I thought it might be nice to do a little round-up of what folks are saying about Windows 7 after today’s keynote here at the PDC in Los Angeles. I’d like to share some of the best ones we’ve found so far. We’re not trying to “toot” our own horn here – many of these folks are extremely critical of what we do with Windows so what they say is very important to us.
This is what Ed Bott from ZDNet had to say:
This loaner machine certainly doesn’t feel like it’s running pre-beta code. It’s wicked fast and eerily quiet thanks to a solid state drive. In a very long day’s worth of use it has yet to crash or display any of the flaky behavior you might expect from a beta.
Ed, it was a pleasure seeing you again at PDC!
Peter Bright at ArsTechnica says:
Windows 7 may not change much under the hood, but the extent of these interface changes makes it clear that this is very much a major release.
That was from Peter’s post that has enjoyed the top spot on Techmeme today for most of the day.
Lance Ulanoff from PC Magazine says:
It (MSFT) ignored the advice of dozens of pundits and is now playing out a script that, in the end, could make the company look like a band of geniuses.
Well, let me ruin the surprise up front. Windows 7 is Windows Vista done right. If you’re already a fan of Windows Vista, you’ll love Windows 7 because it’s a better rendition of that earlier OS. If you’re a Vista hater, take heart: The makers of Windows 7 have reevaluated virtually everything about Vista and made changes small and large across the board. The result is a better Windows, no matter how you slice it.
Today was Paul’s birthday – at least according to his Windows Live profile. Happy birthday Paul! Paul has been doing “exhaustive” reviews of Windows for a while now.
In the day and a half I’ve spent using Windows 7 on a Microsoft-provided Dell XPS M1330 machine preinstalled with Build 6801 of the OS, I’ve found its polish and performance a world away from the first Longhorn build I tried out at PDC 2003. At this point, Windows 7 feels more like a second beta or an early release candidate than a developer conference sneak peek.
Andre Da Costa from ActiveWin says:
It’s safe to say I am overwhelmed, overjoyed and most of all excited about Windows 7. This is the release of Windows everybody has been waiting for, it’s what Vista was meant to be and beyond that. Windows 7 puts the user first… This is an upgrade I am looking forward to and you should too.
Robert McLaws from Windows-Now says:
The Sunday before PDC, I was given the opportunity to join about 200 other journalists for a workshop on Windows 7. Lead by the dynamic (as well as unusually candid and often very self-effacing) duo of Mike Nash and Steven Sinofsky (surprisingly enough, he didn’t try to have me killed… sweet!), we were given a six hour tour of the much anticipated follow-up to Windows Vista. I didn’t know what to expect, and I walked away with the feeling I got after seeing Longhorn for the first time. yes, I believe it was just that good.
Both Windows-Now and ActiveWin are Windows Featured Community members.
Wilson Rothman from Gizmodo says:
…even the early build of Windows 7 feels like a fast, stable environment. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes to make the OS more usable, one monumental improvement being how video memory is allocated for unseen windows. (Hint: It’s not.) The result is a highly responsive machine that gets decent battery life.
Now that folks have the Pre-Beta build of Windows 7 and with WinHEC coming up – we expect to see ever more discussion from folks on putting Windows 7 to the test.