Windows 7 is the best operating system on the market | Hacker News Reader

Windows 7 is the best operating system on the market

slate.com

12 pointsiamelgringo20 comments

What's so great about Windows 7? For starters, it offers everything you want in an OS: Programs load and run quickly, your computer pretty much never crashes, and the system mostly stays out of your way.

It's striking to me that a computer that works is striking to PC users.

Whether Windows works depends on how well the device drivers are written for your hardware.

I'll save amichail from downmod hell:

Crappy kernel mode drivers crash OSX and Linux too. Vista was garbage at launch because of so many breaking driver changes, practically everyone had to re-write their drivers, especially Nvidia, ATI, and Intel. Windows 7 basically uses Vista drivers, which are quite stable at this point.

It's quite like how some huge percentage of Safari crashes are due to Flash. People complain that Safari is crap, but it really is someone else's fault. That said, I'm not defending Microsoft or Apple here: once others make you look bad a bunch of times, it is your fault for not protecting yourself from them.

This is annoyingly slim on any details that would back up their assertions.

For instance, if programs are apparently fast, and searching is fast, could they not at least be bothered to measure this (versus Vista or XP, or running previously-known-to-be-slow programs, or even measuring a Mac)? Then there is the fact that any clean install makes a system feel snappier for awhile; let's talk again in 4 weeks and see if everything hasn't become dog slow.

And the rest of the article reads like someone who just wants eye candy. 3rd party programs have been able to customize the bells and whistles of Windows for some time, and they don't cost the $200-$400 that a new Windows would.

I do not know if Windows 7 is a great OS, but I do know that this article isn't making that case in any meaningful way.

I'm bothered that the tagline is "Windows 7 is the best operating system on the market" then goes on to say "Now the two operating systems are roughly equal." So, which is it, then? Is Win7 the best, or is it now simply on par with OS X?

The subhead on the home page works a lot better: "Windows 7: The Best Operating System Microsoft Has Ever Made." It strikes me as ill-considered editorial tweaking.

And it happens to not mention Linux...

Maybe it was just my system but I actually found Windows 7 to be pretty buggy. It blue screened on me any number of times and finally refused to load completely (despite trying every possible recovery option). Otherwise, it was great, very polished and a pleasure to use but I couldn't take the crashing and I'm now on Ubuntu. It's slightly rougher around the edges but otherwise works at least as well as W7 (and better in some areas).

They pick some pretty bizarre metrics to measure 'best'.

The fact that Windows 7 still doesn't have a useful command line makes it pretty irritating to use. (And I have been using it since the RC was released.)

I will admit that I'm not completely comfortable enough with powershell to authoritatively call it 'useful', but could you elaborate on some specific complaints? How much have you used it? From my personal experience, while the syntax has a bit of a learning curve, it is a marked improvement over 'cmd'.

I use PowerShell every single day at work. I wrote an article about it here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=571141

My love/hate relationship with object piping is my chief complaint about PowerShell, but the bigger picture complaint is that applications for Windows simply aren't designed to be used on the command line. You inevitably run into some wacky program that won't place nice with stdin/stdout, or won't let you override some setting without hacking the registry, or otherwise slows you down.

Beyond that, the terminal application UI is utter crap.

I thought this was a parody after I read the complaint about the activation code.

Somehow I'm not surprised that Slate would write a pro Windows 7 article. Slate was started by Microsoft. But I think they are owned by the Washington Post now.

So, does Microsoft still own Slate? Because that's the only explanation I can think of for this ridiculously hyperbolic piece.

I believe they're owned by the Washington Post now.

The best for what?

I just hope this thing takes off and with it, so does IE8 adoption.

To say I'm skeptical is an understatement.

You'll still find a few of the niggling quirks found in Windows versions past. For instance, the OS still requires "activation" by a 25-character code, an anti-piracy measure that annoys legitimate users while doing little to crush actual pirates.

rofl

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