Aside from photography, one of my other major passions is geeking around with computers. I haven't let that out much on this blog - Actually I guess it's fair to say I haven't let much of anything out about myself on this blog - but I plan to change that. I've turned over a new updating leaf, so hopefully you'll get more of a glimpse into me and the guy behind the photos as I continue to post. Ok, on with what I was originally posting about...I've been running Windows 7 beta for about 5 months now, and it's been pretty cool, haven't gotten too serious with it. Yesterday I downloaded the RC (Release Candidate) version and installed it this morning to see what changes had been made.
On my primary hard drive, I'm running Vista 64. It's been pretty cool, and I've defended it against the anti-switch-from-XP people who just can't seem to realize that Windows XP is a dying breed - not because it isn't a good OS, because it is, but because change is coming, and I've found that it is coming in a big way. The new Windows 7 is turning out to far exceed my expecations, both as a geek, and as a consumer who wants an effective, convenient, uncluttered, yet attractive interface to work in.
I'll tell you now, Microsoft has achieved something with Windows 7 RC. I thought the beta version was cool, but like I said, I didn't get too into it because it felt like more of a toy than anything to get serious with, but from the outset, the RC version started off impressive. With previous installs of windows, I've planned in about half my day post-install to dedicate to locating and installing drivers for all my devices. Windows 7 installed all of them before I was even asked for any user input other than my time zone. And you know, I figured it shouldn't have too much trouble with most of my hardware - it's all pretty run-of-the-mill stuff - all except for my wireless adaptor, which is pretty obscure, and all previous versions of windows, especially Vista, have had lots of issues with it, even when I did install the correct driver. Not 7 though. Not only did it install automatically, but also came up with dear Pauletta's (the lady next door whose internet I like to "borrow") wireless connection and asked me if I wanted to connect. Never before have I been connected before windows started up. Yeah, it was refreshing.
So, if any of you are considering the change, I highly recommend it. Microsoft has it for free for almost a whole year. It will be good until June of next year, but bi-hourly restarts will start on March 1, 2010. Pretty good pay-back for making us endure Vista, eh?
On my primary hard drive, I'm running Vista 64. It's been pretty cool, and I've defended it against the anti-switch-from-XP people who just can't seem to realize that Windows XP is a dying breed - not because it isn't a good OS, because it is, but because change is coming, and I've found that it is coming in a big way. The new Windows 7 is turning out to far exceed my expecations, both as a geek, and as a consumer who wants an effective, convenient, uncluttered, yet attractive interface to work in.
I'll tell you now, Microsoft has achieved something with Windows 7 RC. I thought the beta version was cool, but like I said, I didn't get too into it because it felt like more of a toy than anything to get serious with, but from the outset, the RC version started off impressive. With previous installs of windows, I've planned in about half my day post-install to dedicate to locating and installing drivers for all my devices. Windows 7 installed all of them before I was even asked for any user input other than my time zone. And you know, I figured it shouldn't have too much trouble with most of my hardware - it's all pretty run-of-the-mill stuff - all except for my wireless adaptor, which is pretty obscure, and all previous versions of windows, especially Vista, have had lots of issues with it, even when I did install the correct driver. Not 7 though. Not only did it install automatically, but also came up with dear Pauletta's (the lady next door whose internet I like to "borrow") wireless connection and asked me if I wanted to connect. Never before have I been connected before windows started up. Yeah, it was refreshing.
So, if any of you are considering the change, I highly recommend it. Microsoft has it for free for almost a whole year. It will be good until June of next year, but bi-hourly restarts will start on March 1, 2010. Pretty good pay-back for making us endure Vista, eh?
For a full review on the RC and its new features, check out this video.
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