Introduction

I have multiple computers running various operating systems. I have a Mac which of course runs OS X. I have multiple PC’s running various versions of Windows, Linux, and BSD. I am also big fan of virtualization and use it extensively.

I admittedly like Windows, Linux, BSD, OS X each in their own right. Although I am sure that this is not popular with the non-Windows crowd.

I have to admit though, I like the vast variety of Linux and BSD distributions and enjoy installing and comparing the various distributions. I like the fact I can customize the operating system for specific functions and find exactly what I need in the various distributions.

I tend to be neutral when it comes to technology. I try to be objective and look for the positives and negatives in technology. There certainly is no shortage of fanatics – whether anti-Microsoft, pro-Apple, pro-Microsoft, or pro-Linux.

From an operating system perspective, I don’t think Windows is as bad as the biggest anti-Microsoft fanatics make it out to be, but it is also not as good as the pro-Microsoft fanatics make it out to be either. I can say the same about OS X, BSD, and Linux.

With that in mind, after reading some very positive reviews of Windows 7 beta, I wanted to install Windows 7 beta and have a look at the latest operating system from Microsoft. Were these people just Microsoft Kool-Aid Drinkers or is Windows 7 really all that Microsoft is promising?

First, I downloaded the Windows 7 Beta 1which was released this past week and demonstrated at CES 2009. The download is approximately 2.5 GB for the 32-bit version. The 64-bit version is slightly larger, 3 GB.

I downloaded the 32-bit version because despite having a 64-bit processor, I can’t run 64-bit guest operating systems due to limitations with my processor. Unlike with the first beta of Vista, Windows 7 was easy to install in a virtualized environment.

The Windows installer was amazingly simple. It only took about 20 minutes to install Windows 7. The installer asked only the essential questions, but beyond that it detected all hardware automatically. 

I have only been using Windows 7 for approximately a day, but overall, I am quite impressed with the revisions, and Microsoft has done a great job addressing the Windows Vista feedback (i.e. justified criticisms).

Observations

Windows Shell – The shell is definitely an improvement over Vista. Overall I like the Vista shell, but it is a resource hog and performance is often sluggish (unless you have the latest greatest hardware – a good graphics card and plenty of memory). It also has a bit too much eye candy without functional benefit. 

Windows 7 changes all of that.  Microsoft heard the criticisms loud and clear. Say what you will about Microsoft, but they do listen to their customers and continually and (usually) effectively address feedback.

For the most part I like the improved taskbar in Windows 7. It is fast and easy to use and builds on the innovations in the Vista taskbar. The layout is quite intuitive.

Microsoft continues to leverage and improve the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) from Windows 2000. I really like the management functionality of Windows. The management console has really matured and is, in my opinion, amazingly robust, extensible, and usable.

I like that Microsoft added Devices and Printers to the start menu, as it provides easier access to devices. Previously you had to go to Control Panel to access devices.

I also like that Microsoft is trying to more effectively use the screen real estate when showing running programs, but they blurred the line between running programs and docked programs that it can take people, such as me (who use the quick launch extensively) time to get use to. Like most Windows 7 reviewers have observed, at first I found it difficult to discern between running programs and the quick launch dock.

One of the most innovative features in the shell are JumpLists which allow you right click on an item in the dock and it displays a list of common actions for the selected item. For example, the JumpList for Microsoft Word shows recent documents and an action to create a new document. The JumpList for Windows Media Player allows you to quick open Windows Media and jump to Video, Movie, Audio, or TV Shows. JumpLists also work when you right click an item in the Start menu.

Microsoft also simplified the “user folders” (shown when you click your user name on the start menu in Vista or Windows 7 or your user name in Windows Explorer). In Vista, a list of 10-12 items (e.g. Contacts, Video, Contacts, Music, Favorites) is displayed. In Windows 7, you only see Documents, Video, Pictures, and Music. This is definitely simpler and more intuitive. You also have the ability to create new custom libraries, such as Work Documents, Visual Studio Projects, etc. Since the libraries are virtual (dynamic), you can optionally add other folders to a library. This allows you spread your documents and media across various directories.

