A First Look into Windows 7
Well, I was able to get my dirty hands on a copy of yet another operating system to be released by Microsoft, Windows 7. The first beta, or “pre-release” as it is called, was made available for the public to download on Saturday, January 10, 2009, one day late from it’s planned release on Friday, January 9 at 2:00 PM. Unfortunately, the release was delayed due to the overwhelming demand from the millions of downloaders anxious to get their hands on a copy as well. However, because of the delayed release, Microsoft would be extending the beta until January 24. But enough about that! I’m going to give you a sneak peek at some of the eye-candy of Windows 7 and what to look forward to when it rolls out in the next year or so.
So, after booting Windows 7 for the first time, you will notice that the boot screen is now a bit nicer as opposed to Vista’s. Instead of the boring green progress bar with the words “Microsft Corporation” underneath it, Windows 7’s boot screen has animated glowing orbs that fly in and combine into a glowing Windows logo. Now even though it’s probably not the most important change in 7, it does show that Microsoft is putting their hard effort into it.
When you are at the desktop of Windows 7, you will also notice a new taskbar at the bottom of the screen that does away with Quick Launch. Instead, all of your programs that you use the most can be dragged and placed on the taskbar as buttons, and all of your open windows and programs will be organized next to that corresponding button. For example, all of your open Internet Explorer windows would be placed next to the Internet Explorer button on the taskbar. Also, if you right-click on a button on the taskbar, it will show you a list of your recent activity with that program, for example, your recent documents on Microsoft Word.
Another great feature in Windows 7 is called “peak.” At the bottom, right-hand corner of your screen, there is a small button that when clicked on, will take you to your desktop. But that’s not all! If you just hover your mouse over the button, all of your open windows will temporary turn transparent, or “disappear,” and will can see what’s happening on your desktop. In Vista, when you hover your mouse over a minimized window on the taskbar, a small thumbnail comes up with the contents of that window. But in Windows 7, you can hover your mouse over that thumbnail and the entire window will appear on your screen.
What I really like about Windows 7 is that Microsoft has removed a lot of unwanted and unused applications that Vista came with, such as Windows Mail, Windows Calendar, Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Photo Gallery. These programs are now part of the Windows Live Essentials suite, which can be downloaded separately from Microsoft. Another great performance feature is the introduction of MinWin. Basically, MinWin is to Windows 7 as a skeleton is to a body; it is the base on which 7 is built on. The reason why it’s so special is because it uses less memory on your PC, and thus leaves more memory to do other tasks.
That about wraps up my preview of Microsoft’s Windows 7. Now if you do like what you hear and perhaps may want to try out the beta for yourself, you can go tohttp://www.windows7.comand download the beta free of charge up to January 24. However, don’t forget that it is “pre-release” software, and although it won’t cause any damage or harm to your PC, it does have a bit of instability to it because of bugs. But even with that, I think that this is still something to look forward to.
