I’ve observed a curious phenomenon on the web. From tech blogs to social networks, people seem to be willing to give Windows 7 a chance. This from the crowd that has, in the past few years, called out Microsoft every chance they got. From the days of the Netscape trials to the recent filleting Vista received, chopped and diced in so many blog reviews that still linger today in the collective geek consciousness, one wonders why anyone would want to give Microsoft another chance with their desktop.
When it comes down to it, geeks still want Windows. Some converted to Macs, some converted to Linux, but for the most part Macintosh is too expensive and limiting and Linux was just too hardcore, needing a real intimate familiarity with configuration files just to upgrade a video driver. They want what they know, but they want it better. Some have begrudgingly accepted Vista onto their desktop, claiming it’s just “not that bad”, while others cling to Windows XP like it’s the last stop before the abyss of blue screens and misbehaving applications.
What we’ve seen of Windows 7 is exactly what we wanted to see, proof that it addresses the criticisms of the recent past. The OS installs faster, loads faster, comes back from standby on your laptop faster, and will run with less resources, like a demonstration where it ran on a netbook with a simple processor. The bloatware from built-in applications is gone, although calling these programs bloatware was debatable, and things that gave the appearance of annoyance, like the multiplying icons in the System Tray, have been paired down to necessity only. In fact, they have made the Taskbar so simple looking, it’s almost Apple sleek. It’s proof that the geek community still has a voice with the software empire.
But what about the calls to have Microsoft completely rebuild Windows from the ground up and all the opinions that the basis on which Windows was based was too broken to fix? The common wisdom was Microsoft needed a reboot similar to the Mac OS when they debuted X, something that broke legacy apps and built something modern. MinWin was often sighted as a possible replacement, a version of Windows that was so small as to be trivial to run on basic hardware. The components you wanted would attach and run what you need, not that much unlike Linux and Unix.
None of those opinions became this new operating system. Windows 7 is really Windows Vista tweaked. Windows 7 is the same basic kernel and does the same basic things. Like the Six Million Dollar Man they’ve made it better, faster, stronger. Why stick with the old code that turned so many off? Simple, it actually worked, just not as well as it could. The biggest problems, UAC security and incompatible drivers, have mostly been addressed. Programmers now know they will encounter the security features of UAC and, therefore, write better programs with better security standards. The driver issue, so prevalent when Vista launched, is now a distant memory. All new hardware has a Vista driver and older peripherals are either no-longer in use or had a proper driver written for them.
Windows can only be Windows, with it’s decade of compatibility with hundreds of thousands of programs and required GUI. It can’t break with the past and most of us would have a problem with that in one way or another. It can’t be Mac, because the choices in hardware and software afforded us by the former WINTEL alliance has built the PC generation and we would still have to run Boot Camp to get what we needed. Linux, with all its goodwill and improvements is still a text-based operating system at its core and most people, even geeks, can’t get their arms around that kind of required fuss on their desktops. We want Windows to be Windows, but we want them to do it right.
Geek blogs are singing the praises of recent trade show demonstrations of Windows 7, even if they can’t figure out the reason for the name. Early adopters are installing the beta and trying to get their hands on it by any means necessary, back channels and all. The posts we’ve seen from the formerly grumpy blogosphere about Windows 7 have been so positive. In fact, the glowing requires sun glasses. It seems like they’ve finally gotten it right after two years of bad blood with their users. Make it a good one Microsoft, it may be your last chance to impress us all.
- Eric Beehler (consortioservices.com/blog)