Windows 7 has completed its first 100 days after the official launch. In the past, the previous operating systems were heard so much of criticism in the initial days. How did Windows 7 performed so far?
In short, Windows 7 did perform well. Most of the users were happy about the product. No noticeable security holes were heard. Despite millions of new installations, no major problems have been reported. “There have been astonishingly few problems with Windows 7,” says Axel Vahldiek from German computer magazine c’t. He’d know: his magazine fields questions from readers. Unlike the OS’s predecessor, Windows Vista, the questions received by c’t general involve minor issues.
Microsoft has to be pleased with sales, which have been brisk. Just a week after the Windows 7 launch Oct 22, 2009, the sales figures had already bested the company’s expectations. “Compared with the start of Windows Vista, five times as many consumers have opted for the new operating system in the first five days,” Microsoft reported.
Now what are the problems of using Windows 7? Though the problems are not directly associated with Windows 7 OS or Microsoft, it can cause issues for Windows 7 users. The primary issue could be the older hardware. If the manufactures are not developing the drivers for Windows 7, these devices may not work in the Windows 7 or just work with limited functionality. It happened that one of the Sony’s older camcorder software does not have a compatible driver for Windows 7 in the initial days. May be its another way for the hardware vendors to boost the sales of their products as the users may upgrade these devices to newer models.
The typical procedure instead requires that an administrator account be set up. This allows potentially vulnerable applications an unnecessarily high level of permissions. “The administrator account that Microsoft has conveniently added for managing user accounts nevertheless fails to represent an effective barrier here.”
The BSI’s grades for Windows 7 are better for the protection of user data using the BitLocker hard drive encryption function. This has been reworked to be significantly more user friendly. Then again, it is also only available in the two most expensive versions of Windows 7: Ultimate and Enterprise.
Because bugs are an inherent part of any software release, especially for software as complicated as modern operating systems, users can expect updates and improvements to start arriving shortly after publication.
In the past, Microsoft has typically rolled up the improvements into multiple Service Packs (SP). No information is available yet on when “SP1″ for Windows 7 can be expected, says Microsoft spokeswoman Irene Nadler.
That’s okay for now, though. Unlike with XP and Vista, users of the new system can also get by just fine with the existing product until SP1 arrives.
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