There seems to be a lot of talk going around about Windows 7’s pending October (ish) release. Will programs compatible with Windows XP still work? Will people care enough to switch? Is everyone scared after Vista? Will everyone finally upgrade their PCs to support the new OS?
I tried the Windows 7 beta for about 15 minutes, and found no reason to continue. Still a Start button equivalent. Still interacting with Windows in about the same way. Still the menu equivalent hidden in obscure places like IE7 and Office 2007 running on XP.
The reason I think it’s largely irrelevant is the majority of work done in a typical office is with an Office (Word, Excel) equivalent application and most of the rest is web-based software. Sure there’s helper applications like managing tasks, appointments and e-mail, but this can be found on any OS. Along with sharing documents and printing - again, found on any typical OS. Web applications for the most part being OS independent.
If the new OS offered fundamental usability changes then perhaps it might be worth the switch. Things like the ability to scroll a window without having to click and focus first that I’ve been getting used to in Mac OSX. I didn’t notice any such changes in Windows 7, Windows has been working pretty much the same fundamental way since 3.11 for Workgroups.
Am I way off base? Can a bunch of flashy marketing really make people shell out money to get a new look to the icon that runs Internet Explorer and Firefox, or is there something about Windows 7 I’m missing? I guess we’ll see in the fall.