As many people buy PCs in the next few months, Windows 7 will be an option, either as an upgrade or preinstalled. If it came down to the differentiator in the choice, what should you do?
Small Business | 02 Oct 2009 :
As a regular Internet forum user for various different work and leisure related pursuits, I found a post recently in the Off Topic section of one such entity, where a user was asking what the fuss was about with Windows 7. The poster had been offered a free upgrade to Windows 7 as a differentiator between two laptops when purchasing.
This user is a self employed chap but said that the machine would inevitably become the family PC as well as the machine he would use as his main business PC. I would imagine that this is not an unusual occurrence as my own Windows 7 desktop machine is also my family PC, music recording and editing studio, gaming rig and photo lab.
So, I began a lengthy post where I highlighted the experience I had had with Windows 7, both in the corporate and small business environments, and highlighted some of the key features that made Windows 7 a worthwhile consideration on its own, let alone as a sweetener in a specific deal.
However, as I read back my comments before posting, the overriding message that came from what I had said was summed up best in the line "it just works".
From my motley collection of hardware, to the even stranger collection of peripherals, and the spectrum of cutting edge to legacy software, Windows 7 just works. Without drama or meaningless messages imploring me to do this or that, the underlying intelligence seems to have been tweaked to the point where it can resolve the majority of issues itself to the benefit of the user.
Now there have been a few times when it has frustrated me. For example, in the task bar is a little pennant icon that represents the Action Centre. It is here that any issues the OS comes across are recorded and made known to the user. Say, for example, a device driver cannot not be installed or the like, the Action Centre will show message and make a suggestion, or ask to go out on to the Internet to look for one.
Now, in one instance, I was told that there was an issue with a certain piece of software. The actuality was that that piece of software was no longer installed. A third party utility even established that the software had been cleanly uninstalled. Now without going into forensics, it appears as if some residual of the application had been left somewhere and Windows 7 wanted to go and get a new version of it to resolve the problem. Now this was a little annoying, but after the message was dismissed, it no longer showed up and there were no indications of problems.
Despite this diversion, the system kept working reliably and without incident.
The prospect for the small business owner then is a good one. A system that just works, despite minor grumbles with applications or drivers here or there, is a great boon. Reliability is worth a lot. Now there are those who would say the same value proposition exists with Mac OSX or Linux, and there is certainly truth behind that, but the fact remains that unless you are already familiar with such systems, the learning curve could be daunting. Thus, the fact remains, if you want to stick with Microsoft, Windows 7 is reliable, stable and has many features which make it a valuable tool for small business - in short, it just works.