Windows 7 first impressions + BI Monkey news

[James Beresford]

My posting rate has taken a little dip of late so I thought i’d better explain myself

A BI Monkey update

The BI Monkey has been a little short of access to computers for a while, as burglary took his laptop, being on holiday in Japan and Hong Kong distracted him and just to add some extra confusion into the mix, I switched consultancies towards someone a bit more Microsoft focused. However I am almost back in the saddle, having finally got SQL2008 up and running on 64-bit Windows 7. Once i’ve dealt with the vast amounts of admin that seem to accompany joining my new company, i’ll carry on with my quest to cover every component in depth. However I may end up delivering all my new samples on a 64-bit architecture – though*i’m still looking at setting up a virtual PC to stick with 32-bit SQL2005 for creating my demo files.

None of this seems to have slowed down the growth of the site, though it is starting to calm down – bimonkey.com had it’s first 5,000 hit day earlier this month and will easily top 100,000 hits this month. This makes me very happy! Now, if only the Google ad revenue would come pouring in!

Windows 7 first impressions

My new work machine is loaded with Windows 7 Enterprise, and I have to say, i’m impressed. I wasn’t much of a Vista hater so perhaps I am an easier sell, but there are a few features that really stand out for me:

• Taskbar – the new smaller icons are nice and the way you can manage multiple windows from a single icon is very slick
• Libraries – Being able to collect several disparate folders under a single master folder makes managing*files much easier
• Snap – a simple but easy way of pulling windows to cover half the screen for side by side review is handy
• Speech – I was a fan in Vista, and whilst not much has changed, it does seem better behaved – so will be dictating more in future

The introductory videos here are a great and easy introduction to these features, and I reccommend all new 7 users take a peek.



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