Ah, Vista, so much to say, so little time. Hardware hog, unstable, compatibility issues, everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. But hey, it looks pretty.

One service pack and a few months later, Microsoft announces the rumored new operating system that promises so much: Windows Vienna, now officially dubbed ‘Windows 7.’ The new OS had a press release of a pre-beta (No clue why they didn’t just call it an Alpha version) at the beginning of the month.

So naturally I had to get my hands on a copy.There is no way this is a pre-beta. The entire install process on my desktop took 15 minutes as opposed to the two-hour long XP and Vista installs.

No hardware issues, no compatibility issues. Upon loading the OS, there were no hangs, no stalls, none of the shuddering that usually comes with the beta experience.

Right off the bat, all the drivers for all the hardware in my custom computer were installed. Sound card, video card, USB drivers – everything.

The first thing to notice is that it looks like Windows Vista, except for the taskbar, which is where I’ll start.

The new taskbar has more of a Mac dock feel to it. Programs can be ‘pinned’ to the bar permanently to avoid browsing for them in the start menu. All windows and tabs within programs that are opened and/or pinned to the taskbar are grouped together in a very fancy ‘glassy’ looking way.

The live preview feature from Vista that works by moving the mouse over an open window on the taskbar has even been amped up a bit. When Internet browsers have multiple tabs open, the preview displays all the tabs open as well as giving the user the opportunity to close any of the tabs via the preview. The same goes with multiple windows within the same program.

It’s also good to note that users have basic program controls right on the taskbar other than close, minimize and maximize. The system tray (where your clock is) is also customizable. Users can choose what is displayed in it and what notifications show up. Pretty nifty.

Now here come the fun parts.

If you’re a power user, you tend to have tons of windows open at one time. The desktop can get fairly cluttered. Microsoft even says that, on average, a user has between 7 and 10 windows open at a time. Windows 7 now takes this idea of hot keys into a new visual usability standpoint.

Enter the shake and hide feature.

Grab whichever window you want to remain open with the mouse, shake it around, and presto! All the other windows get minimized. If all you need is a quick look at one of the windows in the back, there is also rumored to be a feature in later releases that lets you peak at windows by simply mousing over the window desired, turning all other windows into glassy outlines and allowing you to see through them.

So some of you are probably wondering why Microsoft doesn’t just add these features as another service pack to Vista. Well, for one that’s too predictable; they have to keep us on the edge of our seats. Secondly, most of the work being done is ‘under the hood,’ so to speak. For example, the entire install file for Windows Vista Ultimate is close to 7GB in size, while the Windows 7 install as of now is only 2GB and supposedly will get smaller.

It’s designed to run on some of the lowest-end computers at extraordinary speeds while saving large amounts of energy (that means less money, people). At the press conference, the OS was demoed on tiny netbook laptop computers called EEE PC’s, which tote 1GHZ processors and very little system memory. Apparently they ran it flawlessly, according to reporters who attended the conference.

Who knows, it might be that Microsoft needs to release an ME (Vista) before an XP (Windows 7). Or maybe they just throw their technicians into a vat full of poisonous snakes and whichever one survives gets to make the next OS. Either way, so far so good.

Matthew Bellezza is a senior information technology major who plays way too many video games. He can be reached at mlbellez@syr.edu.

Published on November 17, 2008 at 12:00 pm