[Abhi]

While so many people and even Tech beta-testers have been complaining about the lack of interim/beta builds from Microsoft, or for that matter, even the lack of information about what is going on behind the scenes with new internal builds, here is some good information about some of the changes that have been done since the public Beta (build 7000) till the latest build (70xx).

Chaitanya Sareen, the Senior Program Manager on the Windows 7 Team, shared some insight and updates on what has been done and what is going on with the development of the newer builds of Windows 7.

Here are some parts from his post. (Complete post here)

"We won't be able to cover all the changes (as we're still busy making them), but for today we wanted to start with a sampling of some of the more visible changes. We're still on the same path working towards the release candidate and of course we know everyone is anxious for the next phase of our path to RTM. In the meantime, our full time machines are still running the Beta build."

"This blog post talks about a few of the improvements that will be in our Release Candidate (RC) based upon customer feedback. There are many under the hood changes (bug fixes, compatibility fixes, performance improvements, and improvements) across the entire dev team that we just don't have room to discuss here, but we thought you'd enjoy a taste of some changes made by three of our feature teams: Core User Experience, Find & Organize and Devices & Media."

Some of the changes are as follows:

Desktop Experience

1. Windows Flip (ALT + TAB) with Aero Peek




2. Windows Logo + <#> keyboard shortcut

Windows Logo + <#> - opens an application corresponding to its order in the superbar (this is already present in the current beta)

• Windows Logo + <#> and Windows Logo + <#> (pressing twice) - Switches to the corresponding application to its order in the superbar
  
• SHIFT + Windows Logo + <#> - Opens application corresponding to its order in the superbar
  
• Holding the Windows Logo + tapping the <#> - Cycle through various windows in the same application, like tabs in IE
  
• ALT + Windows Logo + <#> - Access programs' Jump List
  
• CTRL + Windows Logo + <#> - Flip back to last active window
  
• CTRL + mouse click on a superbar button - Flip back to last active window

3. Needy State

"Needy window" is the internal term we use for a window that requires your attention.
We've made three changes that should address the issue. First, we changed the flashing animation curve to make it more noticeable (from a sine to a sawtooth wave). Second, we used a bolder orange color. Finally, we wanted to double the number of flashes which is currently set to three. As a nod to Windows 7, we decided to go with seven flashes instead.

4. Taskbar "Open With"

There are some scenarios when a customer wants to open a certain file type with another program. We heard this feedback and decided to revive "Open With" drag/drop on the taskbar with a keyboard modifier. One can hold down SHIFT and drop the file on the desired program.

5. Taskbar scaling

We've reclaimed lots of space on the taskbar by unifying launching/switching, by collapsing open windows and by cleaning the notification area. Still, some have asked for even more room to pin the programs they use regularly. We've made a change to squeeze in 24-39% more icons before the taskbar scrolls; depending upon your resolution, icon size and assuming the default notification area.

6. Anchoring taskbar thumbnails

We made a visual update that now keeps the color hot-track effect on when the mouse is over a thumbnail. In figure you can see that IE retains its blue Color Hot-track visual even though the mouse is over a thumbnail.



Since this thread-post is getting pretty long, I'd rather just mention the names of the changes, and you can read the details at the original post.

Other significant changes, apart from Desktop Experience(discussed above), are under:

Touch
Networking
Control Panel including changes to the UAC
Windows Media Player
Device Stage
Sound UX
Windows Explorer and Libraries
Performance
-->Start Menu Open Times for (there you go, another build )Windows 7 Build 7033 are better than those of Windows 7 Build 7000.

--
Sorry for the rather long post, hope you've enjoyed reading, at least some, if not all of it.

[Eye Pie Rate]

This is an epic post about the best OS there is atm.
Windows 7 seriously is a killer OS.

[Lord Devrexster]

Windows 7 is THE top O.S. !!

