Windows 7 Beta promises better user experience

BANGALORE: The recently launched Beta of Windows 7 has a lot of promising new features to offer. We managed to get our hands-on the hot new OS from Microsoft to play around with.

So while you wait to try out your own beta copy, provided here is a quick preview of some of the things like the installation, the desktop, and the taskbar, which we managed to try out so far. We'll keep you updated on the other features, as we uncover them.

Also, do visit http://forums.pcquest.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6642 to see some screenshots of Windows 7, and to post your comments, suggestions, and queries.

We've even created different sections there for other aspects of Windows 7, such as Explorer, Networking, Applications, and Other enhancements, which we'll fill up as soon as we try them out ourselves.

The Installation

The installation of Windows 7 is very much like that of Windows Vista. However, there are a few small changes throughout. The first is the Starting Windows screen itself. Instead of a plain progress bar, you now get a nicely animated screen that shows off a glowing Windows logo.

Once you complete the installation and the system boots for the first time from the hard disk, you need to complete a small first time setup - your username, password, machine name, etc. 

The nice new thing is that if the system detects a network - wireless or wired, you are prompted for settings (for e.g. Wifi key, and others). You are also prompted to say whether this network is for Home, Office or Public. In case you choose Home, there is a further step in which you can optionally configure a HOMEGROUP. We'll give more details of this HomeGroup feature later.

The install process on a clean system takes about 15 minutes - lesser than a similar Vista install. On my notebook, it detected and installed all the hardware drivers other than the nVidia gfx card. However, installing the Vista drivers enabled all features of the system immediately.

The Desktop 

While the login screen itself looks similar to that of Vista, it's once you login that you start seeing the difference. The new Taskbar is new enough to merit a separate post itself. However there are a number of changes in the desktop itself.

Firstly, you start with a clean desktop - save the Recycle bin and a beta-only Feedback icon.

The Windows Sidebar is also now gone - in fact the gadgets can now be placed directly on the desktop itself anywhere. Here are also a number of new themes that you can play with including the ability to auto-rotate background images on a schedule. You can also switch between multiple or extended monitors using the new Win-P shortcut that brings up a small helpful menu.

TaskBar 

Visually, the taskbar has one of the most significant set of changes and features. When you first look at the taskbar - now renamed to SuperBar - you see a taller transparent bar with a couple of icons next to the Windows Orb and a few icons in the notification area.

Now here's the fun part. What you assume to be the "Quick Launch" icons are not just that - they are the running program icons as well. For instance, clicking the Internet Explorer icon on the taskbar launches the program and changes the icon to the running task on the same place - identifiable by a glassy surface the icon now rests on. Opening multiple windows shows multiple glass surfaces stacked under the icon to convey that message.

Speaking of icons themselves, running apps also get another visual treat - when you move your mouse over a running app's icon, the dominant color of that icon washes through the entire button area tracking your mouse.

When you do have multiple windows or tabs open, simply keeping your cursor on the running icon shows you a list of Thumbnail previews. However unlike their Vista counterparts, these thumbnails are interactive. That is, you can click them to open the associated window immediately. You can even close the window from the thumbnail itself. Not only that, but on other Win7 compliant applications, you can even get a bunch of functionalities in the thumbnail itself - for instance on the Media Player thumbnail, you get the ability to control your playing media without having to open the full app!

Another nice effect that you get when using these preview thumbnails is the ability to preview the window itself. Hover your cursor over the thumbnail for a second and that window shows up in the foreground with all the other windows fading away into a transparency. Great to see the status of a download or a value in a file without switching to the other window and switching back again.

The running icons also give another set of features - Jump Lists. These lists are accessed by right clicking an icon - running or not. And this offers you a number of application specific tasks that you can do - for instance, previously opened files/links/media, starting conversations, taking a screen shot, etc. These jump lists are also available within the icon in the Start Menu also - there are no more "Recent Items" entry in the Start menu - instead each application automatically hosts the MRU list in its own Jump List.

The notification area also gets a revamp. By default only 4 icons are shown here - System Center, Power, Network and Volume. All other icons are hidden by default and accessible from the little arrow in front. The Date and Time are both shown now and a small Desktop Preview Glass Slab sits at the extreme right. Move your mouse over to it to immediately see the desktop by not minimizing the windows, but making them all transparent.

As you can see there are a number of changes and goodies right in the new taskbar itself.

There are lots of things to talk about in the new Windows 7, which we'll continue unveiling as we get our hands on them.