Windows 7 Release Candidate Review
Part 4: Conclusions

<< Return to Part 3.

Back in January, when Microsoft shipped the Windows 7 Beta, I published a number of articles and blog posts about that release, as you might expect. One of the blog posts, Windows 7 is good, maybe even great. But it's not magic, was inspired by my decision to test the Windows 7 Beta on a two year old Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC), which I felt would roughly emulate the performance one might see on a typical netbook computer. (I didn't yet have a netbook for testing.) My experience, however, was poor. "I haven't watched Windows redraw the screen this slowly since the time I tried to install Windows 3 on my wife’s 14 MHz IBM PC back in the early 1990s," I wrote. "Windows 7 may really run better on lower-end hardware than does Vista ... But it is not magic and does not suddenly make near-obsolete hardware relevant again."

The post garnered an email response from Steven Sinofsky, the man running Windows 7 development at Microsoft. He suggested making sure I had the latest video drivers, but the versions on the PC maker's web site were older than those included with the Windows 7 Beta and, well, you know... Life goes on. I eventually did get an excellent Lenovo IdeaPad netbook for testing Windows 7, and of course the subsequent few months have been busy with interim builds and, finally, the Release Candidate (RC) build that is the subject of this review.

As you might expect, I had originally planned to publish the fourth and final part of this review a long time ago. However, I was also expecting to talk to Microsoft directly about this build and those plans were cancelled when the RC build leaked earlier than they had expected, causing a lot of scrambling over in their PR department. The days went by, and then the weeks, and then I found myself scrambling to get my latest book, Windows 7 Secrets, done in time for a suddenly constricted new schedule necessitated by Windows 7's earlier-than-expected delivery schedule (see below for details). In the process of writing the book, I've had to install and reinstall Windows 7 numerous times on a crazy amount of hardware. And at some point, very recently, I pulled that old UMPC out of the closet.

Was it possible, even remotely, I wondered, that the Windows 7 RC had improved matters enough to make this OS usable on this old hardware, a machine that was slow and out of date the day I got it over two years ago? I didn't think so, but I needed some UMPC shots for the book, so it didn't really matter. I fired up Windows 7 Setup on the device and got to work.

To my surprise, it runs just fine. Not just acceptably, it runs well. It runs as well on this little piece of junk as it does on a 2009-era netbook. This UMPC has an 800 MHz Celeron processor and just 1 GB of RAM. It will not accept any USB memory keys for ReadyBoost purposes, so there's no way to even improve the memory situation. But it doesn't matter: Windows 7 just runs and runs and runs. It runs well enough to play a full resolution H.264 DVD rip in Windows Media Player (windowed or full-screen) without a hitch. In fact, I brought the thing to the gym Friday and watched 30 minutes of that movie while doing some cardio. Perfect.

So. Here's a mea culpa to Sinofsky and company. Maybe Windows 7 really is magic.

Of course, making grandiose claims like that can get you in trouble. And that brings me to another thing that's been on my mind lately: I often find my experiences at odds with the conventional wisdom. A radical example: I recall being one of the few people who had positive experiences with Windows Me (what the heck, check out my review), which featured a number of first-ever Windows technologies that we now take for granted. Chief among these was driver rollback, which actually saved me from a complete reinstall once. (Previously, video driver could screw up your system so badly, you'd actually have to reinstall Windows.) But Windows Me was also the first Windows version to include System Restore and Automatic Updates. People forget that. But they remember what a bomb Windows Me was in the market, and how vocal its detractors were, so it must have been bad. And I must be an idiot for suggesting otherwise.

Windows Vista is another one. Windows Vista isn't nearly as bad as people think it is, and I've always been very upfront about that. Sure, the original version was comparatively big and slow, but it was supposed to be big and slow because Vista was going to be that version of Windows that finally stopped trying to please the least common denominator and actually require new, high-end PC hardware. When people whined that it didn't work well on their 2004-era XP machines, I just had to wonder. And let's face it, whatever performance issues Vista really did have--and there were a few, including a nasty network file copy slowdown--were all fixed with Service Pack 1 (SP1), which, by the way, has been available for well over a year now. Anyone complaining about deficiencies in Vista now is largely parroting obsolete opinions or just ignoring reality. Sure, compared to Windows 7, Vista falters. But it's like a breath of fresh air compared to Windows XP. This is all as it should be.

As with Windows Me, that Windows Vista has allegedly not sold well (the last time this came up, Microsoft claimed it was selling at a faster rate than did XP at a similar point in its life cycle) has no bearing at all on its quality. And having actually used the darned thing over a long period of time, I don't see the need to change my stance on Vista. It's fine, thank you very much. And anyone claiming otherwise in the tech press is just looking for cheap hits. Vista is low-hanging fruit in a world that's been conditioned to hate it.

I take these and numerous other similar experiences forward whenever I review anything, and of course as I look at Windows 7 and find only minor things to nitpick about, I begin questioning my own experiences. How could this thing possibly be this good? Am I somehow just seeing my hopes and wants in this release? Is it possible that I'm missing something?

So I've waited. Waited for the inevitable bug or widespread issue to pop-up. You know, that one thing we could all point to later and say, yeah, that's right. They really needed to fix that thing before they released Windows 7. You know, something bad.

