and may find its way to shelves as early as the fall according to some reports. The Beta has only been out since January 9th so I don’t know if there is a consensus yet, but from what I see so far things look good.
My first impression was that it looks very similar to Vista. However after working with Windows 7 for the last few days I can honestly say……… it is Vista. I was fooled at first because of the new task bar and the Windows 7 branding, but I get the joke now, come on where are the cameras? Am I on TV? I bet this is that Mojave experiment thing again right? Is Seinfeld going to walk in the room and proclaim his is a PC?
I’m not going to lie I like Windows 7, really for the same reasons I like Vista most of which has to do with security. I can even say from a performance perspective Windows 7 boots faster than any previous Microsoft OS and in my opinion that feature alone would be worth the upgrade especially for a mobile customer.
Still though I can’t decide what my favorite new feature is yet. I’m kind of leaning toward “Aero Shake” where I can minimize all of my open windows by shaking the active window. I liked this feature the first time Apple showed it to me on TV. Zing! Just kidding.
I think the best new feature is somewhat under the hood, the average consumer may never even see it, now I want to quote this perfectly because it is so good; the default UAC control behavior for administrator level users is to:
“Prompt for consent for non-Windows binaries”
I have to admit it takes a pair to not only make that statement in GPO double talk, but to make that a default behavior for an OS. For those you that are scratching your head let me translate. Anything that is signed by Microsoft and integrated into Windows can elevate its security token at will, no prompting from UAC. You all remember UAC don’t you? That annoying little popup that keeps viruses and malware for wreaking havoc by requiring you to approve system level changes. This sort of reminds me of congressional legislation to help farmers in Iowa, but somehow includes an embedded addendum to legalize gambling and hookers.
I can’t wait to see what qualifies as a Windows binary in the future. Please will the Governor from Illinois sit down, we have no intention of selling what is a Windows binary to the highest bidder, that’s ridiculous.
Here is the good news America I think you are going to like Windows 7. The new OS looks more streamlined, no gadgets on the desktop by default, and guess what you can decide how security conscious you want to be depending on your mood. Windows 7 now includes a slider bar that lets you adjust your level of security with UAC. You can now turn it off on a whim solidifying job security for the IT industry for years and years to come. I know I sound smug about the whole thing, but UAC is at the root of why Windows Vista never gained acceptance, and I think Microsoft could have solved that problem with a feature upgrade and a clever commercial, rather than a new OS version.
The silver lining in all of this is that Vista, now called Windows 7, is a good Operating System and that was the whole point all along. Look everybody, sometimes when you pick on the dorky geeky kid (Microsoft) he doesn’t know how to act and he just slinks away to his room and builds a new OS. Maybe the lesson learned here is that if we can all stop being jerks for a little bit maybe Dork Boy will give us some upgrade credits. -Tony
