I took the bait and installed Microsoft's new OS Windows 7 Ultimate, 64bit version. The download direct from Microsoft was 3+GB. The installation was painless, but required that I partition my main hard drive for the new OS. Using Paragon's Partition Manager was a mistake. For some reason it took 7 hours for Paragon to cut 50GB off of a 320GB hard drive. I've used other partition utilities before, and they only required a fraction of that time to perform the same task.

Now what.

First thing that I looked for in Windows 7 was if Microsoft corrected the huge mistakes they made in the programming of Vista's Explorer. That includes Explorers folder amnesia and file transfer hiccups. To my surprise the mangles in Explorer were all but gone. There are quite a few additions to Vista's replacement OS. I haven't had the chance to investigate all of them, but two standard tools that I usually replace with third party software have gotten needed overhauls. One being the calculator and the other is Windows Paint. Also, the addition of an expandable Sticky Notes to the desktop without
using the gadget bar as an anchor is certainly going to be a user pleaser for sure.

Microsoft didn't waste all their efforts on eye candy this time around, which doesn't mean there aren't any, but it seems that the main goal was to deliver an OS that one can really use without all the aggravations that Vista caused.

That is good news (about Windows 7 that is, not Paragon).

Microsoft is counting on consumers purchasing loads of memory, memory being as cheap as it is. The sidebar is gone, instead the whole desktop is basically the side bar. The gadgets can be placed anywhere. This has some advantages, such as the Sticky Note pages can be expanded to any size you want. I've posted some pics of software that Microsoft has upgraded.

Calculator...added are unit conversions and a ticker tape, along with expanded advanced calculations.


Paint...some extra features added, along with a new interface that resembles the Office 2007 toolbar.


WordPad...same as above, some new features included with the Office 2007 toolbar.


Math Input Panel...I have no idea what this is.

Windows 95 rocked, 98 was incredible, ME was decent, XP was SUPER-D-DUPER and Vista was by far the most stable and user friendly EVER....at least in my opinion.

To me, every version has been thousands of times better than the one before, and their worst attempt at an OS was better than anything that fruit company ever did.

With that said, I am DYING to get '7'. I plan to get a new laptop this summer with a 64 bit, quad core processor and WINDOWS 7. Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it......

I started with Windows 3.0 and have used every OS they've sold since then. The worst one was and is Windows ME. The instability in that OS is notorious. When ME hit the stores most users I know hung onto 98SE or moved on to Windows 2000.

The only real problems I have with Vista was the original compatibility issues and the sheer size of the program. Unless you have 2 or more gigs of RAM, you've still got a super slow machine due to Windows itself eating all your resources.

I will never put that crap called Vista on my PC, I like XP Ive heard good things about Windows 7 but My rule is wait a year after release so the bugs can get worked out

I never put Vista on my machines. When I bought new machines, Vista was already installed. With the home computer, I bought it early enough that there were many bugs that had to be fixed to make it run right. But, with the laptops, both were pretty well ready to go right out of the box.

But, you are right about a Windows product. Wait a year before buying so that all the kinks will be worked out of them. They are known for releasing product before it's ready.

I always wait out a poor OS if I can. XP is still going strong for me. It seems like MS has this thing about alternating a good release with a poor one.

I've got vista 64 bit on my PC at home (which is about a year old) and have never had a problem with it, but like everyone else has said, if it came to a new OS I would wait at least a year before even considering buying it.

Fundy