Real "new" features in Windows 7.. You guys agree with this?

[dimithrak]

Well.. i dont completely agree with this guy, but what do you guy think?

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/opensour...tag=results;CR1

Windows 7 is out. The release parties are over, the Windows 7 Whopper is hopefully digested (and not taken anyone down with severely clogged arteries), and the operating system is installed. So most likely you?ve had plenty of time to make a judgment call on whether or not 7 is a winner for you. I will confess that I personally think Windows 7 is one of the best offerings that Microsoft has put out. And even though I was nearly stoned to death for my article ?10 Reasons why Windows 7 could fail?, I do not dislike Windows 7. I like it. What I do dislike is the marketing coming out of Redmond. Why? Once again Microsoft is claiming creation of features that have been in other operating systems for a while now. This happens nearly every time Microsoft releases a new operating system. And in this weeks open source blog, I thought I would illustrate that point with regards to Windows 7. It is not my intention to do a feature-for-feature comparison, but point out the features Microsoft are claiming to be ?new? that have actually been in Linux for a while.

I want to make a point, though, of saying this is not an article cutting down one operating system while regaling another. I am just pointing out the errors of the PR machine at Microsoft. With that said, here we go.

Aero: We all know this isn?t new. And we all know that Linux has had every feature displayed in Aero for some time now. This is one area that really burns my cheeks. Microsoft claims to have redesigned the desktop experience, when in fact they just took ideas from Compiz and OS X and claimed it theirs.

Bit locker: This one is a big one. Bit Locker (Only available in the Ultimate edition) basically allows you to encrypt your entire drive for added security. Umm?Ubuntu Linux has had this starting with 9.04. You can encrypt your home directory during installation. And if you forget that (or decide you want some encryption later on) there are plenty of tools available to encrypt entire directories.

Shake, Peek, and Snap: The sad thing is that Microsoft PR makes these features out to be big. They?re not, at least when you?ve used KDE and/or Compiz for any length of time. Shake is basically mouse gestures (which you can configure in nearly any Linux desktop), Peek is translucency (again any Compiz install has this), and Snap is effectively edge-snapping hot spots.

Gadets: Gadgets, Widgets, Screenlets, whatever you want to call them, they are not new in any way shape or form. These desktop ?toys? have been around since the days of Karamba on the Linux desktop (remember, that was the tool Apple ?purchased? and turned into Dashboard.

64-bit support: Do I really need to go there? I?ve been happily using 64-bit Linux for so long I can?t remember which release I started with.

Jump Lists: This is a re-invention of GNOME Do, or any number of other Linux tools that have offered such a feature. A Jump List is basically a more powerful ?Favorites? menu (or box). The biggest difference between Jump List and GNOME Do is that GNOME Do ?jumps? better than Jump ?does?. What I am trying to say is that ?Do? is much more powerful than Jump Lists. But at least Microsoft is starting to learn that making things actually easier for users is a good thing.

Libraries: This feature, which allows you to associated folders with other folders, is essentially the Tagging feature available in Beagle and Tracker. Even Thunar has media tagging by way of a simple plugin. This is nothing new Microsoft.

Play To: Isn?t this basically a DAAP server built in? Linux and OS X has had this for quite some time now.

Startup Repair: The Elive distribution recently (prior to the Windows 7 RC release) introduced the Nurse Mode which is a special, graphical boot mode intended to hep repair a system. Nurse Mode is not just a start up repair, but a full system repair tool.

Windows XP Mode: With Linux you can still get your full XP on using VirtualBox or, Wine for that matter. And you won?t need a special CPU capable of hardware assisted virtualization.

The above is not a complete feature-for-feature list, but you get the idea. What I find interesting is that Microsoft, Apple, and even the open source community steal from one another. It?s a predatory world out there and only the strong will survive. The biggest difference is that the open source community doesn?t steal from either Windows or OS X and claim the theft their creation.

Windows 7 is a good OS. It?s nowhere as powerful or flexible as Ubuntu 9.10 will be (when it is released in less than a week), but it certainly has its place (like all OSes do). But Microsoft needs to be careful what it claims it created. Maybe some day the Redmon giant will embrace truth and give credit where credit is due.

Now, if you will pardon me, I have to finish my Ubuntu 9.10 Waffle Stack. Yummy goodness.

