Even though it’s still clearly a beta, and a bit rough around the edges for some functionality, I have to admit that Windows 7 works very well (better than Vista) on newer systems. There are still some surprises, though: for example, Chrome doesn’t work unless you get the ‘Dev’ build, and install that. I’m also running into some oddities with file access rights on WinAmp of all things.

But, as I said, it’s still better than Vista. Some new features such as “Aero Shake” and “Screen Edge App Maximize” are pretty convenient for owners of larger screens.

Anyway, I decided to push my luck, and tried to install it onto my wife’s older PC (a 3GHz P4 based on Asus’ P4C800-E Deluxe with 3GB of RAM and an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro) and things seemed to go smoothly – at first. I created a new 50GB partition for Windows 7, and tossed the DVD in. It installed properly, if a bit slowly, but the drivers for the Analog Devices AD1985 Soundmax integrated audio device didn’t work. No problem, I thought, because I’ve got a ton of older boards, including sound cards, lying around. I tossed a Creative Sound Blaster Live24 in, thinking that Windows would play nicely with that… right?? No dice, and things actually got messy: I got my first of several BSOD’s, and my virus-scanner of all things (I’m using AVG right now) started acting wonky. I finally had to decide to give up on audio on the PC for now, and disabled the devices in BIOS.

I’ll work with it some more today. Mary Lou doesn’t particularly care what OS she’s running, as long as it works (which is why I’ve avoided installing Vista for her), but even she admits that Windows 7 with Aero looks very nice.