The unveiling of the fist public beta of Windows 7 it was maybe the biggest news at this year CES.As expected, Steve Ballmer has dedicated the most part of his keynote to speak about Microsoft’s next big thing: Windows 7.
In fact, judging by what happened in the past months, Microsoft seems focused to get Windows 7 in time and make us all forget about the stumble that was Windows Vista.
Although, Microsoft is keeping quiet about the release date of Windows 7, the things are moving very fast.In just a year Microsoft has unveiled a lot of things about Windows 7, including it official name, so the company seems to be pretty determined to meet its goal: a release in early 2010, or maybe sooner.
Basically, Windows 7 seems to be what Windows Vista should have been. Windows 7 promises to take the good in Vista, add some more applications and services and deliver an experience that will not only get users enthusiastic about the new operating system, but will also erase the bad marks left by its predecessor.
We’ve all watched how Windows Vista turned from a highly anticipated operating system meant to upgrade the XP experience, into a reason of frustration for users, developers, and Microsoft as well. Steve Ballmer himself called Windows Vista “a work in progress,” one year after its official launch. His affirmation did not come as a surprise for anyone, especially considering that users have been complaining of Vista issues since…forever.
Despite the high expectations for Vista, a large part of users tried it and decided to go back to Windows XP, at least until Microsoft delivers an operating system superior to Vista (since a fixed Vista seemed like a hard task). When Microsoft announced it would pull the plug on Windows XP, the PC community’s reaction reflected reluctance to Vista.
Windows 7 is indeed an upgrade, but an upgrade that doesn’t necessarily follow the design lines in Vista: it’s much easier to use, it has its own look, it was designed to work faster and better, and meet the demands of a wide range of users.
Microsoft described Windows 7 as an evolved approach to engineering, largely based on customer and partner feedback. Therefore, Windows 7 will be a platform capable of combining performance, reliability and security, but also a tool meant to change everyday life experiences by making tasks simpler and easier with a revolutionary user interface. Moreover, Windows 7 will support a better interaction between user and PC with the help of the multi-touch interface.
Judging by the first beta and on the demos showed so far by Microsoft, Windows 7 could be those OS who will make you fall in love again with your PC. Let’s hope it will be ready for this winter, as some rumors are saying.
