Microsoft Windows 7

Windows 7 will offer more choice in how users interact with their PCs, such as through multitouch gestures. With Device Stage, Windows 7 enables people to get more from the devices they use most often with their PC, such as cameras, phones and printers. Windows 7 will be a from-the-ground-up packaging of the Windows codebase; partially source, but not binary compatible with previous versions of Windows. Performance of native applications can be increased, distribution sizes can be cut down, functionality can be added without the worry of breaking old applications, and the overall end-user experience can be significantly improved.

Microsoft’s early 2009 target for people to begin toying with Windows 7 was striking because the Redmond, Wash.-based software maker promised deadlines it couldn’t keep when it was developing Vista. The company is trying hard to avoid a similar debacle this time. Microsoft has publicly demonstrated that Windows 7 will have touchscreen features, and also said it would include technology linking its Windows Live services directly to the OS. Executives also have hinted that Windows 7 will include native virtualization technology. Microsoft announced that if everything goes according to plan (like that ever happens in the world of software) then Windows 7 will be available sometime in 2010. That gives Microsoft more than three years to round up all of their new features, plan them out, develop them, and test them.

Windows 7 will streamline and simplify the tasks people do most often. Improved navigation, a new taskbar and a streamlined user interface put commonly used resources within easy reach. Windows 7 will automatically create a “Home Group” of networked PCs, printers, wireless photo frames and other devices. Documents, music, photos and other media stored in “libraries” on any of the networked PCs and devices can easily be searched and accessed from another Windows 7 PC on the network. Microsoft also observed that when users search, they want to search all of the sources that they can access regardless of their location. All of the search hits show up in one list, roughly Internet search engine style but better formatted (and without the ads), and the hyperlink in each search hit takes you to the data wherever it lives.
For mor information and screenshots on Windows 7 you can go to http://activewin.com/reviews/previews/windows7