First impressions of Windows 7 beta

MICROSOFT is giving the public a first glimpse of its new operating system Windows 7 this weekend.
Due to some member-only previews and online leaks, some users have already gained a sneak peek at the operating system's new features.
Here are the first impressions of Windows 7 from around the web, as well as some tips on trying it out.



Installation
Once Microsoft's servers are able to handle the demand, the official test version (or beta) should be available for download later this weekend.



First impressions of Windows 7 beta | News | News.com.au

but links to 2 ISO's are already out and they at Microsoft Servers !!!

From article:

The new interface doesn't always work so well in the real world, according to ZDNet.com, as it "tries to do too much and as such comes across as kludgey and counter-intuitive."
"One failure is that it’s hard to tell the difference between apps that are running and shortcuts that have been pinned to the taskbar."

Click to expand...

Actually the pinned apps is one of my favorite features so far. Different opinions I guess

Actually, that quotation I now realize happens because the user left the default settings on for the taskbar, which includes "Always combine, hide labels" for the taskbar buttons - in which case Adrian is correct.

however,er I set mine to "Combine when taskbar is full" and that takes care of the hard to tell the difference part....

johngalt said:

however,er I set mine to "Combine when taskbar is full" and that takes care of the hard to tell the difference part....

Click to expand...

Excellent, that's even better.

I got a problem with "World of Warcraft" however:




It is being shown "double". Once for being pinned, and once for running. Is it just a compatibility problem or can I fix it somewhere?

thoughts on win7...

not a super techie but here are some thoughts on the OS run on cheapo emachines with low power and 1.5gb memory:

OS seems faster than vista - perception not stopwatch timed.

apps on the taskbar - not that hard to differentiate especially if the windows border is darker, the top window open is always highlighted. the suggestion above to expand solves the problem anyway.

cannot open a new browser window from icon on taskbar unless you right click icon first whereas from a desktop icon one can single click firefox and open any number of windows.

all those windows live features - never used ANY of them anyway, so bye bye bloat. did try moviemaker but that's useless, reached back for the 2.6 version. downloading the windows live stuff is a bit of a pain if one really wants it. complain about bloat, complain the services are not there. can't win on that one.

install quick and easy. the logo is ugly, not as nice as the oval. action center is nice. perfmon shows a graph instead of % and seems an extra step is required to access it. media center tutorial was a mess but dont use that anyway.

recognized all hardware w no problems. runs all software added with no problems. probably anything that will run on vista will run here.

UAC far less intrusive.

It's on OS, it runs fine. really like the feeback link most every open window. MS oughta keep that on the final version.

One issue regarding start menu - when one opens an item inside start menu, one has to close that item then RE-open start menu. a circuitous process. too bad there is no "back" button to get back to the start menu without closing the opened window.

when using help it says "you've lost your connection to online help...." guess that's an IE vs other browsers issue.

oops one more thing -

when viewing windows explorer to find files etc - can't say this new system is an improvement. first one has to click favorites to access everything else. wasted step. favorites oughta be for optional stuff particular to each user, not access to general information/folders.

not sure why everything else is a subfolder of desktop

libraries - I guess that unifies mypics, myvideos, etc. but why not just have those subfolders available to view without clicking libraries first?

so i dragged documents out of libraries and put it beneath favorites so now I dont have to open libraries or desktop just to get at my documents.
does that make sense or just too resistant to change that doesnt seem to be improvement?

favorites -> desktop -> my username -> folder just to view my docs?

too many steps here, which may seem trivial, but after too many steps for too many days and weeks.......

msongs said:

when viewing windows explorer to find files etc - can't say this new system is an improvement. first one has to click favorites to access everything else. wasted step. favorites oughta be for optional stuff particular to each user, not access to general information/folders.

not sure why everything else is a subfolder of desktop

libraries - I guess that unifies mypics, myvideos, etc. but why not just have those subfolders available to view without clicking libraries first?

so i dragged documents out of libraries and put it beneath favorites so now I dont have to open libraries or desktop just to get at my documents.
does that make sense or just too resistant to change that doesnt seem to be improvement?

favorites -> desktop -> my username -> folder just to view my docs?

too many steps here, which may seem trivial, but after too many steps for too many days and weeks.......

Click to expand...

This is what I see when I open up Explorer:


Now, your documents are just one click away, in the Documents library. Maybe I just don't understand what you're trying to do...

Right click the desktop go to personalize and change desktop icons and select your user files and now you have the link directly on your desktop is that what you wanted.

I hate to tell ya, but I have all of my special folders showing in the nav pane, and they are also just as easily clickable from the libraries as well - not sure why you are not showing all the special folders, perhaps because of a particular folder option that I have enabled (show all files and hidden files, etc.)