Windows 7 - First Impressions

Well, shit - This is atually pretty good.

This phrase sums up my first impressions of Windows 7, the next edition of windows after the crap-tacular Vista.

The UI was a bit clunky at first and I had some issues with transpareny, but it was due to the fact that the NVIDIA Drivers weren't installed. Speaking of Drivers, I was really impressed when I opened up Windows Update to see that it had already downloaded the driver for my printer. After changing the 'Automatially download all updates and install them' to 'let me choose when to download and install', I was shocked to see that there, in the update list waiting for me was:

• My Graphics driver
• My LAN driver (both of them, I have 2 LAN ports)
• My Screen Diver (Viewsonic VX922)

This is a really nice touch - along the lines of Mac OSX Leopard which will automatically search for printer drivers on the DVD or online when you plug it in.

The new taskbar is the most notable feature since vista - it works quite well, but it's trick to see if a window is open - I suppose it just needs getting used to.

Windows Media Center is a Tv remote-based interface to your media Library - it looks nice, but it doesn't work with my 3 stereo jack 5.1 surround sound - hopefully I can resolve this. I'm also yet to import my Movies/Music from XP so I'll report on that when I've done that.

I can't seem to access my old XP hard-drive from inside 7 - I'm not sure whether this is a security feature or whether my XP Partition has been... damaged. I am yet to test XP again - I'm still drawn to 7.

I tried hard to like Internet Explorer 8 - the web accelerators are a nice touch and it integrates well to the operating system, but it's still not a very good browser. Gmail completely screwed itself, and only worked on compatibility mode - and even then there were some UI issues. I've installed Google Chrome, which is pretty good and looks better with the Aero interface compared to XP.

I'm yet to test out the media functions of Windows 7 - this is something that looks really promising, but I just need to get all my music across to the windows 7 partition and hope that WMP will let me play mp4s. But as for now, I'd recommend giving the beta a whirl, as long as you know what you're doing. If you are unsure about anyhing, make sure you've backed up!

More Soon!

Windows 7 Beta

For those of you unaware, Windows 7, the next version of windows after the catastrophe that was Vista, is now in a public beta. You can find it here, but it is in limited supply, so grab one fast. Also, it didn't work in Firefox for me because it uses a 3rd party Download Manager, powered by ActiveX - an Internet Explorer exclusive security hole. The DLM is actually quite handy and seems to work well - I find it particularly useful seeing as my Internet speed is yet to be upgraded from 256k. I'll post about my Windows 7 experience when its finished and installed.

UPDATE: 13/01/09 9:21 AM

Download has finished, burning to disc now. Unsure as how I am going to manage partitioning - especially seeing as the Default Windows bootloader is not installed because of Ubuntu

UPDATE: 10:35 AM

Partitioning done - 35GB free for 7 to occupy. Very nice animated boot screen for the installer, which runs in a mini-windows environment, much like the Ubuntu live installer. Installer seemed to hang for a bit, but it's going now. I think it might have been my floppy drive - the activity light was steady with no disk in it. Menus are a bit laggy. Have been given no installation options - I hope it doesn't overwrite anything... which reminds me: I haven't backed up. Shit.

UPDATE 10:41 AM

Floppy drive seems to have hung the installer again. Oh wait, its going. Hooray - Custom install lets me choose where to put the installation.

UPDATE: 10:53 AM

Computer has rebooted - the new boot loader gave me an option to boot an earlier version of windows - perhaps that will re-direct to GRUB...

Same sexy boot screen with shiny lights - it is now back at the installer 'Completing installation'

UPDATE: 10:56 AM

Screen has defaulted to native resolution of 1280x1024 - and I just heard my sound system kick in.

'Setup will continue after rebooting your computer'

Here we go...

UPDATE: 10:59 AM

Setup is checking video performance...

BAM - desktop.

Setting up user accounts...

Entering CD-Key - nice checkbox here - Automatically ativate windows when I'm online

Wrong key - oops.

UPDATE: 11:04 AM

New windows updates/seurity center options - don't know if this is from Vista as I havent used it...:

• Use recommended settings - install all updates, send usage data, make browsing safer, check online for problems
• Install updates only - same as XP full auto updates
• Ask me later - nada.

I'm going with reommended

UPDATE: 11:07 AM

Setting time/date

New network settings - Public, for wifi hunting, Work, for domains I presume, and Home, for Easy Sharing.

Applying network settings...

New network sharing thing - homegroups. Allows sharing of Music, Printers, Videos, Douments... seems kinda neat - all the sharing stuff I use simplified and automatic...

UPDATE: 11:12 AM

Welcome... I presume this is the logon screen...

Preparing your desktop...

And here we are. Windows 7 installed.

I will post soon about my impressions...

Name that blog

One thing you may have noticed is that my website is called 'the roost' and my blog is also called 'the roost'. I'm thinking up of a new name for it - any ideas? Something 'nuclearpidgeon'-related is what I'm looking for. I'm also planning to change the layout - it doesn't fit with the rest of my web-page. Unfortunately, the template is coded in XML and it may be quite difficult to change, but should be fun nonetheless.

The Blog Starts

Welcome! This is the first real post for 'the roost' - all previous posts were from my holiday in England. My plan is to use this as more of a traditional 'blog' - a place where I can share news that interests me with others (you) and provide my view on the topic, as well as stuff that happens in my life that you might be interested in and perhaps even reviews of games/movies. This is all part of my plan to use my free webspace more and also to help develop my web-skills and ultimately get myself more involved in creativity.

So, watch this space! Tell your friends! (and family, if you want). Stay Tuned for more, and please comment - it helps me to get a good understanding of what you think of my blog.