Tech Review

Ohhh, circle-y menus.

Could I have said "no" to a free OS upgrade? Can Michael Moore decline a ham sandwich? Of course I was going to install Windows 7. My experience:

I decided on the 32 bit version as the only advantage I gleaned from this article, to having a 64 bit operating system was that 64 bit operating systems can utilize more system RAM. I don't think having to reinstall everything now and potentially be frustrated by incompatibilities later is worth 500MB of RAM for 64 bit apps that I don't own. Driver signing? I only buy name brand.

The download went smoothly- you can interrupt and restart it later, which I did once.

Installation. Uneventful. I had to burn two discs as the computer couldn't read the first. It took a couple of hours from disc insertion to boot.

Windows 7 looks different, but I don't really care about transparency, interface tweaks, or "gadgets" anymore. I open a program and use it. I didn't like the new Taskbar. I prefer the old Windows 98 Start Menu.

I could have dealt with all of those distractions and kept Windows 7 if it had worked. Unfortunately, it didn't. I wasn't able to open the Control Panel or right click and "personalize" the desktop (get rid of the effects). The internet worked. After a few searches, I read that the problem had to do with not activating Windows. Like a dummy, I didn't write down the key Microsoft sent me in the email and thus couldn't type it in when Windows 7 asked for it.

"OK, I'll just activate it. Hmmm, where is that 'activate' button? Maybe it's in the control panel. Doh!"

I type "activation key" in "help." One of shortcuts to the activation place was sure to show up.

Nothing.

So, I wrote down the key, went though the whole install process again, making sure, this time, to entered the serial number. The next time, the control panel opened...once. Then nothing.

Not like a dummy, I had backed up my C drive with the effective and free program Paragon Drive Backup Express.

I restored my Vista Business installation. Thus ended my dalliance with Windows 7.

I started thinking that perhaps OSs have become like spread sheets, computer processors, digital cameras, printers, and cell phones: Mature products that, in their current form, do everything that most people will ever use them for. "Maybe this is why people are buying netbooks."

Windows XP played games and rarely crashed. If no other operating system were ever released, 90% of the people on earth would never notice. That's why Microsoft currently focuses almost exclusively on windows turning on its axises and cool animations.

The one exception is stability. I'd buy an OS that's much more simpler visually if were also much more stable. I'm not sure that Windows 7 is that operating system.