First Post - My View on Windows 7, Microsoft's latest operating system

Ok, I'm sure you're all wondering about Microsoft's newest iteration of its Operating Systems line dubbed Windows 7. I'm sure many of you have many questions about it like; didn't Vista just come out? XP does everything I need, why change now? Blah, M$, Linux here I come!!!

Ok, sit down and read. I've been using Windows 7 since January, first public beta, build 7000. I wouldn't even think about changing OS to XP or Vista, Mac of Linux. No, I don't work for Microsoft and I don't think Microsoft has the best products. Mum runs Linux Ubuntu, finds it fast and easy to use and looks great and loves the customisability. Dad, on the other hand uses XP and absolutely hates Vista and thinks XP is the God of operating systems. Me on the other hand jumped ship straight away to Vista when it was released and Office 07. Couldn't stand XP and stayed with Windows 2000 before it was obvious XP took the market and products less and less supported 2000.

My first impression was wow, Microsoft has done it this time; Windows 7 is what Vista was meant to be. It's fast, reliable and looks sexy. It's so easy to use, it feels like second nature like aero snap and the "superbar". You wonder why Microsoft has never done this before. I've installed it on my desktop computer and laptop and use it as my main OS. For my laptop, since I don't play games on it (Asus A8FM), no drivers had to be installed, worked perfectly. My desktop however only needed the graphics driver: HIS ATI 4850.

It's not perfect, Windows Media Player is slow, laggy and then crashes (I do have a big collection, close to 10,000 songs). Internet Explorer 8, admittedly build 7000 which was slow and some times opening new tabs and some pages (java, I think). There is a newer version released to the public, not in beta anymore and I couldn't recommend it anymore, it's so close to perfect. If it had Opera's wand and speed dial it would be my main browser. You can get Internet Explorer 8 here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/Internet-explorer/default.aspx and Opera here: http://www.opera.com/.

What impressed me most with Windows 7 was it's compatibility. All drivers for Vista should work in 7 with exceptions to graphic drivers (I personally don't recommend you try it). If you want to try Windows 7, I suggest you wait for the Release Candidate version to be released to the public. It should be around May 5th if all goes to plan (source:http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/24/official-windows-7-rc-publicly-available-may-5th/)