Windows 7

Microsoft sent to a select group of testers on December 16 invitations to participate in Windows 7 Beta 1.

Individuals who received the invites are considered “tech beta testers.” From the note Microsoft sent to the invitees:

“While (the Windows 7) beta will not be available until early 2009 we, know you are excited to get started so we have opened the microsoft.beta.win7.lobby (on the Microsoft Connect site) so you may begin renewing acquaintances with previous participants as well as meeting new testing peers. After accepting the invitation, you will be able to sign into Microsoft Connect and click on the ‘Windows 7 Beta Program’ link for more information on accessing the newsgroups. Continue reading »

Hardware vendors are getting an early jump on Microsoft’s next OS to avoid Vista-style compatibility headaches.

In an effort to avoid compatibility problems that plagued the launch of Windows Vista, Intel (NSDQ: INTC) is giving developers a jump on its Windows 7-based product line. The company has released a pre-production version of Windows 7 drivers for graphics chipsets. The WDDM1.1 graphics driver is designed for “enabling the full Windows 7 experience,” Intel said, noting that the driver is the result of ongoing collaboration with Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT).  Continue reading »

Microsoft has released information about the so called language waves of Windows 7. Windows 7 will be released in a total of eight language waves which basically define when a localized edition of Windows 7 will be released to manufacturing. Please take a look at the table below for information about the eight language waves and any language in particular that you might be interested in. Each language wave is released about 14 days after the previous wave. The time between the first and last release makes up 101 days.

I’ve gotten the chance to play around with the Windows 7 pre-beta build and I feel like a kid in a candy store. There are many new features that I personally am excited about that I hope to blog about over time. To kick things off I wanted to discuss the several new features in Windows 7 that make managing and sharing your files on your home network a much easier experience than ever before. Using Windows 7’s Libraries along with its HomeGroup network sharing feature, I was able to share content with other PC users on my home network. I’m going to go into detail on my experience with Libraries and setting up a HomeGroup on my network with Windows 7 to illustrate these new features for you. And believe it or not… it all starts with the relatively minor changes made to the naming of folders within User Profiles in Windows 7.

One of the things you’ll notice first is the User Profile folder structure in Windows 7 has changed a little bit from what was seen in Windows Vista. Continue reading »

One of the major problems customers face when upgrading to or purchasing a copy of Windows Vista is the so called “edition chaos”. Windows Vista was released in so many editions that it was complicated to find the most suitable edition for one’s needs. Many users fear that Microsoft will continue the trend of releasing lots of editions. Some would even go so far to estimate that the number of editions for Microsoft’s next operating system will exceed the number of editions of Windows Vista. Boing Boing mocked the edition chaos by announcing that Windows 7 would ship in 20 different editions using elusive names including Windows 7 Home Basic Premium, Windows 7 Big Business and one of our favorites the Windows 7 Penultimate edition. Continue reading »

Good news for everyone who cannot wait to get their hands on the upcoming Microsoft operating system. According to Mary-Jo Foley at ZDnet Microsoft is planning to run a public beta test of Windows 7 beta 1 at the end of this year. It was rumored that participants of Microsoft’s two developer conferences in October and November (Professional Developers Conference (PDC) Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC)) would be the first to receive beta versions of the Windows 7 operating system. The most likely scenario would be that participants of the conferences will receive a preview build of Windows 7, a beta beta probably.

It is not yet known how the public Windows 7 beta will be delivered to the public. Rumors are that Microsoft will use the Microsoft Connect service to administrate the test and signup beta testers. Good news is there will be a public beta of Windows 7 pretty soon. Question is, will you install it or wait for the release candidates or final release instead?

The new version of Windows was being developed under “Windows 7″ codename for a long time. Now, it is time to learn the “real” official name of the new Windows. Continue reading »

Here are the latest screenshots of main desktop and programs of Windows 7 Milestone 3. Continue reading »

The Windows 7 craze is barely over, and yet the internet is already buzzing with the next big thing from Microsoft: a project called Midori. The SD Times claims to have seen internal Microsoft documents detailing what Midori actually is, and they say it’s the clean-break from Windows many of us have been waiting for. The SD Times article is heavy on the details, and quite technical, but luckily Ars Technica provides a more accessible summary of what Microsoft has in store for Midori. Continue reading »

Windows 7 Server is another product that we can expect to be released approximately at the same time that Windows 7 will hit the streets. A first announcement, or shall we say Hello World, message has been posted at Brian Puhl’s website. Brian is an Active Directory engineer for Microsoft’s IT department and he published the first public screenshot of it on his website. Continue reading »