<i>What's so great about Windows 7? For starters, it offers everything you want in an OS: Programs load and run quickly, your computer pretty much never crashes, and the system mostly stays out of your way.</i><p>It's striking to me that a computer that <i>works</i> is striking to PC users.
This is annoyingly slim on any details that would back up their assertions.<p>For instance, if programs are apparently fast, and searching is fast, could they not at least be bothered to measure this (versus Vista or XP, or running previously-known-to-be-slow programs, or even measuring a Mac)? Then there is the fact that <i>any</i> clean install makes a system feel snappier for awhile; let's talk again in 4 weeks and see if everything hasn't become dog slow.<p>And the rest of the article reads like someone who just wants eye candy. 3rd party programs have been able to customize the bells and whistles of Windows for some time, and they don't cost the $200-$400 that a new Windows would.<p>I do not know if Windows 7 is a great OS, but I do know that this article isn't making that case in any meaningful way.
I'm bothered that the tagline is "Windows 7 is the best operating system on the market" then goes on to say "Now the two operating systems are roughly equal." So, which is it, then? Is Win7 the best, or is it now simply on par with OS X?
Maybe it was just my system but I actually found Windows 7 to be pretty buggy. It blue screened on me any number of times and finally refused to load completely (despite trying every possible recovery option). Otherwise, it was great, very polished and a pleasure to use but I couldn't take the crashing and I'm now on Ubuntu. It's slightly rougher around the edges but otherwise works at least as well as W7 (and better in some areas).
They pick some pretty bizarre metrics to measure 'best'.<p>The fact that Windows 7 still doesn't have a useful command line makes it pretty irritating to use. (And I have been using it since the RC was released.)
Somehow I'm not surprised that Slate would write a pro Windows 7 article. Slate was started by Microsoft. But I think they are owned by the Washington Post now.
<i>You'll still find a few of the niggling quirks found in Windows versions past. For instance, the OS still requires "activation" by a 25-character code, an anti-piracy measure that annoys legitimate users while doing little to crush actual pirates.</i><p>rofl