I’m pleased to announce that we have successfully installed Windows 7 on our machines. I’d characterize my first day with Windows 7 as “techno-bliss.” Things work as they should, while the user interface has been greatly enhanced. Gone are the “not responding” and “caution” pop-up boxes.

The installation of Windows 7 was not easy. It took the system about 10 minutes to tell me that the current setup was incompatible, and that I must adjust the settings of various programs before the new operating system could be installed.

Upon starting, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Microsoft has finally stopped cramming the (often useless) bells and whistles into their operating system (OA) and instead has focused on making the OA more user-friendly.

The new OA is more intuitive. For example, when you move your cursor onto the task bar, a thumbnail of the content is shown. The OA also comes with built-in backups that automatically back up your computer. Both features are great productivity boosters for law firms.

That being said, Windows 7 is not entirely glitch-free. For instance, my all-in-one printer doesn’t function properly when printing certain pre-formatted Word files. When I contacted the manufacturer of the printer, I was told that the driver for Windows 7 won’t be available until late December. Fortunately, I was able to convert those files into PDFs so they could be printed as shown on the monitor.

Hopefully Microsoft will release a patch addressing compatibility issues shortly.

Another significant shortcoming of Windows 7 is that WindowsXP users are required to manually re-install all existing programs after upgrading. The mere thought of manually re-installing the 40-odd programs on my home computer (an XP, of course) made me quit my plan to modernize the home office. (I couldn’t help but feel that perhaps XP users are being subjected to this cruel and unusual punishment for skipping Vista.)

Overall, I believe that the latest OA is the most user-friendly system produced by Microsoft yet (although at times I see the ghosts of Mac floating around). If you’re fed up with Vista, perhaps you should give Windows7 a chance before completely abandoning the PC.

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