My first impression of Windows 7
"It is cool. I like it!"
This was the response when I asked a friend "Have you tried Windows 7 Beta?" Windows 7 Beta was released quite a while ago and many of us have installed and used it, even on our main machines. We have heard very good reviews about Windows 7 and are excited to work on the embedded version of Windows 7 for embedded devices.
One thing I like the most about Windows 7 is that it is indeed much faster. I had two machines at home and specifically I installed Windows 7 Beta on the low end machine, and installed a previous version of Windows on a more powerful configuration. When I transferred 8 GB of photos on a USB drive to the hard drive, it took only 22 minutes on the Win7 machine compared with 39 minutes on the other machine. This was just an impression as an end user, not a strict performance measurement, but the amount of time saved could be huge on a day to day basis.
One of the most noticeable features in Windows 7 is the taskbar. Windows’s taskbar has been evolving from previous versions and the newest taskbar on Windows 7 is highly customizable and user friendly. It is easy to add additional items on the taskbar by “dragging and dropping” from the Start menu or desktop. It is also possible to use small icons to save space on the screen. If a user likes to keep the taskbar on the left instead of the bottom of the screen, on Window 7, she can set the location property on the “Taskbar and Start Menu Properties” page. Jump menu offers a quick way to get to what is used most recently, most frequently, or other algorithms chosen for an application.
Aero peek can also be useful in a scenario such as this: imagine that a grocery cashier needs to look up the product code for an item, the application offers the ability to search, but that may take a few clicks and some typing. Now with the peek function of the taskbar, she will be able to launch another window with the list of product codes for the most used items, and the code for the grocery item is right there. She can peek at the reference card easily to get the product code and the checkout screen would remain as her main windows without any state change or new popup windows.
There are more nice features, such as the ability to stay more connected with family by using home group network, work from anywhere, and playing various media using Media Center. If you are still unsure what Windows 7 offers you, here is a list of things I would do:
- watch Inside Windows 7 video
- read the Win7 taskbar API blog
- visit the Win7 Site and check out if there are any interesting features to leverage for embedded devices.
Note: The Win7 Beta download is no longer available for general users, because of the huge number of people that have already downloaded it. People who subscribe to MSDN and TechNet continue to have access to the beta or newer Windows 7 bits. Please check out Windows 7 beta availability blog for availability of Windows 7 beta download.
- Harriet