Windows 7.

[Inferno]

techPowerUp! News :: Microsoft Delivers Pre-Beta of Windows 7 to Developers and Previews Web Applications

Today at its Professional Developers Conference 2008 (PDC2008), Microsoft Corp. rallied software developers by sharing the first full public demo of Windows 7. Windows 7 extends developers’ investments in Windows Vista and encourages the creation of new applications and services for the Windows platform. The company also delivered a pre-beta build of Windows 7 to PDC attendees and announced plans to release a full Windows 7 beta early next year.

Microsoft also demonstrated, for the first time, its new Web applications for Office, which are lightweight versions of Microsoft Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote that are used from within standard Web browsers. The company showed how anyone can use all of the Web, phone, and PC versions of Office to edit the same rich document, switching among them seamlessly with lossless file compatibility.





“We are bringing the best of the Web to Windows, and the best of Windows to the Web,” said Ray Ozzie, chief software architect at Microsoft. “From PC to the Web to the phone, and from the server to cloud, we are focused on enabling the creation of the next generation of user experiences that change the way we live, work and play.”

Windows 7 Preview

Windows 7 is designed to make everyday tasks faster and easier, and make new things possible for end users. Windows 7 reflects an evolved approach to engineering that incorporates customer and partner feedback more closely into the development process. It will deliver innovative new features while focusing on application and device compatibility. With Windows 7, Microsoft is working to establish a more consistent and predictable release schedule so partners across the Windows ecosystem can easily and quickly build on the new capabilities Windows has to offer. When released to the market, Windows 7 will enable the following:

• Work the way you want. Windows 7 will deliver the fundamental performance, reliability and security features that people expect — and it is designed to be compatible with the same hardware, applications and device drivers as Windows Vista. New features will help protect privacy and data, make it easier to keep a PC running smoothly, and enable quicker recovery from problems.
  
• Make everyday tasks faster and easier. 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. Sharing data across all PCs and devices will be easier at home, in the office or on the go. Windows 7 and Windows Live will help users stay connected to the people and things they care about, and Internet Explorer 8 will offer a faster, safer and more productive Web experience.
  
• Make new things possible. 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 also will make it easier to use home audio-video systems and other networked media devices to play music, watch videos and display photos that reside on Windows-based PCs. And Windows 7 will offer more options than ever to customize and personalize Windows-based PCs with styles that match the user’s personality.

A Solid Foundation for Developers

Windows 7 is being designed to provide a solid platform to enable a new generation of solutions for Windows. Windows 7 will enable developers to be more productive and offers new capabilities to create more stunning applications. A new taskbar, Ribbon, destinations and shell integration enhance discoverability and usability for all applications. In addition, Internet Explorer 8, native Web services API and federated search enable developers to integrate the best of Windows and Web services.

“We are excited to be delivering a pre-beta developer release of Windows 7 today at PDC2008,” said Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president of the Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group. “With our new approach to planning and development we now have a great foundation for our partners to start learning and innovating on this exciting new version of Windows.”

In addition to Windows 7, PDC attendees received a pre-beta developer release of Windows Server 2008 R2, which will deliver many enhancements to Windows Server 2008, including live migration of virtual machines, power saving capabilities, and developer features to build and host next-generation applications and services.

Developers should go to msdn.microsoft.com/windows to learn more about developing for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

Extending Office Productivity on the Web

Separately, Microsoft announced that the next version of Microsoft Office will include Office Web applications that will help improve productivity and enhance the desktop experience by enabling people to access, create, edit, share and collaborate on Office documents across multiple devices.

“Microsoft supports diversity in work styles and understands that customers want choice and flexibility in how and where they work,” said Stephen Elop, president of the Microsoft Business Division. “Microsoft is in a unique position to meet that customer need. Office enables people to view, edit, share information and collaborate on documents on the desktop, phone and in the browser, and do so in a consistent and familiar way.”

Office Web applications for Microsoft Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote will be available to individuals through Office Live, and to businesses though a hosted subscription and existing volume licensing programs. This new offering will be compatible with familiar Web browsers from Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. Microsoft will release a private Technical Preview of Office Web applications later this year. In the meantime, customers interested in learning more about the upcoming beta availability are encouraged to sign up for Microsoft Office Live Workspace at workspace.officelive.com.

Live Services for Seamless Client-Cloud Experiences

Microsoft demonstrated many capabilities of the Live Services platform, including how developers can build rich applications and experiences that can be extended to over 400 million users of the company’s Windows Live services such as Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger. Microsoft also emphasized that its Live Services platform is the means by which products such as Windows Live, Office Live and Xbox LIVE deliver experiences that span beyond the level of a single PC, mobile device or the Web, and that these same capabilities are now being offered to developers through its Live Services platform.