Edited October 26, 2009 by Barney
Title changed for clarity

[The Rev]

Well...... If you take "New" as in new to windows, then they're not making false claims.

[Colin-uk Veteran]

I think it would be silly for MS to claim they are totally new.

i think it would be more likely they are claiming them as new features to the windows OS itself.

[MikeChipshop Member]

exactly, all features are new to windows.

Do they claim they are new to the world?

[hdood]

I'm not sure I get this list. I'm pretty sure Microsoft hasn't claimed to have invented the concept of a 3D-based compositing window manager, or any of the other things on the list. The implementations of the features, as they exist in Windows, are Microsoft's creation. We are talking about changes in relation to Windows, not software in general.

[Treemonkeys]

Windows has already had the features I want/need, Windows 7 is well worth the upgrade because of increased speed, efficiency, and ease of use - not new features. What it boils down to "powerful or flexible" can be different things to different people, to me it is being able to run the applications and games I want and need. The Linux crowd spends too much time saying "I could do that already, before you could" when they don't give any reason why I should inconvenience myself and lose compatibility to switch over.

[Laurë Veteran]

Is MS really claiming it created those things first up? Or is the context more like "well this is what we've got that's new to Windows" ?

[Panacik]

Well...... If you take "New" as in new to windows, then they're not making false claims.

Agreed and was exactly what i was going to say.

They are new to the Windows scene.

As soon as i saw that the source was a Linux fanboy site, i knew it was going to be based on a bash article aimed at Microsoft.

Interesting though, that the writter claims to actually like Windows. So looks like he ran out of ways to bash Windows, so turned to the MS marketing instead. I mean, there just HAS to be something that MS does wrong that they can bash, even if their products are still more widely used than Linux and growing better in Windows 7!

[+Majesticmerc MVC]

Well he has a point, but hes also very clueless. Microsoft have never claimed they "invented" a 64-bit operating system, or desktop gadgets, or any of the Aero features, but they have put them together to make Windows a much better experience, and they have integrated it well into the shell, you have to give the Windows team credit there.

In regards to Bitlocker however, he claims: "Umm?Ubuntu Linux has had this starting with 9.04". Well thats great, but Windows Vista had this, which predates Ubuntu 9.04 by quite a margin.

Then he seems to needlessly dig at Windows XP Mode. Yeah, windows XP mode needs special hardware, but he conveniently also neglects to mention that Microsoft's way is FREE to those who have Win7 pro and above, and that virtualisation of XP through Virtualbox is available to everyone running Windows too, not just those running Ubuntu. He also neglects to mention that while Windows 7 users get XP mode for free (assuming capable hardware), Linux users wanting to do it through Virtualbox will have tpayb> for a copy of XP.

All in all, its a very biased and non-informative article, but I do agree that Ubuntu 9.10 is going to be awesom:):)

[ekw]

I don't see how microsoft is claiming these new features.

There not like apple who use the words "first","best" or "better" in their ads. (But they do quote others that has those words)

All I've seen is straight up features to why I should buy the operating system.

That guy whines too much about credit, hes seems to be on a personal quest to raise awareness for *NIX.

Honestly, if there's a great idea that increases productivity why not implement it in an OS? The programmers of Apple MS *Nix don't care, they get their ideas from each other and put their own spin on it. They just strive to make a great operating system; nothing wrong with that.

In the engineering world, its called design review. Where if there is a problem, other engineers chip in to help solve that problem.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

These features will all be new to the vast majority of Windows users who will have never even heard of Ubuntu before.

Perhaps Ubuntu has all of these features and perhaps it does each one of them better. Until users are ready to use Ubuntu (or vice-versa) then it doesn't really matter.

Don't get me wrong, I like Linux. I haven't had it installed in a little while but I should get around to fixing that. It certainly is great for a server because GPL software avoids all of those nasty client licenses and other costs but I wouldn't be so crazy as to go install it on my wife's computer.

[PurePhoenix]

I thought OS X and versions up to 7 years previously to now, were actually written with help from microsoft?

At least, that's the insinuation made very clear by CNET and multiple other sources.

FYI all your *nix flavours ripped their special effects, widgets and etc from Litestep which has always been a freely shared source.

