i dont know what all you lot have been doing to your windows 7 installs but i only run mine on a 1.8GHz duel core processor with 2GB of ram and i have actully NEVER had a problem with it!

please remember that windows havent actully reliced this operation system yet so therefore this argument is completely pointless untill it is reliced and even then its still pointless because MAC and Windows are two different things!

Maybe it’s a little payback for all the Mac fanboys who love to spam just about very PC blog and forum!!

To be honest, this “article” shows the typical ignorance of the fanboy community. You make the comment that Vista and Windows 7 show average performance on your Macbook – it’s well proven that EITHER OS runs better on a PC/Notebook than on Apple’s much more expensive hardware… anyone just a little curious about that. Have you stopped to think that really isn’t in Apple best interest to allow MS platforms to out perform OS X on Apple’s very own hardware (even though it’s been proven that the patched version of OS X (look around for info on OS x86).

Now to be honest I’m a little tired of hearing complaints about Vista’s heavy performance. You forget that Vista saw the introduction of a number of key OS inovations, including being the first OS to hand host of the GUI handling over GPU hardware and the introduction of ReadyBoost. In many ways it became first-gen software product… and first-gen software is NEVER perfect! On top of that, pressure to back-peddle many of its ideas so as not the offend many poor darlings not wanting to have to upgrade their software from XP (a consideration Apple never gives I might add) and delays from the rabid EU, and you get my point.

Windows 7 sees MS take many of the ideas initiated in Vista and produce a far more refined and user-centric product. New Libraries and Live Preview functionality, as well as a massive performance upgrade (the x64 version outperforms XP x64!!) is an absolute treat to use, even using non-specific hardware drivers. Even on my notebook, I had wireless connectivity and Bluetooth out ot the box… almost unheard of run a non-OEM platform on a laptop/notebook. Even SUSE couldn’t do that! I absolutely can’t wait to use the final product with all upgraded hardware support.

@Michael “Part of me wants to see Windows 7 succeed because Windows is lagging behind Linux and Mac quite a bit at this point…”

It’s been a while since I’ve dabbled with *Nix, but I honestly can’t fathom your comparison with Macs. You put a PC and a Mac – both with equivelent hardware – and almost all applications will see the PC completely outpace the Mac – and with very good reason. Mac’s hard-coded prevention of more than 90% system resource usage, combined with lack of common or core file-sharing, equatates to lower performance specs – I use alot of 2D and 3D imaging software as a high-school Digital Arts teacher in a school which utilises both Mac and PC systems, so I regularly get to make the comparison.

Tom. You make references to MS still being held back by the “the weight of issues and security concerns rooted in decisions made a decade ago.” Apple has STILL failed to address two of the BIGGEST OS-security flaws of ANY OS, both relating to the way it handles system and app updates.

1 – By requiring a root-password to install critical updates, Apple has effectively insured many Mac-based network are seriously running under-secure, as many network opperators simply don’t have the time to roll out the updates in the more cumbersome manner Apple has dictated.

2 – unlike on an MS OS, Apple provides NO UPDATE VERIFICATION OR INFORMAION for the general user… it’s a take-it-all-or leave-it approach, which leaves OS X and its users EXTREMELY vtulnerable. How difficult do you really think it would be for the smart little hacker to trigger an update-event, causing OS X to download and install prettmuch anything he chose? The Mac user, having had no way to verify the update, and oblivious to danger the way most Mac users are, would be left with NO way to protect himself. And you say MS has been out of touch?

* Did they address that whole sluggish performance thing? ABSOLUTELY
* Did they address that whole confusing number of editions thing? Admitidly NO… I still believe 3 would be the golden number Home, Business (with an Enteprise licencing option) and Ultimate.
* Did they address that whole XP compatibility thing? Not really?? Linux rarely caters for “legacy” software. Apple CERTAINLY has NO issue with breaking eveyone’s software on a regular basis!!

XP is now nine years old. All the back-peddling involved with Vista to cater for out-moded software was its biggest bane. By introducing a virtual XP environment, they have both freed up their architecture development to allow Windows 7 to be all that it can be, as well as proving one last chance for IT support and software developers to get their arses into gear… all to generous if you ask me. If the IT staff are reluctant to upgrade their software, or look for a better alternative after all this time, they deserve to be fired and replaced. If the software developer can’t develop their software to move beyond XP, then they deserve nothing more than to be run out of the market – PERIOD!!

