Windows 7 vs. OSX - The War Continues

[dirkph]

Sorry for the theatrical subject, but I really want a lot of input on this. I did a search and nothing really concrete came up.

For those of you that have tried the latest build of Windows 7, how does it compare to 10.5.6? Of course, compare what you can - boot times, shut down times, file transfer times, application load times, general speed...

Compare the interfaces. What about it do you like better from what you've seen? What's worse? I know we're all very used to OSX (and maybe even bored with it...) but try and be as objective as possible.

Finally, what do you predict will finally be a better operating system... Snow Leopard or Windows 7? Obviously this is impossible to assess, but we can all make reasoned and intelligent predictions! Thanks!

 

[chaosbunny]

Finally, what do you predict will finally be a better operating system... Snow Leopard or Windows 7? Obviously this is impossible to assess, but we can all make reasoned and intelligent predictions! Thanks!

None. Some will like Snow Leopard better, others Windows 7. Depends on uses and personal preferences. And choice is a good thing.

 

[SolRayz]

Installed Windows 7 build 7000 on a blackbook and a MBP last night. Boot up times are about 30 seconds. So far imo windows 7 destroys Vista SP1 period, in terms of performance, stability, and upgrade/installation ease.

I can't speak of snow leopard, but windows 7 is simply not Mac OSX, not in the same leaque...ummm no sorry microsoft.

 

[Stridder44]

Installed Windows 7 build 7000 on a blackbook and a MBP last night. Boot up times are about 30 seconds. So far imo windows 7 destroys Vista SP1 period, in terms of performance, stability, and upgrade/installation ease.

I can't speak of snow leopard, but windows 7 is simply not Mac OSX, not in the same leaque...ummm no sorry microsoft.

In what way? Leopard has been hell for me. Airport wireless driver work spotty at best (yes, 10.5.6 is installed, same results with all kinds of settings, routers, etc.) I've been running in Vista64 for most of the time. It sucks too because I like OS X and Apple. I just wish they'd learn how to make a #$%@#ing good driver for once.

 

[SolRayz]

^I am not sure about your situation but I have no wireless issues whatsoever in Leopard on two different machines.

 

[MacDawg]

^I am not sure about your situation but I have no wireless issues whatsoever in Leopard on two different machines.

MANY do, and it is as annoying as hell
And it can be erratic and sporadic... impossible to deal with

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[fluidedge]

^I am not sure about your situation but I have no wireless issues whatsoever in Leopard on two different machines.

head over to the SPRAWLING "when the hell are apple going to fix the wireless problem in leopard" thread

 

[cathyy]

You can't compare Apples with Oranges, or...with Windows, for that matter.

 

[Sun Baked]

You can't compare Apples with Oranges, or...with Windows, for that matter.

Most would say Lemons instead of Oranges these days.

 

[Mackan]

Most would say Lemons instead of Oranges these days.

Rotten Apples against Lemons... hm, yeah tough choice.

I tried Windows 7 on my MacBook, and it is very snappy and nice to work with. Remains to be seen what happens with that new taskbar they introduced though.

 

[SolRayz]

My fear is that as future revisions emerge and a plethora of service packs and security updates installed, the OS will ultimate come to crawl like its predecessors.

 

[dirkph]

You can't compare Apples with Oranges, or...with Windows, for that matter.

Yeah, I understand. I'm just interested in the empirical data... ie., boot times and speed. Of course I understand that they're quite different - I was PC user for many, many, many years!

 

[Tallest Skil]

Yeah, I understand. I'm just interested in the empirical data... ie., boot times and speed.

If you're going to do that, you have to compare boot times fresh out of the box, in one year, in two years, in three years...

The Windows Registry is the most... and it's... You can't compare new boot times without comparing aged boot times.

Also, does Windows 7 still use the Registry? Does anyone know?

 

[sharp65]

If you're going to do that, you have to compare boot times fresh out of the box, in one year, in two years, in three years...

The Windows Registry is the most... and it's... You can't compare new boot times without comparing aged boot times.

Also, does Windows 7 still use the Registry? Does anyone know?

Why wouldn't it?

 

[Andrmgic]

Why wouldn't it?

Yeah, it still has the registry.

Maybe MS will do away with it at some point, but it will probably be a while.

