Windows 7: Overpriced or Improvement?

By Lori Sanchez

The long-awaited arrival of Windows 7, which is hitting the streets October 22, has people filled with trepidation, especially those of us who had hoped that Windows Vista would have been more than a virtual equivalent of water-boarding. The pains of Vista, all well documented and fought through, are enough to make anyone a bit hesitant to do anything but scour the Web for a copy of XP.

Thankfully, early reviewers have found the Windows 7 is not only a vast improvement on Vista, but it's very Screenshot of the new Windows 7 is likely what Vista was intended to be in the first place. Many of the issues that plagued Vista from its launch have been addressed, and the goal of creating a modern operating system with 21st century capabilities has been met with Windows 7.

One of the most frustrating tasks facing new Vista owners was the search for drivers to run their devices. Well with this release, there will be no more searching the Web for drivers that weren't yet available for Vista, or trying to install more RAM in order to handle the onerous load that Vista put on your computer. Right out of the box, Windows 7 is good to go. They've centralized the availability of drivers for this release something that makes a great deal of sense.

Full of new improvements the developers of Windows 7 took what worked in Vista, fixed it and improved upon it. That alone will be a large step forward. One of the biggest improvements is in the footprint it leaves on your system. Windows 7 will run like a dream on smaller netbooks as well as older machines, something that Vista could never have hoped to achieve. Some of the more welcome changes and features include a new Account User Control, which gives a welcome feeling of being in the driver's seat, as opposed to having Vista do the driving.

The new taskbar has a clever way to organize your bookmarks called Jumplists. Searching within your system has also become easier and more intuitive. The Libraries feature helps categorize and find organized files in a more useful way.

One that many people do not like about Windows 7 is the new networking and sharing center. While much better than Vista, it is a far leap from the way Windows has been doing things in this area in the past. It will likely leave many users, particularly new ones, in the dark. Another weak spot is that Windows 7 ships without an email program.

At the end of the day, however, Windows 7 is a big step forward. It is priced at $200 for the home premium version, and there was an upgrade option for $50 which has expired, but will likely reappear. For users seeking a more stable and nimble OS, Windows 7 appears likely to fit the bill. - 30431

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