Video: I Like Windows 7 as Much as OS X (#642)
Posted on: October 9, 2009
Posted in: Video
Posted by: Cali Lewis
Shownotes:
This episode has a verbal easter egg…
Kylie likes it. Mossberg likes it. Maximum PC says, “Windows 7 is unquestionably the best version of Windows … ever.” CNET says, “Windows 7 is stable, smooth, and highly polished.” Gizmodo gives permission to, “Upgrade without trepidation, people. With excitement, even!” I second that emotion, Windows 7 is not only a worthy upgrade, I’ve had as much fun using Windows 7 this past week as I did when I switched from PCs to Mac.
I did a clean install on a Gateway One with an Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz processor and 3GB of RAM. Installation took about 45 minutes and was a much smoother, welcoming experience than when I upgraded to XP and installed Vista on our Mac Pro. With XP and Vista, it felt like Microsoft was still trying to sell me the OS after the install. Activation seemed like an obstacle course before. With Windows 7, it was simple and only took a few seconds.
One of the things most users hated about Vista was the never ending warnings. With Windows 7, those checks to make sure I really want to do what I’m doing don’t seem to be happening any more often than they do on a Mac. Things that aren’t immediately critical, but that need to be taken care of none-the-less, like installing anti-virus software, await action in the Action Center located in the Task Notification area. The Notification area is also where you can find security settings, maintenance settings, troubleshooting and it’s where you can restore your computer to an earlier time.
The Taskbar does much of what the Dock does on a Mac, but it does it in a way that seems more sensibly restrained than it’s Mac counterpart. If you open an application, it’s icon shows up on the task bar just like before, but if it’s an application you use all the time, you can permanently “pin” it to the dock, and arrange the order as you like. Hovering over an icon gives you a preview of any or all of its opened Windows. Then, and I LOVE this, if you move your mouse over one of the preview thumbnails, it expands to full size. The full-size view remains on the screen as long as you hover over the thumbnail, and then if you click the thumbnail, that window stays opened.
If you right click an item on the taskbar you’re given what Microsoft calls a jump list. It’s a list of things you can do in that application and it’s my understanding that developers decide what they’re going to put there, so if I right click on Safari or Firefox my only options are to open the window, pin or unpin the application to the taskbar, or close the application, but if I right click on Chrome, I have more options, like links to my most visited and recently closed sites. Engadget is such an important site I can permanently pin it to my Chrome Jump List.
Aero Peek is a little shortcut that makes your windows transparent when you hover over this little rectangular space on the right end of the taskbar. Clicking the box hides all the open windows, and then clicking again brings them back. This is the first thing I wish Microsoft had handled just a little different. What I get between the hover and the click is too similar to be truly useful. I don’t see the point of transparent outlines of my windows. What I’d rather see when I hover over the box, is shrunken versions of all my open windows like the Expose feature in OSX.
Aero Shake is one of the fun things you can do in Windows 7. You realize you have too many windows open. You need the zen simplicity of a solitary window. Grab that one wanted window at the top, shake it and all the other windows are minimized. Shake it again after your moment of zen and all the clutter returns.
I preferred using a Mac for about four years now, but one Windows feature I’ve always missed when I’m using OSX is the ability to tile windows. I rarely want to tile more than two, but I often want to have a google docs window open on one side of the screen and a browser open on the other. With Windows that’s always been easy, but on a Mac, unless I’ve missed something, you have to manually size the two windows and manually arrange them side by side.
Windows 7 still lets you right click and tile from the task bar, but now there’s feature called Snap. Grab a window at the top, throw it to the right side of the screen and it snaps to fill exactly the right half of the screen. Take a second window, throw it to the left and then you have two equally balanced windows where you can work side by side. Snap also works when you want to maximize a window so it fills the whole screen. Just drag it to the top to maximize and pull it down when you want to work with multiple windows at the same time.
Now lets just put that whole Vista thing behind us. Lets all pretend that never happened. PC users finally have an operating system that’s a joy to use. The Apple “I’m a Mac” ads might not make sense anymore. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not giving up OSX for Windows 7. I will continue to use both, but now I can enjoy using both.
