Windows 7 has hit the ground running. It is getting five star reviews from the worlds toughest tech critics and many blogs have said that Windows 7 Beta is ready for prime time. Meanwhile we know nothing about Mac OS X Snow Leopard. As far as we know Snow Leopard adds new features are:
- Microsoft Exchange Support
- Better support for Multicore Mac’s
- Open CL
- Minor Media and Internet upgrade
- Support for 64-Bit
Not really what I call exciting. (You can see that list with more details at: http://www.apple.com/macosx/snowleopard) Snow Leopard doesn’t have half the features as Windows 7. I do not think that the average Snow Leopard users would appreciate the new features. The only people who would appreciate the new feature are programmers.
There are too many new features in Windows 7 to talk about so here are some of them:
- Graphic thumbnails for open windows
- Switch between multiple windows by just hovering over the taskbar thumbnail
- Icons are big enough to be selected easily with the new touch feature
- Applications can use the taskbar to provide information (a progress bar for example)
Libraries (new)
- Libraries are containers similar to folders, but their content is based on file properties such as file type, pictures by date taken, or music by genre
- There are default libraries (documents, music, pictures, etc.) and one can create personalized libraries
- Libraries can contain files, not network shares, which are indexed by Windows Search
Jump lists (improved)
- Jump lists are automatically populated links in the Start Menu to frequently accessed sources (apps, documents, etc.)
- Taskbar items, the Internet Explorer, and Windows Media Player will have them too, allowing you to jump directly to a certain task of a program
Windows Sidebar (improved)
- Is no longer a sidebar
- Gadgets are now placed on the desktop
- Gadgets are resizable
- Aero Peek lets you see gadgets behind open windows
Windows Explorer (improved)
- New user interface (have to find out more)
- New copy engine: fewer prompts, shows file names being copied, more reliable
Scenic Ribbon (new)
- Paint and WordPad now have a ribbon similar to the one in Office 2007
- Third-party developers can integrate ribbons into their apps
Start Menu Search (improved)
- Searches in Libraries (also external files)
- Search results are grouped according to Libraries
- System administrator can define up to five external search destinations
- Search will be executed on the server
Windows Search 4 (improved)
- Input recommendations based on previous searches
- Dynamic filters to narrow down results
- New relevance algorithm
- Word highlighting in results
- Search Federation: search external resources (servers, Sharepoint, Web sites (OpenSearch))
Tablet PC enhancements (improved)
- Supposed to have improved handwriting recognition
- Supports handwritten math expressions
- Personalized custom dictionaries, and supports new languages
Sticky Notes (improved)
- Ink support
- Paste support
- Note colors
- Resize possible
Accessibility (improved)
- Improved speech recognition
- Magnifier (whole desktop or portion of the screen)
- Accessibility support tools for developers
Windows Touch (new)
- Windows 7 can be controlled by touching the screen
- It also supports multi-touch allowing you to use more than one finger
Other desktop enhancements (improved)
- More styles
- Region specific styles
- Multilingual browsing no longer requires font installation, language-based font
Internet Explorer 8 (improved)
I will only discuss the major changes here.
- IE8 is supposed to be faster and more stable
- Rendering engine: IE8 will improve compliance with web standards; web sites can opt-in for IE7 mode for backward compatibility
- InPrivate: Makes sure that the browsing history can’t be tracked
- Accelerators: Allows you to invoke a web application by selecting an object on a web page (for example for blogging)
- Web Slices: Users can subscribe to snippets on a web page, which will be updated automatically by the browser
- SmartScreen Filter: This is the new name for the Phishing Filter. It has a new user interface, is supposed to perform faster, and has new heuristics, anti-malware support, and improved Group Policy support.
- Automatic Crash Recovery: The browser will reload the pages after a crash
Calculator (improved)
- New user interface
- Calculation history
- Unit conversion
- Calculation templates
- Date calculations
- Controls that are optimized for touch
XPS Viewer (XML Paper Specification) (improved)
- New user interface
- Relevancy-ranked XPS searched
- Thumbnails provide an interactive view of several pages at a time
- Preview XPS documents in Windows Explorer and Office
HomeGroup (new)
- Windows 7 computers can connect automatically with each other to share resources (files, printers, etc.)
