Windows 7 RC Gets 36 Changes

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After the overwhelming response to Windows 7 and requests for features from users, Microsoft has finally released the feature list of the Windows 7 Release Candidate. This release candidate of Windows 7 is expected to arrive on April 10, 2009, as per Ars Technica.

 

In all, Microsoft's senior program manager, Chaitanya Sareen, outlined 36 changes in the Windows 7 release candidate. Minor changes will give users more control than what they had in the Windows 7 beta. However, Paul Thurrott dismissed these "laundry list of tiny changes, much like the '300+ New Features!' lists that Apple makes every time it ships a new version of Mac OS X."

 

Here are a few important changes we'd like to highlight:

 

Windows Flip (Alt+Tab) with Aero Peek

The ALT+TAB window feature will be implemented in Aero Peek. Time delay in flipping between and cycling through windows will be displayed in the respective window through Aero Peek.

 

Keyboard shortcut: Windows Logo+ #

Keyboard speed and efficiency freaks would love the new keyboard shortcut - Windows Logo key + # key. This new shortcut will give you access to the taskbar for launching and switching to a program that is running.

 

Touch-y tweaks

This much hyped touch feature in Windows 7 gets some improvements like multi-touch keyboard, drag-n-drop support, and multi-touch right click in the release candidate.

 

Native .mov file support

Say adios to QuickTime, for now, Windows 7 RC will allow .mov file playback on the fly.

 

FAT32 support

Support for non-removable FAT32 and NTFS hard drives will be added, which was absent in Windows 7 Beta.

 

Several enhancements and performance tweaks have been added in the exhaustive list of changes. We know that the new features are going to disappoint many users (read: testers), but this time Microsoft is taking each step carefully to not repeat past mistakes.

 

Source: TechTree