The next version of Microsoft’s flagship desktop operating system has been given the more conventional name, Windows 7. Although it is intended to be an improvement on Windows Vista, the upgrade will not have the Vista name in its title.
In fact, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer has stated that the operating system is “compatible” with Windows Vista. It is expected that the compatibility being promoted has to do with drivers and application usability. Therefore, if a user is already using Vista, Windows 7 will work on the user’s current system and so will their applications in theory.
At one level, Microsoft is recommending the installation and use of Windows Vista as a step toward Windows 7. However, in many small businesses, the negative public perception of Vista is preventing taking the extra step thereby waiting for Windows 7 in order to get around the perceived problems with Windows Vista (Movaje experiment not withstanding).
Naturally, small business users are intrigued by the potential for their daily work performance seeing an improvement through an upgrade in technology. So, does Windows 7 offer that desired improvement?
A ZDLabs reviewer compared the performance of the initial Windows 7 beta 1 with Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3 in 23 tests measuring such things as installation time, boot time, shutdown time, large file transfers, opening files, and file extraction.
The results were very clear with a high-end PC. Windows 7 finished first in 21 out of the 23 tests. It finished second in only two categories: burning DVD’s and installing Office 2007.
With a budget machine, the results were very similar. Windows 7 again led in 21 of the 23 categories. However, the two categories where it finished second this time were moving 100MB file and moving 2.5GB files under load.
Windows Vista finished first in 3 of the 46 tests and Windows XP finished first in 1 category.
Does this mean that Windows 7 is the best operating system? Not necessarily. However, the fact that the first beta is performing this well at a point where development is usually focused on stability rather than speed is impressive. In most cases, the final code is faster than the beta version.
In any case, there’s much to be discovered with respect to the usability features. A new improved Taskbar, Jump Lists, and Internet Explorer 8 are all part of intended upgrades in Windows 7.
Further review will determine if these features coupled with improved operating system performance make a compelling case for small businesses to upgrade. At least, Microsoft is off to a fast start this time.
