Tag Archives: Windows 7

My Review of Windows 7

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A couple of days ago, I got my hands on a copy of Windows 7 Professional through MSDNAA.  Both of my computers were already running on the release candidate and have now been updated to the final build, both with fresh installs.

First, some background info:  It should be said that I’m not exactly a huge fan of Microsoft. I switched from Windows to Linux almost exclusively starting in 2004.  Since then, I have used Linux as my day-to-day operating system, and have only used Windows when I had to, usually by way of virtualization.  When I bought my new laptop in 2008, my desktop returned to Windows as it was now the weaker of the two systems and was rarely used, except for some light gaming.  Then, at the beginning of this last semester, I bought a USB Tablet in order to start taking all my notes digitally. Unhappy with the note-taking apps available on Linux, I installed the Windows 7 RC onto my laptop in order to use Evernote and PDF Annotator.  As a result of this, I’m looking at this operating system from the perspective of a Linux user that hasn’t used Windows on a regular basis since XP.

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Windows 7 Update

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Just a short update on Windows 7. It turns out that media sharing with Media Center actually works pretty well, with little or no configuration. If you have Media set to be streamable in the Network and Sharing Center, then all you have to do on the other computer is open Media Center, select TV Shows, and move over to “Shared.” After a moment, it should show your networked computers and allow you to watch their recorded shows. However, it does not allow you to watch Live TV.

Continued Windows 7 Testing

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So, yesterday, I installed the Windows 7 RC (Again, 64bit) onto my laptop (a Thinkpad T61p).

At first, drivers seemed to be a bit of a problem, as I couldn’t get the generic Nvidia driver to install on my laptop (Most vendors only allow their specific video drivers to be installed for some reason).  However, Windows Update had a working driver for me after a reboot.  The main thing I find myself missing in Windows on my laptop is multiple virtual desktops, which is made possible via http://www.codeplex.com/vdm.  While not as good as a native solution, it does get the job done.

My tablet works very well, once I install the Wacom driver, and I’ve been using Evernote to take notes in class.  Battery life is right at what it was in Ubuntu Jaunty, which isn’t horrible, but still less than I like (of course, I’m the one that bought a desktop replacement), and wireless configuration is much improved over XP (and a little better than Vista).  The new wifi interface is similar to NetworkManager’s UI, and native WPA support in Windows is certainly nice.

As soon as I booted a second copy of Windows on my network, Windows asked to connect to the other install (my desktop) to share files via “Homegroup.” Sadly, one sharing feature that I wanted was in Media Center, as I’d like to be able to play back MCE recordings over the network to my laptop.  While I was able to get this working, it didn’t allow access to my tuners from my laptop.

Another big thing in Windows 7 is the new RDP.  With RDP 7, Aero is possible over a decent connection.  It funs flawlessly when I’m on the same network as my computer, and only lags a little bit when connecting from school using a VPN.  However, as I understand it, all the rendering is being done client-side, so it’s not streaming video from the server or anything.

So far, the more I use W7, the more I like it, which for a Microsoft product is very odd.