by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
January 4th, 2009 @ 5:46 am

Having my hands on the beta 1 of Windows 7 over the holidays has been an interesting experience because it’s allowed me to show the OS to people and get feedback from a broad range of users as to how they feel about Microsoft’s upcoming operating system.

First off, let me point out that these reactions aren’t based on some sort of half-assed Mojave Experiment that I carried out. Feedback is based on people having a play with the OS and then being asked what they thought. Overall, reactions from all OS camps (Windows users, Mac users and Linux users) was fairly positive.

In a world where the majority of computer users are happy if they can access the web, check email, sort through a few photos and play games, this isn’t all that surprising. There was, of course, some negative feedback. A few points of concern included:
* The startup screens being too black, giving the impression that something had gone wrong.
* Taskbar too big/clunky/confusing/just too new.
* No classic Start Menu.
* Too many things moved compared to XP/Vista.

What I found interesting was the responses I got to the question of shifting to Windows 7 once it was out. I haven’t yet found a Mac or Linux user who feels tempted back to Windows based on what they’ve seen in Windows 7. Those Mac and Linux users who still make use of Windows in a limited way (for gaming or running specific applications) see themselves sticking with XP or Vista as their secondary OS until they either can break ties with Windows completely or until forced to switch.