Windows 7 – Release Candidate – Use Free for a Year!
ByI thought there was a lot of buzz around Vista pre-release, but it’s nothing compared to the Windows 7 chatter. Have you heard that the Windows 7 Release Candidate is available for free download – from now until the end of July, so get your Windows 7 Release Candidate here. If you already have the beta version of Windows 7 on your computer, they strongly urge you to do a clean install; that is to back up your data and reformat your hard drive.
Your copy of the RC (release candidate), will be free for you to use until June of 2010. However, beginning March 1, 2010, your computer will shut down every 2 hours as a ‘friendly reminder’ that time is running out and you’ll need to buy a copy. Pricing details have not been released and rumors are plentiful with the range of free for those who have Vista Ultimate, up to over $300 for the Ultimate flavor of Windows 7.
I’m only hearing good about this version of Windows. It’s more stable, more lightweight, more compatible, faster and consumes less resources than Vista. It runs well on netbooks with the Atom processor and only 1GB of Ram.
The Windows 7 desktop continues using aero – the see-though desktop. Now, there are more colors, more wallpapers and location themes to choose from. They look beautiful. I’ve heard the graphical interface referred to as “Mac-like”. I’m assuming that’s a compliment :0
There are many enhancements and changes, we’ll just talk about three of them.
The Task Bar
With current versions of windows, we’re accustomed to looking down and seeing both an icon and description of what we have open on our desktops. Not so with Windows 7. There is only a graphical representation of each program open and if your task bar fills up the bottom of the screen, then the icons will flow in a row on your desktop. This could bewilder inexperienced users.
RMS (Remote Media Streaming)
A huge change and improvement is a brand new feature called Remote Media Streaming (RMS), To utilize this feature, all computers involved will have to be running Windows 7. Then, using your Windows Live ID, you can access media from any connected computer to the computer you’re in front of. You can be down the hall or out of town. For example, you’re in your office and you decide you want to hear a particular album, but you don’t have it with you or on your computer. Sign in with your ID and instantly access and play the music. Works for videos, movies, etc. Kind of like having a slingbox.
The new ‘Library’ and better search function
Windows 7 introduces the ‘library’ concept. Here’s what it does. You first start with four main components: pictures, videos, documents and music. Then, new folders can be added to your photo library from another computer. The photos themselves will stay on the other machine, but as long as the computer you’re on can access the remote machine, that data can be accessed.
It’s how Windows Media Player works right now with XP or Vista. When you use WMP, it asks if you want to add folders to the player’s library. You can choose folders from an external drive or another computer and WMP groups them all together for you.
For example, say you added folders of videos from two computers and an external hard drive on your computer. Since these folders are in your library, whenever you do a search for a video, the videos from the remote computers and drive will be shown on the computer you’re on and they will be instantly available to you. Nice!
If youve installed Windows 7, what has been your experience. Please share.
