Windows 7 and HomeGroup
Gizmodo published their first impressions of the Windows 7 operating system currently being developed by Microsoft. Microsoft allowed developers and reviewers get a sneak peek of this Vista replacement during this week's Professional Developers Conference. Gizmodo and other tech blogs have indicated Windows 7, although still incomplete, looks to be a better version of Windows than Vista. Improvements in boot-up time, work-flow, performance, and user interface all take center stage with this new version of Windows.
In the Gizmodo article, one new feature listed for Windows 7 hopes to improve customer experience with home networking. As I read how the new feature, HomeGroup, is described...I'm sort of disappointed.
HomeGroup is a re-do of classic workgroup networking, only with the home in mind. The feature will only work on Windows 7, so to test it I'd need a second loaner unit. Still, having set up a basic HomeGroup, at least the initial interface and Microsoft's literature suggest that this will simplify viewing content across multiple machines, and sharing printers and other products. Let's hope so, because it could also be one of those classic "Why won't this work for me????" networking wizards. (Or is it just me who gets those?)
Don't get me wrong, I applaud Microsoft for simplifying and viewing network connectivity. However, I'm troubled that HomeGroup will only work on Windows 7 systems. In my own home, I currently have a mix of XP, Vista, Linux, and Mac OS X systems. I just wonder how long it is going to take most families to see any real benefit of HomeGroup in Windows 7? Even for those homes without Macs and Linux systems, it is going to take a few years before those Windows XP and Vista systems are replaced. It will be interesting to see how HomeGroup evolves in later versions of Windows 7.
Either way, I'm looking forward to seeing Windows 7 in action as I've always felt that Vista is this decade's version of Windows ME. At the very least, it is finally nice to see Microsoft move away from Vista in hopes that seven is truly a lucky number.
About the CMS Enthusiast
Bryan Ruby is the owner and editor for CMS Report. He founded CMSReport.com in 2006 on the belief that information technologists, website owners, and web developers desired visiting sites where they could learn more about content management systems without the sales pitch. Although Bryan has been active in the content management community for a number of years, please do not call him a CMS expert. Bryan's preference is to be labeled a CMS enthusiast.
Outside of his late night blogging hours, he is the Information Technology Officer for a field office in the federal government. Away from the computer he enjoys his family, bicycling, camping, and the outdoors.
Comments
#1 WinME=Win Vista Perfect
I like your analogy of comparing Windows Vista to Windows ME which I agree. So much bugs and annoyance. I hope Windows 7 is the new Windows XP Service pack 2. Let's cross our fingers.
#2 I very much agree with your
I very much agree with your statement. oh, so often do i get annoyed when someone puts down vista for no reason. i agree with you because you know what you are talking about. your reference to xp sp2 indicates that you understand the time it takes (sadly but true) for Microsoft to get themselves in gear and make a stable os. vista is not a bad os just not very well rounded simmilar to xp (w/o sp1 or 2), it is just that to todays standards people expect so much of Microsoft that they fail to wait for its improvements. due to vistas bad rep from a majority of impatient people microsoft HAD to release a new os not just an upgrade. (if anyone replies to this with a "this is why you buy a mac" i will be leaving you a LOOOOOOONG comment)
oh ps. i honestly think microsoft's marketing department is largly at fault as well.