Microsoft on Thursday listed 36 improvements in the upcoming Windows 7 release. The release candidate (RC) will include the latest round of enhancements. Although Microsoft didn’t indicate when the RC might be available, observers think the final version of Windows 7 will launch later this year.
Microsoft said it made many revisions — bug fixes, compatibility fixes, and performance improvements — that it did not list in its extended blog post on the changes. However, the company did outline some changes three of the Windows 7 feature teams made: Core User Experience, Find & Organize, and Devices & Media.
A Sneak Peak
Microsoft made 10 changes to the desktop experience, including adding its Aero Peek window transparency tool to the Alt+Tab function. The feature lets users know what items are open on the desktop. The Windows 7 team also combined the launch and switch function on the Windows logo button.
“The magic really begins when [Internet Explorer] is running with several windows or tabs — holding down the Windows logo and tapping the 2 key repeatedly will actually cycle through the open IE items off the taskbar (with Aero Peek, of course),” said Chaitanya Sareen, a Microsoft program manager. “Letting go simply switches to the corresponding window.”
The RC will also include more “reliable and resilient” Internet radio playback, according to Microsoft, and offer improved playback for video content from digital camcorders and cameras. Sareen said Microsoft is stopping the practice of interrupting content playing on Media Player if the user inserts a USB drive, because users complained that the “experience is jarring.”
A More Transparent Microsoft
Although consumers will appreciate the enhancements, Michael Gartenberg, vice president of strategy and analysis at Interpret, says there are no significant changes coming with the RC. More significant than the changes, he said, may be that Microsoft published…