There’s been quite some hype leading up to the release of Windows 7, and its advertising continues unabated today.  For some weary PC users, particularly those less-than-impressed with the difficulties they faced when they embarked upon the XP to Vista path, the surprising good news surrounding Windows 7 is a welcome change, but understandably, they remain cautiously optimistic.

As we look at Windows 7 to see if indeed it is stable enough for us to consider as our foundation, we are reminded of the various constraints that Vista imposed upon us when we walked its path a few years ago.  Yes, it happened in the past and yes Vista ultimately steered in the proper direction, but nonetheless, the suspicion looms.  No doubt Microsoft is aware of this mistrust, so it is not surprising to see some Windows 7 ads that hammer home the message that we, the people, created Windows 7.  That somehow, while in a coffee shop and experiencing an epiphany on making the computer easier to use, we were able to direct Microsoft into baking in the great idea into Windows 7.  Ditto the shower.  Somehow, Microsoft wants us to believe that our great ideas are encapsulated in Windows 7, that in fact, Windows 7 is an amalgamation of all that is good that we dreamt about.  That somehow, we created Windows 7.

I’m a PC and Windows 7 was my idea.  Well, let’s see shall we?  In this first of a multi part post, we’ll see if indeed Windows 7 delivers on our idea of great.  And it all starts with stability.  Great is not so great if we’re constantly battling OS induced interruptions.

Dude, where’s my stuff?  One of the most mind numbing experience we’ve had with Vista is its rather ineptness at searching for our stuff.  Back in the XP days, we installed the Google Desktop Search app, and within minutes, many of our documents, including ones we’ve forgotten about, was found with a simple search.  We had high hopes that this impressive feature would be adopted by Microsoft in Vista, but what did we get?  Not exactly.  Vista’s search feature was so lacking that we felt we’ve taken a step back in terms of productivity.  Never mind why we need to search oodles of data scattered across the desktop and other external drives, the point is that we once easily navigated this with XP and Google Search.  All gone with Vista.

So, how does Windows 7 stack up?  Much better.  Libraries is not exactly a novel concept, i mean one only need look at Apple’s products to see that the library is a loose construct that allows us to get to almost anything as if they were all cobbled in one area.  Well Windows 7, thank you for the Libraries feature.  It’s a useful feature that enables us to organize files that are stored in disparate places, including the network and other Windows 7 PCs.  Once a location has been specified in Libraries, you’ll be able to search for its contents with ease.  Contrast that with Vista, whose Byzantine-like setups required you to jump through hoops before it indexed and searched a network drive containing your old emails.  And even then, it somehow failed to index and consequently failed to deliver a comprehensive search result.  Certainly not the stable foundation we had hoped for.  But Windows 7 has changed all that.

In our next installment, we will look at the speed with which we are able to access our stuff.  Can Windows 7 help us manage our daily navigation challenge and get us to what we need, sans the laborious routine, in a reliable fashion?  Stay tuned.

The Kold Kat

In our previous post, we spoke about the stable operating system.  Recall that we consider the operating system as the foundation upon which we will be building our technology enablers, i.e. our software tools.  And we won’t be building them; rather, we will be installing them on top of the operating system.  We can’t quite get away from the physical building metaphors, as they are so apropos for the situation.  We are unabashedly unrepentant.

Ok, back to the stable operating system.  What do we mean by that?  First, let’s not quite get into the Mac vs PC argument here, or more specifically, the UNIX vs Windows slugfest.  We are going to approach this in a more conceptual manner, such that the salient points may be applied equally well to whatever operating system your choose.  After all, in specific cases, your choice of an operating system may come down to the requirements of the application you need.

In a nutshell, stable means less crashing.  Note that we explicitly do not use the term “no crashing.”  Frankly, there’s no such thing.  But there is such a thing as fewer crash instances, and so that is what we mean when we say stable.  Stability is not necessarily linked to a specific operating system, and really it is not the sole domain of any OS in the market today.  Yes, stability is a byproduct of a well constructed OS to begin with, but what you do to it in terms of maintaining it, as well as the frequency of support coming from the manufacturer will factor greatly in the degree to which an operating system is “stable.”

Thus it unfolds like this: stability is two-way street.  You want the supplier of your operating system to be on top issues, and we’re not talking just performance issues here, but the whole gamut including security; moreover, you yourself must be on top of the maintenance effort.

Any software product will require maintenance in the long run, and OS stability is a shared effort between yourself and the manufacturer, as OS is in fact software.  No doubt some OS will be inherently more stable coming out of production, but ultimately, in the long run, stability is a product of diligence: coming out of the manufacturer, and out of you.

Lesson here is that your OS stability is only as effective as you and the manufacturer make it.  Should the manufacturer be on top of their game and deliver timely updates which you fail to apply, then stability will not be realized.  Likewise, a shoddy OS out of the gate coupled with shoddy manufacturer support will never end up in stability nirvana, no matter how diligent you are.

In our next installment, we will look at a specific OS, inspect its pedigree and expected stability and evaluate its potential to provide us with the stable foundation we seek as we build our portfolio of software tools in support of our business processes.

Stay tuned.

Kold Kat

Tools.  Nearly everyone who performs efficiently and experiences repeated success has at his or her disposal an integrated set of tools that work together to deliver results.  Of course, no amount of tools will compensate for a sloppy process, but let’s set that aside for now and turn our attention to approaching the art, or some would call it the science of cobbling together a set of tools and making them work in unison so that at the end of the day, there may be results that makes it all worthwhile.

The old adage heard around the world when it comes to building a house is “make sure you build it on a strong foundation.”  Foundation, by its very definition is something upon which everything else is built.  Employ a strong foundation, and you need not worry about what underneath you, and you’re free to focus on what you are building.  Build on a shoddy foundation, and you’ll end up spending more time and energy buttressing your foundation that you are unable to execute on the primary goal, which is to build on top of the foundation.

So it goes without saying, or at least it should, that a set of software tools must be built upon a solid foundation.  For the purposes of our discussion, that pretty much means the operating system.  Install your software tool on top a stable operating system, and you’ll forget that the OS is what makes most of your software tool perform flawlessly.  Choose a shaky OS and you’ll be spending time patching that OS and researching it various ills that you’ll have little time to fully flesh out the capabilities of your software tool.  Worse yet, you may end up blaming the software and chucking it, and in the process failing to give it a fair shake.  All that, because of a shaky OS.

In our next installment, we will look at what constitutes our definition of the stable operating system.  And we’ll also take a brief look as to why you may want to consider a portable software workbench.  All that and more when we return.  Stay tuned.

The Kold Kat

Your friendly neighborhood Koldkast contributor