Windows 7 Status report

Current (closed released) version: Milestone 3 (Build 7089)

Slowly but surely, the hardcore XP fans are giving in for what is I think now the unneccessarily proven superior OS, Windows Vista. But let’s admit it – Vista hasn’t been the success I thought it would be. More than one person has asked me (and some still are asking me) whether to go with XP and Vista when they’re getting a new computer or upgrading. I always answer Vista.

The problem is all the negative criticism from all the tech bloggers with complaints like “WTF My (cracked) Vista Ultimate edition doesn’t work on my IBM 286 PC” or “Why can’t I play my 1980s games from my floppys on Vista? IT SUCKS!“. Seriously folks, these questions just answer themselves. If you’ve got any sense – Vista is the way to go.

The desktop as seen in Windows 7

But this article is not about Vista. It’s about the OS all remaining XP fans are waiting for in order to skip Vista, because how DIFFERENT and GREAT it will be. And yes, it will be different from XP. And yes, it will be great. But how is that different from Vista? Windows 7, I guess, can easily be described as a Vista 2.0 rather than a Windows 7.0.

The new themes manager

This being said, Windows 7 will come without change. And, seeing as though I don’t have the product in question, coupled with the at least 1 but possibly 1½ years left in production, it’s hard to evaluate Windows 7 yet. What I will do here, however, is till you how far those giants in Redmond have come, and what you can expect to see.

The quick folder shortcuts are now grouped (see the left side)

Windows 7 will build on the stable foundation of Vista and on top of that will features that are either missing or improvable. One of those is the new themes manager where it is much easier to manage and switch between Windows themes, even though the Aero interface is really nice.

The ribbon interface, introduced with Office 2007, has been so popular and will be featured as the new more consistent UI throughout the OS. Paint and Wordpad are two bundled programs I have screenshots of that make use of the ribbon. The calculator bundled with Windows has a new refreshed UI (without the ribbon, though, thank god).

The games explorer will be updated.

Microsoft carries their Games for Windows initiative and will in Windows 7 include automation for updates of the games you have installed on your computer. There will be some new interesting options for the now rather under-utilized Games Explorer, which in Windows 7 will be more integrated and functional. The Games for Windows initiative is something that is being picked up more and more by the game developers, with benefits for both them and gamers.

The more shiny (?) start menu

Don’t read this and think that this is everything that’s new. Here are just a few major UI and feature updates on Windows 7. There’s a lot more, no doubt, including core programming changes (which is more interetsting for developers than for the average user, of course). This preview is just what it is, a preview. I will update it as time goes by and news about Windows 7 is opened up to the public. Thank you for reading. Look back here for updates later.

Marcus Näslund
tp640871@hotmail.com
2008-09-24