Day 1: Windows 7 & Internet Explorer 8 - a better experience, really
I've managed to stay away from Betas for a long time, I could not afford to have downtime but with the entire buzz about Internet Explorer 8 and the recent availability of Windows 7, I decided to give it a go.
I created a new VM with 1GB RAM and a 20 GB Hard drive. The installation process was quite smooth, and I practically did not notice it while attending our DotNetNuke weekly team meeting. I did not even create a DVD; I just captured the downloaded ISO and began installation.
Although in the VM I have to do away with the Aero GUI, I must say that turning Full Screen Mode on and working as if I were directly in the Laptop base OS was just fine.
Some of the features are even more intuitively placed, including the direct access to change the screen resolution. The additional feature that allows automatic rotation of background is nice as well. During the day Windows Explorer did not cause any of the problems I currently have in Vista, like the restarts I have to endure. Finally I found the copying feature more stable and reliable. I copied several hundreds of MB from another machine, going through the Host OS with an apparent increase in speed. The laptop has 4GB of RAM and the VM did better with only 1GB.
On the network side, with the exception of finding out that clicking the "Connect to a Network" links in the Start Menu or the Network And Sharing Center, both open the popup that takes you the Network And Sharing Center (!?)-, I had no problems joining my domain.
After installing the Firewall client, I went to see some of my favorite sites to experience firsthand how the new standards compliance could affect their appearance. None of the sites I visited had any issues. I took more time to visit some DotNetNuke based sites, of course including some I've done for my customers. I am amazed that none of them presented any problems.
One of my best experiences so far was with the Silverlight extension install. I was completely surprised that after downloading and installing it, I did not have to restart IE. Even though the installer finished mentioning that I might need a refresh, Silverlight content was immediately available in some of the browser windows I already had open.
I liked the docking of windows and the automatic behavior that hides or shows other windows when you shake the active one.
Although I was limited because I was running Windows 7 inside of the VM, for a day's worth of playing with Windows 7, I had a pleasant experience. I can see now why there are rumors that a second Beta may not happen and that a RC could be the next version that Microsoft releases.