One day in after installing Windows 7 RC released publicly Tuesday; yea I type slower then I install. Now that we are in official release candidate mode its time to scrutinize a bit more on whether this is the operating system for the new decade.
As for the a tour of the OS and features and such I won’t be going over the any generalizations of the OS as there are many reviews and opinions already out there and Microsoft does a good job of tooting their own horn on features. But, I will be likely posting on thing that strike my interest in the new OS.
To that end I want to talk about the OS of the 2010 decade. Windows 7 biggest competition remains Windows XP. This is not some romantic love of the old OS that I have or luddite tendency of the of an old guy as you may be inclined to deduce if you have read my past blogs, yeah I didn’t really read those things either. But the bottom line is that Vista was a failure and Windows XP remains top dog (OS statistics as reported by W3Schools site).
I was/am excited about Windows 7 for one basic reason, that is perhaps Microsoft’s coming to the realization that the are an OS manufacturer and not a tool to push the consumers into purchasing new hardware. And I do honestly think that was the mentality behind the release of Vista into a XP hardware world, that people would just buy new top dollar machines to run the pretty new OS with the fancy Aero and whoopee all new shiny card games. Put aside the inconvenience of all paths you hand learned to get to the magic check box in the OS had changed and you had learn the “New ways of Vista”; its new therefore better. Ok I’m going into the grumpy old XP guy mode a bit. But I know that most of the people I talked to said precisely that same thing, not going to learn new ways to do old things especially when you are shelling out more bucks to do the new shiny because your old hardware won’t cut it. Many folks simple came to the conclusion that my old machine will do for a while more.
So the 17%, as of this writing, that are using Vista currently are probably doing so for at least one of three reasons; One: purchased a new machine that had Vista (some problems here btw); Two: Wanted to take advantage of their 64 bit CPU, Window XP 64 for most is not a fully functioning option here; Three: They are are the everything new types. For me it was all three. But, up to the purchase of the new motherboard and CPU a year ago, I was still computing just fine under XP.
Windows environmentally responsible OS? From the new flowery boot splash screen one may be inclined to think someone on the OS dev team is into that sort of thing. In one of my earlier blogs (Windows 7, doing more with what you got) I talk about salvaging an old Del with Intel dual core 32 bit CPU from the scrap heap and using it as my home entertainment system (living room computer). For me this brings up a fundamental avenue of consideration for usable technology that gets little attention these days by most in the wiz-bang, latest and greatest tech community; that is one of longevity. I’m not much into the ‘environmental movement’ scene as I think most of the movement ends up as just all that hype for a means to political goals but there are some fundamental concerns about what we do with yesterday’s stuff. E-waste or (electronic waste) is becoming a growing concern and is directly effecting the health and lifestyles of many communities now in regions of the world were have they taken this junk in to recycle the raw material. If you would like a good introduction to the world of E-waste I would recommend checking out photographer and documentarian Edward Burtynsky and his work on ‘Earth's manufactured landscapes’, here’s a link to one of his presentation on the TED. Though he covers much more then just E-waste and should be taken into account that this was filmed in 2005, he has some stunning photographs of how this discarded electronic equipment is currently being piled up and processed by third world villages. I have to give props to the guy because he allows the photos to speak for themselves, and the take away is that this is what it is. So perhaps we should be looking at keeping equipment that does its intended task around until it actually needs replacing. One less motherboard and support ICs on the scrape heap, one less newly manufactured computer to do the job of this roll.
Now don’t get me wrong, I have no delusions here as to how world actually works when it comes to new viruses old in personnel computing; its all about Moore’s Law right? Absolutely, it is the driving force of the industry. New denser transistor printing, smaller gates, faster computations, more data movement, all equals ‘better’ and a new sell for a computer manufacture, and well yes a new copy of an OS; plus one to chip and board makers; plus one to OEMs, plus one to Microsoft. One may take into consideration however, as the times they are a changing, that the traditional linear progression of gateway density improvements that have driven Moore’s Law to this point is now reaching some physical limits using current production techniques, of course the death of Moore’s Law as been greatly exaggerated before. But let me also point out that the computer is component sum device. I can upgrade RAM, hard drive, CPU/Motherboard, don’t forget all those peripherals, and of course I can upgrade the OS. The true reality here is that your personnel computer is a collection of individual components and software that comes together to do what it does. After all, those that have been techies since the introduction of the ‘IBM PC’ days will tell you this is the real reason you are most likely using a ‘IBM compatible PC’ today; that is upgrade after upgrade to individual components of the machine, this became the norm. Its been the goal though for many to change this. Make new, throw out the old, don’t feed the geeks with nickel dime upgrades, disposable machines is the way of our times. This was the mind set that I think most explains the release of Vista to me, be like Mac with a solution in a box. And the consumer response was, “I’ll wait”. If any good came from this ironically I would have to say it was the MAC-PC commercials. I’m not a MAC fan, I think they MAC is everything I don’t won’t my future computing to be. But, they were some funny commercials. Now, there’s a lot of indication that with Windows 7 Microsoft has taken note of this ‘new environment’ and there is a lot on the line for them to get it right this time. But by contrast there’s still a lot of indication that many in the Microsoft community don’t get this.
So as the push forward to release continues I’ll try to concentrate my focus on Windows 7 filling the rolls required for the next decade and how it bridges the gap from the current one. What I see the issues are at hand:
- The concept of Disposable Device versus Upgradable Computers.
- The Big OEM Boys versus the Upgrade Guys
- Rolls for the personnel computer for the next decade.
- Beyond the desktop computer and laptop.
- Home Theater Personnel Computer (HTPC) anyone?
- The push for business upgrade: computer hardware, the cost of new on the employees, total cost of upgrade in a poor economic times.
- Maintaining old peripheral equipment with the new OS.
- And the ultimate bottom line, will is the Windows 7 make it all better?