We are two years away (should there be no more delays) from Windows 7, while most people have yet to upgrade to Vista from XP. I have and love it. Vista Rocks. But will Windows 7? It seems like Vista is turning into the ugly stepchild of the Windows family (although he’s got to be cooler than Windows ME). What will Windows 7 bring us that Vista did not? Well here are a few details…

Windows 7 is a *minor update* to Vista
I am not entire sure this constitutes a new version, but whatever … you know Microsoft and their love of versioning the hell out of everything. Basically this means Windows 7 will build on the same driver base as Vista did - hopefully eliminating the same problem Vista had with drivers (although I’ve never had driver issue with any of my Vista machines).

Integrated Virtualization
This is a very cool feature of Windows 7 and I’m sure they borrowed some of the technology from the latest release of Windows Server 2008. Basically this functionality will allow legacy applications (no word on how far back) in a virtualized mode. Again, this will eliminate the other major Vista issue that crippled its adoption. You will be able to run all your older apps and Windows 7 will do its best to reduce any backwards compatibility problems.

Touch Functionality
There have been other versions of Windows that were “touch friendly” although it seems the market did not want that (tablet PC’s). Apparently with the success of the iPhone it seems Microsoft wants to jump back onto the touch bandwagon. I wonder if it will eventually mesh with Microsoft Surface. Altough nothing is that innovative with the initial demo of the touch technology … it is cool nonetheless.

Windows Live Integration
Not sure this is a good idea (Passport anyone?) but they have to push their Windows Live services somehow.

“We have an opportunity to make it much easier for customers to ‘get started’ with Windows Live. Our goal should be to have customers log in, type their Live ID, and then they are automatically ’set up’ with Live. For new machines, we want Windows Live to come with the experience and will consider investments to make this experience easy. For customers who are upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7, we will explore ways to make it easy for them to get Windows Live – particularly for photos, calendar, and movies where our applications complete the experience.”

Link

Again… I don’t think this is something customers want. It’s one of those “Wouldn’t It Be Cool” ideas that does not appear to be useful (see Passport again).

Tighter Integration with Windows Mobile
Don’t get me wrong - Windows Mobile is an awesome mobile platform. And with Windows 7 there will be even tighter integration between the two. By that time it should be Windows Mobile 7.

“Improved collaboration and connectivity between Windows PCs and cell phones is going to get a major shot in the arm with Windows 7, according to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.” Link

There are several other features coming in Windows 7. You can watch for them with this Fresh Feed. And of course, I’ll keep you posted on anything cool.

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