再有一个星期，到10月22日，Windows 7就开始正式发布了，你准备好升级到Windows 7了吗？

根据我个人的试用经历，我是非常期待升级到Windows 7的。嗯，我的硬件不怎么的，运行Windows 7稍嫌不够，不过面对那些让人心动的特性，我决定：升级！

如果你本来用的是Vista，有条件的话我建议一定要升级到Windows 7，就别问为什么了；如果本来用的是Windows XP，如果硬件允许，也升级吧。

究竟有哪些新特性让人如此期待？以下是wired.com上总结的7点，我只是翻译一下：

你需要它 You Asked for This
还记得Vista吧？我们知道，很多人都不喜欢它，因为这个系统让很多消费者大失所望。因此，很多人——特别是超级用户——选择整个儿地无视Vista而继续使用Windows XP。所以微软试图通过Windows 7重振雄风。这一回，这个软件巨人在1月份的时候发布了Windows 7的测试版，并努力从微软的粉丝那里得到众多的反馈。Remember Vista? We know most of you don’t want to, and that’s because the OS fell short of many consumers’ expectations. As a result, many — especially power users — elected to skip Vista entirely, and have continued running Windows XP. Hence Microsoft’s attempt at a redo with Windows 7. This time around, the software giant made an effort to crowdsource feedback from Microsoft enthusiasts by distributing a free beta version of Windows 7 in January.

你抱怨，你要求，然后作为回应，微软将一些东西拼凑起来于10月22日发布。结果呢？Windows 7的外表对XP用户来说是非常熟悉的，但是实质上，它又非常特别，特别到足以让你改变对微软的看法。（作为一个长期的苹果用户和前Windows粉丝，我能担保这一点）。You complained, you demanded, and in response Microsoft slapped something together to ship October 22. The result? The overall presentation of Windows 7 is familiar enough to welcome XP users, but fundamentally it’s different enough to make you change the way you think of Microsoft. (I can vouch for that, being a long-time Mac user and ex-Windows fan).

升级过程不会很麻烦Upgrading Won’t Screw You Over
微软拥有一批内心很忠诚的粉丝，包括那些拼命执著于XP的人。这个技术巨头承诺将Windows 7设计为能够支持几乎每一个在XP上运行的程序。如果你的某个XP上的程序在Windows 7上不能运行，出现这种情况的机率很小，你还可以在一种叫做“XP模式”的虚拟环境中运行它。这个模式最酷的地方在于，你不需要在XP虚拟机和Windows 7之间切换。运行在XP模式中的程序看起来就好像它本来就是Windows 7的一部分。Microsoft has its loyal fans in mind, including those clinging for dear life to XP. The tech giant promises that Windows 7 has been coded to support almost every piece of software that runs on your XP system. If, in the rare case one of your XP programs doesn’t work on Windows 7, you can still run it in a virtual environment called XP Mode. What’s especially cool about this mode is you won’t have to toggle between an XP emulator and Windows 7. The apps running in XP Mode appear like ordinary windows that are part of Windows 7.

Also, the Windows 7 upgrade chart may appear intimidating and confusing, but prior to release Microsoft plans to release a compatibility checker that will automatically scan your system to tell you which version of Windows 7 is for you.

自动安装设备驱动Automatically Installed Device Drivers
这只是个小小的改善，但它解决了在早期版本的Windows中经常遇到的痛苦。谁有时间来寻遍网络只为找一个驱动程序来使诸如显卡或者外置硬盘等硬件正常工作？生命太短暂不能浪费在这些垃圾事情上，幸运的是Windows 7会为你做这些苦差事。插上新硬件，操作系统将为你查找并安装驱动程序。XP也有类似的这中功能，但是Vista做得较好，而Windows 7做得更好。再也没有哪些恼人的黄色问号了。多好的解脱。This is only a minor improvement, but it addresses a major pain in the ass in earlier versions of Windows. Who has time to scour the internet for a device driver to work with hardware such as a video card or an external hard drive? Life is too short for that garbage work, and fortunately Windows 7 does this chore for you. Plug in a new piece of hardware, and the OS will find and install the driver for you. XP has this feature, sort of, but it works better in Vista and much better in Windows 7. No more of those annoying yellow question marks. Good riddance.

盗版Piracy
哈哈，我们知道你们有很多人在下载盗版Yarr! We know there are plenty of you out there downloading pirated digital booty, especially in Windows land. But it’s never been convenient to be a pirate compared with being a paying customer. For example, if you’re a legitimate buyer purchasing movies off iTunes, you can easily stream your media to your legitimately purchased Apple TV. If you’re a pirate, you’d have to go through roundabout programs and hardware to re-create the experience.

