Lets Start… I have recently received a Disc of Windows 7. Windows 7 is coming soon next year, because of the dramatic failure that has been put into Vista. As being a Mac and Windows user, and doing Graphic Design and Gaming, I have to frequently switch between Operating Systems, and with Vista its becoming [...]
Lets Start…
I have recently received a Disc of Windows 7. Windows 7 is coming soon next year, because of the dramatic failure that has been put into Vista. As being a Mac and Windows user, and doing Graphic Design and Gaming, I have to frequently switch between Operating Systems, and with Vista its becoming pretty frustrating from all the UAC’s to the interface. People still are using Windows XP, but soon that will come to an end. Since you won’t be able to use it next year. With Windows 7 coming out next hopefully it will set a new standard for Microsoft. Now on with the Tech Build Review.
I started off by using the install disc, and booting from it, it boots quite faster because the disc is around 2.5 gbs. I went through the installation, you can now Upgrade your Operating System now through the installation, as before you had to boot into XP/Vista and Select Upgrade. Which is now a major Plus, So I started up the installation, went through pretty smoothly. Once Finished I was greeted with a Little Windows Welcome. Its now more like Leopard where you choose all your setting before actually jumping into the OS. Like your Name, Wallpaper and Now your Wireless Connection.
Desktop
Once you are at the Desktop, it looks very familiar to Vista. The Start Bar has some new neat features. The Notification Icons are different now, it shows the 5 basic ones
- Solution Center
- Battery
- Network/Wireless
- Sound
- Time
The Other ones are hidden into a little Pull out arrow that shows you the rest.
At the far Right of the Bar there is a permanent Show Desktop button. Which Some people will and will not use but it is pretty useful.
Explorer
Windows Explorer is has many new features. Like Libraries.
If you have pictures in one set of folders, and other pictures in another, and you damn well aren’t going to merge the folder, you can still track them together by adding them both to the Photo Library. Libraries even show the contents of local external storage drives you add to them, though when you unmount the external drive, Library offers to ditch its folder.
Home Group
The feature will only work on Windows 7, so to test it I’d need a second loaner unit. Still, having set up a basic HomeGroup, at least the initial interface and Microsoft’s literature suggest that this will simplify viewing content across multiple machines, and sharing printers and other products. Let’s hope so, because it could also be one of those classic “Why won’t this work for me????” networking wizards. (Or is it just me who gets those?)
Other Stuff
Here are some other shots from the pre-beta unit I’m looking at, including:
• Ribbon interface now appearing on Word Pad and Paint (and nothing else so far)
• Solutions Center that will soon be re-branded as Action Center
• New fast-launching “lightweight” Windows Media Player
• Subtler, but still cool, improvements to the main Windows Media Player
• Windows information page, so you can see the attributes of the system
What Microsoft Is Promising
The sad thing about the build that Microsoft handed out is that it’s missing a lot of the neat stuff that they showed off , and have been hinting at elsewhere. Though we did see a lot of this stuff running on systems, I couldn’t take photos or video—not even of the slides.
