I originally tested the first beta of Windows 7 in a virtual machine some time ago, but I couldn't really get a feel for the operating system that way. I partitioned my drive so I could dual boot between Windows XP and Windows 7.
The first thing I like about Windows 7: I didn't have to have a folder waiting full of drivers. Windows 7 recognized everything and even allowed me to get driver updates/install additional drivers through the new update service. The only thing I needed to install were the graphics card drivers from nVidia using special Windows 7 beta drivers.
The second thing I liked was the clean interface upon first booting into the OS. However, I'm afraid computer manufacturers are going to mess this up completely with all the bloatware they preload machines with lately.
After seeing how nice Aero looked, I disabled Aero and changed the theme to classic. Yes, I am old school. I like my classic theme! Makes it easier to focus, in my opinion.
I installed the latest beta (2.0) of Google Chrome to use as my web browser. For some reason, pages seemed to load a bit slower than they did using the latest beta on Windows XP. I attribute this to Windows 7 using the IPv6 protocol by default instead of the IPv4 one that XP users are accustomed to using.
I checked Windows Task Manager to see how much memory Windows was using without running any additional programs. It turned out to be 662 MB and was roughly the same with Aero and themes turned on. I still am not comfortable with having an operating system use more than 500 MB of system memory just for itself, but I guess I should accept it now that we have systems that range from 4 to 16 GB of RAM.
Other small things I liked:
-The ability to scale windows so that you can have 2 windows side by side. No more manually resizing windows!
-The control panel takes getting accustomed to, but I suppose it will do. It's no Mac OS X preferences, though.
-Microsoft has done a really excellent job with Windows Media Player. It is really minimal when playing a movie or song. I stopped using Windows Media Player after version 6 due to how bloated and ugly it became. This new version is so much easier on my eyes. I don't think I would switch from Media Player Classic, though. But maybe I will.
In general, I find Windows 7 to be a decent version of Windows. I could live with it and use it as my main OS. I think it is the best CONSUMER version of Windows Microsoft has ever developed. As for businesses, I don't see why they would need Windows Vista OR 7. Windows 2000/XP works great for them.
Windows 7 can be a great operating system if it is used as a main OS. I would not recommend it for virtualization. I think Windows XP would be much better suited for that.
Of course, what I tested was a beta version and does not reflect the final version of Windows 7. I hope Microsoft has better luck with Windows 7 than Vista. Microsoft's operating system affects so many people's lives that any change to it's software has a big effect on the world.
