What are everyone's thoughts on Windows 7?
There's a lot of hype going on out there about the beta that was released a little bit back, but there's been grumbles from beta testers that sounds
rather disconcerting, as well as Microsoft's history regarding how their beta releases reflect on the 'finished' product.
Here's a list of my own misgivings on the matter.
For one thing, I've always been a big believer in a streamlined product. Graphical niftiness, while nice to look at (and I certainly will not deny that it
is nice to look at), simply doesn't matter when it comes to getting the job done. For certain, you can bet that no amount of shininess is going to
convince the higher-ups in the DoD to buy into Windows 7. They'll only care about two things: 1) Is it secure? and 2) Will it get the job done?
Another qualm that I have is the stupidity of the general public at large. I honestly think that a person needs to attain a certain degree of intelligence
before they're allowed near a computer. If Microsoft's mission really is to make an operating system that is usable by anyone, then I fear for the
computing world at large. I will, however, grudgingly admit that most people don't really know how a television operates and yet they use them all the
time. But to this I would use the counter-point that computers do not simply read data like a TV does - it manages it, and it is the person behind the
keyboard that dictates how that data is managed, whether they realize what they are doing or not.
One other thing, and this is the one that I think bugs me the most: do we honestly need such a radical departure? I mean, I'm going to have to get used to
an entirely new operating system here eventually and it's not going to be entirely by choice. It is going to be because the people at Microsoft have
mandated it to be so. Do you have any idea how much that goes against my grain? What Microsoft could do is that, with all this wonderful UI niftiness, they
should make a GUI that is COMPLETELY modular. You prefer the older task bar? No problem. You want something with a Mac OS-X flavor? Done. How about
getting rid of that windows logo on the start-button? Easy as pie. And all with a fair minimum of screwing around, too, through the use of a module-manager.
Mozilla does a nice job of this with their plug-ins for Firefox and you don't catch too many people bitching about it, except to say, "Man, I wish
someone would make a plugin that did z instead of just x and y."
So, in conclusion, what I really want to know is this: Should I abandon all hope in Microsoft? Should I prepare myself for the possibility of having to rely
solely on a Linux-based system? Or am I just being my paranoid self again?
There's a lot of hype going on out there about the beta that was released a little bit back, but there's been grumbles from beta testers that sounds
rather disconcerting, as well as Microsoft's history regarding how their beta releases reflect on the 'finished' product.
Here's a list of my own misgivings on the matter.
For one thing, I've always been a big believer in a streamlined product. Graphical niftiness, while nice to look at (and I certainly will not deny that it
is nice to look at), simply doesn't matter when it comes to getting the job done. For certain, you can bet that no amount of shininess is going to
convince the higher-ups in the DoD to buy into Windows 7. They'll only care about two things: 1) Is it secure? and 2) Will it get the job done?
Another qualm that I have is the stupidity of the general public at large. I honestly think that a person needs to attain a certain degree of intelligence
before they're allowed near a computer. If Microsoft's mission really is to make an operating system that is usable by anyone, then I fear for the
computing world at large. I will, however, grudgingly admit that most people don't really know how a television operates and yet they use them all the
time. But to this I would use the counter-point that computers do not simply read data like a TV does - it manages it, and it is the person behind the
keyboard that dictates how that data is managed, whether they realize what they are doing or not.
One other thing, and this is the one that I think bugs me the most: do we honestly need such a radical departure? I mean, I'm going to have to get used to
an entirely new operating system here eventually and it's not going to be entirely by choice. It is going to be because the people at Microsoft have
mandated it to be so. Do you have any idea how much that goes against my grain? What Microsoft could do is that, with all this wonderful UI niftiness, they
should make a GUI that is COMPLETELY modular. You prefer the older task bar? No problem. You want something with a Mac OS-X flavor? Done. How about
getting rid of that windows logo on the start-button? Easy as pie. And all with a fair minimum of screwing around, too, through the use of a module-manager.
Mozilla does a nice job of this with their plug-ins for Firefox and you don't catch too many people bitching about it, except to say, "Man, I wish
someone would make a plugin that did z instead of just x and y."
So, in conclusion, what I really want to know is this: Should I abandon all hope in Microsoft? Should I prepare myself for the possibility of having to rely
solely on a Linux-based system? Or am I just being my paranoid self again?
(Hint: I'm actually seriously considering paying for my copy of XP-64 - it's just working so nicely. In other words I refuse to pay for crap.)