Windows 7 Beta version - it's here!

It's arrived...the 7th version of Microsoft's dominant Windows operating system. Although only a beta, or test version, news of its release was made by CEO Bulmer to an excited audience at CES in Las Vegas last week.It was available for limited download from last Friday Jan 9th. The huge rush to try it out has taken Microsoft by surprise,many people were unable to get anywhere near it over the weekend. Perhaps that says something about the less than popular Windows Vista, now in its second year.
Windows 7 as it is currently known, is scheduled to launch around the end of this year or beginning of 2010. First impressions are very good. Having installed it as a dual-boot (with XP),trouble free on a PC and Laptop,it loaded all device drivers successfully on both. It managed to install a shared printer over the wireless network no problem; something that can be a real pain with Vista. GoToMyPC works with the new ie8, but there seem to be some issues with Outlook Web Access, mainly trying to compose a new message.
Win7 looks very much like Vista, but feels very smooth, with none of the 'memory hogging' antics of Vista. There are some stunning desktop backgrounds and the presence of the transparent 'aero desktop' makes for a swish operation.Minimizing a window onto the bottom taskbar shows as a reasonable size icon, and moving your cursor over it reveals a pleasing thumbnail image, reminding you of what you were doing.
Internet Explorer has been upgraded to version 8 and has some additional add-ons.
Owing to the simultaneous launch of the new Windows Live, advantages are there for those with an MSN account (known as a Passport of Live ID) as web pages integrate nicely with mail, photo upload pages, and even Facebook should you so desire.
Well better get back to it, and will report back later!