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Windows 7: The OS on Steroids |
| With Windows 7, Microsoft has taken personal computing to a whole new level-its innovative, fast, secure and reliable
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| Shrikanth G |
| Monday, October 26, 2009 |
It’s the much awaited launch
in the Windows world and it looks like the launch of Windows 7 was just
a technicality for Microsoft as it has kept the user interest at a high
decibel over the last one year right from Beta to RC. So over the last
one year Windows 7 was very much alive in the developer community and
even before the OS was formally launched globally on October 22, the
proof points of Windows 7 have started emerging. What makes Windows 7
path breaking is the clutter free GUI that is totally different from
Microsoft’s previous OS versions. The OS is more
oriented towards multitasking and hence users can seamlessly manage
multiple tasks yet navigate without any serious issues.
While in the past Microsoft’s operating systems have enforced
big hardware changes for it to work effectively, but in the case of
Windows 7 Microsoft did not enforce any big Windows 7 configuration and
kept it to the current industry standard. Moreover, any PC running
Vista can run Windows 7. This is a strategic move by Microsoft and
users with older hardware can also migrate to Windows 7. The OS is
available in six versions ranging from Basic to Ultimate versions and
also the Window 7 Enterprise edition.
The
Key Differentiators
While Windows 7 improves upon Vista look and feel in terms of GUI, the
impact of the OS will be felt by the users on the stability and speed.
Microsoft has embedded a lot of self healing features that makes for
pro-active auto recovery. Right from recovering a crashed browser tab
to a document file, the chances of users loosing is brought down to the
minimum. Users will see subtle but visible changes like for instance
features like Aero Peek, Aero Snap and Aero Shake allows them to
preview the opened files and what it means is that one can see it
without really clicking on that file from the task bar. Microsoft has
done numerous productivity tweaks in Windows 7 in most of the areas and
that’s what makes it unique.
One of the key areas in which Windows 7 scores ahead compared to Vista
or XP is speed. It’s lightening fast and this is the first
significant impact any user will see and sure to get impressed. Windows
7 also makes managing the range of networked and peripheral devices a
whole lot easier. For instance attaching removable storage media like
flash drives or connecting a digital camera etc happens so fast.
Microsoft has clearly given closer attention to these small but
significant aspects a consumer user will greatly benefit. Mean while
discovering devices on a network and installing is also greatly
simplified. For instance adding a network printer is done in minutes.
Clearly Windows 7 is the OS that plugs the pain areas of
Microsoft’s previous OS in terms of security, bugs, hang
issue et al. Moreover, users who have deployed Windows 7 vouch that the
OS is far easier to deploy. Says S.Francis Rajan, head of ICT,
Bangalore International Airport: “Overall we have found the
deployment process for Windows 7 to be faster and smoother than its
previous operating systems. Installation took approximately 40% less
time than the previous deployment and we plan to upgrade all our
computers to Windows 7 by December 2009.”
Early
Adopters
According to sources in Microsoft, already there are over 1000
enterprises across India that’s deployed Windows 7 and states
that they have started getting significant cost savings and
productivity benefits. Some of the leading Windows 7 clients Microsoft
shared to media are the ones like Infosys, Maruti,
Bangalore International Airport, L&T ECC among others. Says
Mahesh Manchi, CIO-Mahindra Holidays: “Windows 7 increases my
notebook performance significantly and is far more reliable. Simple
tasks such as time to boot and hibernate have been cut down
significantly. This is brilliant as the overall user experience has
enhanced. We definitely see a reason to upgrade to Windows 7 as it is
not too resource hungry as well.”
The early adopters will act as proof points for the agility of the OS.
But if we look at the large enterprise scenario, how much mass
migration will happen to Windows 7 from XP or Vista is still debatable
right now and it’s too early to see clearly the migration
road map. Typical if we look at large organizations with PC fleet sizes
ranging from 25 K and above, in these instances analysts aver that only
new purchase decisions would be more aligned towards windows 7 rather
than upgrade.
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