Admittedly, I’ve been running Windows 7 Gold in the best-case scenario: I clean installed it on a late Vista-era 64-bit machine with plenty of processing power, 4GB of RAM, and very good video. I’ve been using it since a couple days after RTM. And here it is: Windows 7 Gold is pretty sweet. It’s fast, it’s well thought out, there are lots of nice touches. It’s too early to call this, but I think it’s going to be very reliable too, like XP has been.

Allow me a little digression that will get back to why I like Windows 7 in the end. My first and primary Win 7 test machine was set up as a dual-boot with 64-bit Vista Home Premium. I used Paragon Software’s Partition Manager 9 to repartition the drive to make space to dual-boot Windows 7 beta and RC1, wiping the prerelease code between each install. When Win7 RTMed, I went through the same process, but decided to give Win 7 a bit more partition space. Partition Manager 10 was out (with improved 64-bit support), so I ran that instead to change the partition size. I was able to install Windows 7 without issue, but within a couple days the Vista partition headed south. And nothing I did could resurrect it. And then when I went to reinstate my Acronis True Image Home backup of the Vista partition stored on an external USB drive, that too was corrupt.

My supposition: Even though Partition Manager 9 was supposed to support 64-bit, it could only do so from its boot disk. I think the problems dated back to the original partitioning. Partition Manager 10′s boot disk can’t do full-fledged partitioning any longer, either. And that was the last straw for me. I did some research and switched to Chengdu Yiwo’s Easeus Partition Master Professional edition, which set me back $31.96. Even though Easeus doesn’t technically support Windows 7, my Vista partition was gone by then. The Easeus support forums showed that many people had used it successfully with Windows 7. I didn’t have much to lose. So I installed it in Windows 7 and it worked like a charm. I formatted the Vista partition just for grins and then deleted it and resized the Win 7 partition so that it took up all available space. (Side note: Partition Magic users will be *very* familiar with Easeus Partition Master’s UI.)

The repartitioning effectively transformed Windows 7 from Drive F: to Drive C:. Plus there was no boot manager, since it had previously resided on the Vista partition. And this is what the whole exercise was for: I wanted to see how Windows 7 would handle this situation. It wouldn’t boot on its own, of course. But when I inserted the Windows 7 Gold disc and let it do its thing, the Repair facility is especially well crafted and understandable (not that Vista’s was vastly different). It fixed the problem without even a glitch.

Something like that gives you great confidence in your OS. In all regards, Windows 7 has left a favorable impression on me. If Vista had been Windows 7, who knows, I might not be typing this on a Mac right now. That’s how good Windows 7 is.

But I don’t want to leave a false impression. That horse really has left the barn. There’s no contest for me between Windows 7 and Snow Leopard. It’s Snow Leopard. But Windows 7 is the most impressive OS Microsoft has ever produced.

I have a Lenovo 2.0 GHz Core Duo that’s even slower than the Dell. I’ve had Vista on that machine both in beta and in the final version since it shipped. That’s my next Win7 victim.

For me, Win7 Beta 1 was a performance disappointment compared to how other reviewers raved about it. It was clearly slower than the earlier Preview release.

I have sometimes found the shipping version of Windows code to be a little slower than the last RC. I felt this was the case with Vista, for example. So I want to caution that it’s not a done deal yet. True performance testing should only be performed on gold code. And I’ve only reported impressions so far.

But I’m optimistic, now, that Windows 7 is going to be a positive experience.

I’d even go so far as to say that in my subjective testing, Windows 7 RC1 is faster than the PC World benchmark that I blogged about a couple of days ago would lead you to believe. Hands on, RC1 tests out closer to XP than to Vista. If that winds up being the case, it’s the single most important factor for Windows 7 — and Microsoft will have achieved its first real win in quite some time.

Speed Test: Windows 7 May Not Be Much Faster than Vista – PC World

– Scot

Not based on any information from the software giant, my bet is that Microsoft will release to manufacturing (RTM) some time in August. Microsoft is going to want to prime the pumps as early as possible for the holiday season this year. The earlier it ships, the more time it gives OEM PC makers to put together an array of Windows 7 models that are well designed for the new operating system.

