WINDOWS 8

Windows 7 isn’t out the door yet, but Microsoft seem to be making good progress with Windows 8.  A roadmap slide from Microsoft’s Italian subsidiary has Windows 8 penciled in for a 2012 release:

Note though that Windows 8 is down as approximately 2012.  Even still, it looks like Microsoft are sticking to their 2.5-3 year release cycle, with Windows Vista launching Jan 2007 (it was late), Windows 7 in October 2009 and Windows 8 in 2012.
Windows 8 is also denoted as ‘codemane Windows 8′ – does this mean that ‘Windows 8‘ will not be called Windows 8?
I’m expecting big things from Windows 8.  Although Windows 7 is a great release and adds several much needed improvements to Windows Vista, it’s still too familiar for me and doesn’t feel ‘new’ enough and I’m looking forward to getting a new OS to get my teeth into!

Windows 7

Windows 7 (formerly codenamed Blackcomb and Vienna) is the latest version of Microsoft Windows, a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, netbooks, tablet PCs and media center PCs.Windows 7 was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009,with general retail availability set for October 22, 2009, less than three years after the release of its predecessor, Windows Vista. Windows 7's server counterpart, Windows Server 2008 R2, is slated for release about the same time.

Unlike its predecessor, which introduced a large number of new features, Windows 7 is intended to be a more focused, incremental upgrade to the Windows line, with the goal of being fully compatible with applications and hardware with which Windows Vista is already compatible.Presentations given by Microsoft in 2008 focused on multi-touch support, a redesigned Windows Shell with a new taskbar, a home networking system called HomeGroup,and performance improvements. Some applications that have been included with prior releases of Microsoft Windows, including Windows Calendar, Windows Mail, Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Photo Gallery, will not be included in Windows 7; some will instead be offered separately as part of the free Windows Live Essentials suite.

Editions & Hardware requirements

Editions

Windows 7 will be available in six different editions, but only Home Premium and Professional will be available for retail sale in most countries.The other editions are focused at other markets, such as the developing world or enterprise use.Each edition of Windows 7 will include all of the capabilities and features of the edition below it.^{[65][66][67][68][69]} With the exception of Windows 7 Starter, all editions will support both 32-bit (IA-32) and 64-bit (x86-64) processor architectures According to Microsoft, the features for all editions of Windows 7 will be stored on the machine, regardless of what edition is in use.Users who wish to upgrade to an edition of Windows 7 with more features can then use Windows Anytime Upgrade to purchase the upgrade, and unlock the features of those editions.

Microsoft announced Tuesday, July 21, 2009 that they will be offering a family pack of Windows 7 Home Premium (in select markets) which will allow installation on up to 3 PCs. The "Family Pack" will cost USD 149.99 in the United States.

On Friday, September 18, 2009 Microsoft said they were to offer temporary student discounts for Windows 7. The offer will be running from 1 October 2009 in the US and the United Kingdom, with similar schemes available in Canada, Australia, Korea, Mexico, France and Germany. Students with a valid .edu or .ac.uk email address can apply for either Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional, priced at $30 or £30.

Hardware requirements

Microsoft has published their minimum specifications for a system running Windows 7 Requirements for the 32-bit version are much the same as recommendations for premium editions of Vista, but the 64-bit versions are considerably higher. Microsoft has released a beta version of an upgrade advisor that scans a computer to see if it is compatible with Windows 7.

Minimum hardware requirements for Windows 7

Architecture	32-bit	64-bit
Processor speed	1 GHz 32-bit processor	1 GHz 64-bit processor
Memory (RAM)	1 GB of RAM	2 GB of RAM
Graphics card	DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM driver model 1.0(For Aero)
HDD free space	16 GB of available disk space	20 GB of available disk space
Optical drive	DVD drive (only to install from DVD/CD Media)

Windows 7 Features.

Windows 7 includes a number of new features, such as advances in touch and handwriting recognition, support for virtual hard disks, improved performance on multi-core processors, improved boot performance, DirectAccess, and kernel improvements. Windows 7 adds support for systems using multiple heterogeneous graphics cards from different vendors (Heterogeneous Multi-adapter), a new version of Windows Media Center, a Gadget for Windows Media Center, improved media features, the XPS Essentials Pack and Windows PowerShell being included, and a redesigned Calculator with multiline capabilities including Programmer and Statistics modes along with unit conversion. Many new items have been added to the Control Panel, including ClearType Text Tuner, Display Color Calibration Wizard, Gadgets, Recovery, Troubleshooting, Workspaces Center, Location and Other Sensors, Credential Manager, Biometric Devices, System Icons, and Display. Windows Security Center has been renamed to Windows Action Center (Windows Health Center and Windows Solution Center in earlier builds) which encompasses both security and maintenance of the computer. The default setting for User Account Control in Windows 7 has been criticized for allowing untrusted software to be launched with elevated privileges by exploiting a trusted application. Microsoft's Windows kernel engineer Mark Russinovich acknowledged the problem, but noted that there are other vulnerabilities that do not rely on the new setting.

Development

Originally, a version of Windows codenamed Blackcomb was planned as the successor to Windows XP (codename Whistler) and Windows Server 2003. Major features were planned for Blackcomb, including an emphasis on searching and querying data and an advanced storage system named WinFS to enable such scenarios. However, an interim, minor release, codenamed "Longhorn" was announced for 2003, delaying the development of Blackcomb. By the middle of 2003, however, Longhorn had acquired some of the features originally intended for Blackcomb. After three major viruses exploited flaws in Windows operating systems within a short time period in 2003, Microsoft changed its development priorities, putting some of Longhorn's major development work on hold while developing new service packs for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Development of Longhorn (Windows Vista) was also "reset," or delayed, in August 2004. A number of features were cut from Longhorn.

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