If you know me or have followed my blog for any length of time you probably are already aware of my Microsoft frustrations by now. I have been using Microsoft Windows operating systems since they have been around. My first operating system was DOS 6.22, the old command line, and I have moved with them through every version of their GUI operating systems from 3.11 through Vista with the exception of Win98 and Millennium Edition. In a nutshell I have watched as their operating systems have become more and more bloated for the sake of adding what they call innovation.
Recently I purchased a MacBook Pro and installed Parallels to start learning OSx. My plan has been to eventually transition from developing client projects on a Windows based machine to a Mac. Everyday that I use my Mac I can’t help but fall in love with it more and more. The machine that I am still using as my primary production machine is currently running Windows Vista. With that being said, I haven’t had a “whole lot” of problems w/ this machine but it also hasn’t been perfect. I typically go in and turn off a lot of the theme and indexing features in the operating system so that performance is enhanced but even with these features turned off the past 2 days w/ this machine have been a living hell (to put it nicely…).
I reached out to a friend who does remote repair to have him take a look at my machine and even he couldn’t find the culprit for it’s decreased performance. Grasping for straws I decided to head over to Best Buy tonight and pick up a copy of Windows 7 and see if an upgrade might cure the locking up and performance slow down that I have been experiencing. As of right now I am about 32% of the way through the upgrade and I am having my doubts despite hearing good reviews of Windows 7 from several people. My goal is get through the next quarter or two w/ this as my primary production machine before making the transition to a completely Mac environment. Everyone please say a prayer on my behalf that I am able to do this…
If anything should go wrong during this upgrade process, don’t worry, you guys, my loyal blog readers, will be the first ones to hear about it.
Windows 7 is truly amazing. I'm not a fanboy but MS got this one right. However, I do say that I never recommend upgrading. I partition the HD so that data is on one side and then create a fresh install of the OS.
A clean install of 7 is really quite fast but I only do clean installs.
Trust me, 7 is the bomb. And who is this guy you are a calling? I didn't get a ring 😉
Yeah I almost called you but I have a friend, Rob, that has one of those remote dial-in businesses where he goes in and locates problems and fixes them remotely that I called. It got to the point today that I couldn't have but like 2 applications open at one time w/out things locking up for 30 seconds to a minute before they would unfreeze on their own. I was so frustrated I probably couldn't have dialed a phone anyway!!! LOL. I sure hope this upgrade works. 😉
I've used 7 just a bit on @cherylferg's netbook and mostly liked what I saw. I hate how it handles media because its so not iTunes like that I have to really think what I'm doing when placing say an archival copy of a DVD there for “backup”.
My cheap seats opinion is that Vista is the best thing Microsoft has done. They ended support for some out-of-date things and finally kickstarted the ecosystem. Then they made it better with 7.
I am an Apple guy but will but their price points just aren't going to work for every need and anyone who knows Apple knows they have target markets and make great products for those markets. The world needs Microsoft and the Windows ecosystem because no one else has their broad reach.
I've used Linux (used to dual boot my Mac) and its just not a general audience solution. Google's Chrome is going to be so cloud dependent that it will not be suitable as a general audience solution and obviously Apple doesn't even want to be (maybe with iPad but I don't think so).
The weakness for Microsoft is also is strength, having such broad reach. They've been overly hesitant to end support for old tech because of that.
As a person who has gone through multiple flavors of OSX, each version has run a little snappier than the one before it. With Snow Leopard ending support for the old Motorola processors the disk usage is down significantly as well.
OSX 10.0 released a few months before XP, but has had a steady upgrade path to the current 10.6. If Win 7 coming so close after Vista represents a progressive approach where support for older tech falls off as time goes with updates, it bodes very well for the future.