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After a couple of years without a dedicated Windows box (I used my previous MacBook Pro for everything) I got a new PC when Microsoft released the public Windows 7 release candidate ultimate evaluation download version thingamabob doohickey. The rig was built primarily so I could catch up on all the games I missed out on during my self-imposed sabbatical from the platform (thanks, in no small part, to the terrors of Windows Vista). Secondary applications include it being my .NET development environment which barely sees any use any more and more recently it has also morphed into a file-server/RAID. For the next couple of months the days were full of work on the new MacBook Pro and the nights were a flurry of Fallout 3, Mass Effect and Team Fortress 2.
I have had to run OS X and Windows side by side and shuffle between them before. It is jarring when I switch from one to the other: things are in the wrong place, I keep trying to trigger Expose or get to the desktop by using Active Screen Corners, finding applications in the goddamn Start menu takes an age, I stare blankly at the Control Panel trying to figure out what the hell the icons mean (they renamed Add/Remove Programs for God’s sake), the hideous system tray stretching out to infinity chills my very soul. You get the point.
What I realized during this heavy-duty play is that much of this annoying nonsense that Windows XP humbly began and Windows Vista took to unfathomable depths was magically fixed in Windows 7. In my view the last good operating system out of Redmond, WA was Windows 2000. That is until, they switched back to actual version numbers.
Microsoft, true to form, fixed Vista by flat out copying OS X. Now, contrary to the traditional Mac fanboy’s reaction to this, I am a a firm believer in stealing everything you can get away with. After all, Apple is no stranger to this sort of “borrowing” of ideas. Remember when they ripped the still-beating heart out of Xerox PARC and sold it as Mac OS back in 1984?
So the new Taskbar in Windows 7 looks more like the Mac OS Dock than the old Taskbar. You can even rearrange the icons while the program is running ala OS X. I don’t use the Start menu any more, and even then I’ve taken to using it like I do Spotlight on the Mac. Even the system tray has monochrome icons now, I wonder which other OS uses monochrome icons in the tray? And look! moving your mouse into the bottom right corner shows the desktop just like Active Corners! You don’t quite get Expose but hovering over an application icon in the Taskbar allows you to see the windows that are open in the app. It’s a nice touch (that Snow Leopard promptly copied, by the way).
It is also stable. Sure apps crash and I’ve seen a couple of blue screens, but really I’ve seen about the same number of grey screens on my Mac. Compatibility with older apps hasn’t been much of a problem for me. Games have all worked really well. I can’t remember having downloaded any drivers other than the usual video card stuff. UAC is still a little annoying but it seems to behave itself and doesn’t constantly ask you incredibly stupid questions. In other words, Windows 7 is what Windows Vista should have been in the first place.
It is the first time since Windows 2000 that I have enjoyed using a Microsoft OS. And that boys and girls, is what a good operating system is all about. Making your computer fun to use by being easy, intuitive and responsive. I’m not giving up my Mac any time soon but at least I don’t cringe if I have to work in Windows any more.
Tags: 7, microsoft, Windows, windows vs. macos