Spring Break
Latest Windows OS released
Keith Hobin
Issue date: 11/6/09 Section: News
Windows 7, Microsoft's latest consumer operating system, was released Oct. 22 to the consumer market. The operating system has several stability improvements and a redesigned user interface.
Similar to Apple's focus on their latest revision of their OS X operating system, Snow Leopard, Microsoft did not focus on adding many additional features.
According to John Misczak, Drexel's student Microsoft campus representative, one of the biggest advantages to upgrading to Windows 7 is that there are a lot of little improvements, streamlined processes and new features that create large productivity boosts for any user.
"Navigation throughout the entire operating system is a lot smoother and snappier too," Misczak said. "It runs faster than Windows Vista even on existing hardware, so if students have a Vista laptop, it will help improve performance."
One of the most noticeable features in Windows 7 is its redesigned taskbar. While the start menu is still intact, the quick launch toolbar has been replaced with the ability to pin programs to the taskbar, similar to Apple's OS X dock. Also like the OS X dock, the name of applications is no longer displayed, only the program's icon. To switch between individual windows, a user can click on an icon and a menu pops up listing all of the open windows for that program.
"Its jump list feature allows you to pin any document or application so that it's just one or two clicks away, and applications that have been designed with Windows 7 in mind can provide additional functionality, such as opening a new tab in Internet Explorer, to be accessed through a right click," he said.
Drexel's official stance on Windows 7 is that students, staff and faculty should wait to upgrade their computers to Windows 7, according to an e-mail from the Office of Information Systems & Technology sent out Sept. 29. IRT also recommended that if a user wants to run Windows 7 they do not use it as their main operating system.
Similar to Apple's focus on their latest revision of their OS X operating system, Snow Leopard, Microsoft did not focus on adding many additional features.
According to John Misczak, Drexel's student Microsoft campus representative, one of the biggest advantages to upgrading to Windows 7 is that there are a lot of little improvements, streamlined processes and new features that create large productivity boosts for any user.
"Navigation throughout the entire operating system is a lot smoother and snappier too," Misczak said. "It runs faster than Windows Vista even on existing hardware, so if students have a Vista laptop, it will help improve performance."
One of the most noticeable features in Windows 7 is its redesigned taskbar. While the start menu is still intact, the quick launch toolbar has been replaced with the ability to pin programs to the taskbar, similar to Apple's OS X dock. Also like the OS X dock, the name of applications is no longer displayed, only the program's icon. To switch between individual windows, a user can click on an icon and a menu pops up listing all of the open windows for that program.
"Its jump list feature allows you to pin any document or application so that it's just one or two clicks away, and applications that have been designed with Windows 7 in mind can provide additional functionality, such as opening a new tab in Internet Explorer, to be accessed through a right click," he said.
Drexel's official stance on Windows 7 is that students, staff and faculty should wait to upgrade their computers to Windows 7, according to an e-mail from the Office of Information Systems & Technology sent out Sept. 29. IRT also recommended that if a user wants to run Windows 7 they do not use it as their main operating system.
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