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Windows 7, coming soon to the public!

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With Windows 7 coming to the public soon, I thought I'd take a moment to write down a quick list of some of my favorite things that are new for Windows 7.

Easy connection to networks
With the new wireless connection interface, all you have to do is click on the wireless icon on the taskbar, and you are presented with a list of availble wireless networks to connect to. One easy interface! Just click on the connect button next to the network, and you're done!

Screenshot:

Quick and easy projection interface
When you need to project, it's likely that you don't have time to goof around and waste time from your presentation trying to get your PC to project. In Windows 7, you can use the (Windows + P) key combo to cycle through projection options, works every time for me!

Screenshot:

The Superbar!
The new superbar (was the taskbar) does a great job of collapsing the running program icons down to a manageable size, and they are grouped by application as well! When you hover over an application icon (takes up less space than old style icons with text) it shows you a preview of instances of the application, and lets you click on one to focus that application. A great time saver and workflow enhancement.

Screenshot:

Updated in-box applications
Quite a few of the in-box applications (calculator, paint, etc) have new interfaces and features that make them look better and also make them easier to use.

Screenshot:

That's a few highlights, but really I'm just scratching the surface here... There are a lot of great new or updated things in Windows 7 including:

  • The Windows 7 Sensor and Location Platform, built-in automatic screen brightness control (Adaptive Brightness) ...I'm  a bit biased here, as this is the feature I worked on :)
  • New Media Center interface/experiences
  • Performance improvements
  • Homegroup (media sharing and much more)
  • ...and many more!

When you can, pick up a copy of Windows 7, I think you'll really like it!

 -Gavin