

It crippled a nice, fast, 64-bit computer. More resource sucking eye-candy isn’t going to fix the problem, but that seems to be where MSFT is headed.

[GLDNGUN]

Well that’s just great. NOT. How can a company with so many highly paid people put out such garbage? One Vista is bad enough. How could they possibly repeat that error??? Unbelievable!

[Stentor]

Funny vid. I’m using Linux Mint but I’m a home user with no enterprise whatever. Tried to download PowerPoint viewer for a friend tonight on Vista and the sucker blue screened on me. It blamed the anti-virus.

[lefty-lie-spy]

When I need to use Windows for a specific application, I just turn on Parallels and run Vista simultaneously on my Mac, then I turn Windows off again and live in peace. The great thing about doing it this way is that both operating systems run at full speed (no emulation) and can run simultaneously and transparently. Only the application interface gives away whether it is a Windows or Macintosh application, and switching between them is seamless. The best thing is that it never crashes, unlike typical windows hardware. I have had this computer running 24/7 for almost two years without a single operating system-related hardware crash.

[joseph20]

http://www.ubuntu.com/

[Prole]

I really hate Vista, and I am sorry to hear of your blue screen of death.

The damn system is one giant defect.

I am aiming toward Linux of Mac for my next computer purchase.

[Prole]

of = or

[Spktyr]

Best line in the whole article:

“I was looking for a “mea culpa” and some solid integration tools and compatibility features. What I got was a prettier GUI and new ways to share music with my dog. Ugh!”

[thecabal]

Yep, Ubuntu FTW. I blew away Windows with my Ubuntu install and never looked back.

[mylife]

I wish Ubuntu was more user friendly for adding applications.

Outside of that, it ROCKS

[09Patriot]

I have only had 2 bluescreens, both due to harddrive failures. fugging westerndigital

[FroggyTheGremlim]

http://www.ecomstation.com/

[relictele]

It’s hardly the most original thing to say but until MS eliminates or at least begins to phase out the registry every subsequent version of Windows will be more of the same.

Memo to MS: can you issue the next edition with at least two flavors?

Flavor A: Windows 7 for the half-simple. Panders like a Dem politician. Lots of fuzzy-wuzzy dialogs with rubbish like “I want to listen to music”....”I want to send e-mail.” I want I want I want!

Flavor B: Give the interface dialog writers the day off. I don’t need dialogs that imply that I’m an idiot. Autoplay nothing. If I want to launch something I’ll click on it, thank you very much.

[gridlock]

Microsoft has written themselves into a corner from which they cannot escape. It is simply not possible for them to do what needs to be done, which is prune about 95% of the code and become lean and fast.

Not gonna happen. Eventually, something will replace them. There will be a whole lot of suffering between now and then.

[Brainhose]

OMG That was so damned funny. Thanks

[ShadowAce]

[McGruff]

Oh my. Another Microsoft bashing thread. Just be glad you’re in a free country where you have choices (well at least until January 20,2009).

[jonno]

westerndigital...

Hmmm... anecdotal, but my WD drive at the office took a dump just last Friday. This AM, I finally have all my apps reloaded on the new drive - a Seagate (fwiw, I’ve always had good luck w/ Seagate).

It’s not my files that were the issue - as those are backed up daily. But all the apps (software/DB development), what a pain to reload! So from now on I’m Ghosting this drive regularly.

On the bright side, I’m on an upgraded box (with a minimally loaded registry ;^) - so she runs pretty good now (WinXP of course...)