Saturday, November 08, 2008

Curiosity killed the cat’s computer

image Ok, so installing the pre beta-version of Windows 7 that we got at PDC on my work computer maybe wasn’t the brightest idea ever. There were simply too many things that were half-baked, and prevented me from using the machine. From the past tense used in this paragraph you’ve probably by now deduced that I went back to Vista.

At least the following things happened during my brush with pre-beta Windows 7:

  • Random BSD:s
  • Hanging when resuming from standby or hibernation
  • Windows Explorer crashing every now and then
  • For the first time ever, a crash (ending in a bluescreen) that made it impossible to recover a Powerpoint document I was working on
  • Problems installing applications
  • Files becoming broken when copied over my home network (or copies failing for no obvious reason)

I’m not 100% sure all of these were just Windows 7-related, but the evidence is compelling.

Now, this doesn’t mean that I don’t like Windows 7. I do, and I can’t wait to get to use it.There were a lot of nice things in there. The improved Windows Explorer, for one (especially the library-feature). The presentation mode selector. The window docking. Better configuration experience (although there’s way too many icons in the Control Panel now that they’ve been relocated there). The non-polluted icon tray. Better network configuration tools. It improves the computing experience in several small ways, just like Vista did over XP.

Anyway, one should never give up, so I’ll be back when they release the first proper beta version of Windows 7. Which should be around Christmas this year.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

First post from Windows 7

My Vista had gotten a serious case of bitrot, and since I got pretty hyped up at PDC 2008 I decided to take the plunge and install Windows 7 instead (the pre-beta build that was handed out at PDC).

I have to say that based on my first impressions everything seems to have gone smoothly. I haven’t installed all my applications yet, but everything I’ve tried so far seems to work. The computer in question is my HP 2701p Tablet PC, and I’ve not even had any driver trouble yet (despite this being an HP). When something goes wrong I’ll blog about it…