Entelligence: Seven on 7
By Michael Gartenberg 
posted October 24th 2009 7:00PM
posted October 24th 2009 7:00PM
Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he'll explore where our industry is and where it's going -- on both micro and macro levels -- with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.
Ready? Let's get the irrelevant stuff out of the way first.
Aero whatever: Whether it's Aero Glass, Aero Peek, Aero Shake or Aero whatever, it's gotten a lot of hype, but it's really just so much eye candy. After trying Aero Peek and Aero Shake I find I've never used them in any productivity setting. Sure, some people love gratuitous UI fluff but stuff like this is hardly worth shelling out money for.
Touch: First, you need a touch-enabled PC, which you probably don't have. Even then, the native touch features just aren't worth an upgrade on their own. TouchPack (which is cleverly branded as Surface apps) is nothing more than a tech demo. Give me a PC OS optimized for touch across the board and I'm all there, but this is just a gimmick.
Device Stage: Microsoft says this is "a new way to interact with your phone, camera, printer, or portable media player from the Windows desktop. Device Stage is new visual interface that makes it easy to find the things you want to do with your devices on your Windows 7 PC." I say, well, it doesn't do all that much. Perhaps in the future more devices will recognize the feature and help users do more advanced things, but for now Device Stage is more promise than delivery.
It might sound like I'm being negative but there's also four things in Windows 7 that I really like, and if you can make use of these features, they're certainly worth the price of the upgrade.
Performance and stability: Sure it seems like silly thing -- in fact high performance and relative stabilty should be table stakes for a modern OS. But the fact is that 7 is the best version of Windows Microsoft's ever produced. While Vista
Media Center is now best of breed for DVR and home theater applications. |
Windows Media Center: Windows Media Center has gone from being a pokey mess in Vista to something sleek, fast and powerful in Windows 7. With consumer-grade, user-installable cable card tuners available at last, MCE is now best of breed for DVR and home theater applications.
Home Group and remote access: Another winner. Home networking is a mess but Microsoft has made some nice efforts to tame the beast with Home Group. Setting up and configuring a home network has never been easier in Windows, and sharing media and content across the network to other Home Group PCs is just as simple. Even better, accessing your content like recorded TV shows from afar has never been easier on a PC. It's a must for anyone with a home network, multiple PCs who wants to do remote access simply and easily.
Eyefinity: Okay, this isn't a Windows 7 feature at all. It's an AMD feature that allows its latest line of consumer grade Radeon video cards to drive six monitors simultaneously.as one giant desktop of up to 268 megapixels. It offers a gaming and graphics experience that needs to be seen to be appreciated. And it works best on Windows 7.
Windows 7 is important and it's a big deal. Yes, under many circumstances it can be a hassle to get to, especially with no direct upgrades from Windows XP and many versions of Vista, but it's worth it. We've already seen the latest from Apple, and with the holiday season buying season officially on, it's going to be an interesting race with two strong and yet very different contenders.
Michael Gartenberg is vice president of strategy and analysis at Interpret, LLC. His weblog can be found at gartenblog.net, and he can be emailed at gartenberg AT gmail DOT com. Views expressed here are his own.
the title reminds me of giz's title "27 on 7"
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...
Unfortunately, I don't think MS will be able to stop Apple from gaining market share, especially when (or 'if') they make an inexpensive computer under $500.
Let's just hope they can slow them down a bit... As I've always been told, competition is good!
Well I agree Windows Shake is somewhat of a gimmick, it has it's purposes. I may not use it often, BUT the rest of the new Aero features are highly worth mentioning and very useful. Aero Snap - I can no longer use a computer without it. It annoys me not to have aero snap. At first I was like..ok...but now it's so fast and easy to use. Snap to sides to compare windows is awesome. Typing in word while having the internet up at the same time is now extremely easy.
The new taskbar is a dream. Yeah maybe it's somewhat "dock" like, but it's still more like a taskbar than a dock, with added functionality and great window management.
I could go on and on, this author hit a lot of good points, but he definitely shouldn't dismiss aero the way he did.
Wait, did you just say typing in Word and having the Internet up at the same time is extremely easy? Is that normally difficult?