The company demonstrated many aspects of Live Services including Live Mesh. Live Mesh is a service for synchronizing any user’s documents, media, files and application data across multiple PCs and devices, and is available as an open beta at mesh.com for Windows and Windows Mobile. At PDC2008, those same powerful synchronization capabilities of Live Mesh have for the first time been opened to developers through a Technology Preview of the Live Framework, enabling Web developers to extend their Web applications to a world of Windows-based PCs and extending their Web applications offline.

The Best of Web and Windows Development With Visual Studio and .NET

In terms of software development, Microsoft highlighted how it continues to help make it easy for developers to use their existing skills to build applications from the Web to the desktop, through both the recent Visual Studio 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5 service packs, and the forthcoming Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 releases. Building on Monday’s announcements that Visual Studio and the .NET Framework will make it easy for developers to create applications for the new Azure Services Platform, the company revealed that Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4 innovations will help developers build next-generation applications for Windows 7 and take advantage of new features in Windows 7, such as the Ribbon and support for multitouch enabled interfaces. Several other areas of improvements in Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 were shown, with a focus on Win32, C++, ASP.NET, Silverlight and Windows Presentation Foundation.

For the ones that wants to read about it in excruciating details: Windows 7 Developer Guide - Release: Windows 7 Developer Guide

[onthebox472]

Visually it looks like another processor hungry unnecessary development (ie Windows Vista). I like the possible device integration, but transparency and overlays are hella processor hungry. I throughly enjoy using my Windows XP machine and am gonna be hard pressed to change.

Large companies may feel different with new device incorporation and new centralized system management, as well as more webbased applications.

But then again, I haven't followed this stuff in awhile.

[Inferno]

Well let's see what Microsoft can do with this one. From what I've read, Seven is supposed to be based off Vista but more streamlined without compromising features. It is supposedly tamer on the system requirements (I believe the live demonstration of it was actually running on a low-end Intel machine with only 1GB RAM). I'm just glad to see the sidebar gone, and I'm interested in giving it a try if I can get a hold of a beta.

[Sh4d0wX7]

Originally Posted by Inferno

Well let's see what Microsoft can do with this one. From what I've read, Seven is supposed to be based off Vista but more streamlined without compromising features. It is supposedly tamer on the system requirements (I believe the live demonstration of it was actually running on a low-end Intel machine with only 1GB RAM). I'm just glad to see the sidebar gone, and I'm interested in giving it a try if I can get a hold of a beta.

This is true. I want to see what it can do. Vista 64 is ok for me so far, no real problems. Even if I did, I fix them anyways.

[Bro'Man]

I haven't had a problem with Vista 64. From what I've read about 7 it looks nice. I only hope they don't have 4 or 5 different sku's like Vista.

[Tearstone]

I think Gnome looks better.

[Zedicus]

Originally Posted by Tearstone

I think Gnome looks better.

LINUX FTW!

here where i work we have about 4000 desktop and laptops combined. we just recently moved from 2000 to XP. upper management wanted to move to vista but we pointed out it would not run correctly on the majority of the systems here. also from my experience working on computers and repairing borked installs ive been recomending people stay with XP and when windows 7 sp1 comes out switch to it.

while thinking about it check out Elive. its a linux distro that has all the eye candy of vista yet runs smoothly on anything. like even p2 and p3 systems that are beyond ancient now. pretty cool what linux is doing. one day everyone will know what it is.

or for thouse of you wanting something that looks nice and is easy to use, i recomend Mepis. it blows ubuntu out of the water.

[Sh4d0wX7]

I've always been a Fedora Core fan more than Ubuntu, but I hate how updating the bitch works. Time to check out Mepis.

[Inferno]

Pardus and Mandriva have always been the most well-rounded, reliable distributions for me. Oh wait, this thread is supposed to be about Windows 7.

Introducing the Windows 7 UI

[wiseoracle]

I wish they would of gave out more details about this.

They haven't mention how this will work on an enterprise level or what tools or what will be improved upon.

Vista was suppose to have the WinFS file system, and they took that out. I am wonder if they are going to add it back in or do something completely different.

I wish windows would allow you to customize menus, like ie Control Panel, if they allowed me to drag and drop what Icons I want to see and use often, I think that would be badass.

They did say this version is much lighter than Vista and should be able to run better even on current Vista boxes. I believe they showed a Netbook that couldn't run Vista too well and threw W7 on it running like silk.

