Category: Windows
I went outside, that calls for a blog post I believe.
I was lucky enough to attend the Windows 7 launch here in Sydney today. It was one of the first places on the planet to see Windows 7 released (which I find kind of cool for some reason).
You may be asking yourself, “Why was rob invited to that?” And my answer is: I have no idea. However, it was very nice of them to invite me.
I think this post is going to be all over the place. If you don’t come away with a positive vibe though, then my writing skills are even worse than usual. So with that in mind, I want to start out with inevitable question…
No. However only for two specific reasons.
1) I will never support the WGA stuff in windows. If I pay $300 for an OS, I want to install it however many times I want no matter what I upgrade on my computer. I never, ever, under any circumstances want to make a phone call to need to “re-activate” software. Microsoft has shown no signs they are giving up this process, and I will never buy an OS from them while they treat customers like thieves.
2) Windows shell (cmd) is useless to me. Without bash and the usual unix tools in the system by default, I wont use the OS for day to day computing.
Now, if both of those things made no sense to you, and you have no interest in Mac and Linux then congratulations: you are a perfect fit for Windows 7. Go get it. Seriously.
Windows 7 is a nice OS. I’ve been using it at work for the past few weeks to build a .NET application, and I can say it is a quantum leap above XP in the usability department. Additionally, it is just as snappy as XP.
What about vista? In the immortal words of Vincent Vega, “I d’know I didn’t go into Vista”. I’ve never used vista so I can’t say how it stacks up, but I can say if I was forced to always work on Windows 7, I would not dig my eyes out with a spoon.
If you are using Windows, I can’t think of a reason not to upgrade. If you are worried about compatibility, win7 supposedly has an XP emulator built in to run all your legacy software – similar to Apple’s Classic mode it had for the first few iterations of OS X. If you are waiting for the first service pack, from what I understand you can probably think of this as the vista service pack.
They let me into the event under a press pass. Now, I don’t consider myself press in any way, shape, or form, but the fact they recognised me as press I thought was quite cool.
There were several bloggers at the event that were, presumably, let in under a press pass as well. Some bloggers fancy themselves journalists, and for Microsoft to tip their hat to the blogging community with the gesture I thought was very forward thinking.
Part of the pre-show slide show talked about how Microsoft was starting to take feedback from twitter, facebook, and other social media outlets. I was again impressed with this. It shows a possible shift in the way they are going about things. A lot of companies are using social media, but I would expect this behaviour from Apple not Microsoft – whereas Apple seem to be, in my opinion, ignoring or moving away from anything they don’t explicitly build. It’s backwards day!
They had a few hardware partners at the event, and all showed off some very cool, up and coming products. The ones that stick in my mind are: the ASUS netbook UL80 with a 12 hour battery – 12 hours, that’s almost 2 days. And this insane 1 inch thin Dell – the “Z” range.
There were a whole bunch of talking points and marketing catch phrases that I wont repeat here. I am sure you’ll hear them quite a bit in the next few months. I hate that stuff anyway.
I want to specifically recognise Jeff Putt (a Microsoft guy, I don’t know his title). He is a funny guy, and can work a room. It could be just the Aussie in him, but his self deprecating, honest, straight up nature … I mean if MS presented itself that way all the time I think they would have less “perception problems”.
I would pay money to see Phil Schiller and Jeff Putt have a debate on… well… anything. I think it would be good nature comedy gold.
I was also given a black shirt. Good move. Score.
Of course, you can find this out almost anywhere, but there are 3 versions of Windows 7 to confuse from: Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate. Marketing gone wild. Full price is $299, $449, and $469 (AUD).
If you wear a tie or pant suits you are not allowed to buy Home Premium (felony in some states), and if you get Ultimate you are able to get on the train in front of others using only your will. With Ultimate you also get a free battle axe. You can only buy Home Premium if you don’t leave the house and your car takes premium petrol, but you must never wear a tie. *
If you are a student, you can score a copy for $49.95 AUD. The offer is from 22 Oct to 31 March. See windows7studentoffer.com for more details.