Trying 7
When photo wizard and Apple connoisseur Michael Flux asked which software I use to manage the image files from the photographs made with my Canon 450D, mentioned that had actually just switched due to an operating system change.
After having happily used Mandriva Linux 2008.1 KDE for a bit and then Mandriva Linux 2009 Gnome for many months, decided to try out Microsoft Windows 7 RC on my Akari-chan.
(Yes, I nickname my computers, as I’m sure most otaku do.)
Read that fellow otaku Hikki actually just made the plunge into Windows 7 as well.
The new taskbar that combines quick launch and open windows into thumbnails you can pin to it may feel awkward at first but once you’re used to it, it’s quite practical.
Browsing over one of the program thumbnails that has one or more open windows will show you a smaller live view of that window, if you hover over it, it will even make all the other windows transparent, showing only that particular one as you can see below.
Let’s not risk this degenerating into a flame fest of people unruly praising or bashing any operating system, but face the truth. Speaking from professional experience as well as personal experience, all operating systems, be it Microsoft Windows, Apple OS X or Linux,… have their strong suits as well as their flaws.
Like Vash says: love and peace!
Hovering over the show desktop button now makes all open windows transparent to reveal the desktop. Cute, but I would still love a feature like Exposé which shows all open windows.
Actually, my other machine, Motoko-chan, has been running Windows Vista 64bit since I initially assembled it and I never had too much issues with it.
Nonetheless, regardless of being installed on a modern system equipped with fast hardware, Vista always felt more sluggish. While applications launch, work and close at decent speed, all actions in Vista itself like opening the Control Panel would seem to take significantly longer by comparison.
So far this feels different in Windows 7. Installation was a breeze and actually completed quite fast. Boot up to desktop, power down, everything feels more responsive again, a good start.
Have always been pleased with Mandriva Linux 2009 Gnome, especially not having to reboot every two updates was nice. It was user friendly too, alas could never get Flash to work well on it.
But as the upgrade from version 2009 to version 2009.1 didn’t go all that smoothly and wanted to have more integration between my different computers, decided to go for Windows 7.
Let’s see where that adventure takes us!
And for those interested, the wallpaper version of the “Queen’s Blade” Allean bikini image I use on my desktop.
Blue Blue Wave 
Ehehe, glad you like it too. It feels really a lot faster. I’m glad that my Microsoft Sidewinder mouse enables a window viewer in Vista and Win 7, quite Expose like.
LOL! You name your computers?!! HAHAHA That’s so funny!! Just don’t start talking to them…otherwise that would become a little concerning…!!
Heh, you’re not alone in naming your hardware ^_^ I too name all of mine – but for me its for the most part just so the devices have better network names and its easier to find them.
My primary work machine, which is a 17″ MacBook Pro, is named ‘Espada’. – in it, the primary HD is ‘Athens’, the Windows partition is ‘Rhodes’ and the Fedora partition is ‘Ephesus’. Then the main backup HD is Kronos, large external file dump HD is ‘Alexandria’ and a smaller dump is ‘Babylon’. Then of course a bunch of other gadgets here and there, but my fav is the iPod Touch which is named ‘Olympia’ ^_^
Hmmm, I am getting interested in 7 a lot these days. I just haven’t really read up much about it. Interesting screenshots there. Oh I haven’t named my main computer because it’s not originally mine, but I did name my laptop “Sumomo”, the laptop from Chobits ^^
@hikky
Yes, so far it’s quite nice.
@Sleepy
Every otaku does. ^_~
Like Michael commented, it makes it easier to recognize them if you have a small network. Besides with the names Windows usually suggests like “45eg868family” I’d rather input one of my own choice. ^^;;
@Michael
Many seem to name their drives and partitions too, there I adhere to a more boring business-like naming convention such as “Win7” or “D-Data-600”
@lightningsabre
Not that I disliked Vista that much but I prefer something more responsive, hence why I had used Mandriva and am now trying Windows 7. The first impression I have is good.
I name my computers too, one of them is AltEisenRiese the other one is Freedom. I have RC7 installed but I really haven’t taken the steps to use it, I guess I still don’t like the idea that I have to migrate away from it until the retail version comes out. But from playing around with it, it felt pretty solid and less annoying than Vista.
Yeah, Windows 7 is actually looking pretty decent. I’ve been using Server 2008 on my desktop for about a year and it’s worked well for me. I plan on upgrading to Windows 7 when the final version is released. As much as I like Linux based OS’s for server use, Windows is still my preferred OS for desktops >_<