We should all stand up and give our friends at Microsoft a round of applause. After the infamous Vista flop, they returned to the proverbial drawing board and have given us Windows 7—a robustly functional operating system that is, for all intents and purposes, what Vista should have been.
At first glance, actually, you might think that Windows 7 is not all that different from Vista. And as far as look and feel go, you wouldn’t be that far from the truth. While there are some relatively significant changes to the visual interface (such as the expansion of the taskbar’s functionality), Windows 7 mainly keeps Vista’s visual makeover and actually delivers on Vista’s original aim of creating a more streamlined and intuitive operating system.
While Windows 7 does boast some new external features that users may enjoy (more options for viewing multiple windows, a new Windows Media Center, etc.), we feel like the most important step Microsoft has taken has been to sort out the underpinnings of the software to make it run faster and more efficiently. Windows 7 is not the memory hog that Vista was, so it has the internal functionality to back up its visual sleekness. Furthermore, you don’t have to have a brand new computer to enjoy Windows 7 (provided that you have enough memory to meet the minimum operating requirements); we have installed it on some of our office hardware which is around 8 years old, and it works great.
If you have a Windows machine at home, then, we would feel comfortable recommending that you switch to Windows 7 if you think it is right for your particular needs. And although we are still testing Windows 7 for business use and aren't quite ready to give a firm verdict, our findings have generally been positive in that regard as well. Overall, we're just glad we can put Vista behind us and move on.
Interested in reading more? Click here to read Engadget's review. Click here to read Cnet's review.