Windows 7 on MacBook first look

Installing Windows 7 RC1 32-bit on my late 2007 MacBook was a piece of cake. Boot Camp manager created a 32 GB partition, installation from the DVD was quick and smooth, and the system was running nicely even without the drivers from Apple. The decision by Microsoft to release an almost complete product for free, with a one-year license, is a great opportunity to get used to the next iteration of Windows systems. Let’s have a look at it.

The first impression is important and Windows 7 makes a very good one. The new logo animation during booting is very nice. Then, you are welcomed into a pleasent desktop environment where everything from the tray icons to wallpaper fits into one style. One cool feature is the Show desktop button — you can hover it and everything will fade, or you can click it with the usual behavior of minimizing all windows.

I remember that tray icons always spread havoc in the looks of Windows, as the app makers make them in more juicy colors than you will find in a stack of magic markers. This problem has a cool solution of a pop-up window with hidden icons, and an additional tray manager to exactly define what should be displayed.

Other nice interface decisions include an improved 3D Win-Tab window switching. The traditional Alt-Tab also got a makeover, now with fade effects on the way. Also, the preview of hidden windows appearing when hovering on the taskbar seem to work quite well. Although it kind of feels too slow to benefit the workflow.

The hell must have froze over because Microsoft remade its basic apps: WordPad, Paint (!) and Minesweeper (!!!). It also added several essential mini-tools: Sticky Notes, Magnifier and Snipping Tool (great for MacBooks without the Print Screen key, like mine). I really like the new Paint, now you can make more than just silly pixelated drawings.

One strange decision was to remove image correction tools from the system Picture Viewer. They were a great help in fixing red eyes, color balance etc. I hope this will be fixed with some update, because it would be a real shame. Especially if paired with the new Paint, these two apps would make a nice combo for beginners.

Installation tips

Despite Windows 7 having concernes, Apple Boot Camp drivers installed just fine, both the 2.0 and 2.1 update — although that last one reported a problem with Bluetooth. The OSD controls work fine. The touchpad works, with double-touch vertical scrolling, but without finger-tapping clicking. Mouse/touchpad settings are in Device and Printers section. Yet again redesigned Control Panel is now even more confusing to navigate. And there’s no option to make it classic...

Be sure to turn off automatic updates. Set them to either download and wait for user choice or to just inform about them. Be cautious, because the updates are more likely to screw up your systems than they would on a regular PC.

There is not much malware for this new Windows, but it’s better to be cautious. Luckily, Microsoft teamed up with some of the major antivirus makers, and for example Kaspersky Lab released a preview of their new security suite for free, especially for Windows 7. Just select beta activation upon first launch of Anti-Virus 8.0 and you will have it running until November.

And if like me you forgot to change the name of the partition to something sensible and can’t stand the Untitled drive on your Leopard desktop, while in Windows just go to hard disk Properties in Computer and change the name.

Conclusions

In general, Windows 7 looks like Vista with a bit of style. It boots faster, seems to work smoother and delivers nice fireworks to the desktop. Although I don’t like the new ribbon toolbars, I might need to get use to them. Also, a pity that it’s often difficult to find anything anywhere — besides the desktop, this one really shows a designers effort. I didn’t work with it long enough to say more, but after first few days I think this one might really catch on and be the real replacement for XP. It just works — so far… Anyway, Leopard still remains my first, favorite system. But it’s nice to know I can switch to something that is not totally useless.

PS. Ah yes, I’m writing this from IE 8 and it works nicely too. Although it’s still cluttered with lots of useless icons in the tab bar. But works blazing fast. I’m a bit wow.