An Introduction to Windows 7
Microsoft (MS) unveiled the latest release of the most popular PC operating system, Windows called Windows 7, on October 28, 2008 at its professional developer conference. The first trial version of Windows 7 for software developers and testers was released on 7th January, 2009. This operating system is the direct successor to the current active version of Windows, Windows Vista. In this article, let’s see more of Windows 7.
It has a public release date of October 22, 2009.
The System Requirements
The hardware and software requirements of Windows 7 are almost similar to its predecessor. Here are they:
- 1 GHz or faster processor in x86 (32 bit) or x64 (64 bit) category
- RAM of 1 GB for 32 bit and 2 GB for 64 bit systems
- 16 GB HDD space for 32 bit and 20 GB for 64 bit systems
- DirectX graphics processor (also available from Microsoft), with WDDM 1.0 (Windows Display Driver Model) or higher
Most of the software working fine with Vista will be compatible with Windows 7 too.
What’s New?
Windows 7 will give better performance than Vista on a PC meeting the system requirements. This is because of the improvements on the kernel of the operating system (kernel is the core of the OS). Besides this, there are improvements in the way the OS starts. Windows 7 will give better performance on multi-core processors (low level coexistence of multiple processor cores) as well.
It comes with the latest release of Internet Explorer, IE8, which has improved features like instant search, web-based accelerators, web slices, etc. Also included is the latest version of Windows Media Player, version 12.
Visual improvements include better taskbar management and improved window thumbnail previews. Your desktop management is now easier. You can easily make the open windows transparent to quickly see the desktop.
Another important feature of Windows 7 is the new XP Mode. With this feature, within Windows 7, you can enable a Windows XP virtual machine enhanced with the XP Service Pack 3. The XP Mode helps the OS have better compatibility with software working with XP and other lower versions of Windows.
Additional features to look forward to are:
Action Center – Centralized management for a one-stop shopping location where you can go to deal with security issues, troubleshooting, and recovery.
Bitlocker to Go – BitLocker To Go extends BitLocker data protection to USB storage devices, enabling them to be restricted with a passphrase.
Windows Flip – scroll through a visual list of your open files and programs.
DirectAccess – IT administrators can manage mobile computers by updating Group Policy settings and distributing software updates any time the mobile computer has Internet connectivity, even if the user is not logged on.
Credential Manager – manage Windows credentials for various computers that you sign onto, certificate-based credentials, and other generic credentials (for e-mail accounts, Web accounts, etc.).
HomeGroup – makes connecting the computers in your home a painless process.
Media Streaming – clever, if somewhat limited at the moment, function to let you stream your music, movies, and other media over the internet.
Testing Windows 7
If you wish to run Windows 7 and get to know it better before purchasing, then you can download it and test. Microsoft has enabled download of the Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC), and it will be available until July 2009 from the Windows 7 website at Microsoft.com.
This is a Release Candidate, which is a normally bugs-free edition of the software, but it may not be entirely bugs-free. So, before installing the OS (which should ideally be on a test PC), you should back-up all the important data.
You should keep the Windows Update turned on, so that the OS is kept up to date.
The Release Candidate is valid until June 1, 2010. From March 1, 2010, the PC will start shutting down every two hours. So, before March 1, all testers should purchase and install the full version of the OS.
Popular online tech journal, Gizmodo informs that this RC of Windows 7 is very safe and robust as compared to most beta releases.
Conclusion
Expectations are high with Windows 7. Vista, though had somewhat negative media appeal in the beginning, had managed to get great love from customers. Vista is now regarded by most to be one of the finest releases of Windows in terms of security and performance. Windows 7 is definitely going to upgrade these qualities of Vista.
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