7 the Best?

[jack1953]

After getting 7 for the first time and using now for a couple of weeks, is it just me or is this version, without a doubt, Windows best yet? Sorry if this has been discussed ad nauseum, but I was kind of blown away by how similar it is to the Macbook.

 

[Maguscreed]

It is certianly still not completely without problems
That being said, I personally think it's the best windows to come out yet.
It certainly beats vista and ME by leaps and bounds.

There are still problems, but you expect that with a nearly infinite number of system component combinations possible in PCs.

I still feel lost on a mac, but understand win 7 completely, so I'm not sure I see the relation. Though if you would like for your windows to behave more like a mac, here's a little app I put on my sister's pc for her since she's such a mac fan.
About RocketDock - RocketDock.com

 

[jack1953]

It is certianly still not completely without problems
That being said, I personally think it's the best windows to come out yet.
It certainly beats vista and ME by leaps and bounds.

There are still problems, but you expect that with a nearly infinite number of system component combinations possible in PCs.

I still feel lost on a mac, but understand win 7 completely, so I'm not sure I see the relation. Though if you would like for your windows to behave more like a mac, here's a little app I put on my sister's pc for her since she's such a mac fan.
About RocketDock - RocketDock.com

I was referring to things such as boot up and shut down time, stability, and easier to use features.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

jack1953,

I'm in agreement that Window 7 is far and away the best mix of performance and weight. But keep in mind that as we are also in a great moment for processor speeds and hard drive technologies. If you build or put a great system together with quality components and then run them with W7 64 the liveliness is just un-comparable. I'm very happy with W7 and now find my XP laptop and my girlfriends Vista laptop almost boat anchors, but the OS is only part of the issues and the rest is with the technologies of that time.

 

[whs]

That is very true. i have one Vista laptop where I installed an SSD and it flies too. So hardware can make a big difference.

 

[pparks1]

I enjoyed Windows 7 by far the most when it launched compared to all previous versions of Windows. It was the smoothest and best running of them.

As far as being Mac"ish", I don't see it. To me, it's still Windows without a doubt. Compared to Windows 7, I find OSX to be rather bland.

 

[Maguscreed]

Well that almost goes without saying. The oldest part on my current rig is the boot drive. I usually turn on the machine and then start grabbing coffee and stuff in the morning though. By the time I come back I'm loaded and don't deal with the boot drive again all day, as all my files, videos, games, applications, and even the pagefile are on other drives. When this drive eventually dies (and it's about due) I plan to replace it with my first SSD. Money has been tight lately though.

 

[FerchogtX]

For me, Windows 7 is the best for now... before, it was XP, but 7 is way more stable, and the best stuff: eyecandy!, besides the libraries, taskbar personalization and icon arange, jump lists, aero peek...

Just the best by far...

 

[gregrocker]

The Win7 Taskbar is a stationary rocket dock for users who like their buttons to hold still for them.

Win7 is a milestone achievement in tech history: featherlight, instantaneous, rock solid stable (unless you're tweaky), elegant, finally OS perfection.

The only thing left to be desired exists in the imagination: perhaps mid-air with the hands, breaking out of the touchscreen into 3 dimensions.

 

[Maguscreed]

Yeah, I'm old fashioned in that I like my task bar relatively clean, only have my windbg and firefox pinned to it.

 

[Andacar]

I don't think there's any doubt that Windows 7 is far and away the best thing to come out of Redmond yet. I have a few minor nitpicks about it, but I really love the interface, the Libraries, Aero, the new taskbar, etc. Despite the snarky predictions of the Mac ads when it first came out, there has yet to be a big issue with 7 that I am aware of. I’ve been using it pretty hard for several months now, running high end animation and editing software with enormous files that peg my i7 for days on end. Not once has it crashed or so much as hiccupped. I don’t think it is by any means a ‘copy’ of the Mac (unless any operating system that is attractive, easy to use and flexible copies the Mac). I do think that the intense pressure Microsoft was under to fix things, much of which was coming from Apple, was a big factor in the huge improvements we’ve seen here. Whether fairly or not, Vista is widely viewed as a disaster. But my Mac friends have a hard time finding things to criticize about 7, other than the two standbys: “It copies Apple,” and “Just you wait. You’ll see. It’ll be a failure. It’ll crash, it’ll lock up, etc…” If all else fails, they can always say, “Well, Bill Gates is still evil…”

 

[Maguscreed]

In all honesty at release vista was a mess. As much due to lack of third party driver and device support as the OS itself. By the time they really began to fix it the damage to it's reputation was done though.