The MS tyrancy of the past seems to have been completely outshine by the Apple Corp arrogance, with their take-it-as-it-comes approach to OS X. By deliberately locking away any option of tweaking system performance; breaking ANY software that has any success in changing the sterile GUI; by handing gimped versions of its own bundled software, forcing the user to shell out even more to make it even half decent (and then asking for yet more when they release a new version!!), rather than bundling and supporting ALL OS bundled applications for free as they bloody well aught; their por track record of patching OS vulnerabilities (the worst of ANY OS developer); by locking down their hardware in a way that PREVENTS both competition (which would reduce the rediculous asking price for a Mac) and hampers any real inovation – Apple has taken the old MS throne and gold plated it!!

Now yes, Vista had its flaws – doesn’t every OS?? As I’ve stated, Vista’s biggest issue was over-catering for antiquated software applications. It hampered over-all performance and was the cause for many of the original ideas being pulled out. Now that that error has been done away with, Windows can really show what it’s mde of :)

I’ve used primarily Linux for a while now, but I still use Mac quite a bit at school and exclusively XP at work. I find it silly that people so often get into fights over this sort of thing, as each is usable in its own way. Part of me wants to see Windows 7 succeed because Windows is lagging behind Linux and Mac quite a bit at this point, but I still have to use it. Another part of me wants to see W7 fail because a more even spread of market share in the OS world would definitely be good things.

Either way, I see no reason to fight, and I really thought this article was relatively balanced and insightful. I too am shocked by all of the negative feedback.

It wasn’t a Windows 7 review, though some read it that way (I agree that as a review it would suck). I didn’t say Windows 7 was bad, nor did I say I hated it (quite the opposite, I said it was fine). It wasn’t a Mac vs. Windows comparison (the single Mac reference was parenthetical in mentioning Vista/7’s improved features). Instead, I compared 7 to Vista and XP, both of which it exceeds.

I started on Windows with 2.x, use it exclusively at work (no Macs), and am familiar with releases (including server) since then. Until 18 months ago I’d had at least one PC at home since ’92, and even now have two “PCs” via VMware on my Macs, each of which run XP Pro and Windows 7. My point is I know Windows quite well, thanks, and am capable of forming a valid opinion about where Windows 7 falls on the release scale. It’s a decent OS, but being decent against a backdrop of Vista and an outdated XP isn’t particularly impressive or special. That’s the reality check.

You don’t have to agree, but, wow…

If thewindowsblog.com posted “hay i used an apple the other day and it sucked lols” i’d mock them for being stupid too.

I just don’t see the point ….

Please, we really believe you, no need to feel insecure about your preferred OS … LOL

OS X is itself nearly 10 years old, which actually makes windows XP newer, and yet there are people who have a closed mind and are unwilling to acknowledge the truth that Apple’s products are not the only “latest and greatest” thing out there.

I work in an independant arts centre, which at the moment uses nothing but macs running panther. I was given the chance to present a summary of Windows 7 RC to the company director running commonly used applications here, and after just 5 minutes i already have the funding in place to replace all of our hardware with custom built PCs with win7 as soon as it is released.

Windows 7 is extremely responsive, fast to boot (my laptop is booting 7 RC faster than a brand new MBP we have here) and is running photoshop at insane speeds.

Some of you die-hard mac people need to reliase that OS X cannot be on top for ever, and at some point you will have no doubt in your minds that both Windows and Linux have far surpassed it. That time may not be now for some of you, but i gurantee that it will arrive, and soon. Windows 7 is a vast improvement over Vista and even more so over XP. Usability, performance, security, and hardware support are second to none. I have used Mac’s for years, since the Mac 2 exclusively, and after a a long time decided to experiemtn with wondows again. So i purchased this modest laptop.

MY experiences with Win 7 so far after 4 months and several builds:

No crashes whatsoever
No virus invections (using antivir free)
No spyware (using windows defender)
Performance stays constant with use

And once you alter the pagefile size to something more sensible and turn off hibernation if you dont use it, the entire footprint of the OS and all my apps is only 8.41Gb.

That is totally dofferent compared to my mac experience, which has some lovely features:

endless beachball on IMAP mail collection
timeouts on FTP transfers
crappy iTunes
random applications “poof’s”

just my 2c

Just my 2¢.