Brief 642 was brought to you by AngiesList.com/geek. More than one million consumers use Angie’s List to find high quality contractors, service companies and doctors they can trust and my promo code will save you 25% when you join the list.
Background picture provided by StuckInCustoms.com.
UPDATE: I do realize there are some apps for tiling on a Mac, but I think that should be built in, and the couple apps I tried didn’t work.
Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts
Win+Left/Right arrows: Dock the window to each side of the monitor
Win+Up arrow: Maximize the active window
Win+Down arrow: Minimize the window/Restore the window if it’s maximized
Win+Space: All windows are made transparent so you can see the desktop
Win+Home: Minimize all windows but the current window
Windows 7 Reviews
Gizmodo: http://gizmodo.com/5330609/windows-7-review-you-can-quit-complaining-now
Engadget: http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/12/windows-7-review
Mossberg: http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20091007/a-windows-to-help-you-forget
David Pogue coming soon, I hope!
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October 10th, 2009 at 12:16 am
Prior to a Windows 7 RC installation, I used the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor to make sure that my graphics hardware was Windows Aero capable. Hope this helps.
October 10th, 2009 at 1:25 am
If you want something that does the same thing as the tile/snap window resize in windows 7, check out
http://www.irradiatedsoftware.com/
I find it especially useful with a widescreen monitor
October 10th, 2009 at 3:17 am
I find it quite funny to complain about missing builtin OS X window tiling while showing us Windows 7 footage that was filmed with a camera in front of the screen because obviously Win7 doesn’t have builtin screencapture software, like OSX has….
Also, while it is correct that with default settings Windows 7 does ask less often for a security confirmation than it did in Vista, every real geek should mention that this was only achieved by lowering the default security settings, i.e. if Win7 is set to the same security setting as Vista, it will also ask equally as often as it did before. Or the other way around: on default settings, Win7 is less secure than Vista.
October 10th, 2009 at 8:20 am
This is my first video of hers and seriously WTF! IS she that much of a fangirl! No more no thanks!
October 10th, 2009 at 8:23 am
“Hi I’m Cali Lewis and I’m a PC.”
October 10th, 2009 at 8:41 am
Wow I just got a my first mac for my birthday. I am looking forward to running 7 on the mac with vm ware….. I have been testing 7 for the last 6 months and it is the real deal… I really love it.
October 10th, 2009 at 8:42 am
Win7 looks ok but just like all older versions of windows after a month or two it starts to get real slow. Come christmas you will be of another opinion trust me :)
October 10th, 2009 at 8:43 am
I have used Windows 7 for months and like it a lot – the title bar tricks you mention are great and the taskbar acting more like the OS X dock is excellent.
Don’t get carried away, though, this still has many of Windows’ flaws.
High prices and multiple versions.
Mediocre speed. It is vastly improved over Vista, but the time from when you boot until you can actually do something is still too long. I often start my XP virtual machine rather than 7 because it is just quicker. It is, however, fast enough to run acceptably on netbooks, which is huge for Microsoft.
Annoying activation/authentication routines. Want to upgrade your laptop’s hard disk? Be prepared to call Microsoft, read them a million digits and convince them that you are not stealing their OS.
Buying a new machine and want to move your existing applications over? Be ready to reinstall everything. Want to move your apps to a different directory? DOS could do this, Windows has problems.
Most importantly, the underlying rot of the registry is still there. Your system will bog down and become unstable over time, and reinstalling Windows will be an annual routine as usual if you install and test out many apps.
When my Macbook was out of commission for a few days, I noticed how annoying using 7 was, even though I think 7 is by far the best version of Windows yet. I particularly missed Spaces and Spotlight.
October 10th, 2009 at 9:03 am
Wow your all a bunch of fanboys! Aweful!
October 10th, 2009 at 9:17 am
@Aggie It’s funny that this is your first video because most people think of me as an Apple Fangirl. I do love my Macs, and like I said I won’t be switching, but I give credit where credit is due. :)
@Bob D you have some valid points there, yes!
