First of all we have to accept that almost everything has to be better than Vista – if only from a market positioning point of view. Vista’s early promise of power, pictures and performance, quickly gave way to disappointment as each new feature and capability was dropped or bended to fit the final release. I am not even sure SP1 really gave us anything to be excited about – maybe less broken.
Still one of the biggest part was how the target for the Vista Capable spec was moved around, possibly to make Intel happy - press here for more. From am memory, processor and graphics view – users got under-configured and underpowered machines. Not a great way to start.
Apple has made the frustrations we all feel worse. Whether you think OS X looks or feels better may be a matter of personal opinion and learning. The fact that I can plug a printer in and print something is a matter of fact. When I got my new Vista machine from work, the same could not be said. Searching for drivers, downloading drivers, configuring networks – all bread and butter steps to the PC user – are unreal and unneeded to the Apple user.
Worse still for Microsoft has been the complete lack of understanding of how we use PCs at home and the difference of using them at work.
For years, we all said that we wanted to use the same applications at home that we used at work. Today we don’t. I don’t edit video, manage my pictures or listen to MP3s at work. Why do I need the same applications? Word, PowerPoint, Excel et al are great – but I don’t use them at home and if I do – OpenOffice allows for the same amount of function. Apple noticed this and iLife is just the best way to go.
Interestingly, I don’t know a lot of iWork users – they just go with Office on Mac. Sort of makes the application point. If like me, you have more than one machine, then you pick the application and OS for the need. I work on Windows but I still edit video on my Mac. I am trying to learn Adobe Premier again but I love Final Cut Pro HD.
One advantage Windows and PCs have is the sheer number and size of the market. Given I have been editing HD video for three years, I finally wanted to cut it into a disk of some-sort and play on our big-HD telly. The solution that seemed best was Blu-ray. I know I could be all digital but I like some hardcopy too. Apple has decided to make Blu-ray a no-no (outside of Compressor) so my Blu-ray writer is attached to my rather splendid Phenom based AMD PC. Phenom II chips to be added soon I hope. Ubiquity is a great thing – something Microsoft has got to make work for them.
So Windows 7 is going to fix all of Microsoft’s problems – well the system is actually working it anyway. I think the applications are an afterthought. To that end Windows 7 will boot up more quickly – because someone at Microsoft has decided that’s the problem – the boot up time. Having installed W7 beta on my Mac – using Sun’s VM technology (nice job boys) – I can assure you of this – it boots up more quickly.
Well, is Windows 7 really Vista with a ‘comb-over’? Yes and no.Not so many annoying bubbles, my applications are currently working but I am not yet brave enough to try and print something. Windows 7 networking will meet my LAN sometime – but let’s not push things. The theory that that’s all going to work is for another day.
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