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Oct. 22, 2009
Today marks another important day in the history of Microsoft, as the software giant officially releases
its new Windows 7 operating system.
According to most of the research and product reviews we've seen so far, Windows 7 appear to be stable,
smooth and some would even say refined.
The software behemoth is trying to introduce new graphical features to Windows 7, a new taskbar that can
better compete with the popular Mac OS X and improved device driver management. There are even some
security enhancements that make it both easier to use and safer for PC users.
After all, Microsoft didn't really have a choice. It's latest operating system, Vista (originally named
LongHorn) didn't do well at all. In fact Vista turned out to be a big embarrassment for the company. Vista
was too slow, was memory and CPU hungry and had so-called "new and improved" security features that instead
annoyed most of its users.
What's more, and this is probably more good news, is that Windows 7 won't even require the many hardware
upgrades that Vista needed, partially because the hardware is now better and also in part because Microsoft
has made sure from the beginning to design Windows 7 accessible to as many people as possible, and whether
or not they keep their old computers and trade them for a new one.
The public testing process for Windows 7 involved only "limited-availability beta" and one release
candidate, and constituted what some have called the largest shareware trial period ever, even for Microsoft.
Some think that Windows 7 is the "official" successor to Windows XP that Microsoft wishes Vista had been
right from the start, and finally places it on competitive footing with other major operating systems like
Linux in the server environment
and Apple's OS X.
Unlike XP, Windows 7 will support both 32-bit and 64-bit bus systems. The bare minimum requirements for the
32-bit include a 1 GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM, 16 Gigs of available hard-disk space and a DirectX 9
graphics device controller with WDDM 1.0 or a higher driver.
For 64-bit systems, they will require at least a 1 GHz processor as well, at least 2 Gigs of RAM, 20 Gigs
of free space on a hard drive and a DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver. A
touch-screen monitor is required to really take full advantage of the native touch features.
Actually, Microsoft is offering up to six versions of Windows 7: Starter, Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate,
OEM and Enterprise.
The three versions that Redmond will be promoting most heavily are Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate,
although Starter will also be available to consumers.
It's still unclear for now how agressively the Redmond company will try to promote the Enterprise version.
There's also no news yet as to if they will name the server edition Server 2009 or Server 2010. Some seem to
think that we are so close to the new year that Microsoft would probably do well by naming it Windows Server
2010 Standard.
Consumers can now buy a new computer with the operating system already installed, upgrade from Windows XP
or Vista, or do a clean install on a computer the user already owns. The clean installation takes about 28
minutes, but that of course can vary a lot depending on the computer itself, the available RAM, CPU, whether
it's a 32-bit system or 64-bit, etc.
The upgrade procedure is different depending on whether you're running Windows XP or Windows Vista. Vista
users merely need to back up their data before choosing the Upgrade option from the install disc. Both XP
Home and XP Professional users will have to back up their data, then choose Custom from the install disc.
If you're not sure if your current computer can run Windows 7, you can download and run the Windows 7
Upgrade Advisor from Microsoft.
Custom will have the same effect as a clean install, although it'll save your old data in a folder called
Windows.old. Once you choose Custom, you'll need to select the partition of your hard drive that contains
Windows XP, and then follow the instructions to enter your product key and allow the computer to reboot as
needed.
Source: Microsoft.
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