I’ve been playing with the Windows 7 release since a few days after it was released to the public. So far, it’s living up to the hype. Here’s a brief comparison between XP, Vista, and 7 (in my opinion):
| Windows XP | Windows Vista | Windows 7 | |
| Bootup time | Good 4/5 | Varies with the position of the moon 2/5 | Good 4/5 |
| Appearance | Good, but got old quickly 3/5 | Amazing 4/5 | Incredible 5/5 |
| System requirements | It runs on my dad’s computer unmodified 5/5 | Brings the most advanced technology in the galaxy to its knees 2/5 | Somewhere between XP and Vista 4/5 |
| Performance | Speedy with a decent system 3/5 | Speedy with top-of-the-line system, liquid nitrogen cooling, and live human sacrifice 1/5 | Does this thing read my mind or something? 4/5 |
| Ease of use | Confusing transition from 98, but easy to navigate after a month or so 4/5 | Confusing transition from XP, but easy to navigate after years of therapy 2/5 | Confusing transition from XP, slight behavioral modification needed with transition from Vista 3/5 |
| Reliability | First version of Windows I used that could run for more than a couple hours at a time (actually had it up to three solid weeks) Frequent blue screens and freezes upon trying something new 3/5 | Less blue screens than XP. More random crashes of individual apps. 3/5 | Have not had a single blue screen. OS has not frozen. Individual apps crash less often 4/5 |
| Backwards Compatability | Broke some pre-XP programs. I only had one game that no longer worked in XP. Many of my Windows 98 DirectX games ran better in XP 4/5 | Most of my Windows 9x games no longer run. Some XP apps do not work. 64-bit edition no longer has any legacy 16-bit support 1/5 | About the same as Vista, slightly better 2/5 |
| Overall | 4/5 | 2/5 | 4/5 |
I heard that Microsoft also reworked the way the graphics are handled. The experience index ratings show the effects of that. Here’s a comparison on my laptop, before and after:
| Vista (64-bit) | 7 RC1 (64-bit) | |
| Processor | 4.8 | 4.9 |
| RAM | 5.9 | 5.9 |
| Graphics (Aero) | 4.1 | 4.1 |
| Graphics (Gaming) | 3.6 | 5.1 |
| Primary HDD | 5.3 | 5.3 |
Everything’s pretty much the same… except look at the Gaming Graphics score. Before, 3.6. Now, 5.1. Five point freaking one! The Gaming Graphics score is no longer the one dragging down the curve. Now it’s my Aero Graphics. My base score has shot from 3.6 to 4.1! I fail to see any improvement in the Half-Life 2: Lost Coast Video Stress Test benchmark, however.
Even in the places where performance hasn’t improved statistically, it feels snappier, which some attribute to the reworked graphics “sharing”.
So, In all, I like Windows 7 about as much as I liked XP in its heyday. Of course, Windows 7 is better. Also, somehow, Microsoft figured out something that’s going to win over a lot of people. Windows 98 had a colorful bootup screen with animation. Windows XP had a simpler boot screen with with just the logo and a scrolling bar animation. Vista had an incredibly boring boot screen, with just the scrolling bar and copyright text. Yet, 7 has the most impressive boot screen I’ve ever seen on ANY operating system, and yet it boots slightly faster than Vista’s lackluster splash. Seriously, if you haven’t seen it, hit play below.
I am looking forward to Windows 7’s release. It may be the first version I actually want to upgrade to since XP (rather than just stick with the old version until I have to buy a new computer preloaded with the newer version).
