Yesterday, I spent two hours installing the new Windows 7 beta on my MacBook Pro under Parallels 4.0.
The process was smooth and significant.


Windows 7 is so much faster, sleeker, and keener than Vista.

Here’s my MacBook Pro desktop with Windows 7 Ultimate running in a Parallels 4.0 window:

I’m running Internet Explorer 8.

The new Start Menu is snapper and much more responsive now.

Installing Windows Live Essentials was a breeze.

It took just under 10 minutes to download and install all the good stuff in Windows Live Essentials.

The Windows Live Essentials Toolbar now appears in Internet Explorer and I’m logged in to the Microsoft Live service, too:

I was immediately surprised how easy it was to install Windows 7 on my MacBook Pro. 

It’s pretty amazing to have the best of both worlds — Max OSX and Windows — running on the same Apple machine. 

I’ve seen the future on my screen. 

I’ve touched the future on my keyboard. 

Today, I like what I’ve viewed and love what I felt.

I can’t wait for tomorrow.

UPDATE:

I finally closed Parallels and re-started Windows 7 Ultimate and everything was frozen.  It appears the culprit is Windows Live Essentials.  Everything worked until I restarted the system.  The only way to fix everything was to boot into Safe Mode with Parallels and do a hard install of Windows 7 Ultimate from scratch. I did not reinstall Windows Live Essentials. 

6 Comments

  2. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    Hi Nicola!
    I just updated the article. I had to spend another two-hours doing a reinstall. All is well now, though. What a hassle getting back!

  3. So… good but not quite there yet – ie with the horrible mishap with Live Essentials. The irony is quite amusing – something they deem to be essential kills the computer.

  4. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    That’s a good point, Gordon. It is beta software though, and I’m not entirely convinced the problem with Live Essentials is MSFT’s alone.
    Win 7, build 7000 is even faster now after a full wipe and restore. It is amazingly snappy running in Parallels Coherence Mode.

  6. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    Have you tried Windows 7, Katha? What did you like and what isn’t quite there yet for you?

Comments are closed.