Ten Things You Should Know about Windows 7

Author: Glenn Weadock

Abstract

There's a lot to Windows 7 - as one might expect, in a 17GB operating system! This Microsoft white paper offers ten tidbits will either get you off to a good start in your evaluation process, or perhaps suggest one or two areas for examination that you might not have thought about before. Warts and all, it looks like Windows 7 has a much better chance than Vista did of convincing organizations to upgrade from Windows XP.

Introduction

We're all trying to get to know the latest revision of the Longhorn platform, arriving in two different suits of clothes: Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. In this Microsoft white paper, I toss out ten things that you should probably know as you get familiar with the latest version of the Windows client.

1. There Are No Radical Changes
2. Windows XP Mode Runs Older Apps
3. IE Compatibility View Makes 8 Work Like 7
4. Windows Touch Needs Expensive Hardware
5. Libraries Will Require Training
6. Backup Is Better
7. Applets Are Growing Up
8. Windows 7 Is Huge
9. The Versions Are Still Confusing
10. UAC Is Still a Work in Progress

1. There Are No Radical Changes

The first thing you need to know is that Windows 7 does not represent any radical changes compared to its predecessor Vista. It's still Longhorn under the hood, just with some new features and some performance-tuned code for everyday operations. I've said before that Windows 7 is what Vista should have been, and nothing I've seen in Windows 7 changes my mind about that.

If you want proof that Windows 7 is basically a spruced-up Vista, open a command prompt. In Vista, you'll see a version number like 6.0.<buildnumber>. In Windows 7, it's 6.1.<buildnumber>. I can't refrain from commenting on the bizarre nature of an operating system whose name is "7" but whose version number is "6.1," although I'll leave the interpretation of that symbolism to the reader!

In fact, some of the more useful features of Windows 7 (Windows XP Mode, IE8 Compatibility View) have more to do with the past than with the present - they enable you to run applications written for XP, and view websites written for IE7. Thus does the continuing burden of supporting old stuff weigh down Microsoft's new operating systems. I'll bet that sometimes the Microsoft engineers wish they could just start fresh with a clean sheet of paper. (Actually, I wish they would do exactly that - the desktop metaphor has gotten awfully long in the tooth! - but I'm not holding my breath.)

2. Windows XP Mode Runs Older Apps

This capability is only available on Ultimate and Professional versions of Windows 7. It combines two downloadable (i.e., not-in-the-Windows-7-box) technologies: Virtual PC, which, frankly, I'm surprised is still around, given the far-superior performance of Hyper-V, and "Windows XP Mode," which is much larger (approaching half a gigabyte).

My suspicion is that after the IE6 fiasco with Vista (ever try running IE6 on Vista? No? Good!), Microsoft decided that it would be smart to provide a virtual XP system where Windows 7 users can run apps that refuse to run satisfactorily under Windows 7 natively. I put this in the "last resort" category: if you can't get an app to run using the various other tricks (such as the EXE file's Compatibility tab), then use Windows XP Mode.

It's not an elegant solution by any stretch of the imagination, because you're virtualizing an entire XP system in order to run an application that doesn't like Windows 7. But sometimes, an approach that works and isn't elegant is preferable to not having an approach that works!

To use "Windows XP Mode," you have to have virtualization support on your computer (we're talking Intel-VT on Intel motherboards and AMD-V on AMD ones). This shouldn't be much of an issue; most systems of recent vintage will have this capability. You also need gobs more disk space, according to Microsoft.

3. IE Compatibility View Makes 8 Work Like 7

In the same spirit as Windows XP Mode comes IE8 "Compatibility View." This is a special IE8 mode that interprets Web pages just as IE7 would. By default, IE8 runs in "Standards Mode" for Web addresses. Standards Mode adheres more closely to published Internet standards - something Microsoft has not always been known for, frankly!

To the right of the address bar in Internet Explorer is a button with an icon of a torn page on it (!). Pressing the button when in "Standards Mode" causes IE to activate the Compatibility View and record the setting for reuse when you revisit that particular domain. There's also a list of public websites that you can "opt into" when IE8 is installed. If you do so, these sites will be viewed in Compatibility View by default.

Related Courses

First Look: Windows 7 Beta for IT Professionals
Implementing and Administering Windows 7 in the Enterprise
Updating Your Technology Knowledge of Microsoft Windows XP to Windows 7 Beta