[Abhi]

Lord Devrexster, on Feb 26 2009, 07:30 PM, said:

Windows 7 is THE top O.S. !!

Desktop OS? Yes!
Server OS...Windows Server 2008 R2 stands out...so much improved from Windows Server 2008.

[Villain]

Yeah, i am FINALLY running 7022, and Loving it i might add, as my desktop os.
I formatted over my Beloved XP, Linux and OS X 10.5.4 for 7.

While i do not have the cool AERO effects (Graphics card not supported for them) I do LOVE everything else about it.

I even ran windows update, and it found an update for me WLan Broadcom driver, and then it downloaded, turned off my WLan, installed it, then turned it back on, and it worked!

no MS os, from 9x to vista, has ever worked that flawlessly.

[LonghornGT]

Very nice changes! Can't wait to view the RC build!

[_akier_]

Thanks

[AMIRZ]

Thanks for the news and poll

[MistaBishi]

Thanks for the news. I haven't been able to try Windows 7 yet, as i don't have a suffient internet connection to do so... Maybe I'll do it at school

[Abhi]

MistaBishi, on Feb 27 2009, 03:05 AM, said:

Thanks for the news. I haven't been able to try Windows 7 yet, as i don't have a suffient internet connection to do so... Maybe I'll do it at school

If I had known that earlier, I might have sent you a Windows 7 Beta DVD...I had a few of those as event giveaways, but I don't have spare ones now.

Anyways, you're in Australia, right? Why don't you try your luck to get a Windows 7 Beta DVD, courtesy of Long Zheng? (That goes irrespective of your location, worldwide). 27th Feb is the last date.


_akier_ and AMIRZ, You're welcome too.

[MaximusAxis]

Villain, on Feb 26 2009, 08:50 AM, said:

Yeah, i am FINALLY running 7022, and Loving it i might add, as my desktop os.
I formatted over my Beloved XP, Linux and OS X 10.5.4 for 7.

While i do not have the cool AERO effects (Graphics card not supported for them) I do LOVE everything else about it.

I even ran windows update, and it found an update for me WLan Broadcom driver, and then it downloaded, turned off my WLan, installed it, then turned it back on, and it worked!

no MS os, from 9x to vista, has ever worked that flawlessly.

WTF?!!! you've used OSX? so much for your NO PIRACY crap that you've been preaching. lol. Ahhh hypocrisy is contagious isn't it?

[JohnnyV1500]

winzor!!

[CommonSense]

Sweet, awesome changes! This OS is gonna rock the world

And for the Superbar, will other applications have actions too. Like Firefox have the actions IE does, or is that dependent on the developer of the program?

[Abhi]

Another small but nifty change, native support to play .mov files in Windows Media Player. (You know what that means, right? )

Improved playback support for video content from digital camcorders and cameras

"Customers loved the increased range of formats natively supported by the Windows 7 Beta, but noticed areas where they wanted broader support. For example, one was unable to seek to a specific spot in the video in Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center for AVCHD content that was imported from a digital camcorder. We've addressed this. Also, while the support for video from some digital cameras worked great, we also got feedback about supporting a broader set of devices out of the box. We've since added support for Windows Media Player to natively support the .MOV files used to capture video for many common digital cameras."

[Abhi]

CommonSense, on Feb 27 2009, 07:09 AM, said:

Sweet, awesome changes! This OS is gonna rock the world

And for the Superbar, will other applications have actions too. Like Firefox have the actions IE does, or is that dependent on the developer of the program?

Internet Explorer 8 has been developed in tight conjunction with the features of the new Taskbar, so it leverages the power of it.

Now that the Windows 7 Taskbar Extension APIs have been exposed to the 3rd parties as well (unmanaged Win32 and COM taskbar extension APIs so far, .NET managed APIs are being worked upon, under codename 'Windows Bridge'), we may very well see the full-featured Jump Lists, Progress Bars, Thumbnails etc. with the 3rd party applications soon. It is just a matter of time.