I'm amazed that they already have a good working beta build that actually works. Come Jan, Vista will be 2 years old, and if they live up to the promise of 7 in 09', I'll be amazed, but realistically I'm betting fall of 10'.

[wiseoracle]

Here's a demo of the touch screen gestures in 7.

[James]

Lol, looks pretty good. I just recently went back to XP from vista.. And the performance gain alone was worth it lol.

But, the way 7 looks. 8 or 9 will be like gnome or mac lol

[FLiPMaRC]

Originally Posted by Inferno

Pardus and Mandriva have always been the most well-rounded, reliable distributions for me. Oh wait, this thread is supposed to be about Windows 7.

Introducing the Windows 7 UI

Looks good to me, especially if it turns out to be less of a resource hog than Vista.


32bit Beta: Microsoft Windows 7 32Bit Build 6801 DVD

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by FLiPMaRC

32bit Beta: Microsoft Windows 7 32Bit Build 6801 DVD

Don't link that kind of stuff here. It's not working anyways, but that is an older build that doesn't have most of the features shown at the PDC 2008 or in the recent pictures such as the new taskbar. Build 6933 is the one you want.

[Jar]

Originally Posted by FLiPMaRC

32bit Beta: Microsoft Windows 7 32Bit Build 6801 DVD

CONGRATULATIONS!

[wiseoracle]

I wish I were at the conference, they are giving out copies for anyone to test.

One would assume, it would be fair play to dabble from a *uhm* copy..

[Sh4d0wX7]

I wonder why all builds of Windows I've seen over the years are in the 6k range? I wanna see the first build of Vista, or (other random OS here).

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by Sh4d0wX7

I wanna see the first build of Vista

No you don't. Anyone who has tried an early beta or even alpha build can attest how ridiculously unstable and screwed up it was. Memory leak out the wazoo, crippled drivers, tempermental sidebar, and the list goes on.

[Sh4d0wX7]

Hah, I know what you mean.

[FLiPMaRC]

Originally Posted by Inferno

Don't link that kind of stuff here. It's not working anyways, but that is an older build that doesn't have most of the features shown at the PDC 2008 or in the recent pictures such as the new taskbar. Build 6933 is the one you want.

My bad

Eee PC 1000H Runs Windows 7 Well

[wiseoracle]

Originally Posted by FLiPMaRC

My bad

Eee PC 1000H Runs Windows 7 Well

NICE! That's fucking awesome a beta build can run good on a netbook. Which would be comparable to a PC 3-4 years ago.

[txgt]

I'm about to upload some Windows 7 pics here in a bit. So far, it runs as smooth as Windows Xp with 2GB of ram. That smooth. Paint looks pretty bad ass so far. So far, no crashes and it's been a stable OS oddly enough in it's beta form.

If you are wondering there is a search engine you can type "Windows 7 Build 6801" into. *cough* TPB *cough*

Another thing they made(ripped off) was the new ribbon at the top of each window. I dont' understand why they didn't just make a full blown apple rip off and kept one at the top at all times or when you open a window.

[txgt]

If you're wondering why the task bar isn't upto date it's not that current release. Have to wait for that build to 'come out'. If you manage to snag a copy of this build know that you don't need a key to use it but you'll only have 30 days.

Edit: It also comes with IE 8 which is Chrome rip off.

[txgt]

Well, trying to figure out what to take a snap shot of next. One thing I hate about Windows 7 is that certain features require double clicking where you used to only have to single click to get info out of them, ie the task bar. In a way it's good but it's rather annoying since you are clicking so much more. It's security has been updated a bit it seems. It has a new verification software that double checks any item trying to install on the computer.

[sogo]

more screenshots

[sogo]

I thought the bar at the bottom was suppose to look different.

Like this

[txgt]

From what I can tell that's supposed to be in the newest build but they didn't give it out besides in screen shots. The bottom right square with nothing in it just clears the screen. You can try out the build by going to piratebay and looking for it. Overall, it runs so fast but still takes up a whole gig of memory.

[sogo]

Gonna wait till we can get a hold of another build.

[txgt]

Update: Not all Vista Drivers work! It is a pain in the ass to get them to work. Some windows xp drivers work oddly enough. If you're worried about using this build don't be. It pretty much installs everything you need. It installed my sata, raid, 8800GTS, generic sound(I want my hd but it's ok), video display, and printer just fine after it logged me into the computer the first time which makes it nifty so no more pulling out multiple cd's and time spent installing every time.

I couldn't find anything really to pics of since it's just stability and security that has been updated.

