What is Windows 7?

Windows 7 is the codename of the upcoming operating system in development by Microsoft. It’s called 7 for now probably because it’s the 7th version of Windows (Vista was Windows 6.)

How can I get Windows 7 Beta 1?
It should be available from almost all the major torrent sites including The Pirate Bay and Mininova.

What is the latest build?
The latest build is 7034, but it is only available to Microsoft Employees. The latest build that we can use is 7022.

Should I use Windows 7 as my main OS if I get my hands on it?*
Even though it is past it’s beta stage (berly), there may still be some hiccups on it.

Is Windows 7 the same as Windows Blackcomb or Vienna?
Yes, it is. Vienna and Blackcomb were both old codenames.

When will Windows 7 be released?
Microsoft plans to release Windows 7 three years after Vista’s release date. It is planned to be released somewhere between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010.

Will Windows 7 be available in 64-bit only?
No. It will be available as a 32-bit and 64-bit version and will come in 6 different versions.

Will Windows 7 utilize a new kernel?
Nope. Previous rumors about Microsoft creating a new kernel that is one-sixth of the size of Windows Vista’s kernel were not true.

Is Windows 7 a major or minor release?
Windows 7 will probably be a pretty major release.

Will Windows 7 use the same driver device model as Vista?
Yes it will, meaning that existing drivers will work with Windows 7. No need for headaches over updates. Kudos to Microsoft for this one.

What’s the whole deal with the Ribbon?
The Ribbon is what Microsoft believes as the future of navigation for programs. If you take a look at the Notepad Look-alike screenshots here that’s what Microsoft wants to implement for programs to come. There’s not a whole lot of detail about this yet.

Virtual Hard Disks?
There were rumors of Microsoft posting a job listing for someone that can work on their virtualization features. However, an updated WinHEC 2008 agenda shows that the seminar on VHD will only be for Windows Server 2008.

What will happen to the Windows Vista sidebar and gadgets?
Windows 7 will not have the sidebar like in Vista. However, gadgets are to play an integral part of the overall GUI, and will be “integrated” into the whole Windows system.

Just how fast does Windows 7 boot up?
Because of Windows 7 utilizing less resources than Vista, it boots up noticeably faster. Lifehacker claims it is 20% faster than Vista in terms of boot time.

New Windows 7 Bitlocker additions:
Bitlocker will now support portable USB Flash drives as well

Windows 7 Features:

Screen Docking in Windows 7:
Screen docking is the ability for Windows to change shape or form through the way you move them. If you move a window up to the top edge of your screen, it will maximize automatically. Dragging it away will unmaximize it. Dragging it off to the left and right edges will automatically resize them to take up 50% of the screen.

The new taskbar “superbar” in Windows 7:
The new and improved taskbar looks a bit like the dock in Mac OS X. Microsoft wants you to recognize applications only by their icons, although you can still have it show text. It’s size has increased by 1.5 times, and you can now shift application boxes around. The new graphics engine also allows the application background box to change colour according to the hues in the application’s icon. There’s an entire article on how to unlock this hidden taskbar in Windows 7, and a preview of its features here.

Native HD codec support for Windows 7?
Windows 7 is to natively support DivX, Xvid, MKV, and H.264, as well as transcoding. This means you can watch any videos in these codecs right out of the box. Windows Media Center can also convert on-the-fly to a format your extender uses, meaning you can now stream these videos to your Xbox 360, or any other external device.

What is the Device Stage?
Device stage is a new feature that allows device vendors to have a customizable interface that allows you to utilize your device from a control panel. Basically, when you plug in your device, a window will pop up listing its specs (battery life, firmware version, hard disk space, etc) and then give you many options as to what you can do with the device. This may eliminate the need to download or install 3rd party applications to use specific devices in the future.

What are Libraries?
Libraries are folders that allow you to access data of a specific category regardless of where they are located on your computer. For example, you can create a library for rock music and have access to all your rock music in that folder, even if you have rock music on 3 different partitions.

Has the user account control changed since Windows Vista?
Yep, you can customize how it alerts you (or just turn it off completely). You can’t completely customize UAC but there are now four different UAC behaviors you can select.

What’s with the talk about Windows 7 sensors?
Windows 7 will have support for software and hardware sensors. This is very neat and there’s an entire article about it here. If you just want to know the basics, let’s just say that the sensors will have some of the following abilities: GPS, the ability to change monitor brightness and contrast depending on the amount of sunlight around you, the ability to change the GUI of an application depending on the time of day.

What’s the desktop slide show feature?
It’s pretty self-explanatory. Desktop slide shows allow your desktop wallpaper to automatically change in specified time intervals. You can also draw images from an RSS feed such as NASA image of the day, so your wallpaper change when that image changes, without actually having to store the files on your hard-drive. I have written an article on it here.

What about peeking?
Windows peeking allows you to look at a window without actually going to it. The purpose of this is to be able to view your gadgets lying on your desktop, without actually having to access your desktop. You can probably imagine how easy it is to get away with surfing on the net while at work.

Driver protection in Windows 7?
Whenever drivers are started, they are checked against a “Protection List” so bad drivers can be prevented from starting to avoid stability problems. The list is regularly updated by Microsoft.

What is the IME Learning feature?
IME Learning or (Input Method Editor) Learning is a feature that will memorize the combination of words or characters you use with East Asian languages. This is different from what was seen in Vista or XP because these memorizations are permanently stored on your computer, whereas in past operating systems, memory was lost after shut down.