Tech Olive

Earlier in the week we mentioned that Microsoft had released an evaluation copy of Windows 7 known as the Release Candidate. After previously tinkering with Vista and build 7000, we give you a brief update of the newest OS to join Microsoft’s team. While it does has many faults, the skies look promising for this budding system.

To begin, I just wanted to point out a note on acquiring Windows 7 RC. Never let it be said that Microsoft doesn’t learn from their errors. Anyone can obtain a copy of the ISO and a CD key through this link. And unlike with build 7000, there is an unlimited number of people allowed to download it, and for once their Java Download Applet actually works.

Second note is the test machine specs as follows.

-Core 2 Duo E8400

-9800GT (6200 running the 2nd and 3rd monitors)

-4GB of DDR2 800 RAM

Finally, our experience:

Anyone who has installed a Microsoft based OS knows that their install is slow and contains several, if somewhat, unnecessary restarts. Windows 7 RC is no exception. Total time from inserting the disk to seeing the desktop took about 30-45 minutes. Slightly faster than build 7000 and the ever slow Vista (60 minutes), but slower than XP (25 minutes).

I was, however, pleasantly surprised upon the final restart that Windows 7 RC was able to recognize all 3 of my monitors and get the resolutions set correctly and automatically. No previous OS I have encountered has ever done this feat. Build 7000 came close, but even after installing Nvidia drivers, it would not allow me to set and save a refresh rate above 60Hz (CRTs, while uncommon, still exist and with some people (me), cause motion sickness below 75Hz). I’ll also mention the RC was able to quickly download Microsoft drivers for all of my other devices and I did not come into conflict with any hardware – including networking (which was also set up automatically).

On the subject of restarting, I find that the RC is also surprisingly fast. From hitting restart to seeing the desktop took about 30 seconds. Compared to XP at 20 seconds and build 7000 and Vista at about a minute.

By now I had correct Nvidia drivers installed and was raring to test out how the RC would work in game. The test in question is of Activision’s latest, Call of Duty: World at War. The install time seemed similar to that of Vista, build 7000 and XP, but that could be due to the slow read speed of my DVD drive. The game started up successfully and before long I was getting headshots not too long before being kicked. No fault of Windows 7, but PunkBuster refuses to support beta operating systems.

I decided it best to test the single player. The load times seemed similar to those in Vista and build 7000, the frames per second however were surprisingly sparatic. One moment I would be getting 2FPS, the next 120FPS. It seems to stay around 40-60 within the first level and I could still play the game without fault. This does seem low however compared to getting a constant 100FPS in Vista and 150 in XP.

My experience began to flounder after the gaming session. It could be a fault of using an older 6200, but every time a program would close, I would get strange artifacts on my second and third monitors. Every time a new program started, there was also significant lag, but it usually would go away after a couple of seconds.

This is a large step up from build 7000, where I would get the same lag and artifacts, but would usually require a complete restart to remove the problem. Not to say the RC is stable, but its *more* stable than its predecessor. I was still visiting the Ctrl+Alt+Del screen every 10 minutes or so.

Onto my next point, and this could be a personal opinion, but why is it now when a user presses Ctrl+Alt+Del, there is a selection screen. All the options available you can do yourself from Task Manager/Start Bar. At least give us the option in the Control Panel to turn off the selection screen!

The Control Panel. The one section that links the user with everything about his or her OS and how it works. In XP, Microsoft gave the users who were used to previous versions of Windows to see all options in a list. OR they could choose to go through the jumps and hoops of categories. Why would you remove this ‘OR’ feature? (I’ll refrain from ranting too much, but quick note: Bring back the ‘Up One Directory’ button).

I gave up looking for the UAC disable option within several minutes. For standard users, the UAC is actually a great idea. It lets them stop unnecessary programs from running. However, for more experienced users, it just gets in the way. Windows 7 RC thankfully is much more lenient than Vista when it comes to UAC. It only popped up a total of 10 times while installing my usual programs, whereas with Vista it would be about 5 times that.

Finally, we come to the start bar. I frankly don’t like the idea of the search/run box being one combo, but I can see how it would counteract the problem of your Program Menu growing infinity large when using XP. On the opposite end is a similar condition. Windows 7 once again clumps together your system tray icons with the idea of preventing them from growing out of control, but it just seems pointless.

My main concern are my central applications along the startbar. Yes, pictures are nice ways to represent what you currently have open and compact space, but in reality it’s one of their worst ideas. The user should have the ability to look down and see “Oh yes, I have Tech-Olive: Firefox, Cnet: IE and two AIM conversations with Julio and Raymundo” instead of “ok, a picture of Firefox, IE, and two undiscerning chats”.

We’re done with the GUI, now under the hood:

One main concern of Vista was the amount of hard drive space it consumed after a fresh install. 60GB for me and an additional 2-8GB every couple of days or so (until the leak was fixed). Windows 7 RC once again follows in Vista’s footsteps taking up 42GB right off the bat.

Another concern was the amount of RAM Vista consumed, hitting 95% idle! The problem was the average user did not realize that this was a GOOD thing (link). And after much complaining, Microsoft listened (for once) to their customers when they shouldn’t have. The RC is idle with a little over a gigabyte in use. Un-used RAM is wasted RAM.

One item I did like with the new Ctrl+Alt+Del system was the Resource Monitor. No longer do you have to download several separate programs to monitor things like Network, CPU, RAM or HDD usage. It’s all there built into the OS.

Summing it up:

In short, Windows 7 RC is a rather large leap from build 7000, but nothing to call home about. If you feel the need to install an OS (disregarding the RC expires after X amount of months) and it has to be 64-bit, go with Vista. While it has its many faults, it’s still your best bet. If you don’t have to have 64-bit, stick with XP.

Frankly, I can’t say I’m too thrilled with the direction that Microsoft is going with their newest system. It reminds me too much of a Mac; everything is trying to be simplified, but in all honesty it’s unnecessary. I want to know what happened to the promised, totally redesigned engine that Windows 7 was supposed to be built upon. Failing that, what about all those features in Vista that didn’t get made, but are supposed to start showing up, like direct to hardware games?

I can’t see myself purchasing Windows 7 in the future without it maturing more. It might be old, but XP is still the best Microsoft OS.