In fact, RC1 is so put together that a late July release is not totally outside of the realm of possibility. If the economy begins to pick up even a little this summer — as some economists predict — PC makers may see some pent-up demand for new computers begin to reveal itself. Microsoft has a much better chance to compete against Windows XP and Macs from the lower end of the model lines with Windows 7 than with Windows Vista. So if the economy shows any real signs of improving, expect Windows 7 to get hustled out the door. But I hope Redmond sticks to its guns and gets Windows 7 as right as possible. Even an early September RTM is not the end of the world, but I doubt it will go that late.

I have so far installed Win7 RC1 on only Vista-class hardware, but I will soon be installing it on older hardware to make the XP comparison. In case you missed my earlier assessment, Windows 7 is hands-down better than Vista. But what if you want to clean install a much newer version of Windows on fairly powerful XP-era hardware? I think that’s something more people may be considering than was typical in the past. So I’m going to assess that (as I have done with earlier releases of Win7). But that will have to wait for a later post. I’m working on it.

Zoom in on RC1

Usually when we get to the second major release of a new version of Windows, most of what I’d be writing about is features, features, features. But Windows 7 isn’t really about features. It’s about fixing what’s wrong with Vista and a general refinement of the operating system that appears to be XP-like in its attention to detail. Please be clear, Win7 isn’t really much like XP. That’s not what I’m saying. But Microsoft spent a lot of time getting XP right, and rather than adding lots of features, Microsoft has been focusing on getting Win7 right. This is what reviewers mean when they say that Windows 7 is what Windows Vista should have been.

For those of you who want to know in some detail what’s new in Windows 7 RC1, you’re in good hands with my friend and colleague Preston Gralla, who was among the first to release an indepth review of Win7 RC1. As you’ll see when you read that story, the what’s-new quotient is not that impressive — in my book, that’s not only okay but preferable. The last thing needed is any more bloatware. What Vista needs most is to go on a diet and follow a workout regimen aimed at getting smaller, lighter, faster. Windows 7 doesn’t go as far down that path as I’d prefer, but it’s very clearly a large step in the right direction.

There is one surprising new feature recently announced for Windows 7, the Windows XP Mode add-on that will be offered in the more expensive business- and geek-oriented versions of Windows 7: Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise. This feature is a version of Virtual PC that comes with Windows XP that will be specially crafted to work as invisibly as possible in Windows 7. Its purpose is to allow business users to install apps that might not be compatible with Windows 7 in an XP virtual machine that appears to be running in Windows 7. Although it has not been released yet and is not part of Win7 RC1, Microsoft has created some web pages that give you a visual sense of Windows XP Mode.

I doubt that Windows XP Mode will be installed by default. It’s being developed, in part, by a different team at Microsoft and a version of it will probably be an optional add-on that might not even be part of the Win7 installation process. Of course, OEM PC makers might choose to pre-install it. But by developing it that way, Microsoft will not slow down the release of Windows 7. Microsoft will need some way to update it, as a result, and update it selectively based on version of the OS you purchased. Perhaps that method is Windows Update, and if so, I could be wrong about it not being an installation option. The key point: As a fairly late add-on to an otherwise minimalist version of Windows from a new-features perspective, Microsoft will likely not have lots of test data on this feature by launch date. So expect early updates.

The addition of XP Mode is a smart move, even so. It gives Microsoft a ready answer to the software compatibility issues that Vista faced. I’d like to see the same type of creativity applied to hardware support.

Hands-on RC1

The Win7 RC1 experience has been, well, uneventful for me. I clean installed the product on my 64-bit Sony Vaio notebook, and there’s really very little to note. With one exception, everything I’ve tried — including networking — is working at least a little bit better than Beta 1 did. The installation process is still the best one Microsoft has ever devised. It’s not really fast, IMO, but it has been designed to minimize user input and run automatically all the way through once that input has been entered. I’d have to rank the Windows 7 installation process as easier and better than that of Apple’s OS X 10.5 operating system, which requires far too much user input.

