Is Windows 7 really that great?! I think so….
I was never a “fanboy”.  Until I got a Nikon camera. Instant Nikon fanboy. And now Windows 7 has done the same thing, firmly cementing my position that a nicely maintained and configured PC will always be a better buy than an Apple.  Windows 7 is a game changer in my opinion. Sure, its not a HUGE departure from Vista but visually speaking and in terms of performance and usability Windows 7 is a super nice operating system.  So go ahead, call me a Windows fanboy, I am happy to wear it on my sleeve.
Windows has always had the “utility” but finally we get some sex appeal in the OS.  Okay okay, enough about how awesome it looks and all that, other blogs are covering this ad-nauseum. What I want to talk about are the features that specifically appeal to me as a photographer.  So here is my list:
1. EXTRA LARGE THUMBNAILS – Yeah I know, many of us use Bridge (and if you don’t, you should) BUT I still find that there are many times in my workflow where I use the standard windows explorer interface and THANK YOU MICROSOFT for adding the huge thumbnails.
2. LIBRARIES - Libraries are a new feature in Windows 7 and although it took some getting used to, I have found that they are extremely helpful in a few ways. Essentially a library pulls all your media (pictures in this case) into one place, even if they might be stored in a variety of places. In my workflow I have several different places I store images whether it be a network drive, an external drive etc. I find that having one place to go that pulls images from those places together has really simplified my flow.
3. SNAPPING WINDOW THINGY – I am not really sure what Microsoft is calling this feature, but I LOVE IT. What this basically does is allow windows to be dragged against the side of the screen, casuing them to “snap” into place at exactly half the width of the screen! Do this with two windows and its remarkably easy to put two applications side by side for easy comparison. I use this alot when learning new techniques in Photoshop or Lightroom. I can put up the web instructions on one side and my application on the other. AWESEOME. You can also drag them to the top of the screen for a quick maximize.
4. BETTER MEMORY OPTIMIZATION - Yeah, RAM is cheap and really if you are serious about having a photo editing machine, you should just get more than you need, but for those of us that need to squeeze every bit out of our machines, Windows 7 does a great job. Essentially, Win7 uses less system memory than Vista, and the leftover goes straight to your RAM bottom line. Sweet.
Those are the best in my opinion, but let me know what features YOU think are relevant to photography or post processing. How do you find Windows 7 in comparison to Vista/XP?
MV
