So what is in Windows 7?

I'm just wondering what are "real" new features in W7?
What I heard until now are basically UI improvements (Taskbar, Jumplist,...)  and that W7 is feature complete now.

So Is there any hidden Wow feature I don't know about?

Only thing that comes to mind is the libraries and their integration with WMP.

This release is much more of a polish on Vista than a major new OS.

Kind of depends. Jumplists are completely new. The taskbar is more than just the classic taskbar with a new panel or something, so you could consider that a new feature, too. You could call everything a UI improvement. And you could call UI improvements like the new Aero features "Wow features" too. So it kind of depends on what you consider a new feature, and what you would wow at.

But anyway, completely new features are Libraries, Federated Search, VHD support, and a bunch of other stuff.

Bas said:

Kind of depends. Jumplists are completely new. The taskbar is more than just the classic taskbar with a new panel or something, so you could consider that a new feature, too. You could call everything a UI improvement. And you could call UI improvements like the new Aero features "Wow features" too. So it kind of depends on what you consider a new feature, and what you would wow at.

But anyway, completely new features are Libraries, Federated Search, VHD support, and a bunch of other stuff.

I am planning to test how well Windows 7 performs while being virtualized. My WinXP VM is extremely optimized for virtual machines, but since WinXP or Vista doesn't support any kind of paravirtualization, there is much room for improvement.

Bas said:

Kind of depends. Jumplists are completely new. The taskbar is more than just the classic taskbar with a new panel or something, so you could consider that a new feature, too. You could call everything a UI improvement. And you could call UI improvements like the new Aero features "Wow features" too. So it kind of depends on what you consider a new feature, and what you would wow at.

But anyway, completely new features are Libraries, Federated Search, VHD support, and a bunch of other stuff.

Federed Search sounds nice! But Libraries are just 'Saved Search' in Vista or where is the difference?
And booting from VHD is very cool. Now I can install games and other stuff into a container and have still the whole system power without virtualization layer.

section31 said:

Bas said:

*snip*

Federed Search sounds nice! But Libraries are just 'Saved Search' in Vista or where is the difference?
And booting from VHD is very cool. Now I can install games and other stuff into a container and have still the whole system power without virtualization layer.

Libraries are an aggregation of multiple user defined folders under one name. Opening one displays the contents of all the folders in one view. One folder can also be set as default for write operations (adding new files).

section31 said:

Bas said:

*snip*

Federed Search sounds nice! But Libraries are just 'Saved Search' in Vista or where is the difference?
And booting from VHD is very cool. Now I can install games and other stuff into a container and have still the whole system power without virtualization layer.

A big difference between Saved Search and Libraries is that you can save files to a library. Seems trivial, but I think that's pretty essential.

Bas said:

section31 said:

*snip*

A big difference between Saved Search and Libraries is that you can save files to a library. Seems trivial, but I think that's pretty essential.

Libraries and federated search required a fairly heavy infrastructure to be in place in order to be performant and reliable. A lot of work has been done in this area and in the property system and that had a wide impact across many other features.

For example, the start search provider has been rewritten to take advantage of the inherent categorization done in libraries.

While the "cosmetic" changes look not that widespreading, there's a lot under the cover that is now just *better*

This is the best enumeration of features I've seen so far: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Features_new_to_Windows_7

They've just added some more ascii characters to the existing code base... this is just Windows 1.0 with some code bloat.

elmer said:

They've just added some more ascii characters to the existing code base... this is just Windows 1.0 with some code bloat.

libraries are ....  forced iTunes style viewing.

i cant stand itunes... and i cant stand opening WMP in library mode.  i JUST WANT THE TUNER TO OPEN.  is this possible?

*the only good thing about libraries is you can finally have your own folders in SAVE AS

Larry Osterman said:

jamie said:

*snip*

Jamie: If you double click on a media file, WMP opens in "lightweight mode" which doesn't show the library - it just shows the player.

but when i click the actual icon (wmp) i cant seem to make it just open the tuner..  i opens the library which takes 60 seconds or more


ps hi larry!!

jamie said:

elmer said:

*snip*

libraries are ....  forced iTunes style viewing.

i cant stand itunes... and i cant stand opening WMP in library mode.  i JUST WANT THE TUNER TO OPEN.  is this possible?

*the only good thing about libraries is you can finally have your own folders in SAVE AS

*the only good thing about libraries is you can finally have your own folders in SAVE AS

That's already possible in Vista.

jamie said:

Larry Osterman said:

*snip*

but when i click the actual icon (wmp) i cant seem to make it just open the tuner..  i opens the library which takes 60 seconds or more


ps hi larry!!

but when i click the actual icon (wmp) i cant seem to make it just open the tuner..  i opens the library which takes 60 seconds or more

Then there's something wrong. I have several thousands of songs in my library, and WMP only takes about 2 seconds to start, at most.

And what do you mean by "tuner" exactly? WMP isn't a radio, it doesn't have a tuner.

Sven Groot said:

jamie said:

*snip*

That's already possible in Vista.

..if you used saved searches?  was easier to figure out in 7 anyway


re-above -   the black small tuner ... not the explorer style view

Sven Groot said:

jamie said:

*snip*

Then there's something wrong. I have several thousands of songs in my library, and WMP only takes about 2 seconds to start, at most.

And what do you mean by "tuner" exactly? WMP isn't a radio, it doesn't have a tuner.

He means the Now Playing view.

jamie said:

Sven Groot said:

*snip*

..if you used saved searches?  was easier to figure out in 7 anyway


re-above -   the black small tuner ... not the explorer style view

if you used saved searches?  was easier to figure out in 7 anyway

No, just drag a folder to the favorite links, it'll show up in Save As dialogs and Explorer alike.