The one sticking point I’ve had is with the hardware pack. For whatever reason, Windows 7 doesn’t properly recognize and install drivers that support power management functions specific to my Sony Vaio’s chipset. The computer runs fine without this driver. And in Beta 1, I was eventually able to get Windows 7 to find and install the right driver from Windows Update (though this took several days). After more than a week, Windows 7′s Troubleshoot control panel was finally able to detect the problem and identify the name of the Sony support driver that I needed to download and install. Unfortunately, Sony’s support drivers block installation on anything but the OS they were originally designed to work with — in this case, 64-bit Windows Vista Home Premium. I tried using Windows 7′s OS-version spoofing tools (right-click the file to be run or installed and choose Troubleshoot Compatibility) but Sony’s installer wasn’t fooled. In fact, the entire proprietary system hardware pack that Sony offers with this Vista-based Vaio will not install under Windows 7. I was willing to risk a toasted Windows 7 installation. Sony was not willing to let me. This isn’t Microsoft’s fault. But why doesn’t the driver pack have this basic stuff in it? Sony is a top-tier PC maker.

This is the kind of stuff that Microsoft needs to get right in Windows 7. Beta 1 was able to solve the same problem without my having to download anything from Sony; RC1 was not. Preston Gralla experienced a similar backslip of hardware support on a video driver. On the flip side, Windows 7 is pre-release software, so I can’t be too hard on Microsoft for a relatively minor hiccup. The reason I’m making a point of it is that the theme of hardware becoming less well supported in the late phases of the development cycles has occurred in every version of Windows since Windows 98 Second Edition. Hardware support gets worse, not better. That was certainly true of Windows Vista.

But with that, you have my sole criticism of Windows 7 RC1. And I suspect that Sony will eventually resolve the issue in my case by releasing Windows 7 versions of its drivers and software utilities.

My assessment of Windows 7′s ability to get Microsoft back in the game remains the same as it was when I assessed Beta 1: On 64-bit Vista hardware with 3GB or 4GB of RAM, thumbs up! When I compare XP on fast XP hardware and Windows 7 on 64-bit Vista hardware with more than 2GB of RAM, I would take Windows 7 over XP. What remains to be seen is whether I would buy a copy of Windows 7 for decently equipped XP hardware. I made the decision to skip Vista as a general upgrade to all systems on that hardware. I was not in favor of Windows 7 Beta 1 on my circa-2006 Dell Inspiron with an Intel Core Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, and a video subsystem that has no problem displaying Aero. Beta 1 did not seem noticeably faster than Vista to me, and XP is the clearly the better option. But will RC1 change that outcome?

More on that to come when I’ve had a chance to do the requisite research.

If you’ve been reading Scot’s Newsletter of late, you’re probably aware that I’ve been giving Windows 7 a close look. Several of my stories have been about Windows 7 performance. Since I’ve been more critical than most on that point — using what I consider to be typical hardware for Windows XP users (the vast majority of Windows users) — I decided that I needed to approach the question of Windows 7 performance from a different perspective.

To gain that perspective, I bought a new Windows 7 testbed. I selected the Sony Vaio VGN-SR290, a notebook that is very similar in many ways to Apple’s new MacBook in size and features. It came with the P8400 Core 2 Duo running at 2.26GHz, 3GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470 with 256MB of adapter RAM and an HDMI port, 13.3″ LED display, Firewire 400, DVD/RW drive, two USB 2 ports, and so on.

Perhaps the most significant difference between the late-XP era hardware I’ve tested with in the past and the notebook PC I just bought is that the new one is an x64 machine with 64-bit Windows Vista Home Premium. I upgraded the Vaio’s RAM to 4GB shortly after I received the computer.

The first thing I noticed about the Vaio is how fast and stable Vista was on it. This is the only good Vista performance experience I’ve ever had. Even before I upgraded from 3GB to 4GB, 64-bit Vista felt as fast to me as 32-bit Windows XP does on lesser hardware. I don’t consider that to be Vista vindication, to be honest. Other OS makers manage to deliver new versions of their operating systems without requiring significantly better hardware. By the time Windows Vista shipped, most of the best advances that Microsoft had touted during the Vista development process had been stripped out. The value proposition wasn’t good for me and many others. There wasn’t a sufficiently compelling reason to invest in new hardware to support Vista properly. But it’s good to finally run Vista the way Microsoft hoped it would operate.

