Let me preface this post by stating I have a lot of respect for TechRepublic. Their website is a treasure trove of computer specs and information. We rely on them when researching products or procedures and for just catching up on industry gossip. But I have a beef... again... with their love and affection for Windows 7 and their hatred of Vista.
Take this mornings article "10 reasons Vista haters will love Windows 7" by Debra Littlejohn Shinder. I don't know how much Microsoft is paying her (and many other 'objective' techies) to constantly push the "You will LOVE Windows 7" mantra down our throats. The article focuses on how great the aesthetics of Windows 7 are compared to evil Vista. Some of the reasons center around security and improved boot time, but come on... Windows 7 is going to convert the die hard XP users because of aesthetics? You've got to be kidding me!
Was this review written with the casual weekend user in mind? You know, the ones that only use the computer for Solitaire and online banking. We've been developing websites, writing software, using MS Server Products, and using numerous Adobe and third party development products on our Vista machines for a year and a half. Initially we had to do some tweeking, but nothing more over the top than any other OS install (including Ubuntu and Windows 7 BETA). All of the eye pleasing changes are nothing more than a service pack for an already outstanding OS.
"According to reports, Windows 7 has added support for multiple heterogeneous graphics cards from different vendors." And this is done how? By a paring of drivers and OS hooks that allow this to happen. The same thing that is done with a service pack. Yet somehow, it is so much better when it's repackaged as Windows 7 rather than a Vista update.
It gets even more sickening. Reason number 8 is "
Side-by-side windows auto-size" with such riveting changes as "Even better, if you drag the window back away from the edge, it goes back to the size it was before. How cool is that?" Not very, Debra. I'm underwhelmed. Reason 9 is that "Home networking gets simple." Well, it already was simple, if you knew what you were doing. Face it, you could make the most colorful one-click interface on the planet and people will still have no idea how to set up a network. Not that its a bad thing, but the simpler you make it, the stronger the tendency to relax security and accounting so that people can connect their machines at the push of a button.
Number 10 is the ultimate in cyber-cheese... "Taskbar preview really works." Well, it may work... for you. Did you ever think their are people who want it to work the way it did on Vista? I prefer the uncluttered pane view of Vista to the desktop hogging multi-slide preview of Windows 7. The preview screens in Windows 7 are so small, you can't make out any detail on them other than a basic shot of what the screen is showing. You still have to open the window to read the details.
Evil Vista displayed preview panes in this un-American child hating way.
But wait! Now comes Windows 7 and the world is a much better place! Just look at those preview panes compared to the ones our Fascist Vista users were forced to put up with. BTW: I like them better the first time I saw them On a Mac!
I for one will probably wait on Windows 7 because just like every other major OS release (including Vista), this one will have it's share of shakiness and instability no matter how many Microsoft press corps... I mean 'objective' technical journalists... tell us Windows 7 is going to make our computing lives better, cure cancer, and predict winning lottery numbers.
Great job, Debra. Buy something nice with your check...
like Vista Ultimate!
... Stepping down from soapbox.