October 22 marked the release of yet another microsoft operating system. I managed to get ahold of a free copy of Windows 7 Professional, and I've had a few days now to review it.
You should keep in mind, I don't intend for it to become my main OS. It's set up in a dual-boot configuration on my MacBook (which I love since I got my numpad back). I gave it a small partition (<20 GB) and tried it out.
To my surprise, I like it.
I've been a mac fan for as long as I can remember, but Apple's really going to have a run for their money with Windows 7. The interface is great. On most every windows install I've done since the release of XP, one of the first things I've done is set the start menu back to the 'classic' style, as I've found it more useable. No changes necessary on 7. The start menu contains everything in a tight, clean package. Most impressively, it contains a search box not unlike QuickSilver for mac; one little box, accessible with one keystroke (the super key) puts all my programs within easy reach. Don't get me wrong, it's no quicksilver, but it's 90% of what I use quicksilver for built into the OS in a really streamlined way.
I never would have thought I'd be talking about a microsoft OS like this, but I've got to be honest, they've really impressed. The media center has been great, with netflix support built right in. There's still a lot to prove for this new OS. Third party software that start to use the new system features will likely break some things and reveal imperfections, and I'm running the 32-bit version so there's a lot of potential I'm missing there. Until some software comes out built for it, there's not much to evaluate except the new interface, but it sure has been great so far. I've got to switch to windows for some programs still, but since this upgrade, I'm no longer in a hurry to reboot into OS X once a task is complete, the little company out of Redmond might just be on to something.
