Windows 7 is the most recent publicly available
version of
Microsoft Windows, a
series of
operating systems
produced by
Microsoft for use on
personal computers, including home and
business
desktops,
laptops,
netbooks,
tablet PCs, and
media
center PCs. Windows 7 was released to manufacturing on July 22,
2009, and general retail availability on October 22, 2009, less
than three years after the release of its predecessor,
Windows Vista. Windows 7's server counterpart,
Windows Server 2008 R2, was
released at the same time.
Unlike its predecessor, which introduced a large number of
new features, Windows 7 was
intended to be a more focused, incremental upgrade to the Windows
line, with the goal of being fully compatible with applications and
hardware with which Windows Vista is already compatible.
Presentations given by Microsoft in 2008 focused on
multi-touch support, a redesigned
Windows Shell with a new
taskbar, referred to as the Superbar, a home
networking system called HomeGroup, and performance improvements.
Some applications that have been included with prior releases of
Microsoft Windows, including
Windows
Calendar,
Windows Mail,
Windows Movie Maker, and
Windows Photo Gallery, are not
included in Windows 7; most are instead offered separately as part
of the
free Windows Live Essentials suite.
Development
Originally, a version of Windows codenamed Blackcomb was planned as the successor to Windows XP (codename Whistler) and Windows Server 2003. Major features were planned for Blackcomb, including an emphasis on searching and querying data and an advanced storage system named WinFS to enable such scenarios. However, an interim, minor release, codenamed "Longhorn" was announced for 2003, delaying the development of Blackcomb. By the middle of 2003, however, Longhorn had acquired some of the features originally intended for Blackcomb. After three major viruses exploited flaws in Windows operating systems within a short time period in 2003, Microsoft changed its development priorities, putting some of Longhorn's major development work on hold while developing new service packs for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Development of Longhorn was also restarted, and thus delayed, in August 2004. A number of features were cut from Longhorn.
Blackcomb was renamed
Vienna in early 2006, and again to
Windows 7 in 2007. In 2008, it was announced that
Windows 7 would also be the official name of the operating
system. There has been some confusion over naming the product
Windows 7, while versioning it as 6.1 to indicate its similar build
to Vista and increase compatibility with applications that only
check major version numbers, similar to
Windows 2000 and
Windows
XP both having 5.x version numbers.
The first external release to select Microsoft partners came in
January 2008 with
Milestone 1, build
6519. At
PDC
2008, Microsoft demonstrated Windows 7 with its reworked
taskbar. Copies of Windows 7 build 6801 were
distributed at the end of the conference; however, the demonstrated
taskbar was
disabled in this build.
On December 27, 2008, Windows 7 Beta was leaked onto the Internet
via
BitTorrent. According to a
performance test by
ZDNet, Windows 7 Beta beat
both Windows XP and Vista in several key areas; including boot and
shutdown time and working with files, such as loading documents.
Other areas did not beat XP; including PC Pro benchmarks for
typical office activities and video editing, which remain identical
to Vista and slower than XP. On January 7, 2009, the
64-bit version of the Windows 7 Beta (build 7000) was
leaked onto the web, with some torrents being infected with a
trojan. At
CES 2009, Microsoft CEO
Steve Ballmer announced the Windows 7 Beta,
build 7000, had been made available for download to MSDN and
TechNet subscribers in the format of an ISO image. The Beta was to
be publicly released January 9, 2009, and Microsoft initially
planned for the download to be made available to 2.5 million people
on this date. However, access to the downloads was delayed because
of high traffic. The download limit was also extended, initially
until January 24, then again to February 10. People who did not
complete downloading the beta had two extra days to complete the
download. After February 12, unfinished downloads became unable to
complete. Users could still obtain product keys from Microsoft to
activate their copies of Windows 7 Beta, which expired on August 1,
2009. The release candidate, build 7100, has been available for
MSDN and TechNet subscribers and Connect Program participants since
April 30 and became available to the general public on May 5, 2009.
It has also been leaked onto the Internet via
BitTorrent. The release candidate is
available in five languages and will expire on June 1, 2010, with
shutdowns every two hours starting March 1, 2010. Microsoft stated
that Windows 7 would be released to the general public on October
22, 2009. Microsoft released Windows 7 to MSDN and Technet
subscribers on August 6, 2009, at 10:00 am PDT. Microsoft announced
that Windows 7, along with
Windows Server 2008 R2 were released
to manufacturing on July 22, 2009. Windows 7
RTM is build 7600.16385,
which was compiled on July 13, 2009, and was declared the final RTM
build after passing all Microsoft's tests internally. "The launch
of Windows 7 has superseded everyone’s expectations, storming ahead
of
Harry Potter
and the Deathly Hallows as the biggest-grossing pre-order
product of all-time, and demand is still going strong," claimed
managing director Brian McBride, Amazon UK on October 22."