 

[Dzomlija]

In all honesty at release vista was a mess. As much due to lack of third party driver and device support as the OS itself. By the time they really began to fix it the damage to it's reputation was done though.

I'm one of the few people that had a hard time agreeing with all the bad talk about Vista, as I in all honesty never had a problem with it.

But I will say that I dumped Vista within 3 days after trying the Windows 7 BETA, it was that good. Even in BETA form, all aspects of Windows 7 just performed better.

The one real major issue I've had with Windows 7 is with Explorer. You no longer have the option for column headers to remain visible in all views (Icon, Thumbnail, Tile, etc) as you could with Vista Explorer. But I've learned to live with that little shorcoming, as other features, most notably Libraries and better Search have taken precedence.

I'd still like column header to be visible in all views though...

 

[Maguscreed]

My problems with vista started immediately upon installation.
It took nearly 4 1/2 months for proper SLI support to come from a combination of nvidia driver updates and microsoft updates. For a brief period of time, they were actually saying it would never come. At the time I had just bought a pair of 8800gtx's just for the upgrade.

..as you can imagine I wasn't happy. There were other issues too, but that was the primary one that just made me hate vista, even though I used it all the way up to release of win 7. I never did care for it.

 

[unifex]

My problems with vista started immediately upon installation.
It took nearly 4 1/2 months for proper SLI support to come from a combination of nvidia driver updates and microsoft updates.

I think this was the key to Vista's failure. Personally I never had a problem with it, but then I have never installed it on an older machine. I got it factory installed on a new machine - and there were no problems. This approach has always worked for me in the past - I don't upgrade to a newer OS, just replace the PC (not when the new OS comes out, but when it's time to replace the machine) with whatever OS they happen to be installing at the moment. But lots of people tried to install it on their existing machines - and got into lots of compatibility problems.

Windows 7 was the first OS that I installed on an existing machine. That was that Vista machine. Vista is still there, but I hardly ever use it.

Finally, for the similarity with Macs ... There is one particular feature of Macs that I can't accept - there is basically one toolbar at the top of the screen that changes its content depending on which window is currently active. Windows themselves do not carry toolbars, just some close/minimize buttons. This is the show stopper for me - I will not willingly use a Mac until they change that (which is probably never). Therefore I do not agree that Windows 7 looks like a Mac.

 

[Kit]

Well, I will say that Windows 7 certainly has improvements over Vista, but saying its the best operating system ever made? I wouldn't say that, now i just say this because I've used 7, Vista, XP, 2000 (all the way back to windows 95), and numerous Linux distros, and just like every OS, they all have faults and things that make them worse than others........I personally liked Windows 2000 Professional the best.

 

[andyparks]

The boot up is a bit faster and on my PC it takes less then 5 seconds to shut down

 

[WDAexodus]

Definitely windows 7 is the best and most stable release to date. Still, there are issues that people have but by in large most are very pleased with the product and the support.

 

[Julio Cortez]

Being used to Windows 3.11, I have to say that Windows 95 is still the one that impressed me the most at first sight (the taskbar was something I would never think I needed until I tried it).
I've had Windows 98 SE for years before I saw Windows 2000 Professional and fell in love with it almost instantaneously. So I have to agree that it was kind of solid and easier to manage than I thought.
On the other hand, I didn't click much with XP until SP2 came out (even if I must admit that it slowly turned into a very good OS over time) and always tried to stay as far from Vista as I could.
But now, Windows 7 finally gave me the impression I only had with Windows 95: a huge step forward both in the UI (the new "dock bar" is awesome) and in the performance/ease of use.

 

[Imperfect1]

I think this was the key to Vista's failure. Personally I never had a problem with it, but then I have never installed it on an older machine. I got it factory installed on a new machine - and there were no problems. This approach has always worked for me in the past - I don't upgrade to a newer OS, just replace the PC (not when the new OS comes out, but when it's time to replace the machine) with whatever OS they happen to be installing at the moment. But lots of people tried to install it on their existing machines - and got into lots of compatibility problems.

My philosophy is similar to yours unifex, in that I don't install a new version of Windows until at least the first SP has been provided, or a new version of IE until it's been on the market for a significant period of time -- basically, until the kinks have been worked out. Yes, I know it's a lot more fun to be in on the very early stages, but I'll enjoy that thrill vicariously through others, and for myself, much prefer having the stability of the proven platforms. The good news for me, is that I've had a very good experience with both XP and Vista, and can pretty much say the same for the different versions of IE.