Review: Windows 7 - Part 1: Introducing Vista's Successor

Lucky number 7?

Before passing judgement on Windows 7, one should understand what its creator hopes to achieve. So what is Microsoft's goal for Windows 7?

Pragmatically, the company wants to move forward and it's attempting to put not only Windows Vista to bed, but Windows XP, too. In an effort to achieve that goal, Microsoft appears to be getting back to basics. In marked contrast to Vista, Windows 7 doesn't claim to "wow" the end-user. Instead, it comes across as humble, hoping to "simplify everyday tasks" and "work the way you want".

In order to attract users still clinging to Windows XP, however, Microsoft will need to ensure that Windows 7 is a solid performer on a wide range of hardware configurations. It's no surprise to find that improving performance has been a major initiative for the Windows 7 development team. Speaking during the development process, the team - led by Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows Division - has stated that memory usage, CPU usage, disk I/O, boot time and disk footprint would be just a few of the key areas under scrutiny.

System requirement musings

It's telling that nearly three years after the introduction of Windows Vista, the software requirements for Microsoft's flagship operating system have hardly changed. Irrespective of recent advancements in computer technology, Windows 7's system requirements can be met by any Vista-capable system.

Microsoft lists the minimum system requirements for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 as follows:

Although many would argue that Windows Vista would be hard pushed to perform adequately on a system with a 1GHz processor and 1GB of memory, the same can't be said for Windows 7. The software is fine-tuned to such an extent that we've found it perfectly capable on a wide range of low-power systems such as netbooks. With tremendous growth in the ultra-portable segment, Microsoft's decision to continue to offer 32-bit versions of its operating system may have been influenced by the necessity to support popular 32-bit processors such as Intel's Atom.

Microsoft's stated requirement for hard-disk space is testament to Windows 7's desire to be less bloated than Vista.

The fact that Windows 7 should run admirably on lesser hardware is a positive sign - and we'll be bringing you performance benchmarks later in this review - but Microsoft's aim of simplifying everyday tasks needs to start right at the beginning, in the store front. Let's take a look at the Windows 7 product editions, and speculate which might be the one for you.