Well... the last couple of weeks has brought a lot of news of Windows 7, between PDC and WinHEC.
The major question is... is it just "Vista" + Service Pack 3? (Vista SP2 is supposed to be available before Windows 7 is released)
A quick list of known things about Windows 7:~ Based on Server 2008 kernel (Kernel version will be 6.1, not 7.x)
~ Uses same driver model as Vista to not break compatibility
~ Supports Virtual Machines out of the box (Can mount .VHD files)
~ Uses video card memory to not chew up system RAM for multiple open windows.
~ Has a smaller memory footprint than Vista.
~ Bundled apps have been upgraded to ribbon interface (Paint, Wordpad, etc.)
~ Some apps are no longer bundled, yet will still be available via Windows Live (Movie Maker, etc.)
~ Supposedly a more modular install (Not much detail on this)
~ Performance is better than Vista and Resource usage is low enough to run on a Netbook (Atom processor and 1GB of RAM)
~ The taskbar is gone... it's now a dock with "jump lists" (Way to steal from Apple or KDE4)
~ Sidebar is gone... gadgets appear on desktop more like OSX.
~ New "Peeking at Windows" feature (A poor man's OSX expose)
~ More control over the system tray (Less annoyance, can disable pop-up messages and hide stuff)
~ Libraries - Custom views for the file system / explorer (Win-FS Lite (No database)
~ New Device manager called "Device Stage" that vendor can customize options
~ Touch features for mobile devices and tablet notebooks. Better Speech and Handwriting recognition too.
~ Improved boot performance (Parallel driver loading)
~ Improved multi-core performance (Better threading)
~ Powershell scripting environment
~ Internet Explorer 8 (More standards compliant, private browsing, Web Slices, Smart Screen Filter)
~ Better multi-monitor / screen docking support
~ Windows SafeGuard (Basically only allows changes to be temporary if user is non-admin - sand boxing the OS)
~ Better SSD support (Optimized to turn off defrag, do multiple reads, etc.)
~ Better battery life on Notebooks.
~ Better Wireless Network Manager
~ UAC not as annoying, and can be set via a slider - No warnings through full bore
~ Media Player 12 includes DivX, XVid, H.264, and AAC support.
~ In place imaging (Re-image the computer on the fly keeping user settings intact)
~ Bit Locker for removable devices
~ Problem Recorder - User can demonstrate what is done to cause the error and your help desk get's a video and diagnostic log.
~ Remote Access via HTTPS and RPC, but implemented differently. Can cache as well.
~ Accelerators - Right click (or voice command) options on selected text.
~ Workspaces (virtual desktops like Linux or OSX Spaces)
~ Windows credentials (A keyring for all your passwords)
~ DirectX 11 (whooptiedoo)
While I really don't care about the eye-candy crap, the system resource usage and the troubleshooters for supporting end users has raised my eyebrow. These are the two key areas I will be watching, and will determine whether or not I upgrade to Windows 7 or not. Also, how "modular" the install will be, is also a factor. There's a lot of bundled garbage that
I DON'T want to install.I think one major mistake is that they will offer both a 32-bit and 64-bit version again. While I do realize that 64-bit driver support is "sketchy", and they don't want to go though compatibility issues that they did with Vista... 64-bit support is being held back as "a second class citizen" which slows the development of drivers and apps for the platform. If they only released 64-bit versions (with VM's for backwards compatibility like Apple did with Rosetta and the PowerPC stuff)... 64-bit development would get a much more rapid implementation.
Still a little over a year to go.... we'll see how it pans out.
Get your games from GOG DAMMIT!