Pre Beta Windows 7 Features

As you have already seen the screenshots of Windows 7 showcased at Professional Developers Conference [PDC] today in Los Angeles. Now the question in your mind is will this OS surpass Windows Vista and Microsoft’s previous OS. The last Windows version, Windows Vista was heavily criticized by almost every one as it had many bugs. Microsoft made several updates but still Vista was a loser compared to Microsoft’s previous OS. The developers at Microsoft then planned an all new OS with almost similar looks to Windows Vista. They were very secretive about their new product and only hinted that the taskbar may get several changes and many bundled applications would be unbundled with Windows Live.

User Interface and New Windows Taskbar

The user interface is almost as same as Vista but it has been kept small and looks neat. The major change bought is in taskbar. The new taskbar manages multiple windows easily. Now Windows 7 will have large thumbnails leaving text descriptions out. The icons can be rearranged in any order as in Windows XP and they are left unchanged even if the application is restarted. All applications get thumbnails, but the applications which need support for multiple windows like Internet Explorer has got thumbnails per tab rather than thumbnail per window.

Taskbar Systems Tray Enhancements:

The taskbar’s systems tray is also improved a lot. In Vista it was a big problem with system tray where it was flooded with unnecessary icons and annoying notifications. in Windows 7 there is a great relief from these useless icons as the user can completely control the system tray. Only default set of icons are displayed and other icons are displayed only if you enable them.

Jump Lists:

Jump lists are also part of taskbar. By right clicking an icon a new user interface like options list appears which Microsoft calls “Jump Lists”. Jump Lists allow you a quick access to options that might be deep within an application.

You can also see Jump List in Start Menu. The jump lists provide quick access to application features like in Windows Media Player, jump List provide playback options.

Window Management

Significant changes have been made in Windows Management. Organizing windows now can be done in a quicker and easier way. If you are interacting with multiple windows thwn there is no need to resize the window and place them side by side. In Windows 7, windows has got transparent edges which make easier to communicate and switch between the windows.

Complete control of Desktop

In Windows 7 you have complete control over the desktop. Microsoft has added a set of themes for which users can customize their desktop. There is also provision to create your own themes. Now third parties can create some good themes and allow you to download them.

Microsoft introduced sidebar on the right in Windows Vista to hold gadgets together but there was no flexibility to move these gadgets around the desktop. This feature is added in Windows 7. If you add new gadgets then they are automatically aligned to the right as was in Vista, but now you can put thse gadgets where ever you want on the desktop as we do to folders.

Windows Explorer

Microsoft has done some good enhancements in Windows Explorer as well. A new navigation is added for an easy access to the libraries. The idea of introducing the concept of libraries was a good one. You can add a set of folders containing similar files(mp3, jpeg etc.) and place them in one library. For example if you are maintaining a music library of different artists in separate folders and are not able to track certain files then you can track all the songs with the help of Windows 7 libraries without merging the folders. You can have libraries within the local computer or in a network have multiple computers.

Home Group Networking

A significant improvement made in Windows 7 is simplified support for Home Networks, the area in which it was far behind than Apple Macintosh. Now creating a Home group network is a lot easier which was done before only by network professionals. Microsoft claim that the new Home Group network will simply sharing of files and resources like printers among multiple machines. Now one can create playlist in Windows Media Player from multiple machines.

Windows Media Player

Microsoft has made easier for playing songs or movies with Windows Media Player 12 in your home network. Now you can search music files and add them to single playlist and play them whenever you wanted if all systems in a network are connected.

Microsoft has bought significant changes in this pre beta release. Sources from Microsoft said that the complete beta release will include more features and will be available for public download in first half of  2009.

[via Ars Technica and Gizmodo]

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