 

[BornAgainMac]

In what way? Leopard has been hell for me. Airport wireless driver work spotty at best (yes, 10.5.6 is installed, same results with all kinds of settings, routers, etc.) I've been running in Vista64 for most of the time. It sucks too because I like OS X and Apple. I just wish they'd learn how to make a #$%@#ing good driver for once.

Close all your widgets. I remember reading that one Widget that checks for wireless networks is the problem.

 

[Stridder44]

Close all your widgets. I remember reading that one Widget that checks for wireless networks is the problem.

iStat perhaps? It'd be willing to give anything a shot. Thanks for the tip!

 

[BornAgainMac]

iStat perhaps? It'd be willing to give anything a shot. Thanks for the tip!

YES!!! That was the one.

 

[DeusInvictus7]

Close all your widgets. I remember reading that one Widget that checks for wireless networks is the problem.

iStat perhaps? It'd be willing to give anything a shot. Thanks for the tip!

YES!!! That was the one.

Hmm, this is pretty interesting, since I've had sporadic drops in network activity a lot, but the Airport symbol on the menu bar still shows full signal and connection. I just thought it was my router, but the other two Macs in the house, my sister's white macbook, and my cousin's macbook pro both don't have any network "drops" or whatever, so I thought it might just be my macbook's airport, hadn't thought of iStat being a problem though.

Just deleted iStat Pro, we'll see if it helps at all.

 

[EmperorDarius]

Leopard is still faster and less problematic than Windows 7 for me. But 7's still a beta, so... Anyway, as long as the registry is there, I shall never find peace with windows. Installing and uninstalling a lot of programs often with something like "the registry" is like running towards a Black Hole...
Anyway, Leopard has all the "new" features introduced in Windows 7 (at least the ones that I need) and I'm not going back to start answering tons of security pop ups. Windows 7 won't defeat the 3,000,000 malware pieces.

Yeah, it still has the registry.

Maybe MS will do away with it at some point, but it will probably be a while.

And make all the apps unusable? One of the things that's keeping windows users from switching to Mac/Linux is the amount of available programs. If windows fails in that field too...

 

[nishishei]

Windows 7's Explorer is sooo much better than the Leopard Finder, which makes me want to yank my hair out. The Finder feels like some handicapped Shareware compared to the Explorer.

 

[Santa Rosa]

Windows 7 so far seems to me like a warmed up Vista. So far the previews and thoughts have been positive. Think about that for a moment though. When Vista was released it had many problems and extremely bad driver support. It hasn't managed to free itself from that stigma. The ecosystem of windows has adjusted to support Windows Vista more fully now, hence it has much better driver support and so on and so on.

So Windows 7 gets out, basically Vista, and everyone is clamoring over how good it is. Obviously now, the driver problems are going to be fixed and Microsoft has had a good amount of time to get other key aspects in place. This all makes Windows 7 look really good. But what is it being compared to, pretty much Windows Vista. Down the road though, Windows 7 will suffer the same system slowdown, an increasing number of viruses and the only thing you will be thankful is that the UAC hasn't popped up for the 3000th time that day.

Snow Leopard is introducing Grand Central, Open CL an entirely 64 bit kernel all with a much smaller footprint. All the ingredients are their for a brilliant operating system. With 64 bit comes greater security and the ability to fully utilize huge amounts of RAM. Grand Central giving all applications the ability to fully embrace multi-core processors and Open CL unleashing the power of your graphics card for an even bigger boost.

Personally I think Snow Leopard is going to wipe the floor with 7. Not saying 7 is going to be terrible but to me I don't see where it makes up any ground on OS X. Snow Leopard for me please

 

[nishishei]

Windows 7 so far seems to me like a warmed up Vista. So far the previews and thoughts have been positive. Think about that for a moment though. When Vista was released it had many problems and extremely bad driver support. It hasn't managed to free itself from that stigma. The ecosystem of windows has adjusted to support Windows Vista more fully now, hence it has much better driver support and so on and so on.

So far my experience with Win7 has been better than Vista. The main reasons are the better Explorer, the taskbar, the automatic window resizing (Aero snap), the more logical control panel and device panels, and the snappier feel (kind of like the older Windows versions).

Kernel doesn't interest me.