October 10th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Been using win7 for a few months and like it very much. I just got Win7 Ult from microsoft and a fresh install took 19min. I have a Macbook air but find myself using win7 more.
October 10th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Heresy! Like all versions of Windows, it will eventually (probably soon) reveal its faults.
October 10th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
I started using Win7 a few months ago, and my initial reaction was essentially the same as yours – its probably the first version of windows I’ve actually like using! But, as some have already mentioned before I got the chance, don’t hold your breathe, because after a few months it starts to show its true colors. I finally got tired of 7 and went back to xp after that point. IMO, if you are looking for speed and responsiveness (which I am above all) nothing beats xp, and the bloat of aero is significant. Granted, Aqua has some bloat of its own, at least to me, it’s not quite as bad as Aero.
And honestly, people who think anyone who says anything bad about windows makes them an Apple fanboy/fangirl, you are pointing the finger in the wrong direction. Some of us actually have honest judgements and can see the flaws and advantages of both sides, as opposed to thinking you must pick one side to devote your loyalty too.
October 10th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Use both OS10 Snow and Windows Vista 64 on my MacBook Pro (monster machine). Anyway. I love Vista after turning off the prompts and will love 7 even more. I am starting to wonder why MAC OSX is even useful? I spend most of my time on my virtual Windows machine because OSX is so clunky with applications that really work (i.e. Outlook).
The MacOS freaks out there will hate this but MacOS is a toy, windows is a neccesity… I am a power user on both.
`apexadam – Apple/PC user since 1985
October 10th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
You can view two windows at the same time with out resizing them on OSX. There is a very handy application called twoup http://www.irradiatedsoftware.com/ You can use this to view 2 windows together just with keyboard shortcuts! Very handy when moving files.
October 10th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
tried win7 on a netbook. first impressions count and i think it is just ugly. too flashy with big ugly buttons taking up too much screen space and cpu wasted with all the flashy effects. a desktop should be clean and simple. the mac os desktop is very nice in this respect. not flash. just simple and it works.
the restrictions that have been mentioned online over the past while have put me off further. no windows classic mode. cheapest version unable to change back ground image. i know i’ll be getting calls in a few weeks from poor sods who’ve been lumbered with this rehash of vista. they’re on their own.
i’ve used windows since win386 but have been using macosx at home for the past 3 years on a mac mini. nothing here to make me switch back. though starting to dislike the security prompts since upgrading from 10.4.
while i like macos i can’t make myself buy a macbook as i hate the lack of buttons on the touchpad. not a fan of multitouch. if you want to zoom in and out just have a button with a + or – on it.
so next portable will have to be a netbook running ubuntu. at least i can convince that os to do things as i want. only thing missing from ubuntu is itunes as you need itunes to set up a new ipod or iphone.
October 10th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
I don’t understand the security prompt hate. I use Vista and it comes up when software needs to be updated. And yes, it’s annoying on a fresh install, but I turn it off during that. Afterwords, it does exactly what it’s suppose to do.
It’s so rare to see it, I don’t understand why people are bitching about it. OS X is just as annoying, have to enter in a password for installs and can go as far as the system preferences, too. Again, turn it off when doing your initial setup, and you’re golden.
If you’re worried on a PC about “OMG it’ll get infected instantly!” you can always pre-download most of your software, do the main installs, turn on UAC and then connect to do system updates.
@moylan big ugly buttons? the only one I see is maybe the “Windows Button.” The taskbar you can change back to XP/Vista style, or enable auto-hide. I don’t see this any different than the OS X dock.
I’ll agree that all the different versions of Windows is ridiculous. I understand they have a huge market to cater to, but how about Windows Home, Business, and Server… that’s it. This whole windows starter thing is absurd.
October 10th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Yes Windows 7 is finally a windows that is useful. I like the aero of vista, and the performance of XP its truly a OS to write home about.
Its also nice that it will be much cheaper to buy on OCT, 22nd when it comes out!