New Calculator:






This is the new resource manager:



To fully activate your Windows 7 you'll need to search lol I had what used to work here.

[txgt]

Edit: Deleted per rules...

[txgt]

I got it to work

[txgt]

Edit: Oopss...forgot the rules...

I don't know the rules on messaging other people on how to do all this but apparently you can't say it openly in a thread.

[rocketbass88]

Looks like they took quite a few notes from Apple...

[txgt]

Yeah, the taskbar is pretty cool to use now. I'm enjoying it like crazy! Apparently, if you know how to get a proper key it takes the evulation period time completely off!

[wiseoracle]

Originally Posted by rocketbass88

Looks like they took quite a few notes from Apple...

or do you mean:

Apple took notes from Linux
and
Windows took notes from Apple

[toogood11]

Originally Posted by wiseoracle

or do you mean:

Apple took notes from Linux
and
Windows took notes from Apple

im pretty sure linux came after apple. and linux is open source, so any distro probably took notes from apple. and mac os uses a unix kernal.

if you look it up, they all stole shit from each other in the beginning anyway.

[FLiPMaRC]

Video: Windows 7 promises faster boots and up to 15% better battery life - Engadget

[littleman54321]

I see a lot of "they stole xxx from zzz". Who the fuck cares? There are only so many ways you can do certain things, and if a company (like Microsoft) notices that what their competitor (apple) is getting great success and reviews with something, OF COURSE THEY'RE GOING TO EMULATE IT. I mean, no one's saying "everyone who uses a graphical operating system copied windows".

Also, how is IE 8 a Chrome rip off?

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by littleman54321

I see a lot of "they stole xxx from zzz". Who the fuck cares?

Everyone has to defend what they own or like, duh.

[littleman54321]

Originally Posted by Inferno

Everyone has to defend what they own or like, duh.

I guess.

And login to AIM once in awhile. Or maybe that other site that you admin don't do shit on.

And when the fuck did you get an RX-8?

[Inferno]

I keep forgetting to install Trillian. That was $20 well spent; is it even still around anymore?

Originally Posted by littleman54321

And when the fuck did you get an RX-8?

About a month ago, when someone decided my Protegé looked better as a hatchback...or doesn't need a trunk.

[Jar]

Originally Posted by FLiPMaRC

Video: Windows 7 promises faster boots and up to 15% better battery life - Engadget

Now that Windows 7 has launched into pre-Beta, Microsoft has joined the world in Vista-bashing as they look to differentiate their newest OS from the incumbent.

So, Vista = Bush?

[littleman54321]

Originally Posted by Inferno

I keep forgetting to install Trillian. That was $20 well spent; is it even still around anymore?


About a month ago, when someone decided my Protegé looked better as a hatchback...or doesn't need a trunk.

1) get pidgin
2) stop getting in wrecks. Your insurance is probably worse than mine even though I have like 8 tickets.
3) on broken protege

[FLiPMaRC]

Originally Posted by Jar

So, Vista = Bush?

[txgt]

Originally Posted by littleman54321

I see a lot of "they stole xxx from zzz". Who the fuck cares? There are only so many ways you can do certain things, and if a company (like Microsoft) notices that what their competitor (apple) is getting great success and reviews with something, OF COURSE THEY'RE GOING TO EMULATE IT. I mean, no one's saying "everyone who uses a graphical operating system copied windows".

Also, how is IE 8 a Chrome rip off?

Have you ran it? They have a beta out for it. IE is still pretty much the same but they used chromes 3x3 front page viewer. At the moment it seems it doesn't save the pages like chrome but once it's done I'm sure it'll emulate the same features.

[Glenn]

Originally Posted by littleman54321

I mean, no one's saying "everyone who uses a graphical operating system copied windows".

Of course not, because Windows copied their GUI off the Mac OS, which was copied off the Xerox Alto.

[Phinhead54]

Originally Posted by littleman54321

1) get pidgin
2) stop getting in wrecks. Your insurance is probably worse than mine even though I have like 8 tickets.
3) on broken protege

Digsby >>>>>>> Pidgin

[Phinhead54]

Originally Posted by txgt

Have you ran it? They have a beta out for it. IE is still pretty much the same but they used chromes 3x3 front page viewer. At the moment it seems it doesn't save the pages like chrome but once it's done I'm sure it'll emulate the same features.

Because Chrome is been out for so long that Microsoft has had a chance to rebuild their next browser using features from it ....

[wiseoracle]

Originally Posted by txgt

Have you ran it? They have a beta out for it. IE is still pretty much the same but they used chromes 3x3 front page viewer. At the moment it seems it doesn't save the pages like chrome but once it's done I'm sure it'll emulate the same features.