The Sidebar is gone, but now Microsoft let’s you add Gadgets anywhere on the Desktop. It is reminiscent of what Active Desktop tried to be, but failed miserably (did anybody use Active Desktop?). I never really use Gadgets in Vista or Widgets in OS X, but at least Microsoft is innovating and improving the Gadget functionality.

Windows Explorer –  I have to say, I really like the new Windows Explorer. It is significantly faster (my key measurement criteria). There is nothing worse than clicking Windows+E and waiting for Explorer to open. In Windows 7, Windows Explorer appears almost instantly when you launch Explorer. Folder and file navigation is also significantly faster.

I like the revamped navigation (left pane) which now contains only four root nodes – Favorites, Libraries, Computer, and Network. Favorites contains: “Recent Places”, “Downloads”, and “Desktop”. Libraries contains: “Documents”, “Music”, “Pictures”, and “Videos” (consistent with the “user folder”). I like the consistency. My Computer and Network work similar to Vista only faster.

Overall, I like the new design, it is a significant improvement in terms of usability and most importantly performance.

Paint – The first thing I noticed is that Microsoft added the Ribbon User Interface (borrowed from Office 2007) to Paint. They also added a few features to Paint including better brush support and more shapes. Thanks to the Ribbon UI, basic tasks are a lot easier to find and use.

Although I like the improvements in Microsoft Paint, it is still lacking in terms of features and functionality. Unless they improve Paint between now and RTM, I’ll still be installing Paint.NET and GIMP.

Windows Media Player – I don’t see major differences between Vista and Windows 7 beta with respect to Windows Media Player, however with Windows 7, Microsoft did improve Windows Media Player.

In Windows 7, the user interface is definitely cleaner and crisper. There is no clutter and it is quite intuitive.

I also like that they added TV to the library in Windows Media Player. No more switching to Media Center to watch a recorded TV show. They also added Videos and Pictures to Windows Media Player.

It looks like Microsoft is trying to make Windows Media Player the central hub for all music, video, and pictures. This makes sense and the user interface is well done, but the application name no longer seems to be accurate (Player?).

Overall I like the direction Microsoft is taking with Windows Media Player. With Vista, Microsoft definitely made Windows Media Player a more robust, feature-rich, and easier to use media player. With Windows 7, Microsoft has made a great media player ever better.

WordPad – Similar to Paint, Microsoft added the Ribbon User Interface to WordPad. I of course am a big fan of the Ribbon UI and welcome this addition.

Microsoft also added integration with Microsoft Paint so that you easily add drawings to your documents.

But the other big addition to WordPad is the file format support, which I am truly surprised no one in the press has mentioned (at least not that I have read). In addition to the TXT and RTF file formats which are supported in Vista, Microsoft added Office Open XML (Office 2007), and OpenDocument (OpenOffice and other office suites). This is definitely a plus, but I am not sure what took Microsoft so long on this one. Perhaps out of fear of cannibalizing Microsoft Office, but I don’t think that is a real risk as knowledge workers will still use full office suites such as Microsoft Office or OpenOffice. The target market for WordPad are consumers who can’t or don’t want to spend a couple of hundred of dollars on Microsoft Office, but need to create/edit simple text based documents. These users need to know Office or OpenOffice users can easily open the documents that they create.

If you want a more comprehensive office solution that is free, I would install OpenOffice. I like OpenOffice and it probably meets the needs of average users, but Office 2007 (although more expensive) is significantly better in terms of usability, performance, and features and functionality.

Tablet Functionality – I also installed Windows 7 Beta 1 on my Tablet PC (HP 2710P). It is significantly faster than Vista on my Tablet PC. However, the thing that impressed me the most is the much improved Tablet functionality. The handwriting recognition, despite my bad penmanship, is simply amazingly accurate and intelligent. It figures out what you are writing, saving you considerable effort. This may be the Windows release that catapults Tablet PC’s into mainstream.

Conclusion

I do agree with critics, Microsoft Windows 7 is what Vista should have been. Microsoft without a doubt greatly improved the performance, stability, and usability of Windows, while preserving the foundation built in Vista. I guess you can argue, that is “innovation”, but truthfully Vista out-of-the-box tried to do too much in terms of graphical user interface, security, device driver model, etc. Although it is significantly better than Windows XP, it wasn’t as polished and finished despite taking five years to develop.

