Windows 7 beta: Screenshots

We give you a sneak peek at the upcoming beta of Windows 7 before Microsoft unveils the software to the public later this month.

Next »

The edition of Windows 7 beta that we tested is the "Build 7000" edition that has been making the rounds; Microsoft has told us that the official version, which we believe will be released later this month, is not quite available yet.

To get these screenshots, we installed Windows 7 in a VMware virtualised environment, booted it up and played around to get a feel for some of the new features. We are also planning to publish some more detailed thoughts after installing the software on a dedicated machine.

(Credit: Renai LeMay/ZDNet.com.au)

Prev Next

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 

• Related stories

• Alerts

Add your opinion

Hmm Anonymous -- 07/01/09

Looks like kde4.

• Reply to comment
• Reply to story
• Report offensive content

bored Anonymous -- 08/01/09 (in reply to #320120460)

I am not sure how long Micro$ucks is going to piggyback on Vista users for it's Beta testing... Windows 7 is just another Vista!

• Reply to comment
• Report offensive content

duh Anonymous -- 12/01/09 (in reply to #320120518)

awesome, that means it going to be great. just like vista. ignorant tard

• Reply to comment
• Report offensive content

KDE4 Renai LeMay -- 08/01/09 (in reply to #320120460)

I remember when KDE was first released -- people were saying: "That looks like Windows" :P

Renai

News Editor
ZDNet.com.au

• Reply to comment
• Report offensive content

Windows Anonymous -- 09/01/09 (in reply to #320120544)

...and when windows was released people were saying it looks like Mac or OS/2, or GEM desktop! When office was released people said it looked like lotus and wordstar 2000!

You wont get far with this argument when it comes to Microsoft!

• Reply to comment
• Report offensive content

yey Anonymous -- 08/01/09

i can't wait....i decided to skip Vista altogether and i feel the need for a new OS

• Reply to comment
• Reply to story
• Report offensive content

Lack of innovation Steve -- 08/01/09 (in reply to #320120527)

One strength that MS has is to copy somebody else's work. This Win 7 definitely looks like KDE4. So, I don't really expect much exciting new things coming out from this win 7 cos MS either copies from Mac or Linux these days.

• Reply to comment
• Report offensive content

RE: Lack of innovation Bobby L. -- 09/01/09 (in reply to #320120549)

Just because it slightly resembles one of the hundreds of flavors of Linux, does not mean they are copying Linux. What you said makes no sense, like there's a company called Linux that MS is stealing GUI designed from or something...

• Reply to comment
• Report offensive content

Unless it's free I'm going to wait... Randanna -- 09/01/09

Don't see anything I can't live without. Was an early adopter of Vista and Office7 and kept the faith that MS would fix it until a couple of months ago when I bought a netbook. Until then I forgot just how mature and easy XP is. I still feel burned by MS and likely will switch to Mac or Linux for new machines.

• Reply to comment
• Reply to story
• Report offensive content

Windows 7 Eric -- 09/01/09

Personally i still dont see any reason to upgrade from XP. XP does pretty much what everyone wants and its simple. Windows Vista and Windows 7 just seem to make things bigger so it stands out more hence people say oh look its easier to find. Windows 7 isnt a step forward, its just windows vista with some minor graphical changes, but think about it... would you rather have a quality stable operating system or something that looks cool with gigantor icons and so much security that you lock yourself out.

• Reply to comment
• Reply to story
• Report offensive content

Its amazing just how much people don't know! Anonymous -- 09/01/09 (in reply to #320120624)

Eric - I honestly can't believe what you have posted. Its shocking, truly shocking how people can moan about something that they obviously DO NOT know about.

Do you really know the HUGE differences between XP and Vista?

Go on, tell everyone the extremely little amount of knowledge you have about this topic.

• Reply to comment
• Report offensive content

Nothing Too Great Anonymous -- 10/01/09

Sure, it has some nice shiny pictures (although the top of the windows looks really 'plastic-ey' and there is so much wasted space there!) but my XP machine does everything I need and want . So until I find something in Windows 7 I MUST have, I'm sticking with XP.

• Reply to comment
• Reply to story
• Report offensive content

XP users Anonymous -- 16/01/09

all of you XP users who still trash Vista have no idea! All you have heard is horror stories from other people who have no idea or are computer-stupid! I have been running Vista 64 on my main gaming machine and other than being somewhat of a system hog, my Vista PC runs all games flawlessly without issue as well as XP ever did! So if you have no idea about how Vista runs go back to your cave with all the other XP whiners!

• Reply to comment
• Reply to story
• Report offensive content

XP Users Anonymous -- 17/01/09 (in reply to #320121080)

Agreed and the Linux and Mac fanboys can join you.

• Reply to comment
• Report offensive content

I'd like to complain..... Anonymous -- 19/01/09 (in reply to #320121186)

Well, after purchasing a brand new Toshiba Intel2 duo with 2Gb of RAM, I was livid that I did not get an OS choice. Vista home Premium.
Already I was off, re-partitioining the hard drive to dual boot XP. Tell me I can't run whatever damned thing I want on my OWN machine!! I also didn't want to void the warranty, so the OEM copy must stay for at least a year.
Anyhoo's, I've forced myself to use only this laptop, thus ONLY using Vista - what can I say? It's actually not bad. It's been stable, fast, and very reliable.
BTW, by day I'm a RedHat/Solaris administrator and I liove on the command line, so I really wanted to trash the OS, but I can't, it's done everything I've needed it to do....

• Reply to comment
• Report offensive content

Bullshit Vista Stories Alex -- 01/02/09

I have windows Vista on every computer in my house and have never had any problems. I cant see what is wrong with vista i have never seen any problems that xp users talk about i think they should shut up and try vista before talking.

• Reply to comment
• Reply to story
• Report offensive content

stabilty Sahil -- 11/07/09

totally agreeing with fact that Vista has no flaws as far as i have used
Vista premium 64 bit is a great OS and runs everything pretty smooth , as it judiciously uses the memory.
XP on the other hand is stable but old. It is mature but lacks certain somethings i would wish my PC would have.

eagerly waiting to get Windows 7 on my PC , though i have a query if it is available in 64 bit or 32 bit.???

• Reply to comment
• Reply to story
• Report offensive content

looks good Anonymous -- 22/07/09

It looks a little better than vista but I want to see if it works better.

• Reply to comment
• Reply to story
• Report offensive content

• Just In

• Most Popular

• Most Discussed

Reader Services

Popular Topics

Essentials