The first thing you’ll notice when you see Windows 7 for the first time is the desktop.

The beta version is really quite striking. It features a Siamese fighting fish, also known as a betta fish. Pun intended; yes Microsoft made a joke.

With luck, the betta fish will still be available in the final release of Windows 7.

Microsoft has done a beautiful job with the graphics.

There is a wide range of wall paper to choose from, all of it classier than the wallpaper included in previous Microsoft operating systems.

There is more to the new Windows 7 desktop than just new graphics.

The wallpaper can be a slide show. The background can change automatically, on a periodic basis. You can set the wallpaper to cycle through a collection of photos, with the wallpaper changing anywhere from every 10 seconds to once per day, with many choices in between.

A related feature is even more novel, providing endless opportunities for entertainment and practical use.

The wallpaper can be supplied on a continuous basis from an RSS feed. At present, this is more or less a hidden feature. The beta version at least does not make this possible directly from the control panel.

Instead, you must edit the .theme file in a text editor. This is well within the grasp of intermediate users. No doubt a whole new class of downloadable themes will take advantage of this feature in new and interesting ways.

Windows 7 Screen Savers

Windows 7 has a limited number of screen savers.

You may be out of luck if your computer has an older graphics card that does not support the Direct3D 9 protocol. Most of the screen savers, even ancient ones like Mystify, use Direct3D, and require a compatible graphics card to operate.

I was disappointed that screen savers do not have a compatibility mode with older hardware.

Windows 7 Gadgets

Gadgets have survived the transition to Windows 7. The desktop no longer had a sidebar however. Gadgets simply float on the desk top.

You can drag gadgets around to appear anywhere on the desktop.

Windows 7®, is it a bold new step forward for Microsoft, or an incremental improvement over previous operating systems?

Could Windows 7 even be a step backwards? Microsoft already has two precedents for this: Windows ME and Windows Vista.

Although Windows 7 has had a bit of a face-lift, it was not intended to shake us up with new features.

According to the design team, one goal for Windows 7 is to be completely compatible with Vista-compatible software. It is also designed to work with Vista drivers.

Even during the beta phase of product testing, it is usually possible to use Vista drivers for hardware in advance of a Windows 7 specific drivers being released by the hardware manufacturer.

Some have described Vista as a beta version of Windows 7, and in some ways this seems like an accurate description. Many Vista features carry over to Windows 7, and some features from before Vista have been dropped, for example the classic start menu.

The biggest visible change is the task bar. Since Widows 95, it has looked pretty much the same, although there have been some changes and improvements from one version to the next.

Windows 7 has a completely new look for the task bar, and some significant new features. Whether this is change for change’s sake, or truly a better system remains to be seen.

In the end, Windows 7 will probably end up being a more refined version of Vista. Hopefully this means an improvement on Vista, and without the many problems that generate so many complaints about Vista.

Windows 7 is available for testing and I wanted to check it out.

How to do this safely without buying a new machine?

There is a short and simple answer, but it isn’t always straight forward. It does come in the form of free software, which is always good.

The solution is to install Virtual PC (Microsoft Virtual PC) on your computer. This software emulates a computer, and you can install an operating system on this emulated computer, which is independent of your host operating system.

This is a great solution because it means you don’t have to trash your current operating system just to test a new operating system that you may or may not like, not to mention all the time spent to configure your machine to be just the way you like it.

It means you can boot up your current operating system, and then boot up Windows 7 from there when you want to mess around with it, and then shut it down when you’re done.

It didn’t take me long to find the free download page on the Microsoft website, and grab a copy.

Very convenient, just the thing, ever so simple …

Or is it?

I came across a number of obstacles and roadblocks, which I will explain in this article, along with how I overcame them.

First of all, I had to decide which computer to install the virtual machine on: the one with more memory, or the more convenient one? Why not both?

I first installed Virtual PC on my laptop with 2G of memory, running Vista Home Premium. That is when I found out that Virtual PC will not run under Vista Home Premium, or so I thought at the time. I later discovered that if you ignore the warnings, it should still be possible to install the virtual software, but I didn’t know that at the time and didn’t try.

Next, I installed in on my laptop with 1G of memory, running Windows XP Pro. It installed quickly and easily, and setting it up to install the Windows 7 operating system went smoothly.

However, the virtual PC/Windows 7 combination was very sluggish. There just wasn’t enough memory available to run comfortably, and the CPU could be faster as well.

So I went out and bought a new hard drive, partitioned it, and set it up with Windows XP Pro. This was long and involved as I had to find all the right drivers for the laptop. In the end I got it up and running.

I installed Virtual PC, then Windows 7, and this time it worked quite well, running a bit slow, but fast enough to be usable.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, it may be cheaper and easier to buy a second had computer with XP Pro or Vista Pro installed, and then go from there.

Internal Links

• Virtual PC

External Links

• Microsoft Virtual PC

Windows 7 Mail – is it missing?

It seems unbelievable that Microsoft would no longer ship an operating system without including some sort of mail client.

Outlook Express was included with Windows 98. Outlook Express also worked with Windows 95. It was updated over the years and was still included with Windows XP.

Windows Vista shipped with a new email client: Windows Mail.

It would seem safe to assume that Windows 7 would, of course, have some sort of an email client as well.

This turns out to be incorrect. Windows 7 does not ship with any kind of bundled email client.

Is this a bad thing?

For the less tech-savvy, perhaps. There is no icon on the desktop that puts a connection your email just a few clicks away.

On the other hand, it allows users to consider the choices.

One of the choices is Windows Live Mail, a free download.

You have many other choices, including Mozilla Thunderbird (free) and Microsoft Outlook (included with Microsoft Office), to name just a few.

So how much of a problem is it that Microsoft has dropped any kind of an email client in Windows 7?

I suggest that this should rate pretty low on your list of concerns.

Microsoft still provides a free email client, you just have to take the extra step of downloading it (easy for most people with a high-speed connection).

You do have many other choices of email client, free for the downloading.

Many users, especially in the corporate world, end up using Microsoft Outlook, for compatibility with the corporate server, and more importantly, to share the calendar and appointment/meeting request systems with others.

The lack of a bundled email client is not a major loss for Windows 7.