October 22nd, 2009
it’s been an eventful day: among all the breaking news about Microsoft signing a search deal with Facebook and Twitter, Google doing the same with Twitter and later announcing social search, one can easily forget that today is the day that Vista gets replaced by something better: Windows 7.
As we wrote earlier, the interest for the new OS from Microsoft has been huge, making Windows 7 the biggest pre-order item in the history of Amazon UK and a perpetual trending topic on Twitter. The reactions from users and reviewers have been mostly positive, but after the lukewarm it’s-ok-but-why-should-switch-from-WinXP attempt that was Vista, the fact that people can’t wait to get their hands on Windows 7 is hardly a surprise.
And, for the most part, it’s true. Annoying security features such as UAC have been fixed in Windows 7 (you can now manually set its annoyance level), the system feels speedier and more responsive (although it really isn’t that much faster when you actually measure it (for example, boot time on both systems is pretty much the same on my computer), but it feels that way, and it’s all that matters), compatibility issues have been fixed. In short, it’s more of a really, really good service pack for Vista than a new OS, but it’s definitely enough to switch from the eight year old Windows XP.
If you’re interested in making the switch, the price is $319 for Windows 7 Ultimate, and $299 for the Professional version ($219 and $199 for the upgrade, respectively). Windows 7 Home Premium will set you back $199, and an upgrade from either Vista or XP will cost you $119.
