ClearBits™

Episode 32 - Windows 7 First Impressions

This week Jon leads a discussion about our first impressions of Windows 7 Beta 1. Topics * Previously bundled features are now distribued via Windows Live - good or bad? * Is the Windows Live suite just a standardized crapware? * Where’s our Photo Gallery? * Windows Marketplace??? * Missing an ISO Mounter * The out of box experience * Window docking * Windows Explorer - side by side * Discoverability - shortcuts, etc. * “New features” that were already in Vista * New Wordpad and Paint with ribbons * Same old Notepad * Kevin’s underwhelmed with the updates to Paint * Could Windows Live Essentials include some friends, like Paint.NET? * Hey, a new calculator! * Problem Steps Recorder * Send Feedback * Nothing new for Remote Desktop? * Virtual Hard Drive support, but we want application virtualization * Multitouch * Distribution - why not via BitTorrent? * IE8 is still the same old IE8 that we know and meh * Windows Scenic Animation API * Looks like the API’s still all C++ and COM * The Vista Bridge project * The Ribbon control has graduated from an Office control to Windows * No WPF? * Jumplists