Windows 7 is all set for official launch . Microsoft has slated Windows 7 for an October 22nd 2009 release. Currently the RC is publicly being tested and is available for download for the general public. The OS seems like a worthy successor to the much abused Vista. With the release of the Beta and the RC we do know what the new OS has to offer compared to Vista. Though radical changes have not been incorporated subtle enhancements have increased user experience and overall efficiency of the operating system. Aero has been given a boost making Windows 7 untouchable to non Aero affectionados.

This is the beginning of the Windows 7 series. Windows 7 will be cut open for an indepth analysis and everyday a post on a major topic under Windows 7 will be published. Stay tuned for a user/student/developer perspective on Windows 7 starting tommorrow.

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The claim to fame for the new Windows7 is definitely is its improved user interface. The most visible feature of that improvement is the brand new taskbar and I have a lot to gloat about it.  Its beautiful and much better than what Mac has to offer.

The new taskbar may remind us much about the Dock of Mac OS but it follows Windows design paradigm. All the applications that are open and closed are grouped together. The applications that are open are glossy while unopened applications are dull and are not glossy in appearance. When the cursor is placed over an open application we can see a thumbnail preview of the application and the opened document of  that application. Application designed to incorporate the new features of the taskbar also opens all the tabs associated with it. While hovering over the thumbnail it brings forth the document making all other application transparent. This feature allows us to check whether the open document is the one we want.

Right clicking an icon in the taskbar opens a jumplist ehre for example if it is an internet explorer it shows the browsing history,if it is trhe media player lets you preview videos and the Windows explorer giving acess to frequently used folders etc. The functionality could get better when new changes arew incorporated in the future applications.

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The Palm Pre  is a smart phone featuring   a capacitive touch screen. The phone was out in the market on June 6 and runs on Linux based Web OS and is the  first phone from Palm inc to feature this OS. It is loaded with all the features  a multimedia phone can boast of. The phone also multiplies as multimedia player,a camera with 3 mega pixels, a GPS navigator and also as an internet client (Wi-Fi enabled).

The capacitive touch screen interface measures 3.1 inch diagonally over a 24-bit color 320 x 480 resolution and the display is HVGA liquid-crystal display. The phone also features a “gesture area” below the display with led illumination behind that allows additional touch commands. As all other palm phones the Palm Pre also sports a complete qwerty keyboard which slides downwards. the phone features three different sensors including an accelerometer which responds to the position of the phone, an ambient light sensor which adjusts the light automatically and a proximity sensor which disregards touch while the phone is held close to the face.

The phone features 8.0 GB of inbuilt memory and 256 MB of RAM. The phone is powered by a 600Mhz texas Instruments OMAP 3430. It was the frst phone to feature wireless charging. Additional memory enhancement is not supported.

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Aero Shake is an added feature built for fun without anything specific. Just click onto a window shake it a bit well it minimizes all the other window. Shaking the window again will revive all the other windows.

The new user interface of windows 7  make it a lot easier to sift through all the open windows. To maximize a window all one need to do is to drag the window till the top and a neat animation appears indicating that the window is going to occupy the whole screen. To bring it to the original position all one need to do is jst drag it down. This is the Aero Snap feature .Another capability of this feature is that when the window is dragged either to the left or right the window occupies exactly half of the screen.

This is useful for comparison and other features and is especially good on a wide screen monitor.

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Shortcut key Combination Effect
Shift+Left Click ——————>    To open another instance of a program pinned on task bar.
CTRL+Left Click —————–>    It is used on taskbars to switch programs of that program alone.
Win+X —————————->    To open windows mobility center
Win+T —————————->    Jump to the taskbar to select a new window with left arrow or right arrow key +Enter
Win+P —————————->    To open projector mode to change external display settings.
Win+G —————————->     To bring gadgets to the front.
Win+Space ———————–>    To Enable Aero Peek
Win+1,2,3,4 or 5 —————–>    To launch programs from the taskbar.
Win+Home ———————–>    Minimize/Maximize non-active windows.
Win++,Win+-  ——————–>    Zoom in or out
Win+Down  Arrow Key ———->    Minimize current window
Win+Up Arrow Key ————–>    Maximize Current Window
Win+CTRL+Left Arrow Key —->    Contract non-maximized window from any arrow key direction.
Win+SHIFT+Left Arrow Key —>    Expand non-maximized window to any arrow key direction.
Win+SHIFT+Right Arrow Key ->   Move the current selected window one window to the right.
Win+Right Arrow Key ———–>    Dock Window to the right hand side of the screen
Win+Left Arrow Key ————->    Dock Window to the left hand side of the screen

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What makes the Windows7 very desirable is the the slew of new features in UI that make the whole experience exciting. The desktop is pretty much the same with certain subtle changes enhancing the whole experience. The Gadgets that we saw in Vista remains but the sidebar is booted out. The gadgets so now float on the desktop.

The themes have been given more prominence and the Windows & comes prepackaged with a lot of theme options. Users  can  personalize their desktops by right clicking on desktop and choose personalisation.

Many themes are also available for download and access to them is quick and needs little guidance.

The other notable change is the windows explorer is additional of more file types for preview from vista so that the user need not open the document to view the contents .

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Well Windows  7 is here and wouldn’t it be nice if we can dual boot XP or vista along with Windows 7?. Well here is a step by step procedure to do the same.

step 1 : First We need a copy of Windows 7 Rc. download the same from he website. Then burn the image using any software like Nero or ImgBurn to make a bootable version of  the disc from the image.

step 2 : Once we have the boot DVD we need to partition our existing hard drive to accomodate Windows 7. For this softwae like partition magic can be used  . Since parttion magic is not available for free we can use gparted live CD for the same purpose. All one need to  partition is to simply load the disk and follow the onscreen instructions. we need to make sure that atleast  16 Gb of hard disk is available as stipulated.

Step 3: From now the process is easy just load the Windows 7 disk into the drive and direct the installation to the just created drive. Make sure the drive you mentioned is clear else your existing installation wil be corrupted.

Please note that vista already comes with a bundled partion maker under Control Panel -> System and Maintainence (skip this one if you’re in Classic view) -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management. Just right click the volume from which you want to create a new partion and follow the options.

Happy installation!!!!!

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