Two and a half years has gone by very quickly. It seems like just yesterday that I was booting up my Windows Vista computer for the first time with excitement and anticipation. For me, it was like watching that summer blockbuster you’ve eagerly awaited in hopes of it exceeding your expectations. But, like most summer blockbusters, Windows Vista didn’t live up to expectations. It was a bloated and flawed operating system in many ways. Vista does have quite a few redeeming qualities. It was an improvement over Windows XP to the point that I never considered reformatting and going back the older OS (something I did shortly after installing Windows ME).
We are now back to a time of great anticipation. Hopes that Microsoft will redeem itself with the release Windows 7 abound. Will Windows 7 be faster? Will it ask fewer annoying questions? Will it work with all of my current software and hardware? With the Windows 7 release coming October 22, all of our questions will be answered soon enough.
Actually, I hope to answer some of these questions a bit sooner.
Windows 7 Launch Party
Not sure if by sheer luck or stupidity, I am hosting a Windows 7 Launch Party. It is an event that you hold in your home for friends to showcase the new Windows during the products launch week. You supply the food, drink and people; Microsoft provides streamers, cocktail napkins, activities and a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate for the host.
A lot of work to do to help Microsoft pitch a product, but I can’t pass up a techie experience. Plus, it gives me an excuse to throw a fondue and chocolate fountain party. Can’t have enough of those in your life.
Introduction to an Operating System
With my Windows 7 Launch Party Kit in hand, my first step will be to install the operating system.
I’m a bit apprehensive as to what the next few days hold. Will the installation go smoothly? Will all of my hard ware be compatible? Will my software work properly?
Then, once it’s installed how quickly will I acclimate to the new system? After I got Vista, it took awhile before I knew my way around and was as proficient as I was on XP.
Stay Tuned
With a pre-release of Windows 7 in hand, this presents a unique opportunity to share with our MyTechOpinion readership. As I progress in my adoption of Windows 7, I’ll document my trials and tribulations on our blog.
Hopefully, the information shared will help you in your adoption of Windows 7 (or maybe help you decide not to switch).
Wish me luck in my upgrade and check back to see how it went.
About Chad A. Johnson
I am also one of the lucky ones to host a Windows 7 Launch Party and I have upgraded my 2year old ThinkPad which came with Windows Vist Business. I went smooth as silk and It now runs like a clock !!!! Hats off to Microsoft. And lets PARTY on the 22ed.
You haven't taken the plunge yet?
I've been running Windows 7 since the beta, about 9 months now, upgraded to the release candidate, now waiting on the final release version to upgrade again. I must say I think Microsoft finally got it right this time.
While I did have some driver issues after the first install, because no Win7 drivers had been released, running Vista drivers worked great for all of them. Because Windows 7 is really Vista at its core (with numerous performance improvements), many of the hardware problems most people experienced that led to a disgust for Vista in the beginning, are now resolved and should mean a problem-free Win7 experience.
It boots faster, runs faster, along with some great enhancements like libraries, and the pin-to-taskbar shortcuts, I think most people will be happy with it. The interface is very similar to Vista, so if you've gotten used to that, you should have no problems getting re-acclimated.
The best part about it, in my opinion, is that it was built specifically to run with lower minimum system requirements than Vista, and runs great on netbooks. Where Vista would slow to a crawl, XP runs just OK, its blazing fast.
I look forward to hearing how your experience is with it.. and have fun with your Win7 launch party!
i am excited to get my copy of Windows 7. I will be hosting a Launch Party and we will be launching on My MacBook Pro with the new VM Ware Fusion 3.0. Its been a fun Fall. Snow Lepoard dumped 6 gigs of legacy code on it's operating system and now I can finally ditch XP.
The parties are over. You all have time to play by Vista 32 is OK, but my Vista 64 still has many issues. If I upgrade to 7 should I go back to 32 bit? Seems like a step back???
Pat,
If you are already on Vista 64, still with the 64-bit version of Windows 7. Everything is moving towards 64-bit computing. Hardware drivers are much more prevalent and software companies are finally learning how to release stable programs that take advantage of the larger addressing structure.
Also, Vista 64 to 7 64 is an easy upgrade. Moving down to 32-bit 7 would require a clean install which always takes days to reinstall everything.