Windows 7
By: Chase Christian
As you probably have already seen via their recent marketing blitz, Microsoft recently released their newest OS, Windows 7, towards the end of October. It comes in a time where Microsoft had more users still running Windows XP than running Windows Vista. Vista suffered from serious performance issues at its launch (as admitted by Microsoft) and many computer manufacturers were penalized significant amounts of money for advertising their products as ‘Vista Ready’ when they did not actually meet the minimum requirements. Microsoft’s attempt to have a huge launch with Vista backfired and is largely the cause for the public’s negative image of the OS.
Luckily, the development team at Microsoft learned their lesson from Vista, and Windows 7 has remedied many of the problems that Vista brought to the table. With lower hardware requirements (meaning it will run faster than Vista), a much broader range of program and hardware compatibility, and a long and thorough testing process, Windows 7’s launch has been incredibly positive. As a participant of the beta testing process for Windows 7, I was able to see the developer feedback as problems and suggestions were brought to the table.
If you’re planning to buy a new home PC or laptop, you can be confident that if it comes with Windows 7, you won’t have anything to worry about. If you’re looking to buy a new PC for work use, you’ll still want to check for program compatibility before committing to Windows 7. Many older applications and many specific work applications may not run on Windows 7 properly, and so testing before you switch is key to ensuring you’re not left with a PC that’s unable to do your work. We’ve seen a few issues with particular applications not functioning in Windows 7, so it is a real issue.
If you’re considering moving to Windows 7 for work use, we can work with you to set up a trial installation of Windows 7 to install your work applications on to ensure compatibility. We also have the ability to upgrade your Windows Vista PC to Windows 7 directly: you get a cheaper copy of Windows 7 for upgrading, and you get to save all of your settings, programs, and documents. We’re also happy to answer any questions you may have about Windows 7 features or what you should look for in a new PC.