- Users can decide what they want to share
- Support for Libraries
- Can be configured via Group Policy
MinWin (new)
The most comprehensive source about MinWin, the new mini kernel in Windows 7, is this interviewwith Mark Russinowich. Robert McLaws translated the main part for non-developers.
- MinWin is fully bootable
- Requires 25-40MB of disk space
- It contains the executive systems, memory management, networking, and optional file system drivers
- Components only call down the stack, and not up
- It allows building of less bloated Windows editions that run on netbooks and other computers with limited hardware resources
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Ready Boost (improved)
Allows you to concurrently use multiple flash drives.
Battery life (improved)
- Reduced background activities when the computer is idle
- Adaptive display brightness: Display brightness is reduced after a period of inactivity
- Less processing power for DVD playback
- Wake on Wireless LAN
- Smart Network Power: Power of the network adapter is turned off when cable is unplugged
- Better battery life notification
- A new power config tool
Windows Media Player (improved)
- Supports more media formats
- Improved performance
- Taskbar thumbnail (displays titles, and offers controls)
- Jump list in the Windows Start Menu and the taskbar
- Stream media to other PCs at home
- Stream media to (DLNA) v1.5-compliant digital media renderers
Media Center (improved)
- New user interface
- Broader support for global TV standards
- Share TV shows at home via TV Libraries
Sound (improved)
- New standard Bluetooth audio driver
- Automatically streams music or voice calls to the active output device
- Control volume independently for each device
Process Reflection (new)
- Crashed processes are cloned in memory
- Windows 7 tries to recover the cloned process and diagnoses the failure conditions of the original process
- It should reduce the disruption caused by diagnosis of failed process
Fault tolerant heap (new)
The new fault tolerant heap is supposed to reduce the number of crashes significantly.
Windows Live Essentials and Windows Live Services
Microsoft removed Windows apps such as Windows Mail and or Windows Photo Gallery from Windows and offers them as free downloads as a part of the Live Essentials suite. The Windows Live Services are web-based apps like Windows Live Hotmail or Windows Live Spaces. As useful as these tools are, I didn’t include them here because I think that downloadable apps and web apps shouldn’t be considered as part of the operating system.
If you know of a missing or dropped feature, please leave a comment below or send me a message. Of course, any other response is welcome too. Please, let me know if you described one of the features in your blog or know of a more detailed source. I will then add a link.
AppLocker (new)
- Restrict program execution on user desktops based on publisher signature
- Example: Allow all versions greater than 9.0 of the program Acrobat Reader to run if they are signed by the software publisher Adobe
BitLocker (improved)
- Simplified deployment: Automatic repartitioning if deployed after OS installation
- Data Recovery Agent (DRA): Single key for the whole organization that can recover data on any BitLocker-encrypted volume
BitLocker To Go (new)
- Encrypt portable storage devices
- Make data protection of removable storage devices compulsory, network-wide
- Require strong passwords or smart card via Group Policy
- Supports read-only of encrypted devices on Windows Vista and Windows XP
Windows Defender (improved)
- Now integrated with the new Action Center
- New user interface
- Better continuous monitoring
Windows Filtering Platform (improved)
- Third party firewalls can selectively turn off features of the Windows Firewall
- Third parties can add custom features to the Windows Firewall
- Multiple active firewall profiles: Allows a single set of firewall rules for remote clients and for clients physically connected to the corporate network
Support for Fingerprint Readers (new)
Logon to Windows 7 using a fingerprint reader
Smart card support (improved)
- Plug-and-play support
- Support for ECC-based smart cards
Backup and Restore (improved)
Support for backups to network shares
System Restore (improved)
- Now displays a list of programs that will be removed or added
- System restore points are available in backups
Auditing (improved)
- Configuration via Group Policy
- Audit granted or denied access to specific information
- Easier monitoring of the changes made by specific people or groups
DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) support (new)
Prevents DNS spoofing and other malicious activities
Parental Control (improved)
(Do you know what exactly has been changed here?)
If you know of a missing or dropped feature, please leave a comment below or send me a message. Of course, any other response is welcome, too. Please let me know if you described one the features in your blog or know of a more detailed source. I will add a link then.