Well done Microsoft well done.
October 10th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Cali, why is it so effortless for you to forgive Microsoft for the Vista era? How can you overlook the root of the problem, which is that Microsoft does nothing in the service of you, the user. They have proven for two decades that your experience means nothing to them. I don’t care if Windows 7 has 26 more features that make it more useful than OS X, my dedication is to the company who has shown time and time again that it mobilizes its resources in the service of me, the user, and not exclusively monitization by deciding the next step based on the best profit model.
For people who have always used Windows, rejoice, for your experience will now be what ours has been for a decade.
For those who have used Macs, observe, Microsoft has begun to catch up after two short decades of our ever-changing technological landscape.
October 11th, 2009 at 12:54 am
I like 7 but I am definitely not as excited as others seemed to be.
I also don’t share the same opinion that others had of Vista. IMO Vista was a huge improvement over XP but poor marketing and poor reputation damage control by Microsoft gave it the undeserved Windows ME 2 reputation. In reality other than the annoying popups and making me install programs as an administrator when I already am, other than those two issues I thought Vista was pretty cool.
7 seems like Vista with just a few enhancements that seem long over due. And compared to Mac OS upgrades, 7 seems a bit too expensive. IMO – the move from Vista to 7 should be around $50.00 range. Fixing popups and better windows management does not warrant $200 from my wallet.
Just to put some perspective on the pricing though,,, it is still hard to argue bang for the buck when comparing a Windows machine to a Mac. Last year I was finally ready to give a mac a try, that was until I priced the machine I wanted. I finally ended up with yet another PC and the reason was because I was able to get a Dell i7 64bit Vista machine with 6GB ram and a smoking video card for close to $1,000.00 the equivalent Mac was more than $4,500.00.
When apple finally makes there machines affordable I will be first inline, until then I am fine with PC (Vista or 7).
October 11th, 2009 at 6:17 am
@Mojo66
dude, do you hate windows that much….? Of course windows 7 has screen capture software you idiot! Don’t talk about stuff you don’t know….also based on your logic about Windows 7’s security, isn’t OSX even less secure?….
October 11th, 2009 at 7:17 am
No name calling, please! :)
October 11th, 2009 at 8:05 am
Like a few other people have mentioned SizeUp by irradiated software http://www.irradiatedsoftware.com/sizeup/ is great for tiling windows. I use it mostly to be able to maximize a window to full screen but you can also use it to resize to half a screen or a quarter of a sceen and easily change which half or quarter it’s on which is something windows tiling cannot do
October 11th, 2009 at 11:35 am
I was in the midst of buying a laptop, but because of the launch, I have either to wait or to buy and install later since they have this “Free Windows 7 Upgrade”. Having been hearing all the good things of Win7, and not been hearing the same for Vista, I have been faithfully using WinXP on my laptop since 2003. It’s time to make a switch for my new i7 Laptop with Windows 7! :)
October 11th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
@Francis879: ok, it seems I haven’t made myself 100%, although everyone who had watched the this episode should know what I was talking about, which was actually screen *recording* software. While Snow Leopard comes with built-in screen recording funtionality through Quicktime Player X, to the best of my knowledge Windows 7 does not offer this feature out of the box.
Also +1 to Christian Baptiste. IMHO Win 7 is a slightly better Vista Service Pack, and therefore should go for $30 like Snow Leopard did.
Oh, btw, is this new law already in effect that basically says that reviewers have to disclose if the subject of a review has been sponsored ?
Sorry Cali, I love your show but IMHO there’s nothing geeky about Windows. And that is partly because of the heritage of the OS, but also because of the way Microsoft has treated Windows users.
October 11th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
And you’re perfectly entitled to think that! I hope you can understand, though, that I can’t possibly pass up doing a show about Windows 7, especially as I got tons of requests to cover it. :)
October 12th, 2009 at 12:41 am
Hi Cali, could the easter egg be your usage of the word “Microstof” around 0:48 in the video? :)
October 12th, 2009 at 12:43 am
Haha! Yep. :)
October 12th, 2009 at 6:14 am
Ouch, Cali — where do I start!?