Pretty sure Opera was the one that had it first before Chrome.

Chrome isn't really anything, but to just show off some tech Google came out with. It's open source, and they don't mind anyone borrowing any of their ideas.

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by Phinhead54

Digsby

Hm, I like this one. Has more of a Trillian feel to it.

[Phinhead54]

Originally Posted by Inferno

Hm, I like this one. Has more of a Trillian feel to it.

And all the features are free, there isn't a seperate pay version. You can also customize it's look, you don't need to stick with the out of the box look.

[FLiPMaRC]

Originally Posted by Phinhead54

And all the features are free, there isn't a seperate pay version. You can also customize it's look, you don't need to stick with the out of the box look.

Just tried it. Great app for managing multiple IM and Email accounts

Is there a way to disable showing each and every email account status icon on the Task menu/bar next to the clock?

[Inferno]

How Games Fare Under Windows 7 & Core i7? - VR-Zone.com: News and Reviews

We are curious how benchmarks and games will run under Windows 7 pre-beta version using the Core i7 processor. According to this PCWorld article, Core i7 is designed for Windows 7 OS which i believe is optimized in some ways that makes better use of its architecture. Other performance related improvements under Windows 7 are faster boot-up time, reduction in number of services at startup, device drivers loaded in parallel instead of serial, reduction in system memory consumption.

We ran the Core i7 965 processor with ASUS Rampage II Extreme board at 4GHz and one HDD loaded with Vista 32-bit SP1 and the other with Windows 7 32-bit while everything else are identical. The Windows 7 allows Forceware 178.13 WDDM v1.1 drivers to be downloaded but we changed it to Forceware 180.44 WHQL drivers on both OS for fairer comparison. However, according to Microsoft graphics guidelines for Windows 7, WDDM v.1.1 Win7 drivers are supposed to provide reliability and performance improvements over the WDDM v1 Vista drivers although Vista drivers will work on Windows 7 too.

Forceware 180.44 WHQL drivers although works on Windows 7 but 3-way SLI is a no go for all games benchmarks and SLI doesn't work well on Far Cry 2. Therefore we ran a single GTX280 card for the Far Cry 2 test. The game tests are 3DMark Vantage, Crysis Warhead and Far Cry 2. We also test out SuperPI for the enthusiasts.

Moving from Vista to 7, we saw some performance improvements across all tests, although it isn't eye opening but decent enough. 3DMark Vantage "Performance" Preset is about 150 pts higher, SuperPI 8M is nearly a second faster, Crysis Warhead and Far Cry 2 register 3 FPS higher under 1280x1024 resolution, performance settings.

I would like to stress that this just a preview of the Windows 7 pre-beta version with the current set of drivers for Vista and we look forward to see more performance boost with later builds and better optimized WDDM v1.1 drivers in the near future.

[Phinhead54]

Originally Posted by FLiPMaRC

Just tried it. Great app for managing multiple IM and Email accounts

Is there a way to disable showing each and every email account status icon on the Task menu/bar next to the clock?

Tools --> Preferences --> Buddy List and you might need to change from Basic to Advanced view to see the option.

[Inferno]

Another version of Windows 7 was leaked recently - Build 6956. One of the noticeable changes is the new boot screen, and the task bar that we saw earlier is now on by default.



Yeah I know, it's a bit corny.

[Clipse3GT]

I'm barely getting used to Vista, now another thing to learn.

What's the final release planned for? 2010?

[Inferno]

If you're accustomed to Vista, then transiting to Seven would be pretty easy because it's basically just Vista but more refined. As for the release date, I'm seeing late 2009.

[Bitter]

Originally Posted by Inferno

If you're accustomed to Vista, then transiting to Seven would be pretty easy because it's basically just Vista but more refined. As for the release date, I'm seeing late 2009.

i'm telling everyone i know to just skip vista all together, that it will be know as Windows me v2

[Clipse3GT]

Originally Posted by Bitter

i'm telling everyone i know to just skip vista all together, that it will be know as Windows me v2

So is windows 7 going to be Windows XP PRO v2 ?

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by Bitter

i'm telling everyone i know to just skip vista all together, that it will be know as Windows me v2

I wouldn't take it that far. Vista at least offers some benefits over XP, like networking and driver support. The only thing that I can nag on it is the high RAM consumption, but it's not really a big deal anyways since most PCs comes with at least 3GB, and 4GB kits are pretty cheap.

ME was pretty much a broken Windows 98, period.