Windows 7
Windows 7 is the buzz on the streets. Everyone is talking about it. Is it any good? Will it save us all from the VISTA fiasco? Do I want it? Is it safe?
My quick and simple answer is…..I don’t know.
I haven’t seen 7, don’t intend to buy 7, and will encourage anyone I see to be very careful if they are going to venture into 7 land.
The other day I was sitting at a restaurant waiting for lunch when I overheard a young lady in a booth next to me telling her mother how every time she tried to use 7, she kept getting a Blue Screen of Death.
Upon over hearing this, I injected myself into the conversation.
I asked her what operating system she was using and she quickly replied that she had bought a new Dell with Windows 7 on it. I then asked her some specifics about her machine, memory size, video card and other such questions. Upon hearing that she had purchased plenty of machine to handle 7, I then asked,
“What are you doing with the machine?”
“Games,” she replied.
Here’s her dilemma. games are very specific as to which operating system they are written for and also how they are handled by that operating system. I told her to call me with the list of error messages but my bet is that she is having video and memory overflow issues.
Can this be fixed? Sure if she upgrades all of her games to run on 7. But by the time she does that, Microsoft will have released their next product Windows 8. Windows 8 it has already been leaked, will have a 128 bit component which could cause almost every current software written to die a cold death.
Personally, I was thrilled to see Microsoft implode with the VISTA fiasco. It was the capper on years of releasing garbage, bloated code and shoving it down the throats of users world wide. Unfortunately, the bought and paid for slugs in Washington D.C. have yet to learn that they do have the regulatory power to force Microsoft to create better products. But since Microsoft is one of the top Lobbyists in D.C., that will probably never happen. Congress as we all know, loves the payola.
Thank someone that the European union has seen fit to fight Microsoft head to head. Hundreds of really great software packages are emerging from the EU and many of them are on my PC. I have been in this industry since before Microsoft ruined it and I was really beginning to miss all the small companies and their terrific software products. Europeans can thrive in their software industry while the small software companies in the United States are strangled to death thanks to a weak pathetic Congress and regulatory entities.
As for me, I am sticking with XP. Until I see fit to totally go to Unix or even a Macintosh. The ONLY reason I did not buy a Macintosh the last buy cycle was the price. It’s still about $700 too expensive. It was a close call, but $700 is $700.
Should you buy a copy of Windows 7? Not if you have older software you still need to work. It’s a coin toss and you have a good chance of losing. That’s the way it’s always been when Microsoft makes a major version change like 7. They leave people in the dust and they don’t care.
I will encourage you to call or email your Congressman/woman and encourage them to break the strangle hold Microsoft has on the American Computer Industry. Then call the companies that make PC’s and those who retail software and tell them you are sick of being given little to no choice on your PC’s, thanks to the exclusivity agreements they have all signed with Microsoft.
Then go look for a small but reputable computer seller in your town. That person can still get you a “clone” machine with your choice of operating system on it. You are NOT stuck buying from the big name brands only.
For those of you who own businesses, consider UNIX.