Microsoft Windows 7 – PDC Pre-Beta Build 6801 (Milestone 3)

Microsoft has today given participants of the 2008 PDC in LA access to the very first publicly available build of Windows 7, the successor to Windows Vista.

I intend to shed some light on how Windows 7 stands at this point and some of the new features/changes included in it:

• Setup
• First Boot
• Explorer
• Naming Scheme
• Inbox applications
• SystemTray icons
• Windows Update

Once the basics are out the way we can start to get stuck into some of the good stuff in a little more detail:

• Virtualisation
• Networking
• Libraries
• UAC Scaling
• Backup
• Search
• Printing
• Multi-touch

Before we start I just want to say it is important to remember that Windows 7 is not even at the beta stage yet (although the beta is due to start shortly). If you should decide to try the build for yourself just remember that this is still technically an Alpha/Milestone build and unless you are a dedicated tester or IT enthusiast you are probably best staying with Vista SP1 for the time being.

With that said, I’m genuinely excited. This appears to be the most stable build of any Windows “Beta” I have ever seen and we are not even at the beta stage yet! I still remember the Vista beta where I found myself forced to re-install an average of once a week, Windows 7… erm…. appears to just works. That alone speaks volumes on what I really hope will be a fantastic release!