(PC World) What if Microsoft waved a magic wand and everything people hated about Windows Vista went away? You might have an operating system that you liked — and that's what Microsoft appears to be striving for with Windows 7. We checked out an early beta of the future operating system, and though at this point many features are either missing or works in progress, the improvements to everything from user interface to memory management look highly promising.
Along with several dozen other reviewers and analysts, we got our first real look at the operating system, preinstalled on loaner notebooks, over the weekend at a workshop on the eve of the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference. Microsoft planned to hand out installation discs later Tuesday, after the head of engineering for Windows and Windows Live, Steven Sinofsky, delivers his scheduled keynote formally introducing Windows 7 to PDC attendees. (We'll report on our experiences upgrading PCs from Vista to 7 later on.)
Of course, some of the promised features are things that Microsoft has pledged — and failed to deliver — before. Wasn't Vista supposed to be faster than its predecessor? We won't be able to test performance (and other under-the-hood features) for some time, obviously, but we can share with you what Microsoft is saying to back its claims.
On some details, Microsoft has said very little. As of Monday, the company had offered no new word on when the operating system will ship — the official target date continues to be early 2010, but some insiders say that the actual date may move forward by a few months. Likewise, Microsoft hasn't said anything about editions (and pricing) other than to indicate that they probably won't mirror the Vista lineup.
More: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9118423&source=NLT_PM&nlid=8
Along with several dozen other reviewers and analysts, we got our first real look at the operating system, preinstalled on loaner notebooks, over the weekend at a workshop on the eve of the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference. Microsoft planned to hand out installation discs later Tuesday, after the head of engineering for Windows and Windows Live, Steven Sinofsky, delivers his scheduled keynote formally introducing Windows 7 to PDC attendees. (We'll report on our experiences upgrading PCs from Vista to 7 later on.)
Of course, some of the promised features are things that Microsoft has pledged — and failed to deliver — before. Wasn't Vista supposed to be faster than its predecessor? We won't be able to test performance (and other under-the-hood features) for some time, obviously, but we can share with you what Microsoft is saying to back its claims.
On some details, Microsoft has said very little. As of Monday, the company had offered no new word on when the operating system will ship — the official target date continues to be early 2010, but some insiders say that the actual date may move forward by a few months. Likewise, Microsoft hasn't said anything about editions (and pricing) other than to indicate that they probably won't mirror the Vista lineup.
More: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9118423&source=NLT_PM&nlid=8
