Big Dan's Corner

I got my greasy little paws on a copy of Windows 7, installed it on my laptop and writing this blog post with it. I have lots to say but I’m going to try and be consise to I can fit a lot in without boring the crap out of you. Before someone asks how I got a copy, yes I pulled it off a torrent and no I don’t feel bad about it because I will be buying two copies when Windows 7 is released provided it’s as nice as it is now.

First off the install process was amazingly streamlined and a heck of a lot faster than both XP and Vista. It can be left unattended as one you start the install process no questions are asked until the system is completely installed and you are ready to enter your user name.

Once installed you’re asked to choose a username and password which is quick and easy. One thing I do notice is a password hint is required. After choosing a username and password my laptop showed me a list of wireless networks available to me and asked me to choose which I wanted to be my default, that’s a nice touch and makes since. After that it asked me to setup something called a “Home Group” which I skipped but it looks like a way to share files and folders with other computers on your network more easily.

What struck me at first was how fast I went from creating my user account to a usable desktop with Vista it took even my powerful desktop more than 2 minutes on first log on. Windows 7 is much much faster than Vista, it feels a lot more polished and smooth. I’m hoping it stays this way when it’s RTM’d (released to manufacturing). I hope a whole bunch of fluff is not added to gum down the system. The second thing I noticed is the side bar is completely gone. You still have gadgets but they float on the desktop as opposed to taking up valuable screen real estate. The weather gadget is very nice and even expands nicely with a forecast.

Windows 7 Weather Small

Windows 7 Weather Big

After installing Win 7 I installed a host of programs I normally install. Firefox, Opera, Chrome, Safari, Putty, WinScp, Filezilla, Open Office, Abiword, Songbird, Winamp, Adobe Reader, cCleaner, Yahoo Messenger, Pidgin and the Gimp and a few others which I forgot about.  Almost everything just works, even Avast Antivirus works out of the box.  I just found out that Chrome won’t connect to the internet, it loads fine but cannot find any websites.

Most window’s programs interfaces have been over hauled, not completely overhauled but more-a-less polished. Here are some screen shots for you:

Windows built in apps also got a make over: Wordpad and Paint both got the new ribbon interface like is in Office 2007. I like it but Paint still doesn’t do anything all that useful. It would be nice if it could resize an entire image! Wordpad still doesn’t have spell check, I guess they want you spend a couple hundred on Office for spell check.

Windows 7 WordpadWindows 7 Paint

Other than that the Wireless network popup from the task bar is a lot nice, you can actually connect to networks from it rather than having to open another window as you current have to in Vista.

Windows 7 Wireless Networks

Next up Window’s now has themes ala XP. In Vista there were no themes just individual elements that could be changed via Right Clicking on the desktop and hitting personalize. It looks like Windows 7 will have packaged themes that change the desktop background, Aero color, and points with just 1 click.

Windows 7 Appearence Preferences

I’ve saved the best for last: UAC preferences! Finally the uber annoying UAC isn’t just an on or off setting you can tweak the level and therefore number of User Account Control in Vista.

Windows 7 User Account Control

What are you hoping to see in Windows 7? I’m hoping Paint gets some new features and maybe even spell check in Wordpad. Other than that Win 7 looks on point thus far.