Goals
Bill Gates, in an interview with
Newsweek, suggested that this
version of Windows would be more "user-centric". Gates later said
that Windows 7 would also focus on performance improvements.
Steven Sinofsky later expanded on
this point, explaining in the
Engineering Windows 7 blog
that the company was using a variety of new tracing tools to
measure the performance of many areas of the operating system on an
ongoing basis, to help locate inefficient code paths and to help
prevent performance regressions.
Senior Vice President Bill Veghte stated that
Windows Vista users migrating to Windows 7
would not find the kind of device compatibility issues they
encountered migrating from
Windows XP.
Speaking about Windows 7 on October 16, 2008, Microsoft CEO
Steve Ballmer confirmed compatibility
between Vista and Windows 7, indicating that Windows 7 would be a
refined version of Windows Vista.
Features
New and changed features
Windows 7 includes a number of new features, such as advances in
touch and
handwriting
recognition, support for
virtual
hard disks, improved performance on
multi-core processors, improved
boot performance,
DirectAccess, and
kernel improvements. Windows 7 adds
support for systems using multiple heterogeneous graphics cards
from different vendors (Heterogeneous Multi-adapter), a new version
of
Windows Media Center, a
Gadget for Windows
Media Center, improved media features, the
XPS Essentials Pack and
Windows PowerShell being included, and a
redesigned
Calculator with
multiline capabilities including
Programmer and
Statistics modes along with unit conversion. Many new
items have been added to the
Control Panel, including
ClearType Text Tuner, Display Color Calibration
Wizard,
Gadgets,
Recovery, Troubleshooting, Workspaces Center, Location and Other
Sensors, Credential Manager, Biometric Devices, System Icons, and
Display.
Windows Security
Center has been renamed to Windows Action Center (Windows
Health Center and Windows Solution Center in earlier builds), which
encompasses both
security and
maintenance of the computer. The default setting for
User Account Control in Windows 7 has
been criticized for allowing untrusted software to be launched with
elevated privileges by exploiting a trusted application.
Microsoft's Windows kernel engineer
Mark Russinovich acknowledged the problem,
but noted that there are other vulnerabilities that do not rely on
the new setting. Windows 7 also supports Mac-like RAW image viewing
through the addition of WIC-enabled image decoders, which enables
raw image thumbnails, previewing and metadata display in Windows
Explorer, plus full-size viewing and slideshows in Windows Photo
Viewer and Window Media Center.
The taskbar has seen the biggest visual changes, where the Quick
Launch toolbar has been replaced with pinning applications to the
taskbar. Buttons for pinned applications are integrated with the
task buttons. These buttons also enable the
Jump Lists
feature to allow easy access to common tasks. The revamped taskbar
also allows the reordering of taskbar buttons. To the far right of
the system clock is a small rectangular button that serves as the
Show desktop icon. This button is part of the new feature
in Windows 7 called
Aero Peek. Hovering over this button
makes all visible windows transparent for a quick look at the
desktop. In touch-enabled displays such as touch screens, tablet
PCs, etc., this button is slightly wider to accommodate being
pressed with a finger. Clicking this button minimizes all windows,
and clicking it a second time restores them. Additionally, there is
a feature named
Aero Snap, that automatically maximizes a
window when it is dragged to either the top or left/right edges of
the screen. This also allows users to snap documents or files on
either side of the screen to compare them. When a user moves
windows that are maximized, the system restores their previous
state automatically. This functionality is also accomplished with
keyboard shortcuts.Unlike in
Windows
Vista, window borders and the taskbar do not turn opaque when a
window is maximized with
Windows Aero
applied. Instead, they remain translucent.
The Windows 7 taskbar.
For developers, Windows 7 includes a new networking
API with support for building
SOAP-based web services in
native code (as opposed to .NET-based
WCF web services), new
features to shorten application install times, reduced UAC prompts,
simplified development of installation packages, and improved
globalization support through a new Extended Linguistic Services
API. At
WinHEC 2008
Microsoft announced that color depths of 30-bit and 48-bit would be
supported in Windows 7 along with the wide color gamut
scRGB (which for
HDMI 1.3 can be
converted and output as
xvYCC). The video
modes supported in Windows 7 are 16-bit sRGB, 24-bit sRGB, 30-bit
sRGB, 30-bit with extended color gamut sRGB, and 48-bit scRGB.
