English
30 April 2009
Wednesday night I attempted to upgrade to Ubuntu 9.04, and the update did not succeed. My Linux partition thus became inaccessible from Linux, so the next day I installed Ext2fsd so I could access my files from Windows Vista.
Later that day I finally got around to installing the beta version of Windows 7 on my laptop. (I had downloaded the DVD image a couple months ago; Microsoft no longer allows downloads.)
I really like it. The taskbar combines the functions of the Quick Launch and the traditional taskbar (although one can simulate a traditional taskbar as well). The windows have more transparency, and one can set the desktop background to a slide show.
Many applications have been changed. The calculator now has an integrated unit converter. WordPad and Paint use the same ribbon interface as Office 2007. Windows Movie Maker looks a lot simpler to use (I only briefly looked at it; I haven’t used it yet), and Windows Live Mail is the best mail and feed client I’ve ever used.
The operating system runs quite smoothly. I think my previous Ubuntu install must have accumulated too much cruft, as it was running quite slowly. If I can manage to get LaTeX working as well on Windows as it did on Linux, I’ll continue using it as my primary OS.
Two things I miss in Windows are the tabbed file manager and the smooth Chinese font rendering, but these shortcomings are small enough to live with.
Photo: My old Google blog in Google Chrome on Windows 7. Note my preferred taskbar settings as well as the transparency of the windows: you can see the blue of the desktop background behind the title bar.
Update: I currently have an aversion to Microsoft. Windows 7 may be better than Vista and XP, but I’m completely fed up with it—I recommend Mac OS X or Ubuntu Linux instead. But that’s another post.
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