Lorn
04-15-2009, 05:10 PM
Many a month ago, I found that the general public was able to download a beta test version of Windows Seven free of charge. Me being me, I went along with this, but only got around to installing it a month or so ago.
However, upon using it I was seriously, seriously impressed. Like, really impressed. They're redesigned everything and mostly in a really useful way.
There's also a lot of new features and programs included with it.
Before I launch into a lengthy post about the new OS, did anyone else take the chance to use Win7 before the official launch? What were your feelings on it?
Posted on Facebook back when I first got it, mostly - couldn't be bothered typing it all again.
Upon loading it up (and being greeted by a fish on my desktop, thank you Microsoft, that's solved ALL of life's little problems) I have to say, it looks very different. Sure, there's a lot of similarities between Win7 and Vista, namely the icons on the desktop, but there's also a really huge difference - that being the taskbar.
Instead of a simple Start button, a list of what applications are open and then the system tray (or any other toolbars one might have active) what we have is the Start button, followed by not the quick launch toolbar - or is it?
Quick launch and the main part of the taskbar seem to have been combined. While this is innovative and, actually, really useful it does take some getting used to. What you get is basically a row of icons designating the programs that you are most likely to launch. Never fear, Microsoft hasn't decided that you will ALWAYS use these - you can add and remove programs as you see fit. For example, I have Firefox, Documents, Windows Media Player and MSN on mine.
When you have multiple windows of one kind open - for example, multiple MSN conversations - then you do not get a seperate icon for them. Instead, you hover over the icon and all the windows appear in a row, very similar to Alt+Tab when using the Aero interface on Windows Vista. Alt+Tab is still an option, by the way.
When you launch another program, another icon is temporarily placed in the taskbar. Simple.
After this, you get to the newly designed Systems Tray. This is similar to the icons in some respects, in that the hidden stuff appears above the taskbar, yet also bears a lot of similarities to the older version. A certain number of icons are displayed in the system tray, and a button is pressed to see the rest. Thankfully, this button does not randomly toggle between on and off when you're trying to open a previously hidden icon, unlike previous editions of Windows. Instead the hidden icons stay shown until you click on another window or close them by clicking the same button that is, miraculously, in the same place.
The final part of the taskbar is the Show Desktop button. I loved this on Windows XP and Vista, and it is still a part of Win7; it is located as a simple strip of taskbar (outlined so one can find it) at the far right of the screen. Click this, and everything minimises.
Another huge change is the way Windows Explorer works. A comparison is required here, I believe.
Windows Vista:
C:\Users\[Username] was the user directory. In this was your Documents folder, Music, Video, Picture and so on. This was annoying and hard to use, as you had to go through the profile data for your account to get to important things, though many people simply made a shortcut.
In Win7, it is much the same. However, the default Windows Explorer view takes us to the Libraries. You can make as many of these as you want by clicking the "New Library" button, and they serve to organise all your files of a specific type - and can take information from as many folders as necessary. While this promotes a cluttered Documents folder or user profile, it also provides an easy way to organise it.
For example, the default Music library contains Sample Music (bah, advertising...), Public Music (which is shared music across the computer), and your own music (which needs no explanation.) The ability to access all of these together easily is, quit frankly, one of my favourite things so far about Win7.
One final thing of note; Microsoft Paint has been completely rewritten. There are now new brushes - not just lines, spraypaint, and whatever you can custom-make. Now there are many different styles, an Autoshape function, rulers and gridlines, and simply chosen colours. There's even a fullscreen option - my only gripe with this software is that it uses the Ribbon interface made infamous by the Office 07 suite. However, as opposed to Word 07 or Excel 07, the interface works well on Paint - there are less features available, so they are actively easier to find.
There are, however, two minor problems I have found...
One is the installation. This will, obviously, not present a problem to later users when the software is officially released. However, I was unable to reformat my computer as I wished to, and instead had to reinstall XP (which has the drivers for my hard drive and so on) and then install Win7 as an upgrade. I was easily able to remove the old XP files, however, as they were simply placed in a folder called Windows.old. This led to several hours of annoyance, however, as the installer did in fact claim that it would format my disk...
The second is the lack of titles on the Windows Explorer interface. This, again, is likely to be sorted in the official release - probably just overlooked, and it will not take particularly long to get used to reading the filepath instead. For a novice user, though, this could prove problematic.
Another really nice feature I have just noticed now, by the way, is that it seems to remember volume settings on your computer for when you plug extra audio devices in. So, you put headphones in - and you don't need to mess around with the volume to avoid deafening yourself. You take them out, you don't need to mess around with the volume to allow yourself to hear the music again. Not something you'd notice everyday, not hugely advanced - but genius nonetheless.
Anyway, that's it for me... and no, I'm really really NOT a Microsoft person trying to make the product popular. Really, I'm not.
