I've now been running Windows 7 since the 6th of August when it came out on TechNet and before that i was testing the beta a RC of Windows and I've been very impressed with its and to put it basically its vista done right from the start and without the longhorn fiasco.
The first impression i got of Windows 7 was that it was fast a clean with its UI and start menu design i was very impressed from the presentation even at the beta stages and now after using the final RTM (Release to Manufacturing) and i can say without a doubt that it far sepsis vista.


The Install

The installation took 20 minutes in all from DVD, everything went hunky-dory on both my desktop and laptop i was very impressed with the laptop installation as all my drives were install with vista i had to install my fingerprint reader drivers myself with windows 7 nothing had to be done but i did install the lasts Realtek HD drivers and Ati drivers. The boot time was a tad fast then vista after a clean install and during boot you are shown an lovely animation of the windows flag a far more aesthetically pleasing view then the boring scrolling bar you would see in Windows Vista .

Some new features of Windows 7


Aero Snap

When you Press WINDOWS KEY + LEFT it will snap the window to the left side of the screen and if you press WINDOWS KEY + RIGHT it will snap the window to the right side of the screen and WINDOWS KEY + UP to maximise the window, you can also drag the window to the sides of the screen for the same effect, this feature is great I've used it just about every day it's such a small thing but so useful and i find if I'm ever on a Vista or XP machine and drag a window to the left side of the screen expecting something to happen and when i realise how much i miss it.


Windows Gadgets

Windows Gadgets replaces the old Windows Sidebar that comes in Windows Vista and would give you a sidebar to house gadgets in and it was pretty good but it would eat up a fair bit of your desktop and with Windows Gadgets this is no longer the case, you can just place your gadgets anywhere on your desktop. Sadly Microsoft only added one new gadget to windows 7 and that's the Media Center and they left out the Stocks gadget, i don't use either of them but i think it would have been nice if Microsoft included some more to ship with. But overall it's a great improvement over Windows Sidebar.


Aero Peek

It does what it says it allows you to "peek" at your desktop windows, with Aero Peek you can ether preview your desktop in which you move your mouse to the bottom left of the taskbar and hover over the "show desktop" pane and it will be shown a see-through outline of all your windows i find this every useful to view desktop gadgets like the weather gadget. This other option is the full screen window preview in which you hover your mouse over a taskbar button and your see open applications show in thumbnails move your mouse over one of these to see the full preview the window in full this will show you the main window you want to see and the outlines of the other windows behind it.


The Taskbar

Microsoft for the first time since Windows 95 have redesigned the taskbar, it has been made a bit thicker and now groups icons by applications which makes your workspace far less cluttered and one of the new elements i do like very much is the new Inline progress bars that show you the progress of your copying inside the icon, tray notification area has been upgraded and much tidier. I think for some users it might take some time to get use to the redesign but i think most will love it others maybe not but don't fear you can change the behaviour to act like windows vista's taskbar if you so choose.


Touch

Windows 7 has been made with touch devises like new touchscreens and tablets in mind and it takes full advantage of it and has tool built in to make the best use of touch devises sadly i don't have any form of touch device to test but I'm look forward to trying out one if i can get my hands on a touch screen at some point


If you've been using Windows XP and avoided Vista due to the bad press this is the upgrade you've been waiting for and if your using Windows vista i highly recommend you upgrade to Windows 7 you won't regret it i promise you.