Microsoft has learned from it's previous experience with Vista and is rolling out a new operating system called Windows 7. Windows Vista has such a bad reputation that Microsoft felt compelled to come out with a new operating system.



Microsoft made sure that Windows 7 will run better on the same hardware requirements than Windows Vista. Early benchmarks indicate that Windows 7 outperforms even the latest version of Windows Vista in all aspects.

The first pre-beta releases of Windows 7 have been handed out to testers in October 2008. That version was missing some of the new features of Windows 7 which Microsoft added in later builds. New features include the rebuild Windows Taskbar which features application previews, popup information and faster application access.

The sidebar that was one of the new features in Windows Vista has been changed so that gadgets can now be placed anywhere on the computer desktop. Libraries are another new feature that makes it possible to group folders together for easier searching.

Touch support has been added to to Windows 7 which obviously requires a monitor screen that is touch compatible. It can be used to control the operating system with the fingers to perform operations like scrolling or opening applications.

It won't be easy for Microsoft to find the right blend for all the different methods of controlling the operating system.

Also new in windows seven is something called Device Stage. This feature helps device vendors control what happens on connection, a control center specifically tailored for each device.

A metadata update service makes it possible to update the device stage anytime. Some long time Windows software programs have been updated with a new user interface. This includes Wordpad, the Windows Calculator and Microsoft Paint.

The most significant change was to Windows Media Player. Windows Media Player now supports new codecs which include AAC,H264,Xvid,Divx. Also they have added more multimedia features which includes a new animation framework along with DirectX 11.

Bitlocker To Go is the next new feature. It can be used to encrypt data on removable devices such as USB drives. It also offers a way to use network shares without virtual private networks.

The security concept of Windows 7 is similar to the one in Windows Vista. It has however been streamlined which resulted in a reduced need of user interaction.

Microsoft build Windows 7 on the Vista code but streamlined and optimized it. One of the main aspects of Windows 7 is compatibility with all devices and applications that were running fine under Windows Vista to avoid application incompatibilities.

Users have high hopes that Windows 7 will be another Windows XP operating system. Especially those that have skipped Windows Vista are looking forward to the release.