See what's new in Windows 7 RC (slideshow)

by Seth Rosenblatt

The first official release candidate for Windows 7 includes impressive new features like XP Mode and remote streaming media, as well as smaller tweaks to make the OS work better than it did in beta. Click through to see what's different.

Seth peers into the deep, dark corners of software so that you don't have to. He has yet to suffer a single nightmare about OS/2. You can follow him on Twitter.

Topics:: Windows Software

Tags:: Windows 7,; release candidate,; beta,; operating system

Share:: Digg; Del.icio.us; Reddit; Facebook; Twitter

See all Windows 7 coverage.

Recent posts from The Download Blog: New Android phone? Start with these free apps; Introducing the Utilities Starter Kit; Using Facebook and Twitter safely; Three free iPhone apps that make shopping easier; The last deal before Christmas; Opera 10.5 pre-alpha goes Chrome hunting; 'Driver' races out of history and onto iPhones; Yelp for Android now uploading photos

Add a Comment (Log in or register) (21 Comments)


by Hep Cat May 6, 2009 6:42 PM PDT: This is what they've been doing for three years? Underwhelming..; Like this Reply to this comment

by lewac May 6, 2009 6:56 PM PDT

wow that thing looks like a page taken right out of ubuntu 9.04 (the facade anyhow)! don't these people come up with ANYTHING on their own? except I don't see any virtual desktops there (in ubuntu you can have as many as 36 of those). you can stick all kindsa panels in ubuntu as well (i hardly ever reference a menu because of that). at the least they really oughta abandon those lousy partition formats. it past the time to just "move on". well maybe they have.

Like this Reply to this comment


by only1miller May 7, 2009 8:16 AM PDT: I'm a big LInux fan - use CentOS 5 for servers, but I just love these "screen shot reviews". You've seen what amounts to a screenshot of a beta product and you're already making value judgments.; Like this


by tj1097 June 18, 2009 4:48 AM PDT: HOW BORING, Just another BORING linux fanboy why don't you say something worthwhile; Like this

by mjconver May 6, 2009 7:28 PM PDT

"impressive new features like XP Mode"? Dude, I want some of what you're smoking. Read some other blogs at your site.

FWIW, I'm not a *ix or Mac fanboy, I make a very good living off of Microsoft products and it's putting my three kids through college. But for my 300 small business clients == 3000 normal people, XP mode means staying on XP, just like they've been doing for the last several years. Sure, Win7 runs fine on new hardware, but nobody is buying new hardware when the old stuff runs just fine, thank you very much.

Regards,
Jay Converse
Not afraid to be anonymous
Fairfax, VA

Like this Reply to this comment


by BOTNET May 6, 2009 9:47 PM PDT: well, you should really read about XP mode ... it's actually not some 2 libraries like-XP mode, it's fully loaded virtual PC(kinda like cheap version of VMWARE) and it's not for home use but large companies who have some old creepy software they cannot upgrade but need to use

btw Windows 7 RC runs dam smooth on my older PC with 512MB .... with 3000 computers you should upgrade just for secure kernel and really sweet remote management features; Like this

by kcotham May 6, 2009 7:34 PM PDT

Most of these features are direct rip-offs of Mac OS X's Aqua, KDE, and GNOME. What's so revolutionary? Why the buzz?

Like this Reply to this comment


by BOTNET May 6, 2009 9:48 PM PDT: did you say Mac OS X ? You are funny; Like this


by monkeyfun14 May 7, 2009 6:03 AM PDT: How is it a rip off? And who gives a damn?; Like this


by only1miller May 7, 2009 8:19 AM PDT: As in all art - one borrows from the other and true inspirations are but a fraction of the finished product. If MacOS X is so damn good then why SHOULDN'T MSFT take their lead? If Mac has discovered the nirvana of the interface then I would expect nothing less than for MSFT to follow suit.; Like this


by kcotham May 7, 2009 10:30 AM PDT: It's funny how you all only focused on Mac OS X and Aqua in the list I gave. As I've said before, and many other as well, Microsoft hasn't had an original idea in it's entire existence. While Windows 7 RC is quite nice, it got that way by copying others' ideas.; Like this

by jmans1212 May 6, 2009 8:12 PM PDT

I have the windows 7 RC1. So far it is ok. I do like some of the changes. However it isn't like we have much of a choice. Either windows or apple. Apple makes you buy all your hardware from them wile at least microsoft operating systems you can place on machines you build from parts etc. I think some of the changes have been needed. I would like more options for the setup. I sent microsoft my ideas during the beta testing.

Like this Reply to this comment


by kcotham May 6, 2009 8:18 PM PDT: No, it's not a matter of Mac OS X and Windows. There are dozens of other alternatives out there, most of which are free. And just because they are free doesn't mean that they aren't very well developed, stable, powerful operating systems. And there are a multitude of graphical user interfaces that you can run on most of these, highly customisable if that's your interest.

Look into (just to name a few):
Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu
Debian (pure)
SuSE
RedHat
Solaris
OpenSolaris
FreeBSD
OpenBSD
NetBSD; Like this


by kcotham May 6, 2009 8:37 PM PDT: Oh, and you might want to check out ReactOS, a reverse engineered operating system that is bit compatible with Windows NT architecture. Completely free and currently working on x86 machines. Just Google it. There's even a Live CD to try out without installing it.; Like this


by BOTNET May 6, 2009 9:50 PM PDT: totally agree with kcotham

get VMWARE PLAYER for free and try UBUNTU 9.04 .... it's seriously amazing; Like this


by kcotham May 7, 2009 12:09 AM PDT: Or Sun's Virtual Box, also free, and full featured. www.virtualbox.org; Like this

by sargear May 6, 2009 8:50 PM PDT

sooo, 40% of Win7 improvements are Taskbar, Startmenu or Desktop related. ummm, while they no doubt desperately needed these, why 40%?
where's the speed improvements, on the same hardware?
where's the efficiency improvements, on the same hardware?
where's the productivity improvements, not mine, win7 productivity, on the same hardware.

Like this Reply to this comment


by monkeyfun14 May 7, 2009 6:04 AM PDT: where's the speed improvements, on the same hardware?
where's the efficiency improvements, on the same hardware?
where's the productivity improvements, not mine, win7 productivity, on the same hardware.

Go check out a couple articles on Win 7; Like this


by EricRamirezRodriguez May 7, 2009 4:46 PM PDT: I just hope this new version be reliable not like Vista.; Like this Reply to this comment


by travisman26 June 17, 2009 10:51 AM PDT: I hate windows7 its just like an updated version of windows vista with a couple tweaks im a linux user; Like this Reply to this comment


by poetworm June 18, 2009 3:58 AM PDT: Not sure what all the hating is about. So you prefer your own OS, then stick to it. Don't come on here and whine about how better your particular OS is than Windows 7. Truth of the matter is, there will never be a perfect OS, but there will always be one that you prefer more than the other. I am not claiming to be a Windows fanboy or any such thing. I've been test driving Windows 7 RC on my bottom-of-the-line laptop and it works incredibly well. Running off of 512 MB. It's like a fusion between Vista and Ubuntu, with some minor elements of OS X, except that it runs better than Vista. I must also mention that this same laptop came installed with Vista Home Basic and ran super slowly. Also have an iMac and I dual-boot Ubuntu on my laptop too.; Like this Reply to this comment