It is no secret that I am a Windows fanboi to the extreme. I have used the OS ever since the early days of DOS and have used every single version including the horrendous Millenium Edition. I have often defended attacks on Vista because they are mostly founded on rumors. However when Windows 7 was announced I knew Microsoft had to hit a home run. It had to do something big in one way or another and they had to deliver on their promises. In essence, they couldn’t drop a single one of the gigantic balls they were carrying.

Now that the Windows 7 Beta went public I finally got my grubby little paws on a “copy” (download) and installed it within VirtualPC. I am only five minutes into using it and I already want to replace my Vista install with it. The big change is bigger than I thought, a problem that Microsoft marketing will have to overcome. What is the big change? The UI just makes sense. I guess it never occurred to me that Vista’s UI was confusing because it wasn’t to me. In my opinion, I always found Vista’s UI to be vastly superior to XP. Finding my documents, code, etc has never been easier until five minutes ago.

But it isn’t just about finding your data. Settings and general functionality of the OS is also much more discoverable. I am finding myself easily flowing through the control panel. The task bar, which I imagined to be a horrible gimmick, is something I will have to get used to but will grow to love. I can see why they made the changes. Finding your windows is easy and finding your favorite applications is easy.

While I am sure there will be problems with W7, I am blown out of the water that Microsoft actually took the time to work on the UI in such fine detail. Hopefully they carry the styling and standardization to their other applications like Office and Visual Studio.