[Neo003]

Ok, so if I want those features from something other than windows I have to install Ubuntu, Linux, OSX and what else. Seriously did he even think about before writing a freaking article?

The features are new to windows so of course they're going to advertise it. And do you see an average person so use to windows moving away from it to the like of Ubuntu.

I tried to use that software and sorry to me it was just Windows 98.

[JOHW]

Although doable in Linux, it isn't as polished as the one on Windows. Due to work reasons, I need to use Linux, but whenever possible, I reboot into Win 7. It's faster and has less quirks ;)

[PurePhoenix]

thus the invent of litestep; People wanted the feel & power of the NEXTstep interface on their windows machines.

I still don't see why more people don't use litestep, it's arguably the most powerful, customisable, secure and stable interface known to man.

[episode]

I thought OS X and versions up to 7 years previously to now, were actually written with help from microsoft?

At least, that's the insinuation made very clear by CNET and multiple other sources.

FYI all your *nix flavours ripped their special effects, widgets and etc from Litestep which has always been a freely shared source.

Not 'written' really, but Microsoft did give money to Apple to keep them afloat during their bad years.

[hdood]

thus the invent of litestep; People wanted the feel & power of the NEXTstep interface on their windows machines.

I still don't see why more people don't use litestep, it's arguably the most powerful, customisable, secure and stable interface known to man.

Because Steve Jobs made NeXTSTEP. Most Neowinians would rather sell their computers and turn Amish.

That said, claiming Litestep has been tested to the point that it's more secure and stable than Explorer is debatable. Explorer is likely the most tested piece of software in history.

[PurePhoenix]

i didn't say it had been tested more then explorer, i said it is more secure.

E.g it can be tested against known explorer exploits and the result will indicate it's more secure.

I've been using the software since 1998 or 1999 i know very well by now the differences.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

i didn't say it had been tested more then explorer, i said it is more secure.

E.g it can be tested against known explorer exploits and the result will indicate it's more secure.

I've been using the software since 1998 or 1999 i know very well by now the differences.

Of course there is the possibility that it is less secure but you (and most other experts) just don't know about it.

Someone may be sitting out there with an exploit that nobody has picked up on yet. It hardly goes through as rigorous a testing regimen as Explorer does.

I'm not saying that is the case but I don't suggest dealing in absolutes and having a false sense of security.

[hdood]

i didn't say it had been tested more then explorer, i said it is more secure.

E.g it can be tested against known explorer exploits and the result will indicate it's more secure.

You are right in the sense that it might be safer to use, because it is so extremely obscure that no one bothers to look for vulnerabilities. Security through unpopularity, if you will. It could be littered with dozens of critical security vulnerabilities, but no one will ever know because no one gives a damn about trying to exploit something that virtually no one uses. It's a bit like the Mac and viruses. It obviously won't be affected by bugs in Explorer, seeing as it isn't Explorer.

The code itself, however, isn't necessarily inherently more secure. It might be filled with dangerous bugs, and chances are that it does have more than Explorer (which has gone through far more testing and auditing). That is all I meant. How relevant that is to a user is a different matter.

[bob_c_b]

So he starts by saying he is not going to bash one OS or regale another and by the end he credits *nix with the invetion of everything? Sounds like someone with an agenda and in need of hit count on his web site.

/end caring

and lol at LiteStep being relevant.

[PurePhoenix]

Buddy NEXTstep and Litestep were both released before Linux even had decent GUI's - it's relevancy is nothing to "lol at".

[sonyman]

Stop comparing everything with Linux. No one cares if if you get laid by showing chicks your source code.

[PurePhoenix]

Or playing with your servers? >.>

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

Aero, Gadgets and 64bit support aren't new to Windows 7, Vista had them as well and even XP had a 64bit version.

Gadgets: Gadgets, Widgets, Screenlets, whatever you want to call them, they are not new in any way, shape, or form. These desktop “toys” have been around since the days of Karamba on the Linux desktop (remember, that was the tool Apple “purchased” and turned into Dashboard).

I don't like this though, he claims that the idea started with Karamba, but it didn't. It started with MacOS (I have a Mac that is older than me, and it comes with a Calculator widget)

Apple's dashboard also uses an entirely different method at displaying widgets than Karamba's does, so I have no idea what his statement about that is supposed to mean.

Edit: Desktop Accessories is what they were called under MacOS.