Anyone else tried out the beta? What did you think of it?
However, upon using it I was seriously, seriously impressed. Like, really impressed. They're redesigned everything and mostly in a really useful way.
There's also a lot of new features and programs included with it.
Before I launch into a lengthy post about the new OS, did anyone else take the chance to use Win7 before the official launch? What were your feelings on it?
Posted on Facebook back when I first got it, mostly - couldn't be bothered typing it all again.
Upon loading it up (and being greeted by a fish on my desktop, thank you Microsoft, that's solved ALL of life's little problems) I have to say, it looks very different. Sure, there's a lot of similarities between Win7 and Vista, namely the icons on the desktop, but there's also a really huge difference - that being the taskbar.
Instead of a simple Start button, a list of what applications are open and then the system tray (or any other toolbars one might have active) what we have is the Start button, followed by not the quick launch toolbar - or is it?
Quick launch and the main part of the taskbar seem to have been combined. While this is innovative and, actually, really useful it does take some getting used to. What you get is basically a row of icons designating the programs that you are most likely to launch. Never fear, Microsoft hasn't decided that you will ALWAYS use these - you can add and remove programs as you see fit. For example, I have Firefox, Documents, Windows Media Player and MSN on mine.
When you have multiple windows of one kind open - for example, multiple MSN conversations - then you do not get a seperate icon for them. Instead, you hover over the icon and all the windows appear in a row, very similar to Alt+Tab when using the Aero interface on Windows Vista. Alt+Tab is still an option, by the way.
When you launch another program, another icon is temporarily placed in the taskbar. Simple.
After this, you get to the newly designed Systems Tray. This is similar to the icons in some respects, in that the hidden stuff appears above the taskbar, yet also bears a lot of similarities to the older version. A certain number of icons are displayed in the system tray, and a button is pressed to see the rest. Thankfully, this button does not randomly toggle between on and off when you're trying to open a previously hidden icon, unlike previous editions of Windows. Instead the hidden icons stay shown until you click on another window or close them by clicking the same button that is, miraculously, in the same place.
The final part of the taskbar is the Show Desktop button. I loved this on Windows XP and Vista, and it is still a part of Win7; it is located as a simple strip of taskbar (outlined so one can find it) at the far right of the screen. Click this, and everything minimises.
Another huge change is the way Windows Explorer works. A comparison is required here, I believe.
Windows Vista:
C:\Users\[Username] was the user directory. In this was your Documents folder, Music, Video, Picture and so on. This was annoying and hard to use, as you had to go through the profile data for your account to get to important things, though many people simply made a shortcut.
In Win7, it is much the same. However, the default Windows Explorer view takes us to the Libraries. You can make as many of these as you want by clicking the "New Library" button, and they serve to organise all your files of a specific type - and can take information from as many folders as necessary. While this promotes a cluttered Documents folder or user profile, it also provides an easy way to organise it.
For example, the default Music library contains Sample Music (bah, advertising...), Public Music (which is shared music across the computer), and your own music (which needs no explanation.) The ability to access all of these together easily is, quit frankly, one of my favourite things so far about Win7.
One final thing of note; Microsoft Paint has been completely rewritten. There are now new brushes - not just lines, spraypaint, and whatever you can custom-make. Now there are many different styles, an Autoshape function, rulers and gridlines, and simply chosen colours. There's even a fullscreen option - my only gripe with this software is that it uses the Ribbon interface made infamous by the Office 07 suite. However, as opposed to Word 07 or Excel 07, the interface works well on Paint - there are less features available, so they are actively easier to find.
There are, however, two minor problems I have found...
One is the installation. This will, obviously, not present a problem to later users when the software is officially released. However, I was unable to reformat my computer as I wished to, and instead had to reinstall XP (which has the drivers for my hard drive and so on) and then install Win7 as an upgrade. I was easily able to remove the old XP files, however, as they were simply placed in a folder called Windows.old. This led to several hours of annoyance, however, as the installer did in fact claim that it would format my disk...
The second is the lack of titles on the Windows Explorer interface. This, again, is likely to be sorted in the official release - probably just overlooked, and it will not take particularly long to get used to reading the filepath instead. For a novice user, though, this could prove problematic.
Another really nice feature I have just noticed now, by the way, is that it seems to remember volume settings on your computer for when you plug extra audio devices in. So, you put headphones in - and you don't need to mess around with the volume to avoid deafening yourself. You take them out, you don't need to mess around with the volume to allow yourself to hear the music again. Not something you'd notice everyday, not hugely advanced - but genius nonetheless.
Anyway, that's it for me... and no, I'm really really NOT a Microsoft person trying to make the product popular. Really, I'm not.
Anyone else tried out the beta? What did you think of it?