Windows 7

A review of Windows 7 belongs here only to the extent that I am running Java from Windows, and it is quite interesting to know how easy it will be to rebuild everything I had working in XP. I am building Win7 on a clean drive because I want to be able to go back to XP as simply as moving a cable from one drive to another.

My first impression was disappointing. I loved the default background pic in Vista - it was so clean and crisp. The default pic in Win 7 looks cheap and half rate. The impression is more like trying out a lame Linux distro than I would expect from a new product from MS. Fixing the pic was easy, but it was more disappointing still to find my network was dead.

I am using an Asus P5K. Asus is not exactly an unknown brand, and I bought the board 18 months ago, so how come Win7 didn't ship with the drivers? And of all the things to lose, the network is most annoying, because you either have to start fiddling with hardware, or you have to use both another computer and media (CD's or thumb drives) to fix the problem.

I have tested quite a few Linux distros, and while none of them has made me completely happy, from memory, none has failed to connect to the Internet on first install. It is an interesting turn of history that a beta release from the once mighty Microsoft, not only feels like a Linux distro, but so far is doing less well.

As an act of optimism, I install the Mobo CD. But the autorun setup program doesn't like the OS. I then browse through the CD to locate the Vista drivers for the LAN. As another act of optimism I try to run the setup file, but it does not like the OS. To be rigorous I let Win 7 hunt for the LAN driver with the CD in the drive, but it finds nothing, either on it's own, or being led to the Vista driver. I thought Win 7 was built up from Vista. Whatever, it is already more annoying.

As a final act of due diligence on this I check the Asus web site, but I am not surprised to see nothing for Win 7 for my mobo.

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