With the upcoming release of Microsoft's newest product, the Windows 7 operating system, many are wondering if its new features can offset the problems encountered with Windows Vista.  This hub will explore the new feature's usability, and the compatibility issues I have faced.

About Me:

Let's start with a little history of me. Tech wise, I'm up there, but not a master by any means. Both of my parents were computer programmers, so I learned much about computers quick. My first PC was at the age of 7 (It was a 386). I can type 100-120 WPM with 90%+ accuracy. I like to consider myself smart. I'm the kind of guy who never did well in school because I never did homework. I would pass my classes by acing tests.

Enough about me, on to Windows 7:

Windows 7 64 bit RTM

- Expectation -
As an IT for a company that uses Windows Vista I was very skeptical of Windows 7. I myself preferred XP before I started working for this company. After a while I became accustomed to Windows Vista, but certain things still bug me about it.

- Installation -
I got a copy of Windows 7 beta in March, and initially installed it as a second boot option. The install program is almost exactly the same as Vista's. It's easy to use and relatively quick. The complete install process took about 45 minutes, excluding programs. I love playing with new software, so I was pretty excited to get it booted up.

- Login -
Before logging into Windows 7 I noticed and improvement that I liked a lot. I work with a domain. In order to connect a laptop to a domain in Windows Vista using wi-fi you would need to log into the computer, connect to the wi-fi network, log out, then log back in as the domain user. Window 7 provides the ability to connect to a wireless network BEFORE you boot into the system. I have yet to test the domain sync & settings, as I completed the install at home, so we'll see about that later. I typed in my password and logged in.

- First Impressions -
I had done my homework. The first thing I wanted to play around with was the keyboard shortcuts.
Windows + Up arrow: Maximize window
Windows + Right arrow: Forces window to use exactly half of the right side of the screen.
Windows + Left arrow: Same as above, other side
Windows + Down: Unmaximize, Minimize

These keys are COOL! I've heard a little bit about the MAC shortcut keys but never really put thought into it (I never really liked the mac OS). The keys work smoothly, and the "use half the screen" shortcut will come in handy for me and my work.

Windows + P: Change projector mode (extend desktop, duplicate, only laptop, only projector)
Windows + Shift + Right arrow: Move window to the next monitor
Windows + Shift + Left arrow: Move window to the previous monitor

I work with dual monitors, my laptop screen and a big 28" Hans-G. These keys are GREAT. I would like to see an improvement of the projector key, as there is no way to go directly into the display settings and change the location of a monitor. Other than that, this shortcut works great for switching display modes. This is one thing that frustrated me with vista. When I would have to get up suddenly to go into a meeting, or do anything else that involved unplugging my monitor, I would have to open display settings and manually disable an external monitor. Windows 7 allows me to perform this function by simply hitting a shortcut key. The ability to automatically move a window from monitor to monitor using a keyboard shortcut should has obvious benefits. I don't think much explanation needs to go into this.

Windows + X: System Settings

I did use this to try to change my screen brightness. Still seems to be a little buggy, but it should prove to be a good shortcut key in the future. From this panel you can change your brightness, wifi card settings, sync settings, volume settings, display settings, and power settings.

Windows + Spacebar: Display desktop

This shortcut seems useless. All this does is display the desktop without letting you select anything on it. Once you release the windows key your opened windows are displayed again. If this option let you double click a desktop icon it could be incredibly useful.

Windows + Tab: Just like alt tab, this shortcut lets you cycle through the windows with a vista like display.

Windows + M: Minimize all windows. Like Windows Spacebar, but useful.

The shortcut keys seem really cool to me. I'm sure they'll come in handy. Enough about them though, let us talk about the TASK BAR!

- Task Bar -

What an improvement over Vista, or XP, or any of Microsoft’s old operating systems. There are no more shortcut keys next to the start menu. Each program now has a "Pin this program to Taskbar" option in their right click menu. Selecting this option will permanently stick this program’s icon to your task bar, allowing you to start the program at any time by clicking that icon. If the program can have multiple instances running (like Mozilla or IE) holding shift and clicking the icon will open a new instance of the program. Icons with no instance of the program running are displayed without a square around them. If the program is running it will have a square around it, to let you know you have an instance of the program running.
One of the great features of the new taskbar is the ability to preview other windows and open them straight from the task bar. Moving the mouse over an icon will bring a small display of the open windows right above the icon. Moving the mouse over each small display of the window will show a full size preview of that window on the screen. If you want to open that window you simply need to click it. This preview is fast, and has proved very useful so far. Windows + T will let you cycle through these icons like XP's alt tab feature.
There are undoubtedly some other cool features waiting to be discovered (like the ability to have your desktop cycle through background images).

-Compatibility-

When I first installed Windows 7 around March of 2009, I could not use it exclusively because of some compatibility issues. Daemon Tools lite, and some other programs I rely on were not compatible. Since then I have completely moved over to Windows 7, removing vista from my boot options. I have encountered a few compatibility issues, but they’ve been easily solved.

Outlook: Windows 7 search feature seems to cause odd occurrences with outlook and zimbra (the mail server my company uses). This can be solved by opening up the services window and disabling the windows search service. Unfortunately this causes searches through outlook to be very slow! Personally, I prefer Mozilla’s thunderbird to outlook. It is faster, seems more reliable, with a couple cool features. Thunderbird doesn’t have a calendar though.

Daemon Tools LITE: I was not able to get this program working at first, but downloading a newer beta version seemed to resolve any problems I had with this.

Wireshark: Wireshark is a network packet capture program that I use often in my line of work. The currently released version of WinPCAP (required to use wireshark) does not work with windows 7. Download one of the developer beta versions of wireshark to get this working.

ALL of my other programs have not had compatibility issues with windows 7. These include: - -thunderbird
-firefox
-iTunes
-VoxOx (my companies program – lets you use all of your messaging services with one client – www.voxox.com)
-WinSCP
-Navicat
-extraPUTTY
-Word
-Excel
-Visio
-Ableton Live
-Audacity
-Skype
-RoboFrom
-Google Chrome
-VMware
-ESET
-xlite
-Snagit

-Conclusion-

Windows 7 has completely replaced Windows Vista for me. When I’m using Vista I find myself trying to use the windows 7 shortcut keys, and becoming annoyed when they don’t work. The OS is decently fast, and has some great features. Windows 7 is a large improvement over vista, and I’m sure many Microsoft customers will be happy to stop using vista.

Me, personally – I’ve gotten more and more involved in music production. I plan on buying a MAC as soon as possible. Expect to see a review for Snow Leopard as soon as that happens!

Thanks,

Pr0metheus