Having spent a long time at Microsoft, a few of my Applefanboy friends hypothesized that as soon as I left I would run out and get an Apple. Personally, I ribbed a few of my Microsoft friends that I was going to do it. Time is past, the joke is old, I remain a PC – narry and Apple in the house.

What I have doing it running Windows 7 and I have to say, color me impressed. A few highlights for me (which I can now blog openly as I no longer work there):

• Speed. Take an old laptop. Put Windows 7 on it. It will scream. Take a Vista machine and put Windows 7 on it, big difference. I don’t know what Veghte did, but his team sure sped it up.
• Interface: The little things – the tool bar changes and the quick jump feature where you last actions with that program are listed. Great feature. All in all, well thought out across the board from the network sharing to the mobile device management.
• Sharing:  Love the homegroup and libraries notion, it makes sharing so much easier. Permissions were WAY too complex before. You needed a network administrator. With some of our pictures, I have started to create unique sorting libraries to pull from when running a screen saver.
• Media Center: Finally, native DIVX support. The ability to sit on a computer and push a playlist to an extender is a brilliant feature. If you run an XBOX and the extender feature, check out the new screen saver. It is guaranteed to make your family and friends mesmerized as it pans and zooms.
• Gadgets: I know, old hat for many. But the gadgets are great and the sidebar had to go.
• Compatibility:  When I first upgraded to Vista it was a nightmare. Nothing worked. Old apps crashed, devices were without drives. Other than virus protection, everything works. Many people complain about this, but think about the magnitude of the challenge. Unlike Apple, Microsoft runs an open ecosystem which supports hundreds of thousands of devices and builds. The enormity of the task beat Microsoft in Vista, but thanks to the core system elements being the same, none of those challenges exist this time around.

Now a few things that Windows 7 missed out on (and are easy to fix):

• More screensavers: Microsoft pitches ‘Memories’ as a key experience. Why is Windows 7 not loaded with different types of screen savers? People want the ability to show their pictures everywhere in different ways. Microsoft has the assets (think Windows XP and the Digital Media add on which had 10 different screen savers that my family loved).
• The extender never quite gets all the way there:  Microsoft is almost there with Media Center and the extender but continues to fall short resulting in all these little hacks that people need to do to make everything work. In my mind, there are two primary deficiencies remaining:
• Full codec support: Where is MKV? Why not support every single codec out there that the market loves and make it so everyone can use it right out of the box without a hack. This is short sighted and an ongoing frustration.
• DVD streaming: Why can I not have a DVD VOB file sitting on my Media Server and see it in the ‘Movies’ section of my extender. It works on the PC Media Center interface, why not on the extender? Seriously, it can’t be that hard. And why can’t I mount an ISO? I don’t have a Bluray yet, but I understand that isn’t support either.
• Back to the first point, why is the extender not the coolest device out there for showing pictures and family videos? There is an industry to be MADE on this feature alone. Give me 10 great screen savers on my XBOX and I guarantee that every person who comes over will want to do it.

All in all, a huge step forward. All machines are almost upgraded. Of interest, even Mini Microsoft is enthused, for the first time in a long time. The release of Office 10 web is very interesting (And having seen a demo, it is impressive), although I would question whether BING will move share. Interesting times … but no Apple for me.