Two words to sum up the new release candidate from Microsoft? Polished and fast. Windows 7 is the latest project from Microsoft and has been rumored have over 3 years of work put in to it. It includes many new features which beta testers (including myself) have welcomed pleasantly. It is clear that speed was one of Microsoft’s top priorities when working on this OS as it is evident that there is an enormous speed hike between Windows Vista and Windows 7. This release is not just a previous OS patched up with minor new features and bug fixes, it is actually a whole new operating system. There are changes everywhere from the desktop to the taskbar to the registry. The handling of windows is made as easy as it can get with useful engineering. Certain gestures will allow you to single out a window, expand it or place it on one side of the desktop for easy file transfer.

A short video of the gestures can been seen below.

While working on Windows 7, Microsoft has also released new versions of Windows Live Messenger (version 14), Windows Media Player (version 12) and of course Internet Explorer 8. All of these programs have new features and can be considered milestones. The new Windows Media Player enhances the desktop widget and goes for a lighter theme compared to the previous one. What’s the real goodie here? Media streaming.

One can stream contents such music, movies and pictures from other computers on the same network AND out of network, as long as both machines are associated with the Windows Live ID. This means you stream media directly to your laptop from your home computer and vice versa. Windows Live Messenger also features new material. Since social networking is been blooming rapidly in recent days, Microsoft takes a “twitter-like” approach to allow one to know what others on his or her contacts list are doing with the new “What’s New” feature.

Internet Explorer has always been second or third to other browser for many users. That’s no difference with IE 8 as it does step up its game, but lags behind in the war of the browsers. It does, however, prove to be the best internet explorer yet, with updated and faster JavaScript rendering tab handling and flash handling. Features such as the compatibility view will come in handy when you can’t view a page that was built for earlier versions such as IE7. There are also points where Microsoft claims there are no problems, but there are problems, such as security. It has been claimed by Microsoft that IE8 is the safest browser out there but hackers have shown that it is almost as easy to hack as Apple’s Safari. Oh yea, still no automatic download, you still gotta choose where to save your download file each and every time.

When it comes to business, it is almost tradition to stick to XP, as many businesses have concluded that Windows Vista was a big fail from the business point of view. What about this one? Well Microsoft came up with a solution, XP Mode. Users can run Windows XP in a virtual environment as if they were actually running the actual XP OS. But, there is a catch though; XPM will only work on processors that supported either Intel’s VT or AMD’s AMD-V CPUs and Microsoft has not yet mention why this is the case. It has also been rumored there will only be one Windows 7 edition rather than the confusion of Home, Business, Ultimate, etc. This comes from criticism that Apple’s Mac OS is much simpler and more user-friendly when it comes to choosing and installing the operating system. Microsoft has also stepped up the installing process and made it easier and so that one can begin the installation and walk away from the computer for a while. All in all, it can be concluded that Windows 7 is a big step from Windows Vista and users will be glad to hear that program and driver compatibilities will also not be a problem as everything that Vista supports will also be supported by Windows 7.There are three ways you’ll be getting your hands on the Windows 7 Public Release, which is due at the end of this year. You’ll be getting it pre-installed with your new PC. You’ll install it yourself when building a new computer. Or you’ll be upgrading from your current OS. If you choose to upgrade, you might want to run this upgrade advisor Microsoft has sent out.