In case you haven't noticed, Windows 7 Release Candidate is up for grabs starting today (5/5). Click here to go to Microsoft's Windows 7 website. At the outset, Windows 7 looks promising and may stand up to insider's talk - has all the eye candy of Vista without its bugs. Windows 7 will be a great product if it is anywhere near this aforementioned description. I think so because I have been using Vista since May 2007 and I should admit I haven't had much of headaches with it. Some of the User Account Control prompts are indeed very annoying. Though one can disable this feature through Control Panel, I'd hate to see the red 'X' shield in my system tray staring at me, as if my computer is prone to attacks. And there were some compatibility issues when I had to use my old HP all-in-one printer. My biggest complaint is the number and frequency of updates available. Almost every other day you will have a bunch of updates waiting to forcibly install on your machine. After 3 years of existence, one wouldn't expect these many 'Automatic Updates'. These installations (Remember Step 1 of 4 50% complete) extend the boot up time which gradually annoys users. But I think that is how it should be. I was surprised with Mozilla Firefox's updates. I have the automatic updates turned ON in my browser and I have noticed frequent security updates being installed. If a Mozilla browser would need so many patches, it is easy to understand that an operating system from Microsoft's stable will need infinitely more.
Anyways, there may be lots of other issues with Vista which I haven't experienced because I use Vista only at home for leisure. And the possibility that Windows 7 may address most of issues Vista has is encouraging news. Coming to the Windows 7 RC download, make sure you read all 'need to know' facts. Personally, I do not have the patience to toy with my existing OS, back up my data and in a way be a laboratory rat for Microsoft. On the other hand, the free version is valid through June 2010 and this is tempting. It feels good to have a peek at Windows 7 as is with any pre-release software. Still, I'd rather wait for the fully baked cake.
