Windows 7 is truly a great, smooth, enjoyable operating system to use. It looks like Microsoft finally got it right… well… almost. There are two items that I find positively irritating and fortunately there are alternatives. Here is a very quick review of Windows 7 and my “off the cuff” impressions after working with Windows 7 Ultimate Edition, 64-bit, for the past several months.
The Good:
- Almost serious crash free experience, even 64 bit operation – rarely ever do I require a reboot
- Eye candy, yet easy to use
- Control panel finally more organized and driver loading of most hardware is virtually painless, an enourmous feat with so many variations
- Did I say how smoothly it runs for the most part, even with 32 bit applications?
The Bad
- Not too much – I thought there would be a longer list
- Windows Ultimate is too costly an upgrade over Professional and provides a marginal difference
- Some older hardware does not have drivers that enable it to work properly (especially HP and Okidata) – not entirely Microsoft’s fault
The Ugly:
- When Microsoft misses, it’s by light years and not just miles
- Internet Explorer continues to crash at will, even on clean installs (thankfully there is Mozilla)
- The search function has actually been made worse, if that’s posssible – there is no way to easily understand how it’s supposed to work and drill down to find a document (thankfully there are many alternatives like 2 Bright Sparks)
From my experience, if you’re thinking about upgrading your PC or considering a Mac, I’d highly recommend Windows 7. If you’re already running XP or Vista successfully, there really isn’t much incentive to make major changes. If you’re not quite satisfied with some inherent limitations or stability, I can attest that even 2-3 year old equipment will shine brightly on Windows 7 and it’s easy to work with and troubleshoot. If you need a cute looking computer, don’t buy a Mac – just ask me for some great alternatives that you can customize to your personal taste!
Tags: Internet Explorer 8, Review, Windows 7
Michael M. Wechsler is an experienced technology attorney, Internet entrepreneur, noted speaker and quoted author. He founded Apple online community EastNet in 1992 (featured by David Pogue in Macworld Magazine) and later founding 
