Is Microsoft getting it right this time?

This weekend, I downloaded the Windows 7 Beta DVD to my work computer so that I could set it up and test it out. I created a “virtual machine” today on the MacBook I’m using in the office and installed this successor to Windows Vista. I’ve been hoping for a while now that the successor would actually be successful.

So far, I’m finding those hopes fulfilled. I haven’t been annoyed by ridiculous security pop-ups (as opposed to wise security pop-ups), and the changes to what you see on the Desktop and in the Start Menu are good ones. It’s been easier to make customizations to themes and menus. For example, you don’t have to dig to China in order to change the behavior of the Power button in the Start Menu.

One interesting discovery is that the beta doesn’t come with an email program as Windows Vista and its predecessors do – you know, Outlook Express and its alter ego in Vista, Windows Mail. You have to download Windows Live Mail, Messenger, and other programs from the Internet. This change would partially satisfy the European anti-trust regulators – Windows Media Player is still there from the start, as is Internet Explorer.

My initial experience is good, so far, and I hope to dig a little deeper as time goes on so that I know what to expect when the real thing comes out. The people I support here will want both advice and help. If my experience can help you make decisions about your own computer, then that counts as a good thing, too.

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