In a recent ITIL training I attended, the concepts of Utility and Warranty were discussed, the former being a measure of how useful a service or product is — whether it does what’s needed — and the latter being a measure of how reliably it performs — whether it’s there when you need it.
Most of the utility Windows brings to the table, it copies from Apple. This has been known for a long time by those honest enough with themselves to look into the matter. Yes, sometimes they may make some changes (some better, some not) to the features they poach from Apple, but the fact remains that Apple is still the de facto R&D department for Microsoft, Dell, and HP, just to name a few companies that couldn’t innovate if their share price depended on it. (Luckily for them, there’s always someone to copy.)
As Bertrand Serlet (http://is.gd/4fpLF) so eloquently put it in this year’s WWDC address: “Underlying Windows 7 you have the same old technologies: DLLs, the Registry, Disk Degragmentation. No end user should ever have to know about that.” He goes on to list other issues.
We all know who’s the clear winner here in terms of Warranty. If a virus or malware attack doesn’t eventually take down a Windows machine, its own poorly engineered kernel will do itself in eventually. My employer handles dozens of server reboot requests per week in its data center. Want to guess how many are Windows servers vs. how many are Unix-powered?
Until Microsoft takes a radical step like the one Apple took in migrating from OS 9 to OS X — completely reinventing Windows from the ground up with no more dependence on the broken NT “technology” of the mid-1990s (loosely based on VMS, incidentally) — their OS line will continue to be inferior to OS X (even Linux, these days) on the desktop and Unix/Linux in the data center.
I appreciate your affinity for all things shiny and happy, Cali, and your obligation to cover its release for the benefit of those in your viewership who will be forced to use it. And this latest release may indeed put a few of Vista’s UI problems to rest and look sexier than past releases (thanks, again, to their borrowing Apple features, for the most part). However, what you have in W7 is a shiny container filled with… well, let’s just say less than desirable contents with which you’re probably familiar as a dog owner.
Just my 2¢. /* End rant. */
Shawn
October 12th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Hi Cali ,Reading some comments You know you are in a darn if u like win 7 darn if u dont position….
Anyways, Went looking for walt mossbergs article, and wow did he ever like win 7…
He basically says the days of saying Apples OS is
better than Win OS is pretty much over.Reading comments on his site it seems apple users are
not ready to accept His, yours, engadget,maximumPC, Leo Laporte and many others favorable reviews…These are people we trust to be honest with their reviews.
It would have been very easy to give a bad review which was probably expected and even encouraged by fellow apple users.You could have focused on the negative like some of the above comments but you saw the OS for all the positive and changes it made since XP and Vista which is commendable. Like Mossberg states:
…. ” it’s much more of a toss-up between the two rivals. Windows 7 beats the Mac OS in some
areas, such as better previews and navigation right from the taskbar, easier organization of
open windows on the desktop and touch-screen capabilities. So Apple will have to scramble now
that the gift of a flawed Vista has been replaced with a reliable, elegant version of Windows”….
I also tried the win 7 RC1 and found it a joy to use, so much i purchased two licenses…One
for My older PC and one for my Mac.
No OS is perfect as many are quick to point out not even my OSX….But now you truly got the best of both worlds for your work & Play… Love the show.
October 12th, 2009 at 10:58 am
Hi Cali,
you stated in your article ….” What I’d rather see when I hover over the box, is shrunken versions of all my open windows like the Expose feature in OSX.” ….
well that feature is also in windows 7…click & hold the “Alt” key and tap the “Tab” key to scroll through thumbnails of open apps, or mouse over to show full size of thumbnails . It works very well .
Thanx for your review…… I agree with you, I also am enjoying Windows 7…
October 12th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Brandon .. lol If that’s what you think a solution/alternative is to expose, then you have much to learn what expose is.
October 12th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Hey Cali,
On a completely different note, the consensus of my students was that you looked particularly gorgeous in this brief. Did you change the lighting or something, or was it just a really good hair day??
