Windows 7 pre Beta- A Detailed Preview on The Revealed and Proposed Features

One of the main focus points of Microsoft while developing Windows Vista was to make it a visual delight. Though Windows was successful in doing that, Vista had a very weak and perhaps the worst reviews from all over the world. A bug-prone and almost half finished project that it was, Windows had to come up with an OS who is here to stay. Windows 7 (codenamed Windows Vienna) dreams of that lost market of Windows to recover again. While the PDC (Professional Developers Conference) didn’t reveal much about Windows 7, I am here to take you through the probable features that might come with Windows 7 along with many more still kept secret (I mean almost all of them are set to privacy unless you sit and go through Windows 7 news keenly. Not to mention, I had a horrid time discovering the following points)

Features

The leaked screen-shots of Windows 7 looks very similar to Windows Vista and that is perhaps a good sign. That should mean (being an optimist I am) developers have looked into intimate programming details rather than looking for the eye candy. The best part Windows developers have achieved is that they have given Windows Feedback Program (WFP) importance. They have gone through the most discussed points and features that people would like them to include and they say they have done that.

1. HomeGroup

A HomeGroup appears to somewhat similar to the WorkGroup concept that’s been in Windows for a while, but in this case you’re designating other machines to enable photo sharing, music sharing and more. There are a lot of options like

• Network discovery
• File sharing
• Public folder access restrictions and etc.

You can see the details in the picture here.

2. Start Menu Tweaks

The ability to pin items to the Windows Start menu using either drag-and-drop or with a new pin icon that will move them from the recent items section to a permanent home at the top of the start menu.

Again there is a Search option that now occupies the entire surface of the Start menu. It will be very helpful for those who have too many softwares installed in the system and find it very annoying to scroll through the start menu every time!

3. Windows Recovery Center

This is another feature that you are going to love in Windows 7. There are two options.

System Restore - this one you know of already.

Wipe and Reload - Wipe and reload comes with further two options.

1. One lets you have a complete backup of your recent changes and takes you back to the same date.
2. Another takes you to the day when you had bought the PC.

Though in both the cases you will not lose the data.

4. Least Installation Proposal

Atlast Windows developers have understood that they provide us with far too many softwares right from the process of installation which we may not be too fond of. So there is a proposal that the system will made for least installations. Though Vista had this in effect but with no considerable amount of changes to be seen, this one in Windows 7 may have a solid growth. The features’ list will be longer. So that people can choose the features they wish to from the features’ list and not by default.

5. Desktop Graphics

As you have seen through the screen-shots already that Windows 7 has never meant to look nerdish or serious in case of looks. The desktop graphics, screen resolutions and dpi have been particularly taken care of in the Windows 7. Developers have had numerous sessions over these things only. Hope that is put to effect.As per their survey,

over 50% of customers with 1600×1200 screen resolution displays are adjusting their resolution down to 1024×768, likely because they find it uncomfortable to read the tiny text on high resolution displays. The negative effect of this resolution change is the loss of fidelity

So they are trying for an improved and scalable interface.

6. Better Desktop Management

Windows 7 has made it a point to help users with better desktop management so that users are provided with options that would reduce the number of clicks and precise movements needed to perform common activities.At PDC conference, with the first look, we were most impressed by the independent movement of gadgets in the desktop. The gadget bar at the right side gets dumped. and you can place your gadgets anywhere and to any number on the desktop. Along with this,the proposed features that they are working one are,

• You can efficiently view two windows at once, with a minimal amount of set up.
• Simple to view a document at full height and a comfortable reading width.
• Quick and easy to view a window on the desktop.
• The most common actions should require the least effort - quicker to maximize or restore windows with minimal mouse precision required.
• Keyboard shortcuts to replace mouse motions whenever possible for advanced users.
• Useful, predictable, and efficient window options for a range of displays: from small laptops to 30” or larger screens; with single or multiple monitors.
• Easy to use different input methods: mouse, keyboard, trackpad, pen, or touch screens.
• Customized window glass color visible even when maximized.
• Overall - customers feel in control, and that the system makes it faster and easier to get things done.

