Windows version stupid

Windows 7

Well I just read a review of it and it does seem to be exactly what I thought it would be, Windows Vista w/ a new label. What I mean by that is, its basically Vista, but with a new name, better pr and enough changes to make it feel ‘different’. Its going to absolutely work spectacularly for Microsoft because people, in general, are stupid. There was nothing wrong with Vista to begin with except for a short list of annoyances, most of which can be disabled if you bother to take the 5 seconds to do it. But I’ve blogged about that before. Anyways, windows 7 is going to look like Vista, its going to have the same system requirements as Vista, I have a sneaking suspicion that the vast majority of its code is Vista’s. What I’m trying to say is, if it looks like an orange and smells like an orange and tastes like an orange….its an orange. But, people being people, are going to see it as something completely different, they will look at the orange and because the media says it’s a pineapple and pineapples are awesome, they will think it’s a pineapple.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not bashing Win7, aside from being miffed about having to buy a new OS so soon I’m sure its going to be a good OS. I thought Vista was a good OS though. Some things about 7 I like is faster boot and shutdown times. I’ve compensated for that in Vista by hibernating my computer rather than shutting it down, and restarting every few days. Its also a little easier on how much RAM it uses, which wasn’t a problem for my 8gb DDR2 but its still nice. They nerfed UAC so it doesn’t pop up with as many “are you sure” style warnings but its not eliminated. I’m sure I’ll just disable the whole thing like I do in Vista. Some things I don’t like though are the fact that it doesn’t come bundled with a basic email browser or address book, you have to download those. So those of you who are reading this and work where I do, good luck explaining that to our customers when they just bought a new computer and can’t figure out how to check their email. Another potential point of concern is the fact that the ‘My pictures’, ‘My Music’ etc, are being redone so clicking on that folder will show all pictures, or all music across the whole network no matter what folder or computer its actually on. For some people this can be very confusing if they don’t know where exactly they are saving their files and want to back them up.

So at the end of the day, again its just Vista with enough differences to make it feel different, coupled with the fact that the media is already raving about it, I’m sure its going to make tons of money for Microsoft who barely has to lift a finger to rehash its current OS. Another factor in its success is three more years have elapsed so there are more, newer, computers out there that actually have decent enough specs to be able to run a new OS. My gripe is not with Microsoft, but with the people who blindly follow whatever the media tells them instead of learning for themselves. I think the Mojave experiment put a fine point on that.