Eight problems with Windows 7

By siliconindia | Monday, 26 October 2009, 23:01 IST | 1 Comments

Bangalore: After a gloomy performance by Windows Vista, Microsoft's new Operating System (OS) Windows 7 launch and its grand reception may have relieved the company. The Personal Computers (PC) makers are offering Windows 7 based systems, including netbooks, as they hope the OS to surge PC sales. The computer shipments have shown some improvements after skidding for around six months. The analysts complain that Windows 7 lack direct upgrades from XP. It also fails to offer a smooth transition from XP as there is no upgrade option. This means that the users will have to go for a fresh install. "After the issues with Windows Vista, and knowing that the vast majority of users-both consumer and enterprise-are still relying on Windows XP, it seems like a direct upgrade path is a necessity. Many users may be frustrated by the lack of upgrade path and having to do a fresh install, reinstall all of the other software and migrate user settings. Microsoft has provided tools to ease the pain, but this is still the biggest opportunity for negative portray or backlash related to Windows 7," said Tony Bradley, PC World. According to Microsoft, the upgrade option is not available in Windows 7 setup while installing on a computer which runs Windows XP. However, users can use Windows Easy Transfer to migrate files and settings from Windows XP to Windows 7 on the same computer. The basic requirements of a PC to run on Windows 7 are 1GHz processor, minimum 1GB of RAM and 16GB hard drive space. This means that any hardware that worked with Vista will work for Windows 7 too. Also, the most crucial reason for Vista not succeeding was that the operating system almost forced a hardware upgrade on users. It is expected that almost similar requirement does not hamper the prospects of Windows 7. It's is also to be noted here that the basic PC configuration has seen a jump since Vista days. According to Bradley, Windows Vista slipped up due to the lack of hardware and device driver support. He says, "The vendors just were not ready when Vista was launched and never really recovered from the damaged reputation even after most of those issues were resolved." The users may find that their existing printer, wireless router, webcam, and other peripheral hardware devices don't work with the new OS. This means either they stop working on that hardware or look for new compatible hardware. The most controversial and much maligned feature of Vista, User Account Control (UAC) is also a part of Windows 7. It was designed to prevent unauthorized execution of code by displaying a pop up warning every time a change is being made to the system, whether by the OS or by any third party application. Many Vista users complained of getting too many warnings. It proved a huge annoyance for users installing new applications frequently. "Still after much debate with the security community during the Beta testing, the default setting is still set to what users experienced with Windows Vista. Frankly, UAC serves a purpose and it is better to leave it alone. But, those who dislike UAC are going to have to go into the control panel and modify the configuration to their liking or be faced with the same pop-ups that annoyed the world with Vista," says Bradley. Vista's failure continues to cast a deep shadow on the Microsoft's fresh launch, especially among the business users. Most enterprise customers skipped Windows Vista reportedly due to the numerous technical faults that the OS had. According to reviewers, the OS suffered from frequent hangs and crashes, and incompatibility with certain software and hardware. Some analysts believes that Vista's reputation may hamper Microsoft's efforts to convince enterprises about the Windows 7 improved features. The price is also seen as one of biggest issue that may dampen the Windows 7 release. Microsoft is charging $199.99 for the Home Premium version of Windows 7, or $119.99 for users seeking to upgrade from older versions of the OS. However, prices in India seem to be comparatively low. In India, the Home Basic package will cost about

5,899, while the Windows 7 Ultimate (high-end version) will be available for

11,799. In the U.S, the high-end version costs $320 (

15,000). Microsoft Vista Home Basic costs around

3,500, Home Premium version is priced at

4,800. Microsoft Vista Business costs around

6,400 while Microsoft Vista Ultimate is priced at

9,500. HCL Infosystems, Acer and HP have already started shipping Windows pre loaded PCs and notebook computers. HP India will retail Windows 7-preloaded PCs between

27,990 and

90,000. HP's preloaded Windows 7 notebooks will be priced at

39,990 onwards. Acer PCs with Windows 7 OS will be priced between

15,000 and

35,000, while the notebooks will be priced at

21,000-70,000. Microsoft's release coincides with one of the worst phases in the global economy. The past few months have witnessed a downfall in the spending as cost cutting became the strategy for businesses around the world. As most companies see recovery, they still do not see any big jump in corporate budgets. The companies globally continue to remain cautious and are tightly guarding their money. Some analysts believe that the tough economic climate may impact the sales of Windows 7. On the other hand, PC makers like Lenovo are betting on the new operating system to revive the falling computer sales. Also, piracy is a big challenge for Microsoft. Even before the official release of Windows 7, authentic looking pirate copies of the OS were available in China for $3. Reuters say that Windows 7 has been openly available in China's grey market for over a month now. Shopkeepers in Shanghai's Xinyang market are said to be offering all versions of Windows 7, in both Chinese and English for just 20 yuan ($2.93).

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Eight problems with Windows 7