With Windows Vista, Microsoft needed to make many of the breaking changes to the security and device driver models, as Windows is a huge bright orange target for hackers due its broad install base (and anti-Microsoft fanatics). However, Microsoft didn’t manage the changes well. Central to good change management is communication and expectation management. In this regard, Microsoft failed miserably in the Vista release. The change was objectively good, with Vista being far more stable and secure than its predecessors, but the change felt “too painful”. I say objectively good because the security exploits in Vista are considerably less than Windows XP.

Vista is also too much of a resource hog. Performance is a bit too sluggish even on the average modern computer system. Windows 7 feels significantly more responsive, looks more polished, and clearly lays to rest the notion that Microsoft Windows domination is over and that Windows has gotten too large (bloated) to be a good operating system. Windows 7 shows Microsoft and Windows will not fade quietly. Linux, BSD, and of course OS X are good for Windows and good for consumers, just as Windows is good for Linux, BSD, and OS X. It is quite remarkable how many Microsoft innovations  make their way into Linux, BSD, and OS X and vice-versa. It’s amazing how that competition thing works.

Microsoft’s changes to their software release model also are apparently paying big dividends. If you look back, Microsoft released Windows 2000 Server and  Professional at the same time. Since then, they have staggered the desktop and server releases. With the desktop release first, they deliver innovation and “big changes” and then with the server release refine and improve the operating system (particularly with the kernel, performance, and install/configuration management). Microsoft obviously rolled the kernel and other improvements from Windows 2008 into Windows 7. They did the same with staggering the Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 releases and by rolling the server improvements into Vista. Unfortunately they also rolled too much more into the Vista release, but that is another story.

Although there are many things I like about the Windows taskbar and start menu in Windows 7, it still needs work. I think the taskbar innovations in Windows 7 are welcome. I probably just need to get used to the docked and running programs changes.  

The JumpList feature, which allows you to right click on a program to display common actions for the program, is truly innovative and intuitive.

I think the JumpLists and Libraries are two innovative and useful features. Microsoft is really making Windows simpler to use and more consistent.

In Windows 7 Beta 1, Microsoft made Windows Media Player, an already good media player, even better. I like that it is becoming a hub application for managing and accessing all types of media (beyond music and video).

The other shell changes and revamped Windows Explorer are also welcome improvements. The “accessories” (e.g. Paint, WordPad) included in Windows 7 beta 1 are also nice, but still need work in terms of breadth (applications included) and depth (features included).

The Tablet PC and handwriting recognition is amazing. The improved accuracy, even when I intentionally write sloppy, is very impressive.

Overall, I think Windows 7 is shaping up to be a solid and much improved operating system. Microsoft appears to be on track to deliver their best operating system to date. It looks like there is still more work to be done.

I would really like to see more in terms of functionality and applications bundled with Microsoft Windows. This is one area where Linux and BSD are nice, they allow you to out-of-the-box install a broad set of software applications from several vendors and open source projects. Microsoft needs to follow suit and include more bundled software (customizable of course).

The installer should be more function or role based including for example – Knowledge Worker, Home User, Developer (include Visual Studio Express, XML Editor, SQL Server Express), Barebones (i.e. Netbook). The shell should be customized based on the role and hardware. This is one of the things I really like about Windows Server 2008 and of course BSD and Linux, it is customizable out-of-the-box.

While I'm on the subject of Developer, it's quite amazing how few people know about Visual Studio and SQL Server Express. If you want to appeal to the hobbyists, students, and future technologists, the "express" or "community" editions of developer IDE's need to be accessible.

I will continue to evaluate the Windows 7 Beta 1 and let you know what I find. I also look forward to future beta releases of Windows 7 and will post my observations on the progress Microsoft is making with the next release of Windows.

I am also anxiously waiting the first beta release of the next Microsoft Office release. I am hoping they add support for OpenDocument (as promised), an improved API, and improved collaboration and information sharing. I am also anxious to see what they do with Microsoft Groove and InfoPath, two products that are under-appreciated, under-utilized, and certainly under-developed in terms of potential and functionality.