What's Windows 7?

Perhaps you've heard some buzz about a new version of Windows coming out maybe late this year or early next year...

Microsoft has been talking about the future release of Windows 7, which will replace the current Windows Vista operating system.

For the most part, what I've been hearing has been positive, and many folks seem to be excited. But don't expect anything radical - most folks that have taken peeks at the beta (test) version, say that this new operating system will look and feel like Vista, but will have added features that are currently missing and fixes for some of the things that have given Vista a bum rap.

If you're curious, you can take a look at what Microsoft has put on their website at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/

I will try and do some searching for information by other websites and provide links in a future article.

Some rumours going around this week indicated that Microsoft may offer free upgrades to Windows 7 on new computers sold later this summer. Is it worth the wait? That depends on what you use your home computer for and how desperate your need is to replace what you have now. For the most part and for most users, the upgrade to Vista has been fairly painless. Similar to when XP came out after years of Windows 98, there have been problems. Older software may not run on Vista, and some hardware may require new drivers, or may not be supported for use with Vista at all. Supposedly, Windows 7 will have a much larger driver compatibility because it will build on the available Vista drivers, and have more drivers available during installation.

What do you want to know about Windows 7?