The reson I avoided XP was duer to the immense eye candy it was sold on. Win2K was fantastic for me.
However, with more modern times resulting in a wolrd of miltimedia content, Win2K startede leaving me behind. I was eventually forced into Vista mode due to necessity and a broken notebook, to say I was shocked would be an understatement. I had read about what a horrific OS it was with all the added 'fluff'. My new notebook, cheao at that, had 4GB of RAM and a dual core processor, and it ran like a top. Vista had some fantastic new ways you "access my tools" that previous MS operating systems did not. Getting used to the new navigation and file system took a wee bit of patience but is was well worth it. My work life got easier and my day was more efficient.
As an experiment, I downloaded a cracked copy of Win7 and though that while it was great too, it was no great effort over Vista.
The dead housing market put me back on the market myself so I had to give back the Vista box, meaning tine for a new CHEAP notebook. I found a great deal on a Toshiba with Win7 64 bit and WOW, I really mean WOW!!!
Now I have an immensely useful interface that not only allows me easy access to tools but a new way of using them too.
I do a lot of file moving and copying from one part of my drive to another, I run audio editing applications almost 12-14 hours on some days, I render video and graphics too. Win7 has some great tricks to ease this;
[b]Copying from one window to another[/b] Normally I would open two windows, resizing them by dragging corners and aligning them so that both fit on the screen, one left and one right. With Win7 they simplify this task a great deal, no matter what window you have open, just grab the taskbar and drag one to the left edge of the screen and let it go, it will resize and SNAP into place and take up exactly one half of the screen. Take the other open window and do the same on the opposite side of the screen and it too SNAPS into place taking up the other half of the screen. Now you have both windows open and exactly sized for drag and drop copying!
NOTE: The snap feature also allows you to drag any window to the top of the desktop and it will autopmtically fresize to full screen without clicking a little X or double clicking (handy for touchpads!)
[b] SHAKE IT UP![/b] Too often I'll have a half dozen or more windows open, all different sizes too. It results in a clutered desktop. With the shake feature, just take your actuve windo you want to work with, again click and hold the active taskbar and shake it ! All teh other windows automatically disappear behind/into it like magic, when I am finished working with that app, I just grab and shake that upper taskbar again and all the previous windows open and fall into their original places again, like magic!
[b]Toolbar preview[/b] Unlike earlier versions where the minimized windows allowed a small thumbnail when you hovered the mouse over them, now they minimize right into the quick launch toolbar(VLC, WMP or FF windows for example) leaving less cutter in the toolbar. Each respective icon displays a small bar beside the icon to show how many of that applications windows are minimized. Example, besides teh FF quick loaunch icon, it will show a small vertical bar for each open and minimized webpage. WHen you mouse over the icon, it shows a small thumnail of each open page. As you mouse over the thumbnails, the page displays on the desktop but doesn't lock until you click it. You can also close pages right from the thumbnails instead of viewing and closing each page not needed.
It's a users dream, all the cool improvements i foudf in Vista and more, in a smaller and still even more robust platform with all do-dads and wot-nots active.
I give Win7 a 10:10, they have finally added security, ease of use, stability, compatibility, speed and some poleasant eye candy into an OS that truly is something useful and offers and easier and more productive way to use my tools, not just get to them (which it also does great, thanks to breadcrumbs).
It's kinda like buying a fancy new toolbox loaded with the best power tools.
For those who feel that a cost;y upgrade isn't worth it, that may be true in many cases. However, if in the market for a new PC, I got this notebook for less than $600.00 CAD, 4GB Ram, 512MB GPU, 64bit 2.3GHz dual core Athlon processor, Win7 64bit, LED backlit screen that is just incredible. Again this is an entry level notebook that I work very hard, sometimes 16 or more hours a day.
Win7 is the bomb, I have yet to see a single flaw. I am sure problems will arise over time, bugs will be found, exploits discovered, but that's life when you are the OS in the spotlight.
