Windows 7 Beta on a MacBook
I have an iMac running Parallels with Windows XP for various reasons, mostly because at the time, I couldn’t wait for Boot Camp and Parallels had beaten Apple to installing Windows on a Mac. Why Windows? I sometimes need to verify compatibility issues for business presentations, I tried and used some financial software that will only work in Windows and, mostly, I do not want to lose my Windows touch even though I have distanced myself over the years from that environment and way of thinking the user space. Parallels 4.0 would warrant its own review. Coherence, the ability to run Windows applications under Mac OS X and the possibility to run simultaneous Linux distributions, Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 on virtual desktops makes this product amazing.
After hearing, reading and experiencing horror stories, I skipped Vista altogether, like a lot of people preferring XP over Vista any day. Since I read only good things about Microsoft’s Windows 7 and that I wanted to experiment with Boot Camp’s performance over Parallels, I decided to install the Windows 7 Beta on one of my MacBooks.
Because this is a blog, I’ll make an effort to keep it short and spare you an unpleasant downloading experience. It made me realize how different Microsoft and Apple were. I am sure both companies employ very bright engineers but, Microsoft seems to always manage to leave out the user in its design strategy. Downloading the Beta is a testimonial to that.
What if I were not new to Beta testing?
What does that have to do with anything? Microsoft wants to make sure you have a Windows Live sign on. I’m downloading a Beta, willing to invest my time to test it out. I would have giving you a false email just to make sure I miss an activation code? Also, it would be nice to always know how many steps are involved in any online transaction ahead of its completion, especially when superflous steps are added.
Now that’s a good one. I’m using Hotmail, a Microsoft product that cannot recognize an email stemming from— Microsoft. Attachments, pictures and links in the message have been blocked to protect me. Considerate, considering.
You don’t really need the product key for the install. Just hit return when you get to it. Microsoft, can you rethink this whole Product Key thing from scratch, putting yourself in the user’s seat? For future reference, it’s an annoyance, we always have to reinstall the system and end up losing the key. It’s a pain to enter even when we have it. Find another way. Diminish the unpleasant experiences of contact points with your brand and your products. Think different to paraphrase a famous Apple adage.
Yikes, go figure. In Microsoft I trust, in Akamai I… oh well, do I have a choice?
Microsoft is using a JAVA applet to manage the download, tsk, tsk. Thank you Sun. (couldn’t resist that one 
)
Now for some positive aspects of Windows 7. It installed relatively quickly, far from the over 2 hours I had spent installing XP and its updates and Parallels. It feels funny to see my MacBook wearing Windows. The Intel processor, Boot Camp, FreeBSD and Mac OS X transforms the Mac into a unique development machine. I like it a lot.
It boots very fast, finally (Apple take notes). To boot off Windows and to run Boot Camp at start-up, hold the “alt or option” key. Windows 7 looks very promising and has an intuitive feel to it. I like the way it manages networks. I don’t like another long key we have to write down for future pairing of computers with this local network. Email anyone?
I will now proceed to install software and see how it runs. As I said, I like the performance, the look and feel and the speedy start-up. The interface is well done and flowing. I’ll keep you posted when I really try it out.