Microsoft has also implemented better support for
solid-state drives, including the new
TRIM command, and Windows 7 is
able to identify a solid-state drive uniquely. Microsoft is
planning to support
USB 3.0 in a subsequent
patch, support not being included in the initial release due to
delays in the finalization of the standard.
Internet
Spades, Internet
Backgammon and Internet
Checkers, which were removed from Windows Vista,
were restored in Windows 7. Windows 7 includes
Internet Explorer 8 and
Windows Media Player 12. Users are
also able to disable many more Windows components than was possible
in Windows Vista. New additions to this list of components include
Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center,
Windows Search, and the Windows
Gadget Platform. Windows 7 includes 13 additional sound schemes,
titled Afternoon, Calligraphy, Characters, Cityscape, Delta,
Festival, Garden, Heritage, Landscape, Quirky, Raga, Savanna, and
Sonata. A new version of Virtual PC,
Windows Virtual PC Beta is available
for Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions. It
allows multiple Windows environments, including
Windows XP
Mode, to run on the same machine, requiring the use of
Intel VT-x or
AMD-V.
Windows XP Mode runs
Windows XP in a
virtual machine and redirects displayed applications running in
Windows XP to the Windows 7 desktop. Furthermore Windows 7 supports
the mounting of a virtual hard disk (VHD) as a normal data storage,
and the bootloader delivered with Windows 7 can boot the Windows
system from a VHD. The
Remote
Desktop Protocol (RDP) of Windows 7 is also enhanced to support
real-time multimedia application including video playback and 3D
games, thus allowing use of DirectX 10 in remote desktop
environments. The three application limit, previously present in
the Windows Vista Starter Edition, has been removed from Windows
7.
Removed features
A number of capabilities and certain programs that were a part of
Windows Vista are no longer present or
have been changed, resulting in the removal of certain
functionality. Some notable Windows Vista features and components
have been replaced or removed in Windows 7, including the classic
Start Menu user interface,
Windows Ultimate Extras and
InkBall. Four applications bundled with Windows
Vista —
Windows Photo Gallery,
Windows Movie Maker,
Windows Calendar and
Windows Mail — are not included with Windows 7,
but are instead available for free in a separate package called
Windows Live
Essentials.
Antitrust regulatory attention
As with other Microsoft operating systems, Windows 7 is being
studied by United States federal regulators who oversee the
company's operations following the 2001
United States v.
Microsoft
settlement. According to status reports filed, the three-member
panel began assessing prototypes of the new operating system in
February 2008.
Michael
Gartenberg, an analyst at
Jupiter
Research said that, "[Microsoft's] challenge for Windows 7 will
be how can they continue to add features that consumers will want
that also don't run afoul of regulators."
Editions
In order to comply with European antitrust regulations, Microsoft
has proposed the use of a "ballot" screen, allowing users to
download a competing browser, thus removing the need for a version
of Windows completely without Internet Explorer, as previously
planned. In response to criticism involving Windows 7 E and
concerns from manufacturers about possible consumer confusion if a
version of Windows 7 with Internet Explorer were shipped later
after one without Internet Explorer, Microsoft announced that it
would scrap the separate version for Europe and ship the standard
upgrade and full packages worldwide.
As with previous versions of Windows, an N version, which does not
come with
Windows Media Player,
has been released in Europe, but only for sale directly from
Microsoft sales websites and select others.
Reception
In only eight hours, pre-orders of Windows 7 at Amazon.co.uk
surpassed the demand Windows Vista had in its first 17 weeks. It
became the highest-grossing pre-order in Amazon's history,
surpassing sales of the previous record holder, the
seventh Harry Potter
book. After the launch, 64-bit versions of Windows 7
Professional and Ultimate editions sold out in Japan.
Two weeks after its
release, it was announced that its market share had surpassed that
of Snow Leopard, released two
months previously as the most recent update to Apple
's Mac OS X operating
system. According to Net Applications, Windows 7 reached a
4% market share in less than three weeks. In comparison, it took
Windows Vista seven months to reach the same mark.
Reviews of Windows 7 were mostly positive, praising its usability
when compared to its predecessor, Windows Vista.
CNET gave Windows 7 Home Premium a rating of 4.5 out of
5 stars, stating that it "is more than what Vista should have been,
[and] it's where Microsoft needed to go".
PC
Magazine rated it a 4 out of 5 saying that Windows 7 is a "big
improvement" over Windows Vista, with fewer compatibility problems,
a retooled taskbar, simpler home networking and faster start-up.
Maximum PC gave Windows 7 a rating of 9
out of 10 and called Windows 7 a "massive leap forward" in
usability and security, and praised the new Taskbar as "worth the
price of admission alone".