It hasn't happened. Not really. There is a sporadic Explorer stability problem that has affected one of my PCs and several readers' PCs, but I've heard nothing official about this and, frankly, it's not really happening anymore in my experience anyway. There was a bug in the 32-bit version of the Windows 7 RC that Microsoft subsequently fixed--Ed Bott called it a "doozy" but it never really amounted to anything from what I can see, and Microsoft's quick fix suggests that we can safely keep looking. There seems to be a fairly obvious Flicks bug in Windows Touch- and pen-based systems that reverses the motions for Back and Forth. I mean, we're really reaching here, people.

So. With the Windows 7 RC now broadly available to anyone who wants it, there's been nothing. Nothing major, certainly. And that verifies my opinion of this thing, which is of course not just framed by my experience with this one build but rather with my ongoing experiences, over several months, with numerous pre-RC builds as well as the final RC build. Windows 7, in its current state, is so stable, so mature, and so usable that its almost unbelievable. You know, if I hadn't seen it for myself.

I've been using Windows 7 as my primary OS since last year and as my sole production OS since the RC hit. (At which time I upgraded my remaining XP and Vista machines to the Windows 7 RC build.) I have experienced no major hiccups during this time at all. And in treating Windows 7 as final code, I've found that it has risen to the challenge by responding like final code. It is now, in pre-release form, in roughly the same shape as is Windows Vista with SP2. And that OS first shipped over two and a half years ago. This deserves some mention and some accolades.

Looking ahead, there are some discussions to be had about the historical perspective of Windows 7, and how it fits in the Star Trek movie-like good/bad release cycle of Windows versions. There are nits to pick, especially around the non-intuitive new taskbar and Microsoft's decision to hide things in a manic bid to push simplicity about all else. But you know what? This is all academic. I'll do it because I have to. But I can tell you already that this thing is there. Sure, its' "Vista done right" if you're cynical. But let's be fair, Microsoft could never have delivered this OS in 2006. Windows 7 is the sum of Microsoft's experiences from both before and after the release of Vista. And that system's public reception, fair or not, weighs heavily on this release. And we all benefit from it as a result.

For the first time in a while, I'm excited about Windows. And this time, I'm not alone.

Timing and availability

The Windows 7 Release Candidate is now available to anyone that wants it via the Microsoft web site. (As are related betas for Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode.) Microsoft says that it will leave the RC up through the end of June, so you've still got plenty of time to find out for yourself what virtually everyone who's tried the RC has discovered. This time, Microsoft got it right.

Microsoft also says it will finalize Windows 7 in mid-August and deliver it to the public in time for the 2009 holiday season. I can tell you, however, that the general availability date is a lot more specific than that: You'll be able to get the final version of Windows 7 publicly on October 15, 2009, according to the current schedule.

Mark your calendar.

--Paul Thurrott
May 8-17, 2009

My rating

Windows 7 RC Review

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: User Interface Changes
Part 3: Other Changes in the RC
Part 4: Conclusions

Windows 7
Release Candidate

Windows 7 RC Review
Windows 7 RC Review, Part 2
Windows 7 RC Review, Part 3
Win7 Product Editions Comparison
Windows 7 RC Screens, Part 1
Windows 7 RC Screens, Part 2
Windows 7 RC Screens, Part 3
Windows 7 RC Install, Part 1
Windows 7 RC Install, Part 2
Windows 7 Starter RC Screens
Win 7 Home Basic RC Screens
Win 7 Home Premium RC Screens
Win 7 Professional RC Screens
Windows 7 RC Preview

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Windows 7: Need to know
Review
Product Editions Comparison
Product Editions Overview
Availability
Pricing
FAQ
Screenshots

Install and upgrade guides
Windows 7 Clean Install Screens
Upgrading to Windows 7: Intro
Upgrade from XP to Windows 7
Upgrade from Vista to Windows 7
Clean Install with Upgrade Media
Windows 7 Upgrade Scenarios

Feature Focus series
Feature Focus Home
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Aero Shake
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Internet Explorer 8
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Windows 7 Multi-Touch
Media Center: Netflix, Internet TV

Commentary
A Look at the Windows 7 Ads
Is Windows 7 Enterprise Ready?
Making the Business Case: Win7
The Fat Lady Sings
Windows 7: The New NT?
Windows 7 Starter
Windows 7: Windows Touch
Rescue Me: Win7 Compatibility
When Should Business Deploy 7?
Windows 7: Choice is Good
Windows 7: Simple vs. Easy
Windows 7: What's In A Name?

Shipping Seven
Part 1: January 2008
Part 2: April 2008
Part 3: Microsoft Speaks
Part 4: Pre-PDC Presentation
Part 5: From M3 to Beta
Part 6: Public Beta
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Windows 7 vs. Snow Leopard
Part 1: Oh, It's On!
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Windows 7 Secrets
I don't just know Windows 7, I wrote the book! Check out my latest book, Windows 7 Secrets!

But wait, there's more!
Visit my Windows 7 Activity Center to view every Windows 7 article I've ever published, dating back to 2007. And check out my Windows 7 posts on the SuperSite Blog!