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First shots of Windows 7 leaked? And by 7, we mean Vista.
There's no telling how legitimate these shots might be, and it's quite clear that these screens won't be giving us any juicy details about Windows 7 anytime soon, but we couldn't pass on images that purport to be the first from a super-secret test build of Windows 7 seeded to "key partners." So, anything to see here? Not that we can tell, from the looks of things we're looking at a copy of Vista with the name "Windows 7 Ultimate" tacked on, but there's no telling what's happening under the hood. We know we can't wait to pay another few hundred dollars for a barely noticeable upgrade to Vista that will re-break all driver support, how about you?[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Vista successor rumored to be on track for 2009 release
Rumors of Microsoft's successor to Vista have been cropping up virtually since day one, and if this latest one is to be believed, it looks like one of the earliest may have been right on target after all. According to TG Daily, "several industry sources" are now saying that the a very early version of the so-called "Windows 7" OS has already shipped to "key partners," and that Microsoft is now eying the second half of 2009 for a release of the real deal. That's a slight revision from the most recent rumors, which had pegged the debut as late as 2010 or, more vaguely, sometime within the next three years. As if that wasn't enough, Microsoft's apparently also lined up the next two early versions to be released, with the so-called M2 build slated for April or May of this year, and the M3 release slated to drop sometime in the third quarter. Given recent history, however, it's probably not the best idea to start marking your calendars just yet.
Windows 7 to get integrated touch features?
Regardless of how Tablet PCs have actually done in the marketplace, Microsoft has always been a staunch proponent of touch interfaces, and it looks like the next version of Windows, currently under the codename Windows 7, will bundle in multi-touch features like those found in the iPhone and Microsoft's own Surface. The news comes from Microsoft engineer Hilton Locke, who blogged about Dell's multi-touch capable (but not enabled) Latitude XT earlier today, and added, "if you are impressed by the 'touch features' in the iPhone, you'll be blown away by what's coming in Windows 7." Locke went on to imply that it's been challenging selling touch to manufacturers, saying "Now if only we could convince more OEMs that Windows Touch Technology is going to drive their sales." That's a surprise to us -- that Big Ass Table demo pretty much sells itself, don't you think?[Via News.com]
Windows 7 feature request list leaks out
Although the Vista transition is far from complete, that doesn't mean Microsoft isn't already hard at work on Windows 7, the next version of the venerable operating system -- and this list of user-requested features unearthed by the folks at NeoWin might hold some clues as to the future. The "wish list" was sent out by Microsoft before Windows 7 development even began, so most of these features probably aren't even on the radar, but what's most interesting is that seemingly small fixes like "Window Update progress indicator" vastly outnumber big-ticket items like "integrated audio / video codec manager" and "Windows 'Game' Mode." We'd say that speaks to a major lack of imagination, so consider this a years-early How Would You Change?, and sound off in comments -- personally, we're hoping for a transactional file system, but we know you all can totally outdo us.Read -- post at ArsTechnicaRead -- full list at NeoWin
