What do you like about Windows 7?

ten said:

The libraries is a cool feature but it comes at the expense of worse performing Windows Explorer.

I would have to agree with that, but only on the premiss and basis on the beta. The RC seems to have concentrated on this more as well as the index. I can say this with my own test of loading up over 2gb of pics for wallpaper. It was horrible in the beta. Tho still could be a little quicker, its a much better and a needed and welcomed improvement in the OS. Also i have to compliment the effort in how things are now being indexed and searched/grouped within libraries and the example of the wallpaper directory/subdirectory improvement.

So, i would recommend just for your own trials, install the RC tomorrow. You will be pleasantly suprised as far as this goes.

Personally this is one of my fav small features of windows now, along with the improvement of index which has came a long way since it reared its ugly head long ago.

The next feature which all ties together is the Homegroup and Libraries. Both are a nice feature once you get your grounds about it and finding how powerful and convienant they both are. I hope that MS continues work and focus on this area as i believe its a CORE function and selling/persuading point to others, especially XP users that never were convinced to migrate to Vista when this feature was introduced in its beta, years ago.

garbanzo said:

i like the 'cross referencing' for lack of a better word. there are a dozen ways to get to the same dialog box now, instead of just one. i no longer have to know the correct sequence to get what i need - i just look someplace where i might find it, and within a few clicks, i'll be there.

Can you give an example of this? I'm not sure what you mean. Thanks.

Digger said:

I would have to agree with that, but only on the premiss and basis on the beta. The RC seems to have concentrated on this more as well as the index.

So, i would recommend just for your own trials, install the RC tomorrow. You will be pleasantly suprised as far as this goes.

I never tried the betas. I've been using RC since the day after it was leaked.

I have a pretty low end system by today's standard..single core P4 2.0. Even so In XP when I click explorer, it opens instantaneously. In 7 there's a noticeable delay. I notice this sluggishness even after it's open and just browsing around my folders. The overall feel of the OS just doesn't have that snappiness that XP exhibits for me. Case in point, I just did the Restart Time test.
Windows 7: 83 Seconds
XP: 65 Seconds

ten said:

I have a pretty low end system by today's standard..single core P4 2.0. Even so In XP when I click explorer, it opens instantaneously. In 7 there's a noticeable delay. I notice this sluggishness even after it's open and just browsing around my folders. The overall feel of the OS just doesn't have that snappiness that XP exhibits for me. Case in point, I just did the Restart Time test.
Windows 7: 83 Seconds
XP: 65 Seconds

I understand and appreciate this sentiment, but you have to consider that there is more code executed, even though it is machine code that is executed quickly; more code = longer time.

Not to mention, it could be because of the new graphics environment. Drawing those windows take more computation that the XP windows.

ten said:

I never tried the betas. I've been using RC since the day after it was leaked.

I have a pretty low end system by today's standard..single core P4 2.0. Even so In XP when I click explorer, it opens instantaneously. In 7 there's a noticeable delay. I notice this sluggishness even after it's open and just browsing around my folders. The overall feel of the OS just doesn't have that snappiness that XP exhibits for me. Case in point, I just did the Restart Time test.
Windows 7: 83 Seconds
XP: 65 Seconds

well, if you intend to stick with that pc as your main rig, well, then yea, by all means your best bet would be XP. I dont have any top of the line system by todays standards at all either, but i can really tell a huge difference. This would depend on your System Specs, of which i cant tell of any in your details other than you are running XP. I have a dual core which is a difference, along with dual chan mem possibly another difference. When running in single chan, this rig is a donkey on 7, even with the dual core.

ten said:

I never tried the betas. I've been using RC since the day after it was leaked.

I have a pretty low end system by today's standard..single core P4 2.0. Even so In XP when I click explorer, it opens instantaneously. In 7 there's a noticeable delay. I notice this sluggishness even after it's open and just browsing around my folders. The overall feel of the OS just doesn't have that snappiness that XP exhibits for me. Case in point, I just did the Restart Time test.
Windows 7: 83 Seconds
XP: 65 Seconds

Ten, i bet that when XP came out years ago, you were probably on a 98 windows pc, possibly dual booting 2k... you would have experienced the same problem. I dont use the XP and Longhorn example, as Longhorn was a much more drastic of a curve in OS to OS than say XP to 7 in a hardware way of looking at things, performance wise.

Nope. I dumped 98 as soon as 2K came out. I couldn't stand the crashes and general slowdowns exhibited by 98. I was on 2K for years after XP came out. I was finally forced to make the switch to XP when some of my apps started experiencing weird bugs in 2K that XP seemed to cure. I would still be on 2K if authors would thoroughly test their apps in 2K. I dont use Security Center, themes or some networking enhancements which is the only main differences between 2K and XP.

Win7User512 said:

Can you give an example of this? I'm not sure what you mean. Thanks.

I think he means like this for instance...

Procedure 1: Right click desktop > Personalize > Change Mouse Pointers.
Procedure 2: Control Panel > Mouse > Pointers

There's a lot of this going on. Where links in dialogs are replicated in other dialogs/links.

I really like the Taskbar for numerous reasons. It eliminates the need for a dock, looks nice when vertical which is a first and of course jump lists are great.

Libraries and "Dynamic Folders" such as the Games Explorer/Folder, IE Favourites dropdown etc. desperately need speeding up before RTM, in fact I'd say they are 7's biggest weakness.