A common topic of discussion in the Windows world - in fact, in any operating system - is boot performance. Many systems take a long time to reach a usable desktop from the moment the power switch is pressed, and this can be quite annoying if it takes too long. In a post on the Engineering 7 blog, Michael Fortin, lead engineer of Microsoft's Fundamentals/Core Operating System Group, explains what Microsoft is doing to make Windows 7 boot faster.
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Member since:2005-07-06
So what ? One of my machines - which also serves as a multimedia pc - has Windows on it, is always shut down into hibernation, and it "boots" up below 20 seconds. I don't need faster than that, better get those people working on features that matter.
Member since:2006-01-10
Ha, it's funny that my Mac boots almost in the time where Windows wakes up from hibernation ...
You're right, hibernation is pretty fast to boot up, but it's not always an alternative. There are scenarios where you have to REALLY shut down your computer, or reboot, for example when you installed new software. It's just awkward when you have to wait minutes for a reboot.
Member since:2006-01-25
Member since:2005-12-15
Everything should be faster and more streamlined. If there's one thing that irritates me about computers it's sitting there waiting for the PC to boot when I just want to look up something quick.
It's a mental thing I know, but the PC seems to boot slower when you have less time to wait.
My hope is one day PCs can get all the hardware initialisation done (the bit before the OS) as quick as consoles do. I'd settle for a long initial scan which is saved each boot up can be excused from 10 seconds of checks. Sure it'd be my responsibility to run another scan if my hardware changes, but that happens far less often that does booting my PC.
Member since:2006-06-03
Member since:
2006-01-10
So you see an importance for devs, but still you insist that boot time is not important? Boot time IS important. I'm testing computers and software a lot in my company, and it's annoying to spend hours every day to just wait for Windows to reboot. This is just wasted time. Also, when you just want to quickly start your computer to lok for something you don't want to wait ages until it's up and running. Boot time CAN be improved though, my MacBook proves it: It boots from nothing to a fully usable desktop in ~30 secs. When I put it to sleep, Mac OS takes less time to wake up than I need to fully open the display.