It appears that people everywhere have a tendency to love or hate Microsoft, and the company has certainly had some harsh criticism over the years, most likely due to its widespread control of the personal computer operating system for such a long time. Before it became trendy and then eventually just plain sensible to use a Mac operating system, people used to constantly complain about the incredible variety of idiosyncrasies with Microsoft’s Windows operating systems. It seemed that once you just started to become used to a certain version, the Seattle-based company would unleash a new version on the world. If you were thinking about buying a new PC, and you had a particular preference for one version of Windows, you often didn’t have any choice, because the new version would be automatically “bundled in” in the new computer.

Microsoft didn’t do much to assuage its many critics when it first released its Vista version of the Windows operating system - supposedly better, from someone’s point of view, than the popular XP version. Out of the box there were problems due to unavailability of drivers or a counter-intuitive process of upgrading. Application providers were slow to release drivers to work with Vista and the new OS came with a variety of annoying features and processes that made many wish they had stuck with their XP.

In the end of October, Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system was released, and the initial verdict is that it’s far superior to Vista and definitely a step in the right direction. Some individuals have even gone so far as to compare it favorably with Mac’s latest OSX version, which is absolutely fantastic news for Microsoft.

Windows 7 is quite a bit more secure than XP, whose users are square in the marketing crosshairs - as for the most part, they were the people who totally refused to upgrade to Vista. Even though Vista was toned down and made far more user-friendly during its “day in the sun,” the terrible press it received seemed to stick with it the whole time.

Windows 7 is much more efficient, requiring only half of the memory needed by Vista and it is much quicker to load on startup, also drawing less battery power on your laptop. Those who did not upgrade to Vista from XP will notice significant differences and will take a little while to get used to them, but those who went through the initial pain on Vista will see a much less clunky interface and one which makes the user feel that he or she is far less constrained to tabbing, resizing, fumbling around and the general “1990s” feel of previous incarnations.

For example, features such as Aero Snape allow you to put two applications side-by-side and copy and paste easily, Aero Peek makes windows that you’re not focusing on temporarily transparent and Aero Shake allows you to “shake” a window, thereby closing all others. In short, there’s a much more instantaneous action feel about the whole platform.

In recognition of the fact that homes now have multiple computers and that they should be linked together easily, Windows 7 has a great new networking feature called HomeGroup, enabling you to set up and share any number of files very easily, including access to printers.

It is true to say that Microsoft will find it very difficult to come up with a “perfect” operating system, due to the unbelievable legacy of programs, peripherals and hardware manufacturers reliant on “uncle Microsoft” to function. Windows 7 may not be pain free, but it is a much better product out of the box than Vista ever was.

Adam Toren, Co-Founder of Young Entrepreneur, specializes in improving the profitability of under-performing businesses with a unique and ‘bottom line’ program. Adam, along with his brother, have started, bought and sold several companies over the past years. They currently own and operate a successful publishing company and several online companies.