A Mac User's Windows 7 Review: Part 1
Yes, I am writing this article using Windows 7. But, before I get into part 1 of my review, I just wanted to state a few facts. My testing is taking place using Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit, which is installed via VMWare Fusion 3.0 on my Macbook Pro. While I realize this may not be the best possible testing environment, I really did not want to install something permanently on my Desktop machine without even taking it for a test drive. To be blunt, this test is more about usability and interface than performance. However, given the stats of the testing machine, I still do expect it to perform decently and I do expect it to be stable.
Hardware - Macbook Pro, Core 2 Duo, 2.4Ghz, 250GB HDD, GForce 8600GT
Operating System - Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
Virtual Machine - VMWare Fusion 3.0, 2GB RAM, 2 CPUs assigned, Network Bridge.
Host Operating System - Mac OS Snow Leopard 10.6
Installation Experience
First off, I have nothing but great things to say about the installation experience, especially given that this was done on a virtual machine, which can sometimes have problems. I created a new VM, choose my ISO, and let the install go. It went extremely quick - probably around 30 minutes or so - even while I was working on my machine doing some web development work. No problems, no errors, just a fully functioning Windows 7 OS when it was all said and done.
VMWare Fusion 3.0 Virtual Machine Library
Start Menu
I am simply not a fan of the start menu at all. I personally think Microsoft is still far from catching Apple in this regard. While I understand that you technically need to give users a place to start, I find it to be extremely cluttered. The "all programs" menu (which is usually people's primary focus while work) feels buried and simply outdated. It would have been nice to see Microsoft incorporate the search feature better as Spotlight does. Maybe I am just too "Mac" now, but there hasn't been any innovation in the start menu since it was released as part of Windows 95.
Windows 7 Start Menu
Task Bar
One of the first things you will notice after the system is up and running is that the task bar has been redone. The familiar wide rectangles representing running applications have been replaced with single icons (more more Mac dock like). The system tray on the right side seems much less obtrusive than in previous versions of windows. One feature that was added here is called the action center. This system was put in place to show system messages through a single outlet.
Another feature brought over from Vista is the ability to hover over one of the icons on the start menu to be able to get a preview of the window. One change I did notice is that it actually iconifies both tabs from Internet Explorer 8 - pretty cool! Alternate clicking on an icon gives you some context sensitive information. As an example, alternate clicking on Internet Explorer gives some pretty handy options, including links to frequent websites and some common tasks like opening up a tab.
Alternate click on IE 8 via the task bar displays browser tabs
Finally, there is a single, non-descript button on the very right of the start menu (to the right of the date and time). When clicked, the button hides all of the windows and shows the desktop. When moused over, it displays an outline of each open window. They call this feature "aero peek". I don't see much of a use for it, and its certainly no expose.
Desktop and Themes
I actually like the look and feel of Windows 7 (please note that I did have to turn Aero on, as it wasn't on by default). The operating feels much more consistent than Vista did, and its obviously much more modern than XP. I did install a few gadgets, and I think these are much nicer looking than any other attempts that Microsoft has made in the past. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't give up my Mac OS Dashboard for anything, but this is a move in the right direction from Microsoft.
The themes are very nicely done. One of the bigger jokes I have seen is that the wallpapers are the best part of Windows 7. I will agree that the off the shelf themes are nice, clean, and aren't annoying like many of the other themes Microsoft has shipped in the past. The Aero windows and the glass feel is very nice. Even on a virtual machine, the 3D effects are smooth and classy. While I think that simple can be better, there is much more consistency in Windows 7 than other Windows versions of the past.
Windows 7 Desktop
Two of the new features of Windows 7 are called "shake" and "snap". Shake allows you to grab a window's title bar, and shake it side to side to hide all other windows. I can't say that I found this useful in the least bit, and I did find the feature to work kind of cloogy. However, its possible that this is an effect of my Virtual Machine, so I won't be rude and whine about it. Snap is much more useful. It allows a window to be dragged to any side of the screen. Depending on which side it was dragged to, the window will be automatically resized and displayed. This is definitely a very nice feature - props to Microsoft.
Windows Explorer and Control Panel
Explorer is definitely similar to Vista, but to me it feels even more like Finder. The layout of the left side of the Window feels very "Finder like" to me. Overall, I think Explorer does a good job of letting you work with files and applications. I have never been a huge fan of Finder, but it would have been nice to see some more innovation out of Microsoft on this. One thing I am happy to see is that Microsoft simplified the folder structure a little bit, especially as it relates to the Users.
Windows 7 Explorer and Mac OS Finder
I personally find the control panel to be absolutely terrible. It looks and feels like a poorly designed website, and its supposed to be the control center of my entire computer. I find the links that they suggest to be very obtuse, and I don't like how they have them all split up. Maybe I am spoiled by Mac OS System Preference screen, but to me that feels much more logical than the Control Panel.
Applications and Compatibility
It appears that Microsoft has made some small updates to many of the common applications that come with Windows. WordPad had some nice updates, and calculator was even slightly improved. I do find it annoying that you have to download things like Mail, but hey - whatever works for them. Internet Explorer 8 is definitely a decent browser, but it does lack some of the things (*cough* HTML 5 *cough*) found in every other modern browser. Overall, without the download of the extra tools, even the Ultimate Edition feels extremely lacking when you look at Apple Shipping iLife with most new computers.
As far as application compatibility goes - I will focus on that in part 2 of my article. There are very few applications I require which I can only run on Windows, that being said, I really don't want to clutter up my laptop with applications that I will just use the Mac versions of. I will be using some developer tools including Visual Studio and Microsoft SQL Management Studio.
Part 1 Thoughts and Conclusion
The whole purpose of me installing Windows 7 was to make sure it wasn't completely sucky before I installed it on my Windows desktop. I would have to say that despite running it on a virtual machine and the whole system being a week old, it feels quite polished and mature. Many of the things I don't like are simply because I like the Mac way of doing things. What I find beneficial of my personal workflow, others may find cumbersome.
There are some things that I do instantly miss, including Apple's unified spell check. I am writing this article in WordPad, making spelling mistakes left and right. I am unfortunately going to have to paste this back into TextMate just to correct spelling. A feature that simple shouldn't be reserved for $300 office products.
I will be writing part 2 of this article in the next couple of weeks. In the mean time, I will be installing Windows 7 Ultimate to my desktop machine. While I am not planning on removing my Windows XP virtual machine, I don't see myself using it much going forward. Windows 7 is decent, even to a dedicated Mac user - but nothing I would ever consider switching for.
Windows 7's Gross Control Panel
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