Windows 7 launches this Thursday. Wait, Windows 7? Hold the phone, didn’t we just upgrade to Windows Vista? Well, maybe we didn’t, judging by Microsoft’s sales figures and that in less than three years it is releasing a revamp of its last operating system, that I lovingly tell my friends is “Vista: Done Gooder.”
In Vista’s defense, it lasted longer than Windows Me, which survived about a year and a half. Vista survived two years and 10 months. Can I get a golf clap?
To be fair, I’m a fan, as I’m sure most techies you know are. Windows 7 lives up to most of its promises to be faster, more compatible, feature-rich. And for all intents and purposes, I have had a positive experience: in five months only a single crash.
Most Macs with OSX 10.5 I’ve used crash more frequently doing simpler tasks. (I really put Windows 7 through the ringer. For a full review with all the geek-speak, check out my blog on dailyemerald.com.)
I thought Microsoft was finally getting hip. Certainly they were learning to give people what they wanted: a solid OS without a confusing name. I watched the promotions on their official Web site and rather than geeky, unattractive men with lisps, they had sexy, young women with silky voices telling me just how much I would enjoy using Windows Media Player 12.
I stumbled across “Windows 7 launch party” and thought it was a joke. Then I discovered “Windows 7 launch party ‘Dirty Edition.’” Watch either if you need a pick-me-up in the middle of the day, or are a Mac user who needs a reason to hate Microsoft now that they have an operating system just as beautiful as yours, but far more functional and stable with a massive software library. (Sorry guys, but at least your OS is named after cool cats!)
Questionably, Microsoft is trying to convince the end-user to throw Windows parties like in the video to celebrate the launch of the software together. There are over 300 Windows parties here in Oregon, according to its party planning Web site. I’ll bring the dip! I love going to strangers’ houses to celebrate the launch of software that I usually install and begin using with only a single brain cell. Another black mark: Microsoft has brought back its multi-version launches, confusing end-users and charging way too much for what you get in the “Ultimate Edition.”
Not quite so hip, Steve Ballmer, but maybe you’ll get a date for prom this year!
Justifying an upgrade so soon? Windows XP lasted a glorious six years uninterrupted as the dominating OS of the computer world. Windows 95 and 98 lasted three years and two years respectively. Windows 3.0 and 3.1 lasted three years and two years respectively.
See a pattern here? I had hoped that Microsoft had broken its cycle of releasing an OS and then making a better version in two to three years.
Perhaps what disappoints me most about 7 is that it is not a new experience from
Vista. This is a Vista that works right; it incorporates the Aero interface with a few minor and mostly pointless tweaks that I turned off because they were all annoying.
The world seems excited for 7. According to BBC News, Amazon.com’s first 8 hours of 7’s pre-order period showed more orders than the first 17 weeks of Vista’s.
Windows 7 is everything I dreamed that Vista would be, and after using it for the last five months exclusively, I can say with 90 percent certainty that it will be the next XP. Microsoft may finally understand its consumer base, and with great political shifts in the company this emphasis on quality may be the future. Of course, I think they should take everyone who bought Vista out for ice cream and give them a hug.
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