"My new computer came with Windows 7. Windows 7 is much more user-friendly than Windows Vista. I don't like that." - Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory [video]
So far my journey into Windows 7 has a few notes. Here is my stream-of-consciousness laundry list of thoughts.
The taskbar grew since the last time we met it. A little bit taller and a little bit wiser in Windows 7. The taskbar now also has nicer icons for Wi-Fi and battery built in (oops, this is just a ThinkPad thing).The "Show Desktop" button taking permanent residence on the taskbar is a welcome change. I would have just added it as a quick launch icon (though I'm not sure how it works anymore). Our beloved programs now merge with their icons which blurs the line between desktop and application. I like how each individual tab can be accessed from the taskbar when working with IE or Chrome. Sometimes I'll hunt through each of my open programs looking for certain content and forget that it was just on another tab. Having actions as the context menu makes a lot more sense than the "Close, Max, Min, Size, Move, Restore" found in previous versions. Perhaps the only time I have ever used "Move" was when a window was off the screen and I've never used "Size".
Pinning programs to the taskbar is nice. Pinning documents you have open in the programs on the taskbar or start menu is even nicer. Pinning recent documents FTW.
My gadgets no longer have a nice "drawer" to fit in. I'm not sure how you can call it the "Sidebar" program if there is no bar anymore. It's alright, I've abandoned my gadgets anyway. I never really used them unless they were set to "always display". Going to the desktop seems like too much work just to check my CPU speed or get the calendar. Maybe it will come back. My first use for the sidebar was mainly to reduce my window real estate so I didn't have to mouse too far on my widescreen.
Windows Snap: LOL! I'll use it occasionally but it isn't spectacular. It's almost as fast as manually resizing.
Now here is an interesting find. You can now backup your credentials and encryption so you won't ruin your files if you reset your password. Or at least the option is more user friendly. I also like the more prominent credentials manager but we should probably hide that from a non-power user.
Paint has a ribbon interface!
Calculator has so many more functions! I'm a programmer but I doubt I'll ever use the "Programmers" mode. You can also now take the Xths root of a number. Nice addition. Has anyone ever noticed that the scientific mode never had a square root button? I guess if you were smart enough to use that mode you were smart enough to use x^(1/2) to get the square root.
Anyone else have any first impressions? I haven't had much time to go into depth but I'll write about it soon.
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