Microsoft actually went to some lengths in Windows 7 to correct this soft spot of theirs, and it’s true that the installation process is simpler and better.

Seeing how well this was received, and also noting a number of market trends worth integrating, they are now taking the improvements a step further with Windows 8.

3A one click install or upgrade is still a ways out, but the new features are kin with Windows 8′s approach of marrying stability with mobility.

some time back about how in one publicity stunt, a kid was asked to set up a Mac while an IT pro set up a PC, both from scratch.

Naturally the Mac was up and running in 20 minutes, and the PC took an hour and a half, or what have you.

The tradeoffs enabling that kind of speed, however, were not something Microsoft was willing to make then, and even less so now, competing as they do with all manner of one step and zero step setups.

So while the new features may reduce the minimum time and steps necessary.

They don’t reduce the power of your IT guy to push a thousand custom installs to every workstation on the network.

So the general idea, it seems, is to make installation something doable on any computer and intelligible to any user.

I won’t go into the nitty gritty details, but the improvements seem to be substantial.