Spoken Like a Geek » Windows 7

Windows 7 vs. Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Neil Thompson — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:03:09 +0000

Well to date I have upgraded two machines to Windows 7 and I have to say that the whole thing has been a pleasurable experience. Not only has it breathed new life into a couple of old machines but also I am liking the improvements that have been made. I particularly like how you can drag a window to one side of the screen and it will automatically resize to fill 50% of the screen.

However, there is been a bit of a change at Thompson Manor with the addition of the first Apple Mac machine, a MacBook Pro to be precise, and this has given me a real opportunity to finally make a comparison between the two rival operating systems.

Mac is famous for, amongst other things, its ease of use and so I was confident that I could get to grips with it reasonably quickly. Oh contraire! What I have actually found is that my 15 odd years of working solely with Windows is acting against me. I find myself having to reach for Google to find out how to do the simplest of things that are just second nature to me in Windows.

So, for example, my initial problem was how to cut and paste – how on earth do you do it from the keyboard? That was quickly resolved.

Next, how do you take a screen grab? In Windows you press the Print Scn button and bingo the screenshot is copied to the clipboard. On a Mac there is a sequence of key presses that do the same thing but I am yet to learn them and, for a more complex screenshot, seem to require the dexterity of a concert pianist.

And don’t get me started on that keyboard. Where is the #? The Del is missing altogether and why are the @ and the “ in the US configuration? You wouldn’t think that you could miss the hash key quite as much as I do. It is the keyboard short cut in GMail to delete a mail and pressing alt+3 just doesn’t work.

That’s not to say that there isn’t plenty to like about Snow Leopard – the name is better for a start! But I do begin to wonder how many people are simply blinded by their familiarity with one operating system or another and, in fact, that they are both very close to each other in usability.

Any Apple fan boys out there want to chip in?

Installing Windows 7

Neil Thompson — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:50:09 +0000

Well I am still on Windows XP despite having had two copies of Windows 7 for a couple of days now. The problem stems from the fact that the version of Windows 7 I want to install on my XP machine has been downloaded (legally) but I need to run it from a DVD as a fresh install. You would think that this would be no problem but the files arrive from Microsoft as an exe and a couple of box files. This are expanded out into the disk contents on your hard drive but that is useless if you are wanting to do a fresh install.

So began my quest to find a way to get these files onto a bootable DVD. First port of call was Microsoft who helpfully told me to go back and purchase a backup DVD from Digital River (how I made the original purchase from). Humm, not what I quite had in mind. I then turned to my colleague James who quickly had found this article which walks you through the process.

Now with this new found knowledge I am ready to do the business…

Isn’t this due on Thursday?

Neil Thompson — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:40:33 +0000

When I got home this evening there was a parcel awaiting for me. Much to my surprise it contained my copy of Windows 7. I had been told by the supplier (PC World) that they had been embargoed by Microsoft from delivering these before the official launch day of October 22nd. I’m not sure if this was a pre-emptive strike (every pun intended) to avoid any industrial action by the postal workers at the end of the week or just an act of kindness on the part of PC World. Either way it is gratefully accepted and expect me to be off line a few days while I rebuild my machine from scratch (gulp!). Wish me luck and see you on the other side!

Moving to Windows 7

Neil Thompson — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 12:25:46 +0000

So I have slowly been getting my PC ready for the arrival of Windows 7.

I have had my existing machine for about four years now and it is beginning to show its age with it being slow to start and, at times, sluggish in operation. The underlying architecture of the machine is still fine (P4 3.4 GHz & 2GB Ram) and particularly when considering how my computing requirements have changed over the last four years. All of this has led me to believe a fresh install of Windows is going to give the machine a new lease of life and that now is the time to move up from Windows XP.

As I said my computing requirements have changed over the last four years and I now spend the majority of my time using a web browser – hardly the most intensive activity. There are probably only two other applications that I use on a regular basis and these are iTunes and Microsoft Office. I have a separate machine for any development I might do which helps separate the load.

Taking into account all of the above I believe that my existing machine will still be able to cope with my requirements for a few years to come. It has required one hardware upgrade though and that is the addition of a new hard drive. I am increasing my hard drive usage at an alarming rate with more and more of my media going digital. So far this year I have added 25gb of mainly music and pictures – this is 10% of my total existing hard drive space and a full 10gb more than I added in the whole of last year. So I have added a second 500gb hard drive to complement the existing 250gb drive. I intend to put the OS and any installed programs on the smaller drive and all my media on the larger drive which is backed up both locally and online via Carbonite.

Only one thing remains and that is to see if the list of software I intend to reinstall on the rebuilt machine (see below) is all Windows 7 compatible. Carbonite is going to be interesting as they haven’t yet declared Win7 compatibility and when they do the location of my files will have changed. I am hoping that I don’t have to re-upload it again.

Does anyone have any experience of moving to Windows 7? Anything I should look out for? Leave me a comment and let me know.