The World of Windows

The release of Windows 7 to manufacturing begins a tale of two operating systems: the one you want and the one you don't. It is packed with improvements and cool stuff, but it still carries a whiff of Vista that may put XP diehards off. That said, people who have gotten used to Vista will enjoy the fact that Windows 7 looks the same but acts a whole lot better. Like many people who compute both at home and at work, I use XP and Vista as well as Mac OS X Leopard, and I like elements of all three. So I've been watching the beta and RC versions of Windows 7 very closely. Does the final "release to manufacturing" (RTM) code -- the same code that will ship with new PCs and retail versions of Windows 7 in October -- merit a jump from any of my current platforms? Well, yes and no. A Jump List showing open Internet Explorer windows Little features like the ability to burn CDs from single ISO image files are great -- I don't need to install third-party tools to create CD-R...

The beta version of Google Chrome always has a few experimental features that are absent from the stable release of the browser. But one thing I really didn't love about Google Chrome Beta when I decided to give it a try a few weeks ago was the updated new tab page. Instead of simply showing a few thumbnails for your most frequently visited pages, Google added a "recent activities section," which can be useful, but which also makes the fresh tab page a bit more visually cluttered. Fortunately, you can customize which items appear on the new tab page, and as of today you can also remove and reorganize bookmarks on the new tab page in Google Chrome Beta simply by dragging and dropping thumbnails. You can also pin thumbnails so they don't disappear even if you don't use them very often. Google has also added icons to the drop-down list in the Omnibox (location bar) that help you see at a glance what type of results Chrome is recommending as you start typing...

This is it, Windows 7 is now final. Today the first public release of Windows 7 has been made available to subscribers of Microsoft’s TechNet and MSDN programs. An astounding 893 different images are being made available over three release waves from August 6th to 21st. The Windows 7 release candidate (RC) is now old hat. In fact, it will begin issuing license expiration messages on February 14th, 2010 – how romantic, Microsoft – before ultimately shutting down every two hours from March 1st 2010. Meanwhile, as Alex Zaharov-Reutt reported earlier today, Windows 7 release to manufacturing (or RTM) is now available for download to TechNet and MSDN subscribers. Microsoft is making an astonishing 893 different builds available over the course of three waves. Wave one has now begun, with all English x86 and x64 retail and volume license editions being published for download. Additionally, language packs, software developer kits (SDKs), debug symbols and variants are available tod...