Archives for "geek"

You may have already noticed it : Windows Seven has been released on Friday. Announced as the solution to Vista, and as the worthy successor of Windows XP, he seems to have convinced a lot of people.

Like me.

So what’s the real deal about it ? I propose you today a (modest) feedback not about Windows Seven, but its RC version (beta), cuz I didn’t have the time to setup the final version yet ! =P

Computer Specifications :

Main computer : Intel Core2Duo E8400 3.00GHz, 2GB RAM, ATI RADEON HD4850

Laptop : Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook P7010 – Intel Pentium M 1.10GHz, 758MB RAM, Intel 82855GM/GME Graphics

First of all, I never got my hands on Windows Vista, so I won’t be able to compare it with Seven. So this feedback may be interesting knowing that I’ll compare Seven only with XP.

Adding to this I’m using intensively Windows Seven RC since July. That can also be interesting to note.

So, let’s start.

Windows Seven Setup is LONG.

Yup, a bit long, but pleasant. There is color, and that’s nice, but well, does that really matter ?…

What was very interesting is the huge number of drivers Seven already have even before plugging it to the internet ! See, everything had setup perfectly for my desktop computer : motherboard, graphic card, sound card, etc… A very good point here !

It was a bit more tedious for my laptop, being very ooold (2005 x__x). I’d came up against some problems with the video chipset driver for example (had to trick Seven with a Windows 2000 driver haha).

Windows Seven is delighting.

The first thing that shock after having setup Windows Seven is its look, its skin ! In my case I was impressed by W7′s beauty, cuz like I’ve already said, I’d never used Vista. Seven uses back the famous Aero effect from Vista, but in my opinion in a better way : colors ftw. Blue, Red, Purple, Yellow, Maron, Shitty Green, you can do almost whatever you want with Seven’s skin. Aero’s effects are totally kikoowoot, but pleasant to watch, though a bit useless.

So yeah, it’s pretty.

Windows Seven is handy.

Second thing that caught me is the taskbar. Completely modified, it doesn’t look like XP’s one anymore, but is strongly inspired from Mac’s docks and from Rocketdock. Each task has its own icon, taking only a little block of space in the taskbar, and if there’s more than one window per task, they are all gathered under the same icon. Resulting from this : a huge gain of place !

More about this feature : if Aero is enabled, you will get a preview of each window in the form of thumbnails when you hover the mouse on tasks’ icons.

Another feature I use a lot with Seven is the libraries. Globally, folders and file exploring has improved : it is more ergonomic, more intuitive, and easier than XP, that’s said unless you prefer to organize your folders yourself. But if you are not very tidy, libraries let you organize by few clicks all of your folders. That way you can add any folder containing music files from anywhere from your hard disk in the Music Library.

This feature is not really essential though. But it can be very useful in some applications like media player, or when you have to save quickly a file.

I really like how Seven manages file transfer. For instance, it’s extremely easy to connect two computers running W7 by internet or by local network.

Configuration is almost nothing. While it was very tedious and didn’t work perfectly on XP, it’s running like a charm on W7 ! Just give a workgroup name and a password, and you win !

File transfer, music and video sharing, printer sharing, etc… become a child’s play.

So here you go with the main features I daily use with Windows Seven. There are lots remaining, but more of the gadgets side than something else…

There’s still one thing that I’ll remember from W7 : his strong compatibility with whatever you want, meaning a huge number of available drivers (through the internet). But if by some sort of luck your driver does not exist for W7, you can still try to setup its XP version : I never had any problems doing that. Same for applications that can only run on XP, you can gently ask W7 to open them as if they were on XP.

Resuming, Windows Seven is not a pain in the neck.

Windows Seven is fast.

And in my opinion, faster than XP when used for a long period.

First, let’s take a look at my laptop. It did very well during the first months on XP, but when the 5th and 6th months came up, it started to be way much slower, and sometimes completely hanging (mainly because of repeated applications’ setups). On Windows Seven, the laptop is a bit slow, and quite slow at some times (while browsing flash website for example). But it handles W7 pretty well, and it’s very tolerable (of course, my laptop is not for running photoshop or playing games !).

Now, have a look at my main computer (mainly gaming and photoshop). Used for a very long period, XP started to be very slow. But with Seven, it’s so goooooood. Not a single slow-down. So, XP is good until you do a fresh setup each year (better to do that every 6 months), cuz it’s not that easy to keep the computer clean ! XDDD And opposed to that, Seven seems to be unkillable.

Windows Seven likes gaming.

Almost all the games I’ve tried on Windows Seven worked perfectly. That goes from simple games like emulators (MAME, Snes…) to games like Crysis, Far Cry 2, Call of Duty 4, etc… So, don’t fear anything, you will be able to play whatever game you want on W7.

Windows Seven has bugs, yes, but not as mush as XP (and not as serious).

Globally, bugs I’ve encountred on Seven are very very anecdotic, by the fact that it’s a beta version, where drivers aren’t always all available. In the other side, on XP, I’ve encountred a lot of severe bugs. Computer even sometimes hanging. So yes, Windows Seven has bugs, but they remain totally tolerable ! (it’s still Windows for yah, neh ?)

What should we keep on mind about Windows Seven ?

Eeh, it’s cool, hope I’ll receive my copy soon.

More seriously, that entry may appear as a Microsoft fanboy’s one, but don’t take me wrong. I always hated Windows XP, though I was forced to use it (gaming is such a pain on linux =__=” maybe I’m a big noob or something, but I had hard time trying to run games on it). Windows 7 is good, and that’s why this entry is more made of pros than cons. Of course there are lots of cons, but most of the time they are already known ones already present on XP or on Vista (meaning the cons that define the word “Windows”, no need to explain more !).

Oh, and I’ve forget Windows Media Center, which is incredibly nice.

PS : <lil’ troll> MacOS, it’s not any better than Windows dude ! </troll>

And now to conclude this, the fanboying part of this entry :

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Shutdown suru ne ? Oyasumi !