Windows 7 doesn’t suck . . .

[imcarthur]

With all of the Apple loving that happens on PPOT, I thought it was time for a positive PC spin.

We had a household computer motherboard death (my wife’s) so it was time to buy a new PC. After many years of newest/greatest in PCs & software, I calmed down a decade ago & the puter became an appliance. I just want it to work & do so reasonably fast. So I resisted the change from Windows 2000. It was so stable, I really had to work to crash it. During my last upgrade, I finally went to XP Pro – I had to buy Vista & use the license for a backdate download. It has been peachy but starting to bog down on my P4 3000Mhz 1GB.

So I reconfigured it & passed it to my wife. All she does is light email, light PhotoShop, net & play Mah-Jongg. Her HDs were fine, so it has been a painless transition for her. I called my hardware guy & he supplied a clone with an Intel i5 CPU 650 @ 3.20GHz, 3193 Mhz, 2 Core with 4GB Ram & a 1 terabyte HD at a decent price. Not a trailblazer but solid. I also added Office 7 – Word, Excel, Outlook etc. I use Chrome rather than IE.

Before the fruit brigade kicks in, I am familiar with the spiel. In a work emergency in JAX in March, I even bought a MacBook Pro for music streaming (in 10 minutes btw). I played with it & came away thinking that it was a nice piece, well-built etc, but the software & file system just felt like a PC for Dummies. I decided that I was far more comfortable with the control that Windows & a PC gave me.

All I can say is: I like it. A lot. It’s fast. Windows 7 is easy to get around & intuitive & loads very fast. My older core programs & hdwe all work - once I sorted out drivers& updates etc. All of the new Office programs are really great, although I am only 5 days in, but so far so good. Even my music system – computer wavs to DAC via USB then balanced signal to Focal Solo6 BE Studio Monitors sounds tremendous - although I have to come up with a better volume control solution.

So if you are on the fence, Windows 7 doesn’t suck. Obviously, it needs the hdwe to handle it, but it ain’t bad at all.

Ian

[id10t]

I've only used it for about an hour, and I do and don't like the way the directory structure changed. I do 'cause it is more *nix like, I don't 'cause it breaks what has been a widows standard for a *very* long time.

However, I got tired of Windows, and can't even think of affording a Mac, so ..

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by id10t

I've only used it for about an hour, and I do and don't like the way the directory structure changed.

No change from before. They just threw in a bunch of default cutesy directories. The standard dirs are all there as usual.



Ian

[syncroid]

I recently had to replace my computer at work (Windows XP Pro) because of mother board issues as well. I bought a Dell Vostro basic machine with Windows 7 Pro. on it. Got to say, I actually like it. It, like XP wants to do alot of things "for" you, but you can change all that. My wife's lap top also died and we replaced that with a HP Pav. that has Windows 7 on it as well. She likes it too.
We are both still getting used to the way the files are displayed and named though.

[imcarthur]

The Program Menu is awkward for me so far. I have to dive into it because some programs just aren't there?? The search finds them but just a click would suffice. I love the peek feature for the open programs on the toolbar.

Ian

[syncroid]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

I love the peek feature for the open programs on the toolbar.

Ian

That is truely much better then the way XP did it. If you want to see hidden files and folders, and file extensions, you still have to manually configure that in 7 too. They are trying to protect us from our selves.

[HardDrive]

Still running XP on all machines, but I will need a new laptop soon. Can I turn off all the fancy visual crap and make it look like Win2000 pro box?

[JavaBrewer]

I gave the Mac OS-X experiment a 2 year run. Sold the PowerMac and the family is on Win7. I enjoy being able to do simple things again without having to resort to Google - things like right click and create a XYZ document RIGHT HERE and RIGHT NOW. Sure we will have to be more diligent with anti virus issues but in the last year with my development Win box I have had zero issues.

Mac is good and all. Their hardware (Aluminum case PowerMac) is very slick. I just don't "Get" the OS...at all.

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

Still running XP on all machines, but I will need a new laptop soon. Can I turn off all the fancy visual crap and make it look like Win2000 pro box?

I can't see why not. But some of the visuals are pretty cool - like the see-thru toolbar.

Ian

[Jagshund]

I set my fil up with it when he broke his old laptop. I've found it to be fairly user-friendly compared with older versions, even set up his home network and printing with other computers using 2000 and XP without having to jump through too many hoops. Supposedly it wasn't supposed to work the way I did it, however, that was 12 months ago and no complaints yet.

That being said, in the last 8 hours Outlook Express has decided it's not going to let me use Hotmail anymore and so I'm burning Bill Gates in effigy (just because he started the company)and putting a curse on all Microsoft employees, may they burn in hell.

[imcarthur]

Wayne

As I am sure you know, auto update is easy to turn off . . .



And not faster? You must run XP stripped to the bone.

Ian

[azasadny]

I've had Windows 7 running on 7-8 PC's at home fro several months now and I haven't had a single problem. I have a Windows Home Server running and the PC's are all connected to it. All of the PC's have at least 2GB of RAM, decent CPU, at least 500GB hard drive and a decent video card. I didn't think Windows 7 would be a major improvement over Vista performance-wise, but it is!

[Joeaksa]

Switched one of the computers here at the house over to 7 and like it.

Takes some getting used to and networking can be a pain but finally got them talking together.

Its a lot better than Vista... or Apple...

[Vintage Racer]

I have been using Windows 7 since the day that it was released (last fall).

It has performed flawlessly without one problem. I would never go back to the older software. I use a Dell XPS 430. I especially enjoy the new media features of W7.

The built in security along with my add-on security (which seems to update itself every day) has even confused the Google ad guys about who I am. The system handles the "Re-Spawn" tracking cookies very well.