[NPMUG] Windows 7 MS3 analyzed

[Charles Firth]

InfoWorld got their hands on a copy of Windows 7 "milestone 3" (a pre- 
beta of the upcoming Windows version)

They ran a slew of benchmarks and tests on the new OS, examined  
everything from the kernel processes up through overall UI use, and  
discovered that it was basically identical to Vista. The exact same  
process lists, running tasks, memory use, CPU use, and benchmark  
scores. Some changes to the UI to look more like a Mac, and some  
"under the hood" changes (very minor) that seemed to just make it worse.

Some choice quotes:

"In a nutshell, Windows 7 M3 is a virtual twin of Vista when it comes  
to performance. The few minor variations I observed during comparative  
testing are easily explained away by slight tweaks to the kernel (such  
as the aforementioned MDAC changes); they certainly don't indicate a  
significant performance overhaul. More important, these variations  
pale in comparison with the 40 percent gap in performance I've  
observed between Vista and Windows XP SP3. From a raw throughput  
perspective, Windows 7 promises to perform as poorly as its  
predecessor. "Pre-beta" notwithstanding, the reality is that any hope  
for closing of the performance gap with Windows XP is unlikely to  
materialize in Windows 7."

"Overall, the changes are mostly superficial. Even the new Task Bar is  
simply a twist on the existing Explorer UI model, not to mention a  
blatant rip-off of the Mac OS X dock. Moreover, none of Windows 7's UI  
goodness is the result of any architectural changes to the OS"

"Bottom line: So far, Windows 7 looks and behaves almost exactly like  
Windows Vista. It performs almost exactly like Vista. And it breaks  
all sorts of things that used to work just fine under Vista. In other  
words, Microsoft's follow-up to its most unpopular OS release since  
Windows Me threatens to deliver zero measurable performance benefits  
while introducing new and potentially crippling compatibility issues."


Full story:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/11/10/46TC-windows-7_1.html
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