Windows 7 From The Perspective Of A Die-Hard Mac User
During a recent vacation, this Mac user was tasked with purchasing and setting up a new computer for the aged, Windows-entrenched relatives. Unable to inspire a switch to a Mac, we went with a Sony laptop featuring Windows 7. Regular blog readers surely know I’m a long time Mac user, so this post documents an initial Windows 7 experience from the Mac-fanatic perspective.
The Good
- Much I expected to be difficult — wasn’t. Accessing a wireless network was really easy; a simple wireless network icon in the bottom right of the taskbar led me to the correct dialog boxes to fill out. I plugged in a USB dongle for a Kensington mouse, and the proper drivers automagically downloaded. Importing photographs from an SD card was painlessly performed via a slot on the front of the laptop.
- Wizard language has been worked over, edited for clarity and keeping the user’s perspective in mind. I wanted to increase the font size everywhere and was able to find that setting pretty easily, found in the control panels as “make the text larger or smaller” as opposed to some buried check box in a dialog box somewhere.
- Some UI elements seem inspired by or custom-made for Mac users. The taskbar is analogous to the dock, the gadgets are Dashboard, and icons are warmer and smoother throughout.
- Really liked the action of dragging a window to the top of the screen to expand the window to full-screen, or to either side to take up half of the screen (guess this is called “snap”). Also liked the way running apps in the taskbar display their active windows when you pause the cursor over them.
- Liked the “Action Center” feature that shows recent Windows updates and reminders about virus protection and backups.
The Bad
- Lots of annoying pop-ups for trial versions of pre-installed software. There was Sony software, Norton Virus Protection, Google Chrome, a Google Toolbar in IE, a trial version of Office, all competing for the user’s attention. Every browser wants to redefine itself as the default. I can understand the motivations behind this, but it’s very annoying in comparison to the relative clean “everything you need comes from Apple” approach.
- Installing software continues to come with a lot of useless crap. I installed HP printer drivers and somehow ended up with some HP browser tool bar. The “checked by default” behavior is pervasive and annoying on Windows.
- Outlook Express isn’t included. Windows’ free email desktop client is now Windows Live Mail, which requires a user install.
- Don’t understand or get the point of “libraries.”
Conclusion
Despite the annoying competition between tech companies, I found working with Windows 7 easier than anticipated, and was occasionally surprised by how seamless the Windows experience has become. I could see myself using Windows 7, while I wouldn’t touch Vista with a ten foot USB cable.
But overall, Windows 7 feels on par with OS X without leaping ahead in any way — I saw nothing that would make me want to switch. And since the Mac allows one to run both OS X and Windows 7, it’s still clearly the best solution as far as I’m concerned. I can run Windows 7 within VMWare Fusion within Mac OS X — and enjoy the best of both worlds.
The relatively clean ‘everything comes from Apple’ is no possible on a Microsoft OS as they would typically get the crap sued out of them by EVERYONE including governments from around the world. This is also why things like Windows Mail is now an install rather than a default. As for the crapware preinstalled, that is the dilemma of multiple manufacturers who get kickbacks from software vendors such as Symantec etc.
Good to see a post with some balanced perspective rather than a ‘I hate Microsoft’ feel. I like both platforms myself but work on Windows 7.
Yeah, you’re right — with some further research it seems Outlook Express was left out of Windows 7 to avoid further further antitrust legislation.
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I use Windows to play games. Take all of this with a grain of salt, as I’d never use Windows for anything serious (the Mac OS does that nicely).
XP was quick, though the interface needed some serious help. Vista, once you turn off UAC, was okay. Slower than XP on the same hardware, but much shinier.
Windows 7 is about as quick as XP on the same hardware, and is still quite shiny. I’m happier with 7 than Vista, but I think Vista got a bad rep.
Every issue you had with Windows 7 can be chalked up to the manufacturer, except the libraries bit (which seems a lot like the media Smart Folders in Mac OS X’s open/close dialog sidebars). I don’t fully understand it, either.
If you tried to use Windows 7 full time — moving your music, movies, email, etc. — I think you’d be more frustrated and disappointed. I know I’d be.
[…] a Mac user, one feature I envied during a recent Windows 7 experience was Aero Snap, which lets you resize windows to full-screen or half-screen by dragging […]