Windows 7 will be the second release of Microsoft's
Windows desktop operating system built on the Vista
kernel.
With the beta release now
available,
IT departments and end-users can start assessing whether it will be
worth upgrading. Microsoft has made a number of changes to the
Windows application programming interface, which could be used to
create new types of applications or to improve the usability and
speed of existing ones.
>> See also:
Top five technologies in Windows 7 and
Windows 7 Beta 1: First impressions from the inside out
Microsoftsays it should run on Vista-ready hardware without any
problems, and should support Vista-ready applications without
modifications.
But the new operating system will include features such as
multi-touch, a hand-gesture-based user interface, and new
programming interfacesthat could be used to improve the performance
or usability of enterprise applications.
Multi-touch takes touch-screen technology up a notch by allowing
users to drag and drop on a touch screen.It includes a
gesture-recognition application programming interface (API) that
supports panning, zooming, and rotating, John Curran, director of
Windows at Microsoft says.
"I have seen a demo where a user resizes and manipulates screen
images using hand motions. Certainly computer-aided drafting and
computer-aided manufacturing applications and design software lend
themselves to raw finger input."
Microsoft also appears to have found a way to improve the
performance of thin-client computing, and may encourage users to
upgrade to Windows 7through its Terminal Services technology, which
allows users to run Windows applications centrally. Currently,
graphics is handled on the server, but in Windows 7, the graphics
processor on the thin-client PC could be used instead. Curransays
this has the potential to improve network bandwidth and speed up
applications. But it does mean the thin client will need to run
Windows 7.
Users should at least look at what Windows 7 could offer, even
if they have no plans to run it.