PC
World called Windows 7 a "worthy successor" to Windows XP and
said that speed benchmarks showed Windows 7 to be slightly faster
than Windows Vista. PC World also named Windows 7 one of the best
products of the year. In its review of Windows 7,
Engadget said that Microsoft has taken a "strong
step forward" with Windows 7 and reported that speed is one of
Windows 7's major selling points particularly for the netbook sets.
LAPTOP Magazine gave Windows 7 a rating of 4 out of 5 stars and
said that Windows 7 makes computing more intuitive, offered better
overall performance including a "modest to dramatic" increase in
battery life on laptop computers.
Techradar gave it a 5 star rating calling it the
best version of Windows yet. The
New York
Times,
USA Today,
The Wall Street Journal, and
The Telegraph also gave Windows
7 favorable reviews.
Some Vista Ultimate users have expressed concerns over Windows 7
pricing and upgrade options. Windows Vista Ultimate users wanting
to upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 must either pay $219.99
to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate or perform a clean install, which
requires them to reinstall all of their programs.
Editions
Windows 7 is available in six different editions, but only the Home
Premium, Professional, and Ultimate editions are available for
retail sale to consumers in most countries. The other editions are
aimed at other markets, such as the developing world or enterprise
use. Each edition of Windows 7 includes all of the capabilities and
features of the edition below it. All editions support the
32-bit (
IA-32)
processor architecture and all editions except
Starter and Home Basic support the
64-bit
(
x86-64) processor architecture. The
installation media is the same for all the consumer editions of
Windows 7 that have the same processor architecture, with the
license determing the features that are activated, and license
upgrades permitting the subsequent unlocking of features without
re-installation of the operating system. This is the first time
Microsoft distributes 2 DVDs (1 DVD for IA-32 processor
architecture, the other DVD for x86-64 processor architecture) for
each edition of Windows 7 (Except for Starter and Home Basic).
Users who wish to upgrade to an edition of Windows 7 with more
features can then use
Windows
Anytime Upgrade to purchase the upgrade, and unlock the
features of those editions. Some copies of Windows 7 have
restrictions, in which it must be distributed (If not, sold or
bought) and activated in the geographical region (One of the
geographical regions can be either: Southeast Asia; India; or Latin
America and the Caribbean) specified in its front cover box.
Microsoft is offering a family pack of Windows 7 Home Premium (in
select markets) that allows installation on up to 3 PCs. The
"Family Pack" costs USD 149.99 in the United States.
On September 18, 2009, Microsoft said they were to offer temporary
student discounts for Windows 7.
The offer will be running in the US
and the
United
Kingdom
, with similar schemes available in Canada,
Australia, Korea, Mexico, France and Germany. Students with
a valid .edu or .ac.uk email address can apply for either Windows 7
Home Premium or Professional, priced at $30 or £30.
Marketing
Microsoft has marketed the whole of
Windows 7 as "making your PC simpler". However the different
editions of Windows 7 have been designed and marketed towards
different types of people. Out of all the different
editions(Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional,
Enterprise, and Ultimate) the Starter edition has been designed for
netbooks, Home Basic has been designed for the developing world,
Home Premium has been designed and marketed for normal home users,
Professional for businesses, Enterprise for larger businesses and
Ultimate for corporations and enthusiasts. TV adverts have been
made advertising Home Premium's use in the home.
Hardware requirements
Microsoft has published their minimum specifications for a system
running Windows 7. Requirements for the 32-bit version are much the
same as recommendations for premium editions of Vista, but the
64-bit versions are higher. Microsoft has released an upgrade
advisor that scans a computer to see if it is compatible with
Windows 7.
Minimum hardware requirements for Windows
7
| Architecture |
32-bit |
64-bit |
| Processor |
1 GHz 32-bit processor |
1 GHz 64-bit processor |
| Memory |
1 GB of RAM |
2 GB of RAM |
| Graphics Card |
DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM driver model
1.0 (For Aero) |
| HDD free space |
16 GB of available disk space |
20 GB of available disk space |
| Optical drive |
DVD drive (only to install from DVD/CD Media) |
Additional requirements to use certain features:
See also
References
- Leaked Windows 7 RC torrents infected with
trojan
- The Windows Blog
- ThinkNext.net: Screenshots from a blogger with Windows 7
M1
- How to add Mac-like RAW image support to Windows 7,
Vista, XP
- Windows 7: Some Minor Improvements, No Game
Changer
- Touching Windows 7 (Engineering Windows 7
Blog)
- Microsoft online Windows 7 store page, accessed
2009-09-09.
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