Aero Snap makes positioning my windows a trivial task. I don't understand why it took them so long to figure it out, but it's here now and I can't stand working on a computer without it.
Also, I didn't find Aero Shake useful in "laptop" mode (especially trying to shake the window with a TrackPoint). I find it easier to hit Windows+M then bring up the window I want. But in tablet mode it's really handy. Sheds all the background clutter, fast.
@Greg: I wouldn't call it difficult, but if you've used Windows 7 and Aero Snap, you know what I'm talking about.
how anyone can call aero snap a gimmick is beyond me. at my computer i swear i used it at least once a minute unless i'm watching a movie or video
Wait what? Did someone actually use the word cheap and Apple in the same sentence? Not in this lifetime dude. Apple's wares will always remain expensive and overpriced because they know people will buy it. Period.
Aero Snap is not just "eye candy" like the author of this half assed article says, its actually extremely useful.
I have friends who will ask me to fix their computer, but anytime someone has an Apple, I'm completely useless. User-friendly? Not to me, I don't get it... I find it be completely confusing. Probably that's just cuz I've always had Windows... but no right mouse button? that's crazy
@ burnz: I've always used Windows as well, but I was in a video editing class that pretty much forced me to use a mac (they specifically ordered a new iMac just to get a more powerful system), so I was forced to learn how it works. Sometimes it got confusing, and it, like Windows, had its own share of issues. You just have to google stuff to find solution, at least thats that I always do :)
This is also how I learned to hate iMovie XD
Nice read, I enjoyed it.
Indeed. I can't wait for my upgrade disc to get here. I find that I've enjoyed Vista in the short period of time that I've used it, but 7 promises to be better. Should be easier on my single-core ULV processor.
... But I think there's a missing decimal point in that spec about Eyefinity. The max resolution is supposed to be 7680x3200, or six 2560x1600 monitors. That's 24.6 megapixels, not 268.
really? I thought this piece was pretty craptastic myself.
I have to agree with bandigolo that this article was pretty craptastic.
His first three points sound ignorant. And his last point isn't even a feature in Windows 7! Did he only test it out for a day? I've been using Windows 7 for months now (MSDN Subscription) and I have to say that Aero should not have been dismissed so easily. Like many others have said, I find it hard to use any machine that does not have it.
I agree. I was hoping for something a little more in depth.
I just started using 7 and I'm up to my eyeballs in annoyances. Why not talk about those!
Windows 7 FTW!!
I agree with a lot of that. I hate how much Microsoft pushes Aero, when things like automatic-driver installation and improved compatibility modes are way more useful, and will make a big difference to a lot of people.
The thing is most users don't notice that now that it works together, they are going to notice the usability and speed increases of the UI. I use all the Aero effects and to power users with 20+ applications open having the quick UI with previews is a must.
Did you guys notice all the driver updates recently, not sure what they did, but I presume everyone just released even more Windows 7 drivers all at once.
Agreed, but you have to keep in mind that the UI is the very second thing that most prospective buyers see (the first being bootup times or possibly hardware).
Apple does the same thing, they wax on about how pretty OSX is, and only start talking about the technological advantages once punters are sufficiently wooed.
I'd disagree with the statement that Aero Peek is useless. I find it's such an intuitive part of the new OS and love how it's also been intergrated with alt-tab as well.
take it like this.. you don't buy a car just because it has a fancy engine you mostly buy it because you like it's shape. same with cell phones you don't just get it bcs it has the whole bunch of technology inside but looks like a brick. you pick the fancy looking one (mostly)... so you need the eyecandy to make it appeal to the "dumb" user who says wow this looks pretty. you need both the fancy shiny gui and the fancy engine to run it ...
@CJ
Apple usually start off with a solid technical base, and build nice software on it.
I don't think the Mac OS overly pretty, Apple have actually tuned down some of the effects, the first version of Front Row for example was way to snazzy for what it offered.
On another note I think Aero looks really good, but I find myself not using shake and peek.
I rarely use shake (because it doesn't work that well when the mouse sensitivity is low (when using high dpi mouses)), but peek is almost indispensable for me now.
