geekEleet

The newest operating system scheduled to be released by the Microsoft machine has been unveiled and this time they are taking a simplistic approach to naming.  The new desktop OS is officially going to be named Windows 7.  While this may confuse a good number of users, it actually makes a lot of sense.  You see, each version of Windows that Microsoft has released in the past (after Windows 3.1) has pretty much hidden it’s version number under a clever name.  Let me demonstrate:

• Windows 9x - Version 4
• Windows XP - Version 5
• Windows Vista - Version 6

While the next smash hit from M$ won’t have a catchy name, simplicity will prove to have its virtues.

[more]While the official beta version of Windows 7 isn’t slated to be available until spring 2009, 32-bit and 64-bit pre-beta versions are already flooding peer-to-peer networks.  BitTorrent sites such as The Pirate Bay and MiniNova are hosting multiple downloads of the pre-beta versions.  Don’t get too excited though, many of the downloads are the latest stable release given out at the Professional Developer Conference (PDC), and not the latest and greatest.

It’s interesting to note that rather than being greeted by the Vista Welcome Center, users are now greeted with a Windows Live sign-in window.  It appears Microsoft is planning to increase the integration of the Live product family into the new OS.  Windows 7 will also feature support for multitouch input and a new taskbar that makes managing multiple open windows a breeze.

I think the best news about the new design is the cleanup of the annoying User Account Control feature from Vista. 

Are you sure you want to do this?  You have to be an administrator to do this.  This requires elevated permissions to do this.  Last chance to back out… 

Now users will be able to easily change how often the system warns them of changes being made to their PC.

I personally can’t wait to see the product take shape as the countdown to the official release begins.