Windows 7 is an OS practically made for pirates. Want to display your movies, photos or music on your TV? Bam! Windows Media Player will do that out of the box if you have a Wi-Fi enabled TV, or an Xbox. No extra programs to install: Windows Media Player seamlessly communicates with your Wi-Fi device to display your illegal content in all its glory on your fancy HD TV.

And sharing media is easy, too. Want to download all of your brother’s music? Bam! HomeGroup, an easy networking feature included in Windows 7, will make that super easy between computers running the OS. Immediately upon plugging in to your network with Ethernet or Wi-Fi, HomeGroup will ask if you wish to join the group on the network, allowing you to set up easy file sharing in minutes.

A Better Interface
The new Aero features, which we covered in our Windows 7 first look, will change the way you interact with your computer. Aero Peek will prove the most useful: The feature displays outlines of all your open windows behind your active window. Each outlined box contains a thumbnail previewing its corresponding window to help you choose.

Gizmodo’s Matt Buchanan, who has been using AeroPeek for six months, provides an excellent perspective on Aero: “It breaks the instinct to maximize windows as you’re using them; instead, you simply let windows hang out, since it’s much easier to juggle them.” Makes sense, doesn’t it, for a generation of multitaskers? Aren’t you tired of Alt-Tabbing over and over and over?

Another feature, Aero Snap, makes it easier to resize and tile windows to fit the available space. (Read more about Aero Snap and Aero Peek.)

Words aren’t enough. You really have to try the OS to understand why these UI enhancements are a big deal. We get the idea that the people dismissing Windows 7 haven’t yet tinkered with it, and we highly encourage you to download the release candidate and give it a test drive. But do it now: The download is only available until August 20.

More Advanced Hardware Support
Technology evolves faster than living organisms, and Windows 7 is also designed to work well with upcoming hardware. Touchscreens are getting more popular in the mainstream (thanks largely to the iPhone), and sure enough Windows 7 includes multitouch support. (Check out a video demoing how it works.) If 2010 is indeed the year of the tablet, as we predict, then Windows 7 just might be the winning OS in that new landscape.

If you’re not interested in touchscreens, think multiple processor cores. At some point when multicore computers are more widely available, affordable and energy efficient, an eight-year-old OS like Windows XP isn’t going to know what to do with all that extra processing power. Microsoft has already hinted that Windows 7 will scale to 256 processors. That’s more than enough, but you get the picture: This is a new operating system designed for newer systems. You’re going to need to upgrade eventually, so why not do it now, so you can get a good feel for the OS, rather than later?

The 64-bit version of Windows 7 can handle bigger system memory, too, scaling up to 192 GB of RAM, compared to the 4-GB limit for the 32-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows 7, and 128 GB for the less common 64-bit edition of Windows XP.

Oh, yeah, speaking of new devices — Windows 7 is tweaked to better suit those trendy netbooks, too. These puny devices are low-powered and thus limited in performance, and Windows 7 will run better on them thanks to its improved memory management. For example, Windows XP allocated video memory for unseen windows, but Windows 7 does not. It uses video memory only for visible windows. That equates to a more responsive netbook with longer battery life.

It Looks Sexier
我们知道，虽然这略显肤浅，可我们仍会因为其精巧的外观而对一些小工具产生好感。同样，Windows 7不同于XP那种呆板的外观，它会使你的个人电脑给人一种全新的感受。此外，详细的信息展示，鲜活的画面，更强的层次感和可以使你原本杂乱的桌面变得干净的人机界面都使Windows 7成为你的最佳选择。A superficial reason, we know, but we’ve become so intimate with our gadgets that their looks are important, too. Windows 7 will make your new PC look new, unlike the boring-as-vanilla UI of Windows XP. Extra detail, polish, gradients and a UI that will clear your desktop of clutter should all make Windows 7 a more attractive choice.

via http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/08/windows7-seven-reasons/

非常感谢青青帮忙翻译。

另外还有诸如：

1、更快、更高性能：没有人愿意等待，而Windows 7在启动、关机、重启以及响应方面都非常快速；
2、家用流媒体：Windows 7能为家用视听系统或其他网络媒体设备带来更简单的流媒体音乐、视频或照片播放功能；
3、改善的任务栏和全屏预览：
4、优化的桌面；
5、减少了系统提示：当Windows 7需要提醒你某事时，会出现Action Center的图标，你可以点击以获得更多信息，或是稍后阅读；
6、HomeGroup；
7、Jump List；
8、Windows搜索。

via http://blog.csdn.net/jhstudio/archive/2009/06/18/4278759.aspx

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/08/7-reasons-to-avoid-windows-7/©

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