Windows Connect Now (WCN) (improved)
WCN supports now Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS), an industry standard that simplifies WLAN setup.
Wireless device installation (improved)
- A new a device wizard allows you to connect wireless devices such as printers or network attached storage
- Drivers are downloaded automatically if necessary
View Available Network (VAN) (new)
One-click access to available networks (Wi-Fi, Mobile Broadband, Dial-up, VPN)
Wireless Device Network (new)
Windows 7 PC acts as a wireless access point
Mobile Link (new)
- Installs wireless data cards without the need of additional software
- Process is similar to connecting to a wireless network
Direct Access (new)
- Remote connection to the corporate network is established automatically whenever Internet is available
- Access to public Web sites is not routed via the corporate network
- VPN is not required
- Requires Windows Server 2008 R2 plus IPv6 and IPsec
VPN Reconnect (new)
Automatically reestablishes broken VPN connectivity
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Offline Files (improved)
- Offline files are now copied to the Offline Files cache and then synchronized in the background with the server
- In this way, one doesn’t have to wait for files to be moved to the server after logging on
- Improved management: More Group Policy settings, configurable time and time intervals for synchronization, maximum stale time, etc.
Roaming user profiles (improved)
- Automatically synchronize users’ profiles with the server while users are still logged on
- Users can roam from one PC to another while remaining logged in to both PCs and still have the same consistent environment
BrancheCache (new)
- Caches content from remote file and Web servers on a server in a branch location
- The cache can also be distributed across user PCs
- Requires Windows Server 2008 R2
RDP features (improved)
- Automatic link integration into the Start Menu to RemoteApp apps and desktops on Windows Server 2008 R2 servers
- Remote Desktop & Application feed: Allows end users to launch remote applications from a central location.
- Multi-monitor support for virtual desktops
- Support for bidirectional audio: Enables use of microphones for VOIP
- Use of local printer driver possible
- Multimedia redirection
- Aero Glass support
There are a lot more new RDP features. I only mentioned the most important ones here. I will probably write more about them soon. In the meantime, you can check out my article about the Remote Desktop Services, which discusses some the new RDP features in more detail.
If you know of a missing or dropped feature, please leave a comment below or send me a message. Of course, any other response is welcome, too. Please let me know if you have described one the features in your blog or know of a more detailed source. I will add a link then
VHD image management and deployment
- Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) files can be deployed using Windows Deployment Services
- VHD files can be managed using DISM (see below)
- Boot from a VHD file: This feature allows the reuse of the same master image for virtual desktops (VDI) and physical desktops
Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool
Dynamic Driver Provisioning
- Drivers can be stored centrally on a server, separate from images
- They are installed dynamically based on Plug and Play IDs or BIOS information
- Reduces the number of drivers on an individual machine and potential driver conflicts
- Reduces size and number of system images
- Speeds up installation
Multicast Multiple Stream Transfer
- Broadcast image data to multiple clients simultaneously
- Group clients with similar bandwidth capabilities into network streams
- Define minimum performance thresholds to automatically remove slower computers from a multicast group
User State Migration Tool (USMT)
- Hardlink migration: Files are not moved on the hard disk but redirected to improve performance; discovers user documents at runtime
- Support for volume shadow copy: Migrate files that are being used by an application
PowerShell
Management of external machines
- PCs connected via Direct Access can be managed via Group Policy
- Can be accessed via Remote Assistance
- Can be updated via enterprise management tools
Group Policy (improved)
- New policies and preferences: BitLocker To Go, AppLocker, auditing, power management, task scheduling
- Custom Group Policy preferences
- Starter Group Policy Objects: Preconfigured administrative templates for recommended policies
- URL-Based Quality of Service: Prioritize network traffic based on URL via Group Policy
The list of features go on much longer. As you can see that all of these feature can be appreciated by the average users and developers. Compare Snow Leopards puiny feature list to the endlis list of Windows 7 features. There is no comparing. I dont know if Apple is planning to add more features but as far as the Electric Playground knows we don’t think that Apple plans to add more features.
Personally I think that Sonow Leopard has no chance of competing with Windows 7.
Windows 7 is great