Microsoft Windows 7 is an operating system
for personal and business computers, including both desktops and
laptops. During its development, Windows 7 was code named Blackhorn and
Vienna. An unofficial beta of Windows 7 was leaked to the Internet in
the latter part of December 2008, while Microsoft released the official
beta in January 2009. Windows 7 succeeds the Vista operating system,
and is considered an incremental upgrade to Vista.
Reviews of
the beta versions of Windows 7 have been fairly uniform in assessment.
In a nutshell, Windows 7 is reportedly a faster version of Vista. In a
few cases the benchmarks of this operating system beat Vista and XP®,
scoring higher in areas such as faster boot and shut-down times and
faster access in working with files and documents. In other key areas
including general office activities and video editing, XP remains
faster.
The Vista operating system received wide criticism for
being a slow operating system while consuming a great deal of system
resources with higher minimum hardware requirements than previous
Windows systems. In a word, critics claimed Vista was inefficient. While
Windows 7 has the same minimum requirements as Vista, it does appear to
make better use of them.
Since Windows 7 is an incremental upgrade from Vista, drivers and
programs made for Vista are fully compatible with Windows 7, according
to Microsoft. This should make it easy to switch from Vista to Windows
7, for those who took the Vista plunge. Programs that were designed to
run on Vista will run on Windows 7, so performing a Windows 7 upgrade
should be a painless process, preserving programs and preferences.
While the glassy Aero graphic user interface
(GUI) persists in Windows 7, a few changes have been made as would be
expected. The shut down button is a handy, uncomplicated textual button,
rather than the icons that appeared in Vista, and the Security Center
is called the Action Center in Windows 7. The new Action Center combines
security and maintenance features for easier access to functions like system restore
and backup management. Windows 7 also adds HomeGroups, a feature that
makes it easier to set up a secure home network for sharing files and
resources without putting your computer at risk from outside
interlopers.
A few programs are no longer bundled with Windows 7, but can be
downloaded at the Microsoft site. These include Microsoft Movie Maker,
Photo Gallery, Windows Calendar and Windows Mail. The Windows Sidebar
gadget is also gone from Windows 7, replaced by Desktop Gadgets.
Anyone familiar with Vista will likely find the change to Windows 7
easy to adjust to, and the improved performance a plus. If, however,
Vista cannot run a device or program necessary for your computer
environment, Windows 7 will not likely provide salvation.
