Written by:
Mihai Moscovici

 

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First impressions about Windows 7

As soon as Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) was made available yesterday, I was ready to download and install it on my Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop. I knew the transition to Windows 7 will be smooth because I explored Windows 7 features in the previous article.

The first thing before even downloading Windows 7 is to make sure your PC is suitable for Windows 7 minimum system requirements: 1 GHz or faster processor, 1 GB RAM (32-bit) / 2 GB RAM (64-bit), 16 GB available disk space (32-bit) / 20 GB (64-bit), DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver. In case you have such a PC, you're ready to move forward.

Downloading Windows 7 RC was pretty easy. First you need to choose between 32-bit or 64-bit version of the system; then register with your MSN e-mail account, introduce some personal information and after confirming the ownership of the e-mail you'll be given the product key. Make sure you print or write down you product key, as it is very important for activating Windows 7 RC.

The next step is to burn the setup package on a DVD and to make sure the DVD works properly. Now you just need to do one very important thing: Back up your PC . Ideally, install the system on an formatted partition of your harddrive, but if you have only one partition, you'll need to save your data on an external harddrive, DVDs or other memory devices. Having your data backed up, you're ready to install Windows 7. You can find detailed Windows 7 RC Installation instructions on Microsoft's website.

The beauty of Windows 7 installation process is that the system guides you through the entire process and you literally do nothing. After inserting the disk and indicating the specifc partition for installation. Installation was complete in about 15 min. The system detected and installed all necessary drivers for video, audio, LAN, wi-fi, chipset, etc. When I first logged in, all the system elements were up and running. The whole system was perfectly tuned up and ready for work.

Exploring Windows 7 on my laptop, I noticed two important improvements: extended battery life and cooler processor. First, when running Windows XP, my battery was good for about an hour, but with Windows 7 my battery stays half longer, that is for an hour an a half. Second, Windows XP was heating up my laptop very quickly, but with Windows 7 I can feel my laptop is less warmer and the coller is working less frequently.

Indeed, Windows 7 is much faster than Vista and XP. Graphics are great and enjoyable. Improved navigation between windows and programs makes a better working experience. Windows 7 is definitely worth trying, and it is free untill June 2010.

Propeople expert

Martin Kulov is Microsoft department manager at Propeople with more than 10 years of experience. He is a leading expert in such technologies as WCF, VSTS, ASP.NET and IIS. Martin is member of INETA Speakers Bureau and often speaks at international events. In 2006, Martin has been awarded with the award Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) in Team System category. Feel free to contact Martin info (at) propeople . dk write "Martin" in the subject.

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Written by:
Mihai Moscovici

 

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Windows 7 and the buzz around it

Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 (RC1) will be made publicly available for download starting May 5, but the news already generated a big buzz on the web lately. The buzz is all about the great features of the conceptually new Windows 7: Windows XP Mode for Windows 7, driver compatibility between Vista and Windows 7, Windows 7 is much faster than Vista, and other multiple small, but nice changes.

The buzz around Windows 7 is also a marketing trick, as there are already discussions that XP Mode in Windows 7 is a scam, not all Vista drivers are supported in Windows 7 and for most part Windows 7 feels like Vista Second Edition. However, the marketing trick has its effect over the development process and support around the product.

Making the beta and RC1 available to millions, Windows 7 development team is able to receive huge feedback and fix an incredible amount of bugs before releasing the final product. This is what Windows 7 developers say about their feedback experience: “At the peak of the feedback cycle, we were receiving a “Send Feedback” report every 15 seconds for an entire week.” Finally, the RC1 will be used by manufacturers to adjust their driver support for Windows 7 before it is officially released as the final product.

Nothing is better than the personal experience and Propeople already tested Windows 7 Beta extensively. Thomas Sørensen, Senior Project Manager is using Windows 7 as the main OS on his computer for the last few months. Thomas described Windows 7 in just few words: “It’s much lighter and totally faster. The new navigation and interface is awesome.”

However, there are some bothering issues. The main problem is that “the beta is graphically buggy, missing some GFX drivers. Hope the final product will be 100% driver supported.” In addition to drivers, many programs that are running on Vista are not working on Windows 7. Another problem is that the system comes with IE8 preinstalled and Thomas believes “it is a shame that it comes embedded in the OS, because IE8 is not for everyone.”

Beside bugs, Windows 7 has its nice part: “Super cool and functional Office integration and very fast navigation on Toolbar makes the work process a lot smoother and easygoing” Thomas says. Finally, another new great thing about Windows 7 is the library system: “It doesn’t matter where files are placed on the hard drive u can group them by interest or filename. It’s pretty similar to iTunes library, but I liked it better.”

It seems Windows 7 is touching not only the market, but user’s hearts too. Even a high-profile tech analyst, Joe Wilcox, who describes himself as "neither Mac fanatic or Windows fanboy" said the Windows 7 beta was enough to make him switch back to PCs from the Mac.

It’s somehow premature to predict whether Windows 7 will conquer the market and outbid the competition, but it is clear that Windows 7 is already a huge step for the OS industry and for the final user experience.

Propeople expert

Martin Kulov is Microsoft department manager at Propeople with more than 10 years of experience. He is a leading expert in such technologies as WCF, VSTS, ASP.NET and IIS. Martin is member of INETA Speakers Bureau and often speaks at international events. In 2006, Martin has been awarded with the award Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) in Team System category. Feel free to contact Martin info (at) propeople . dk write "Martin" in the subject.

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