Microsoft newsgroups are buzzing with the launch if the latest version of its Windows operating system on Thursday in a bid to “make it easier for people to do the things they want on a PC”. The new Windows 7 is the technology giant’s first operating system since Vista, which received mixed reviews from customers.
More than a million people have contributed to the ideas behind Windows 7 by giving feedback during test stages. Microsoft has introduced a range of new features, some of which will already be familiar to users of the Mac operating system.
By most accounts though, Microsoft would be much more justified in celebrating the launch of Windows 7. Throughout the beta testing and public preview of the new operating system it has been favorably reviewed and showered with accolades– the most common being that it’s not Vista.
Microsoft hopes its new Windows 7 operating system will succeed where its current Vista system failed. Vista launched at the beginning of 2007, after serious delays and seven years in development. It attracted almost universal criticism as it failed to work with popular programs, drained computers’ memories and did not function on the increasingly popular small, cheap laptops known as net books.
The new operating system’s success is crucial for Microsoft as Linux has become much more popular and Google has announced plans to expand its Chrome browser into an operating system for the net book sector. Also from Google, Android has been announced by net book makers as well. In short, the Windows market is being eaten away and Microsoft needs a comeback.
Many newsreaders that have worked on Vista, for both the 32 and 64 bit versions, should be compatible with the new version of Windows 7. With new features that Windows 7 offers, it’s expected that many newsreaders will be updating to newer versions soon.
The new operating system has been available to manufacturers since July and more than 8 million people have tried out the beta version. About 1 billion people use Windows’ operating system on their PCs, and Microsoft’s software powers about 90 per cent of the world’s computers. More copies of Windows 7 have been sold on pre-orders in the last three weeks than were sold of Vista.
