Early user test: Australian entrepreneur gives thumbs up to Windows 7

The chief executive of a large recruitment firm has given his approval to the upcoming Windows 7 operating system, saying it has helped him save time and increase productivity.

Neil Bolton, chief executive of Recruitment Systems, says businesses should spend considerable time thinking about how they should upgrade to the new software.

“Ever since the first public beta came out, we’ve been testing Windows 7 to make sure we were always up-to-date with the newest technology,” he says.

“The user friendliness is a key factor. Secondly, it’s faster and so far everything has been faster than Windows Vista. The good thing is you don’t need a particularly faster box in order to run it. I’m using a two-year old machine that you could buy for less than $100 from Dell for an ex-leased box. You can’t buy a computer as slow as I’m running, but Windows 7 is running very fast.”

Bolton says the new software is an improvement on Microsoft’s previous operating systems, and maintains businesses should be thinking about how they should upgrade.

“One particularly useful feature is that if you draft one open box to the left of the screen, it locks it to that half of the window. It doesn’t sound like much, but when you have workers who are comparing spreadsheets, that will save a lot of time in organising windows.”

But Bolton says businesses should consider whether it is more beneficial to upgrade their current computers from the Windows XP or Windows Vista software, or buy a new computer altogether.

“Most computers that businesses are using are about two years old, and many are updating their screens to larger resolutions. But if you’re getting a bigger screen, then why not get a bigger box? It saves time, it’s much faster, and it’s worth an awful lot to your business.”

“So really, businesses should be considering whether they should upgrade their operating system or buy a new computer altogether. If you’re smart enough to do it yourself, put the disc in and it will do the rest. But if you want to get your tech support to do it, just figure what it costs and if it’s worth just buying a new box from a company with Windows 7 fully installed already.”

While Bolton says he is using the pre-released version of Windows 7, and not the retail version to be released this coming Thursday, he says any problems have been minimal.

“I’ve had no big problems from day one, and any small problems I have had have been very simply addressed.”