Windows 7 GUI features Revealed!

[Neodude1123201]

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081028-first-look-at-windows-7.html

Some of the main points,

The user interface has undergone the most radical overhaul and update since the introduction of Windows 95 thirteen years ago.

Any hardware or software that works with Windows Vista should also work correctly with Windows 7, so unlike the transition from XP to Vista, the transition from Vista to 7 won't show any regressions; nothing that used to work will stop working.

So, rather than low-level, largely invisible system changes, the work on Windows 7 has focused much more on the user experience. The way people use computers is changing; for example, it's increasingly the case that new PCs are bought to augment existing home machines rather than replacement, so there are more home networks and shared devices. Business users are switching to laptops, with the result that people expect to seamlessly use their (Domain-joined) office PC on their home network.

Text descriptions on the buttons are gone, in favor of big icons. The icons can—finally—be rearranged; no longer will restarting an application put all your taskbar icons in the wrong order. The navigation between windows is now two-level; mousing over an icon shows a set of window thumbnails, and clicking the thumbnail switches windows.

Window management has also undergone changes. In recognition of the fact that people tend only to use one or two windows concurrently, 7 makes organizing windows quicker and easier. Dragging a window to the top of the screen maximizes it automatically; dragging it off the top of the screen restores it. Dragging a window to the left or right edge of the screen resizes the window so that it takes 50% of the screen. With this, a pair of windows can be quickly docked to each screen edge to facilitate interaction between them.
Another common task that 7 improves is "peeking" at windows; switching to a window briefly just to read something within the window but not actually interact with the window. To make this easier, scrubbing the mouse over the taskbar thumbnails will turn every window except the one being pointed at into a glass outline; moving the mouse away will reinstate all the glass windows. As well as being used for peeking at windows, you can also peek at the desktop:

The taskbar's system tray has also been improved. A common complaint about the tray is that it fills with useless icons and annoying notifications. With 7, the tray is now owned entirely by the user. By default, new tray icons are hidden and invisible; the icons are only displayed if explicitly enabled. The icons themselves have also been streamlined to make common tasks (such as switching wireless networks) easier and faster.

The other significant part of the Windows UI is Explorer. Windows 7 introduces a new concept named Libraries. Libraries provide a view onto arbitrary parts of the filesystem with organization optimized for different kinds of files. In use, Libraries feel like a kind of WinFS-lite; they don't have the complex database system underneath, but they do retain the idea of a custom view of your files that's independent of where the files are.

Honestly,This looks like Linux with a funky new skin,although some of the features mentioned,look promising.

 

[J03]

No offense, but i REALLY cannot see how it "looks like linux". I know what you mean, if you meant it looks a bit like Beryl, but so did vista.


I'm hoping that the hardware requirments will not be as tough (there was talk of it..) - But I dont think i'm going to be in luck!

 

[Neodude1123201]

When i mean 'look like linux',It just somehow reminds me of some of the early releases of Pc Linux OS (2005),I Dont know why.

It Just,Does

 

[J03]

Ah, Ok - Fair enough! I've never used PC Linux OS. Ubuntu/Gentoo All the way!

 

[Neodude1123201]

Im a fan of OpenSUSE and Ubuntu myself though

I Just can NEVER Get my wireless cards working

I'm hoping that the hardware requirments will not be as tough (there was talk of it..) - But I dont think i'm going to be in luck!

I Dont think i should have a problem running Windows 7,but there is that small chance that i might have to upgrade a thing or two.I remember not too long ago,that vista was going to be the last 32-bit OS? Is that still true? Is Windows 7 going to be 64-bit only?

Also,That 'graphical console' icon in the start menu? Is that a Windows app?