Windows 7: The almost-there operating system

Windows 7 might be ok for some users, but I don't think it's ready for the desktop.

As someone who recently moved from XP to 7, my review can be summed up as "it works".<p>Feels just as fast as XP, and the new UI is a neutral/positive change. The best feature is the configurable systray settings (always show, always hide, hide but show notifications).<p>Admittedly, I use my desktop for video games and internet, and 7 seems to work great for that (as opposed to the launch version of Vista).<p><i>edit</i> Forgot to say that "good enough" may not be good enough to restore faith in Windows for those burned by the Vista launch, but if you bought a new computer and it had 7 no tears would be shed. That alone might be enough to keep users.

However, certainly the best version of Windows so far. The MathML you can understand - MS wants to sell Word 2007 to lots of student's who don't want to "bother" learning LaTeX.

<i>The official rationale is that it is not the firewall’s job to block malicious applications from accessing the network</i><p>Then what is it?

Windows 7 backup is horrible. I tried to backup my 200 GB of data to a NAS drive. After 5 hours (35%) it just stopped. No reason. No explanation.

Dang, when the thing people complain about in an OS is the "math input panel" and the "sticky notes" apps, I'd say the OS must be pretty freaking perfect.<p>I can't believe you couldn't think of anything more substantive to mention.

Isn't the reason why Microsoft's OS is always "almost-there" the fact that they have the US government (and every tech competitor) looking over their shoulder every second, analyzing every new feature to make sure it doesn't sqaush some poor helpless competitor?<p>It's the reason we went 5+ years without any browser innovation, and it's probably the reason why we don't have a <i>good</i> built in Firewall, Anti-Virus or even paint application. Some of it might be MS protecting their software partners (which is ok in my book) but if I had big brother analyzing every move I made, I wouldn't spend millions building something only to have it excluded because some whiny EU/US politician think it's unfair.<p>I don't think it's fair to criticize MS for half-baked features when you realize that they <i>need</i> software makers to stay happy, and they <i>need</i> big brother to keep their nose out of their tech.<p>MS doesn't release it's own PC (ala Apple) because they can't or don't know how, they don't because it would piss off Dell/HP and the politicians who represent the districts where those companies reside.

If they had added a working backup solution everyone would be up in arms accusing them of anti-competitive behavior.

Is 35 hours to back up 500GB over USB actually unreasonable?

Former XP user who upgraded to Windows 7 here. I am hugely impressed with Windows 7 and the annoyances listed here are valid complaints, but on the whole extremely minor.<p>My big complaints are: 1. Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 is a horrible experience if you made the mistake of buying an upgrade license. 2. Windows 7, presumably borrowing from Mac, does a lot more to hide details about errors from the user. Maybe this makes the computer less scary (questionable IMO, but at least arguable), but it /definitely/ makes it more frustrating to diagnose and fix problems.