As Obama is to Bush, so Windows 7 is to Vista

Sam Varghese
Tuesday, 20 October 2009 14:39

Opinion and Analysis

When Barack Obama was announced as the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month, anyone with a modicum of intelligence was able to divine why he had been chosen for the honour.
There was just one reason: he was such a contrast to the bellicose, arrogant, ignorant, insular George W. Bush that the Nobel Committee, which is known to send political messages through its choice for this award, probably decided to send a message to the world about the sea-change he had brought about.

It's not that he had achieved anything remotely deserving of the honour. And, unlike anti-apartheid campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who was given the award years before South Africa reformed, as a way to encourage him to continue his fight, Obama needed no encouragement. He has already been given enough motivation to do a lot by his historic victory in the US presidential elections.

For a similar reason, Windows users will breathe a sigh of relief when Windows 7 is released to the masses two days from today. (Some in the UK have already started getting their copies as deliveries have been despatched early to try and beat a postal strike.)

Windows 7 is as far removed from Vista as Obama is from Bush. It is much easier on hardware; one could not even contemplate using Vista without 3GB of memory (that's all the system can use even if one has more RAM on board) but Windows 7 can perform decently with 2GB.

A number of improvements over Vista have ensured that Windows 7 will not be anything like the disaster that Vista was. But even though it will be a welcome relief for long-suffering Windows users, who have been waiting for something like a semi-decent upgrade for a long time, there is still one factor that can hold it back.

New features like jump lists (right-clicks bring up information and actions related to a particular application), ability to manage user access control better, a quick and easy way to find out the status of connected hardware devices and much improved compatibility when it comes to drivers will be welcomed by most users.

And while reinstalling an operating system is a pain as it takes a long time for one to get back all the familiar bits and bobs that were part of one's existing desktop, that wouldn't bother Windows users too much.

The simple reason is that Windows users are used to reinstalling their operating system - one has never been able to upgrade between versions. Additionally, even moderately heavy Windows use means that one has to reinstall after three years or so as otherwise the whole machine becomes unbearably slow.

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