An Apple Mac users first look at Microsoft Window 7

Microsoft released a beta of Windows 7 that is getting good reviews so being curious I decided to take a look.

In the past I’ve posted more then a few curt comments and jokes about Microsoft and Windows Vista. My scorn didn’t originate simply from being a Mac OS X user, which provides a baseline for comparison, but was focused on an Operating System (Vista) that was problematic from before its launch with a tiered packaging/pricing model which could make a saint cuss.

The general un-acceptance by Windows users of Vista has over time proven my skepticism was well deserved.

I installed the Windows 7 Beta (Build 7000) on my Apple Mac Pro under VMware Fusion 2.0.1. During the installation process I selected the VMware “Windows Vista” option. My reasoning was if Microsoft wanted to make Windows 7 compatible it needed to be installable on any machine which runs Vista (even a virtual machine).

The installation was without incident and fairly fast. Everything seems to work–nice job Microsoft. Here’s my initial impressions with a little hands on time:

• it has much the same look and feel as Windows Vista, only better somehow. Not sure what makes it better but that’s the impression I got;
• It’s quicker then Windows Vista and perhaps even Windows XP–very usable in a virtual machine;
• I can see direct influence of Mac OS X;
• IMHO it still gives an abundance of idiot messages although not as much as Vista. I wish in the installation process Microsoft would let you define a preferred level of “help” so if you’re an experienced user you could do away with most of the idiot prompts and cute little balloon windows. With its default mode it feel likes the screen background should be yellow and black and the OS package title should be “Microsoft Windows 7 for Dummies”;
• I’ve never been a great fan of Internet Explorer (IE) and IE8 doesn’t change that–at least it displays “Meandering Passage” correctly so I’ll cut it some slack;
• the very first balloon window was about needing to find an Anti-Virus Program. Yea, it’s Windows.

Overall, Windows 7 seems several steps better then Windows Vista and I probably would prefer it over Windows XP for the perceived speed and graphically better user interface. I’m not sure how well Windows 7 runs on a light weight platform (netbook) but it runs well enough in a virtual one.

Bottom line–Much better effort Microsoft but I haven’t see anything that would make me want to give up Mac OS X.