Regarding the Win 7 debate, about half of my students are currently running the beta version on their machines, and no one had anything bad to say about it. They all think it is Microsoft’s best effort so far, even the hard-core XP users.
For those of you whining about Cali’s presentation and enthusiasm; that’s exactly what keeps so many of us coming back to her site regularly. She shows us new tech hardware and software and shares her opinion with us in a fun and interesting way.
October 12th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
If it isn’t Unix or some POSIX flavor thereof, I don’t want it. Period. End of sentence.
.
EOT
October 12th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
@Johnny… . I was just giving Cali a tip that alt tab combo did exactly what she was looking for, yes it works like expose..But since you brought it up, I think its you thats need to learn what alt tab does in windows 7, If you have never used it I think you should try it…..It could be debated which is better so Lifehacker compared Aero Peak w/ alt Tab Vs Expose..You want to guess which one was chosen as the winner…follow the link:
http://lifehacker.com/5277207/windows-7-versus-mac-os-x-leopard-the-feature+by+feature-showdown
scroll down 1/2 the page and read & watch the ” Alt Tab” Feature in action, you might like it …They finish this comparison by saying: ” Aero Peek still wins, hands down” ..In case you dont want to follow the link here are some of the results that you probably also wont agree with on lifehacker …
Windows Taskbar versus Mac Dock-Winner: Windows 7 Windows taskbar
Windows 7 Aero Peek versus Exposé?Winner: Aero Peek
Windows System Tray vs Mac Menu Bar Winner: Windows 7 System Tray
Leopard’s Time Machine vs Windows Backup—Winner: Leopard’s Time Machine
I use both Apple & Windows and have no problem saying like many Apple reviewers that win 7 is a very good, even as Mossberg put it a elegant version of Windows…. It literally is a ” toss up” they both have pros and cons .It is a win for anyone that chooses to use windows or apple…Thats all i will say on this subject……Take Care
October 13th, 2009 at 9:22 am
My favorite keystroke for the Mac is [Cmd][Tab] ([Alt][Tab] for Windows) to switch between applications for multi-tasking. I don’t care for Spotlight and quite dislike Dashboard, the latter running as a set of background processes that I don’t have much use for. Another favorite for the Mac is [Cmd][Option][r][p] to reset the PRAM (parameter memory). [Cmd][Shift][q] is another I use once or twice every 24 hours or so to close all applications and log out of my machine (old habit from the days of TTY terminals). I enjoy Mac key-mappings for their simplicity, but in some cases, find the two-button mouse bindings in Windows easier than the combination keystroke and mouse-action bindings of the Mac. I’m also fond of the “Run” command of Windows from the ‘Start’ menu because it reminds me of DOS and Unix shell commands.
October 19th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Looking to setup Mac OS X finder windows, side by side, on the fly?
Check out FiWi. Free to try 99 times. 99 cents afterwards :-)
Can’t believe Don McAllister didn’t tell you all about it. :-D
http://wordpower-software.com/WordPower/fiwi.html
October 19th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
to Brandon.
I’ve used win 7 . I was using the beta for while and have used the {alt tab} and it works well for having just a couple of windows open but if you have about ten windows or more then expose is so much more efficient.
of course opinions only hold so much ground!
October 22nd, 2009 at 9:31 am
How can y’all fault Microsoft for trying to improve? And of course some aspects of Win7 look Mac-like, I think Microsoft realizes that Apple has some great ideas, just as Apple realizes that Microsoft comes up with other idea that are just as good, so why not take advantage of it? Look at OS X, Apple realized there was something better than their classic OS so they changed direction and have a better product to show for it. Do MacFans complain or do they simply appreciate Cupertino trying to better their product? Microsoft is just doing the same. I have used Apple and PC equally since they both were first introduced, and throughout all those years, one has been better at one thing and the other better at other things. The best solution I have found is a bootcamped Mac so you have whichever you need in one machine.
And while I am at it, how about some cudos for Cali for being open minded and honest. Too many people in both camps get bogged down in brand loyalty and miss the fun of enjoying both!