Windows 7

[Lead Head]

I've been using the Windows 7 beta for a little over a week now. I can honestly say it is not bad. It doesn't feel like a completely new OS by any long shot, but the subtle improvements over vista make it so much better. No weird quirks, manages resources better (you no longer have to wait 5 minutes after log on to do anything because superfetch is thrashing your HD) Over all GUI transitions and effects are smoother and more polished as well. Fresh install also seems to take up less space. But that may change in the retail versions with more stuff installed.

Annoyances:
UAC, while it is tuned down in 7, it is still annoying when working with potentially protected files on another harddrive (like on my XP install), it asks you for permission to access virtually any file, and I can't find any option along the lines of "Do this action for every file".

Any of the Windows Live (sort of similar to Add&Remove programs in ubunutu, but way more limited) "add ons", such as moviemaker automatically install Live Messenger, and if you select to not to install messenger

The Control panel now has two modes. Crippled and Ridiculously unintuitive. Heres' two pictures showing what i mean
http://hosting03.imagecross.com/image-hosting-08/5476Untitled1.png
http://hosting03.imagecross.com/image-hosting-08/7025Untitled.png

Interesting Bits:
They finally updated paint, to make it match the "Ribbon" interface of their other newer products, such as Office 2007, and added many features that it SHOULD of had years ago. Also, PNG is the default save format, and the compression does not seem to bad at all

http://i44.tinypic.com/2ut1f9g.png

The taskbar has been updated. Programs now get put into their own "square", and you mouse over to see the open windows of that program or folder. (Little image preview). You can also place shortcuts/folders/executeables into the taskbar as quicklaunches, and when clicked upon, the window gets grouped into that quick launch button. If you mouse over one of the little preview images, it makes every window disappear but that one.

Picture demonstrating it. The IE, Folder Icon and the "Play/Windows Media" button are also quick launches.
http://i44.tinypic.com/33my521.png  (The outline you see is an open folder that went invisible)(Also the media controls on the preview should be noted)

I do kind of like the setup, however the biggest annoyance I have with it is that it does not tell you how many windows/instances there are with a little number, in say the corner of the box. Sometimes during normal browsing, I may end up with 4,5,6 instances of Firefox, and I don't even find out until I mouse over the firefox icon.

[worker201]

I'm paying quite a bit of attention to the overall graphical look.  It's better.  It now looks like a fairly average modern graphical interface.  But why is average good enough for Microsoft?  Was there some secret stipulation to the Look&Feel lawsuit?  "You guys can use icons and menus and double-clicks and all that all you want to, as long as a) you call it a recycle bin instead of trash, and b) you're not allowed to do high-end cutting-edge design ever again."  Or something like that.  Basically what I'm saying is that Windows 7 (2010) still doesn't look as good as OSX (2001).

[Lead Head]

They have also changed the "Gadgets" system. There is no longer a huge bar taking up screen real estate, the gadgets free float around the desktop by default, and of course they can lock to the sides, top etc..

They have also done away completely with the old display properties dialog box. Screen resolution, "Personalize"(Themes and other related settings) can be accessed directly by right clicking anywhere eon the desktop

Here is two more pictures. It comes with a couple of built in color schemes, and wall papers, you can even set it to automatically change the scheme every so often as well. You can see that they are trying to unite all the built in programs in a similar layout using "Ribbon", as you can see with the new movie maker and paint, and the same layout cues are carried out through all the built in programs. Firefox does however look a little of place, but its not too bad. Also note the heavy use of transparency.

http://hosting03.imagecross.com/image-hosting-08/4323Untitled.jpg
http://www.imagecross.com/03/image-hosting-view-08.php?id=84874.jpg

Just the overall feel of the operating system is better then vista. Vista feels very heavy and clunky, while 7 feels much more light weight and snappier.

You wouldn't happen to have any screen shots of OSX would you? I'd like to see what the latest version looks like in terms of styling. Google images is always disappointing when it comes to screen shots

[worker201]

Be happy to take Leopard screenshots.  What do you want to see?

[SiMuLaCrUm]

That interface doesn't look all that bad. The only thing I would see annoying is the little program squares in the taskbar.

[Lead Head]

Be happy to take Leopard screenshots.  What do you want to see?

General stuff, control panel, "Computer", straight desktop.


Like I said, the buttons aren't to bad, and you do kind of get used to them, but the fact that you can't actually tell how many windows are open without mousing over really annoys me.

[SiMuLaCrUm]

They'll probably add something that tells you how many are open. But then again, this is M$ we're talking about...

[worker201]

Obliged, and then some.  See here:
http://www.stop-microsoft.org/bbs/index.php?topic=12176.0

[Lead Head]

I actually just noticed now that it DOES tell you how many windows are open. It makes the taskbar icon look like its overlapping another one. Two windows open, two over laps, 3 windows open 3 over laps. The problem is that since the taskbar is transparency, it blends in too much, it only shows a maximum of 3 overlaps, and you can't just quickly glance down to see if you have 2 or 3+ windows open.

Also, thanks for the pictures

[SiMuLaCrUm]

Ah, ok, that makes things a bit easier. Would be nicer if it had some sort of number thing though.

[piratePenguin]

I'm just thinking about how little the Ubuntu interface has changed over the course of it's lifetime. Same with OS X.

Microsoft have had such a shit interface, they change it every time and still can't get it right.

[Lead Head]

Well to be fair, Windows 95-2000 was virtually the same, XP was pretty much the same as well, just some different color schemes. 

Its the latest Vista, Windows 7, etc.. thing that they are constantly changing the interface.

[worker201]

I have to admit, I was pretty fucking impressed when I saw Windows 95.  It was much nicer than Windows 3.11, anyway.  System 6, or whatever Mac was using at the time, was not very good.  So they were the leader of the GUI pack.  15 years ago.  What have they been doing since then?  "Rusting" on their laurels?

[Lead Head]

Doing what many companies do - release the same thing over and over again until they are finally forced to change it.

[SiMuLaCrUm]

MS is doing the same as Apple did with the jump to OSX: making a more graphical GUI that simply wastes RAM, when they could do the same thing with a simpler, less bloated GUI.