Windows 7 Impressions

My new PC arrived yesterday.

After a fairly major disaster in setting it up the first time around, I wiped it back to factory settings and tried again.

It's gone somewhat better the second time around.

Interface:

One of the things I like about Windows is that I'm familiar with the overall operation of a Windows system. It's been pretty easy to go from Windows 95 up through Windows XP. Not a vast amount of deviation in screen display and layout. It's moderately-easy to find where files are and where stuff is supposed to be.

Windows 7 complicates things with the "Dock", a toolbar of applications deemed to be of common use. It hovers over active applications at inconvenient moments, depending on where your mouse drifts and I haven't found it thus far to be terribly-useful.

The layout of "where to find what" is otherwise pretty much Windows. It's not easy for me to find the things that I'm concerned about. My old PC was very much customized with a lot of third-party software to make things run to my tastes. I haven't found an easy way to disable default Windows 7 functions to enable the software I want.

Compatibility:

Windows 7 does not play nice with some programs. Specifically it hates my Poser 3-D rendering program (though, to be fair, this program has hosed past machines) and it won't even load my older copies of Photoshop.

Other Impressions:

At this point, the line blurs between hardware and software. The new PC is fast, but that's what I paid for. My initial experience has been somewhat-soured by the fact that there was apparently a problem enabling my antivirus.

So the first time I fired-up a web browser (to download the Zone Alarm firewall, of all things), my system was hit with a nasty virus that hosed it fast.

It was pretty easy to reset everything back to factory settings. It was even remarkably-quick. That was probably 'cause the machine is so fresh and new.

I haven't had a ton of time to play with the new toy. I expect I'll have other reactions (and hopefully more positive ones) as the days pass.

I probably won't retire the old PC entirely. There's still things for which it has use.