I really enjoy and use the SNAP feature all the time! I love when either do work or just organizing files from one folder(USB) to another.
Currently using XP and SORELY miss aero peek and aero shake/fit. Being able to drag a maximized window and restore it without having to click on the restore button was a huge godsend, and not having it makes me cry..
I love Aero peek, and find that when I'm on Vista I keep forgetting that it's not there. On the other hand, Aero shake is pretty useles, why don't I just maximize the window if that's the only thing I want to see?
You don't realize how much you miss those features until you get on a computer without them. My work laptop is still XP and it drives me crazy not being able to use shake and peak.
Enjoying it so far. No change from vista to me.
As much as aero is a bit gimmicky, i find i use the side by side windows by dragging and the dragging up to maximise all the time now.
As for performance, i haven't found it to be too much better than vista, but that is probably because i never actually had a problem with vista
Yeah, Aero is very a bit gimmicky.
The side-by-side thing is sweet, but having dual monitors the feature I use most is being able to drag a maximized window from one screen to another. You can do this by simply dragging the window's title bar on the top to the top of the other monitor. It's a pretty handy feature! Also, being able to vertically stretch the windows automatically is nice, too.
It's made even easier by the fact that you can do Windowskey+up (/left /right) to do the same without involving the mouse at all.
@ Dual monitor-support guy: also: Windows+P = holy shit batman!
I love that key-combination, saves me at least 15 minutes of killer catalyst-craze each day.
I don't use dragging up to the top at all because I can still double-click on the titlebar to maximize. But putting windows side-by-side is very handy. (And I didn't know that about windows+arrow keys. That's faster than alt-space x, which is what I used to do to maximize with my keyboard. Thanks!)
Have you guys tried pressing Windows+Arrow Keys? Left snaps the window to the left, up maximizes, etc. It's SO useful!
i like win7. but im still an Ubuntu fanboy and that wont change:)
I've been an Ubuntu user for over 2 years now and I'll always love the speed and responsiveness of a Linux distro but I very much prefer the polish and app support/availability of the big dogs - Windows and Mac OS. I always find that I need AND want to switch back to Windows whenever I use Ubuntu for an extended period of time and this has always been the case for me.
@BeeQAL: You need to try this version of Ubuntu: http://ultimateedition.info/ultimate-edition-2-3/
No. I love Linux and really hope it takes off as a Desktop operating system, but that particular distro looks like the Geocities homepage of a 1998 Quake2 clan. Something only a basement dwelling pre-teen wannabe metal-head could ever possibly enjoy.
@Wine Country Mike
Holy shit that looks terrible. Seriously, who designs that and thinks to themselves "Yeah, not bad"?
Is that a HP monitor or a computer? Touchscreen?
I don't know what "utter git" means, but I presume it means he states the obvious while trying to put a controversial spin on it to strike up conversation. Meh, not my style of writing, but gets the readers so can't knock him one.
It's a shame you didn't mention the Internet media streaming built into media center and the Play To feature. Unique features built in not available elseware.
Wait till Apple copies them for Rain Leopard and labels it an innovation.
instead of rain leopard, maybe they'll go for extinct leopard...
Can't they hire some attractive geek-girl to be the PR face of Microsoft instead? Why do we have to see Steve Ballmer? EVER?
Anyways, I love Windows 7, but I hate people named Steve.
My least favorite article from you, Mike. Not necessarily because it is poorly written, but I don't agree on some things. More than anything on Aero. The aero snap features are great, and Aero Peek(and subsequently the new taskbar) IMO is the best idea in UIs since Expose, if not better than that. Plus everything is revertible, should you not like it. Desktop preview is also immensely useful for me, too.
Oh and no one ever mentions desktop slideshow! For undecisive people like me, it's a godsend ^_^
Yo Michael, I'm really happy for you and imma let you finish, but Aero Snap is one of the best features of all time.. OF ALL TIME!
Having a built in wallpaper changer is a huge plus for me in 7. I have a tendency to collect wallpapers and it's nice that 7 just changes them for me, every time I minimize a window or go to some other program there's a new background looking at me!