To test 64-bit Windows 7 Beta 1, I split the disk into two partitions using Partition Manager 9 from Paragon Software, backed up my Vista partition using Acronis TrueImage Home 2009, and installed Windows 7 cleanly on the second partition.

[Note: I was forced to use the "recovery disk" versions of both Partition Manager 9 and Acronis TrueImage Home 2009 to carry out these tasks. TrueImage Home worked fine with Vista but doesn't support Windows 7. I believe both products use a Linux-based UI offering their program functionality when booting from a disc. The Acronis boot-disc software is especially well done. I wasn't able to discover why Partition Manager required me to boot from disc to work with Vista. I presume there's an issue with 64-bit Vista, although incomplete contact with Paragon Software implied that might not be the case.]

The installation of Windows 7 was uneventful and complete. It’s the best Windows installation experience Microsoft has produced to date. Several of the Vaio-specific hardware functions (such as trackpad scrolling) weren’t properly configured, which was to be expected. Even so, Windows 7 is running well, and the forthcoming OS did a good job of configuring the Vaio’s specific Intel mobile chipset and some of the Sony stuff on its own. Although few hardware makers, such as Sony, offer any Windows 7-specific drivers yet, Windows 7 does a better job of managing driver issues than any previous version of Windows.

I’m going to endeavor to test this more objectively, but my initial impressions of Windows 7 performance on the Vaio are both very much the same and very different. Windows 7 startup and shutdown times — a trouble spot for Vista — are subjectively faster than Vista’s. But in all other aspects, performance of Windows Vista and Windows 7 on this machine seems to me to be about the same. Remember, I raved above about how well Vista runs on this hardware, so I’m not damning Windows 7 with faint praise. But I’m also still not noticing a significant performance difference between Vista and Windows 7 on up to date hardware.

The way my initial impressions are very different is that, compared to how well Windows 7 runs on XP-level hardware, 64-bit Windows 7 runs lickety-split fast on brand new 64-bit hardware with 4GB of RAM. It is easily as fast as XP is on the hardware of its era. Overall, taking in the entire user experience, I’d choose Windows 7 running on this hardware over XP. In case you hadn’t noticed, that’s high praise from me.

The caveat is that I had to pay $1,200 to get this hardware, not including the cost for commercial software that I need. In my case, that means Microsoft Office. That also doesn’t include the RAM upgrade. The specific Vaio I purchased was also discontinued a couple of weeks after I bought, so it was on sale at a lower price than its replacement, the VGN-390.

For a couple of years now, we’ve seen thousands of debates on forums and in blog and article comments about Vista vs. XP. Vista is a pig! It runs great for me! In the end, it appears to me that both sides are correct. Vista is a pig on XP-class hardware — even on high-end XP hardware. But that’s not apparent on 64-bit hardware properly designed and equipped to run Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate.

Based on what we know now, Windows 7 is likely to be a more compelling upgrade than Vista was. Time has marched on, and two-plus years later, Windows XP, approaching eight years in age, is getting long in the tooth. There are fewer negatives, such as UAC, with Windows 7. I think we’re all ready (whether we know it or not) for a new Windows operating system. Security issues alone drive that consideration. So even though Windows 7 is not a significant features upgrade over Vista, new features aren’t what we’ve needed anyway. What many Windows users have craved is a leaner, less annoying, more usable Vista. Based on 64-bit Windows 7 Beta 1, that’s what Win 7 is. Let’s hope the final version of the new Windows stays on track.

I still think Windows 7′s performance and reliability improvements over Vista are modest at best. A lot of this is about the 64-bit versions of Windows, which can address more RAM. It means new hardware for most people, which may cost a bit more than 32-bit hardware (it certainly makes sense to grab at least 4GB of RAM). But for those who jump through those hoops, it looks like a solid, enjoyable Windows experience awaits. And the overall experience is better with Windows 7 than with Vista.

