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A Windows 7 specialist waits for customers at a store in Sydney - Source: Reuters -
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Microsoft's long awaited Windows 7 operating system has been officially launched, with early reviews being very positive.
More than eight million people worldwide took part in the pre-launch testing programme, 50,000 of them in New Zealand.
Microsoft New Zealand's marketing manager Paul Muckleston says reviews have almost been universally positive, with 91% of local testers saying they would recommend the system.
"Arguably we think it's our best work ever. The user interface is a lot crisper and cleaner, the performance is outstanding and it is very secure and also very reliable," he says.
Muckleston says Windows 7 has lots of new features, many of them "below the waterline" that users will notice as they use the system over time.
But, he says users will notice increased performance, which is much faster than it has ever been.
Microsoft also says its visual features "brings multi-touch PCs to life".
"From a consumer perspective, I think you'll really love the whole interface and the way we've designed it - it's very simple and intuitive," says Muckleston.
The good news for those considering the move is that you don't have to have a new computer to install Windows 7.
"It's the first time that we've actually had an operating system that runs very well on a lot of the existing PCs. So we think about 70% of the PCs in New Zealand businesses are capable of running Windows 7 without any modification at all," says Muckleston.
It is understood that the minimum specification is a 1GHz processor and 1GB of memory.
Muckleston says Microsoft learned a lot from the Vista release which was largely ignored in favour of its XP predecessor.
This time around, Microsoft has undertaken a more transparent development process, involving more customers and businesses in its design.
"Locally we've got six very large businesses that once they've finished their deployments will have over 10,000 PCs up and running the operating system in a matter of months," says Muckleston.
Another feature of the new system is increased power savings. If Windows 7 is installed on a new PC, the system dims the screen according to the ambient light available.
"We think it's a good operating system for business in terms of lowering costs. A lot of studies have been done that say you should be able to save around $100 per PC per annum in terms of power and labour costs," says Muckleston.
Microsoft is launching Windows 7 at Auckland's Queen Elizabeth
Square where All Black number seven Richie McCaw auctioned off a
Windows 7-enabled laptop for charity, along with 2000 others.
Have you got the new version of Windows 7? What do you
think about the new features? Share your thoughts on the
messageboard below
Add a Comment:
Post new commentdrummer47 said on 2009-11-02 @ 12:35 NZDT: Report abusive post
Quite right. Microsoft NZ and the retailers like Dick Smith, Noel Leeming, Bond and Bond, Harvey Norman are being GREEDY!!
Westridge2001 said on 2009-10-30 @ 08:38 NZDT: Report abusive post
It's interesting but not life-changing. I just upgraded from Vista to Win7 a couple of days ago. It's OK. I do like the searching. I think that there is a slight improvement playing high-end games but not enough to be sure without actually testing it. I'm still a little confused over the libraries and trying to work that out. Overall, it's a "nice" improvement to Vista and XP and I think that someone less computer literate would find it much simpler to use.
maxw said on 2009-10-29 @ 09:10 NZDT: Report abusive post
There's no confusion over 64/32bit at all, what's the fuss about? You'd only go 64 bit if you want to add more than 4 gigs of ram as 32 bit systems are limited to 4 gigs.
GrumpsinWellington said on 2009-10-22 @ 19:26 NZDT: Report abusive post
Windows 7 may well be truely marvelous (perhaps even IE-8 will no longer freeze), but a word of caution on pricing. This morning I compared NZ, US, and UK prices for the Home Upgrade version and found NZ=$249, US=$159, UK=$141 converting into NZ$ with the latest exchange rate from the RBNZ. If you have connections in another country you may want to purchase from elsewhere for a fully legal copy.
nerdybrendan said on 2009-10-22 @ 18:44 NZDT: Report abusive post
Windows 7 is faster way faster than XP and easily beats Vista, I tested it with the Release Candidate. I would definitely recommend buying the full version of the OS.