Microsoft Windows 7

Rich Parke-7/27/09

The countdown has begun for the official release of Windows 7...the successor to the much maligned Windows Vista.  Microsoft seems to be the company we love to hate, but I must tell you, my early opinion is they finally got it right!  I have been using Windows 7 for about 2 months now both on my office and home computers.  The Operating System loads quickly, is very stable and has some really nifty features that improve the look and increases productivity.

The release date is October 22, 2009, but that shouldn't stop you from buying new systems now.  Virtually everyone is offering a free upgrade to Windows 7 if you buy a Vista machine now.  Just make sure you follow the instructions once you get your new computer home to make sure you have registered to receive the free update.

You will be able to upgrade directly from Vista to 7, but not from XP to 7.  In order to put 7 on an XP machine, you will have to back up your data, reformat the computer, load 7 and all your programs then restore your data.  The O/S loads faster than Vista on a reformated machine, however the upgrade from Vista to 7 could take well over an hour.  But, with the upgrade, you don't have to reload programs or data.  Even though you can't upgrade directly from XP to Windows 7, Microsoft will still allow you to use the upgrade disk at the upgrade price for Windows XP & Windows 2000.

When Windows 2000 and XP was introduced I recommended waiting until the first Service Pack was released before upgrading to those Operating Systems.  With Vista, I was neutral on whether to upgrade at all.

Based on my experience with Windows 7 (I have a pre-release version that will only be improved upon in the final version), I believe there is no need to wait.  This O/S will work great from day one.  The only caveat is to make sure, if you use any proprietary software, that it will work with Windows 7.