Windows Search 4 and Indexer Gadget have been improved more to be effiicient on Windows Desktop Search feature. Fewer resources are used, File system operations are prioritized over indexing as Microsoft takes up a decoupling indexing from file systems.

The taskbar is also given a look. As Chaitanya (a senior developer in MS Windows 7 devlopers’ board) suggests that the taskbar is improved. What all? we have no clue.

7. Giving a Thought on Windows window(s)

The proposed features are enough to explain the tweaks they are working on at this time. It is going to be really valuable if all of that is put into effect which I am sure they are concerned over. So the points they are discussing are as followed

• The size of windows matters, but wasting time resizing windows is annoying. So they are gonna make an auto-resize maybe?
• Particular care is given to drag files around. As its cumbersome because the target window (or desktop) is often buried.
• Better ways to peek at the running windows in order to find what we’re trying to switch to.
• Want a predictable way to make the window fit the content (not necessarily maximized) (that is where the font text adjustments and subsequently the dpi improvements will come into effect)

8. Other Notable Features

• The control panel is going to be cleaner, with no more sidebars to annoy you when you are doing serious things.
• There will be a Report to us icon at the desktop which will directly link you to WFP (that I was talking about earlier). I donno how they are gonna work with it.
• There will be gadgets and subsequently add gadets and hide gadgets options at mouse right click. There will also be a sidebar which will have important icons that you can click on. You know that too well from Windows Vista already.
• There will be an in-built xps viewer.
• The calculator will have more options.

9. Multi- Touch Operations

The biggest “feature” is the touch and multi-touch integration, which takes many of its roots from Microsoft’s Surface Table, and will be available as an interface options for other apps.

• There will be a OSX-like dock, though how OS X-like is yet to be seen.
• Multi-touch gestures in photogalleries like two-finger zoom, flicking, and panning. Think of the photo app on the Microsoft Surface table.
• Multi-touch paint program where you can draw with 10 fingers (again, think of what you’ve already seen in Surface)
• Multi-touch piano app
• In-depth mapping application that pulls from Microsoft’s Live Maps and Microsoft Virtual Earth

Thanks to gizmodo for this information.

10. Device Stage

In yesterday’s PDC, a nice program to interface with gadgets and peripherals were introduced. The system allows camera, phone, MP3 player and printer makers to create mini interfaces for their devices. It appears at the task bar and also pops-up with menus of activities, like offloading pics or uploading music and etc. For Device Stage to work, the third-party brands will have to provide their own content, but it will get served throughout the world by Microsoft. But the main thing is, being the secretively conservative Microsoft has been over the years, how liberal would they be in allowing third party services and to what extent?

11. GPU Acceleration

GPU acceleration is one of the most prime features that Windows 7 pre beta has come up with. At PDC, the developers brought out two important features of Windows 7: Unlocking the GPU with Direct3D and Windows 7: Writing Your Application to Shine on Modern Graphics Hardware. GPGPU/cGPU acceleration is what we are looking for for the advancements of modern day future graphics and with this giant patch of Windows 7, let us be very hopeful about it.

In Conclusion

Though all these features are proposed and some are leaked already, the disclaimer from me should be clear. Some of these may not come into Windows 7. If you are from tech world then you know how secretive and often confused Microsoft is about features to be included into operating systems. Anyway, with all these impressive features lined up, I will like to see a real good operating system from Microsoft after Windows XP. Windows 7, beyond anything, needs to be secure and less bug-prone with a stable system. If that happens, I will be there to give my vote right up. Till then wait for PDC!

p.s. - Thanks to Rayker (a Windows enthusiast) for the pics. And its only an intermediate testing version of Windows 7. The developers’ haven’t contributed to the authenticity of this issue at their Windows 7 blog.