Finally, if you’ve been following the problems that I and others have experienced with Windows 7′s HomeGroup, there’s some good news there, too. When I ran the HomeGroup initialization on the Vaio, I started by turning on my Dell Inspiron Windows 7 test machine and placing it next to the Vaio. The Dell already had HomeGroup running on it (which had earlier been unable to connect to a virtualized installation of Windows 7 on yet another computer). The Vaio found the Dell’s HomeGroup right away and I was able to connect with it exactly as Microsoft intended. The result was pretty dramatic too, all Mac and Windows computers on my network (a lot of machines) were immediately visible in the network browser on both Windows 7 machines. I haven’t tested this extensively yet. I need to spend a couple hours checking every connection against every other connection to draw hard conclusions. But I am finally able to see HomeGroup in operation. And it does hold some promise.

More to come as soon as I find more time to test various aspects of Windows 7. I’m also looking forward to testing Windows 7 RC1 when it’s released.

Have there been memory footprint, background services refinement or elimination, or other performance/reliability changes made to the core of the OS that is Windows 7? We’ve been told in the past that the kernel has not been changed from Vista. But Windows 7 is supposed to run properly and well on netbooks. And reviewers all over are saying that Windows 7 is faster. The enterprise guide (online) says that performance is a key tenet for Windows 7. What has been changed in Windows 7 that makes it faster, more reliable, or gives it a smaller memory footprint?

I also asked whether Windows 7 contains “MinWin,” the somewhat romanticized slimmer, componentized version of the Windows kernel, an effort that began with the Windows 2003 Server product. Speculation about the inclusion of MinWin in Windows 7 was fueled by stories like this one in Softpedia.

Microsoft, through its PR agency, released the following brief statement to me as its only meaningful response. The company is gathering information for the press about Windows 7 technical changes and is not prepared to give me an interview on that subject yet. Redmond offered this basic statement about MinWin and the notion of major kernel redevelopment for Windows 7, for now:

“MinWin isn’t anything formal. It isn’t even necessarily a thing as much as it is a design tactic. It is an informal word describing the goal to increase the componentization of the OS through combining common binaries within the core of the OS. This is something that was first mentioned in 2003 and the idea has evolved to present day. So the basic answer is no, Microsoft didn’t create a new kernel for Windows 7. Microsoft is refining the kernel architecture and componentization model introduced in Windows Vista. This means our ongoing efforts that started with Windows Vista will increase the independence of individual components without changing the functionality of those components. This makes it possible for Microsoft to make future changes to specific components more quickly than before because the effects of those changes will be better isolated. These changes will increase engineering agility, and keep the user experience intact without application-compatibility issues.”

Here’s how I read this statement: Microsoft’s biggest concern in saying that Windows 7 has a revamped kernel is that enterprises will be concerned about software-compat and even possibly device-driver issues. That was one of the big enterprise sticking points for Vista. The overriding marketing message from Microsoft has to be that Windows 7 will be compatible with software and drivers that run well on Vista. The “design tactic” that MinWin describes is a pretty major revision to the Vista kernel. I applaud the design direction, though. It makes total sense, and it really might reduce compatibility issues. I also believe that performance may well be improved by this “refining of the kernel architecture” in the final release of Win 7.

What’s more, performance has to be a strong underlying design goal for Windows 7. Code bloat and performance slow-downs have been an essential part of the Vista experience for millions of end users — and that has been a large factor in lackluster Vista sales. The word of mouth hasn’t been good. Microsoft has conceded, internally at least, that it has to make Windows 7 perform more like a sporty car than a four-cylinder pickup truck. It’s the message within the message, but it’s more of a consumer message. As such, Microsoft is probably content with the early performance buzz it’s getting from the public beta. But I suspect we’ll hear a lot more about Win 7 performance as we get closer to the ship date. But I would caution you not to be too sucked in by the gee-whiz “reviews” of Windows 7 we’ve seen to date.