There have already been dozens of fixes and improvements made to the Windows 7 beta ; according to Microsoft’s Engineering Windows blog. They list 36 improvements, which will be in the RC (release candidate.) This disproves the often mentioned rumour that the Windows 7 feature-set is ‘frozen.’
Windows 7 fixes & improvements
The changes have been made to the; desktop experience, touch interface, networking feature, control panel, windows media player, device stage, sound UX, windows explorer and (of course) the general performance. You can see them listed in detail here.
Some within the tech industry called for the Windows 7 beta to be released ‘as is.’ The suggestion, was that it was so solid, that people like Leo Laporte, said it should be released NOW! This always struck me as a little short-sighted. The reason Microsoft gives for releasing a fully functioning beta is;
… to make sure we received reliable feedback and not a lot of “hey this doesn’t work at all” sorts of reports. This has allowed us to really focus on delivering a refined RC where the changes we made are all the reflection of feedback we have received. Steve Sinofsky
With these improvements, to what many already thought was a fast, reliable OS, I think my original prediction, of an windows 7 release date by the end of October 2009, is looking even more likely. Watch this space!
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I love the beta. I use it already on my main machine and it’s far better than either Vista OR XP.
Good to see that there will be further improvements before release.
Price will be key. After the screw-up with Vista, people will expect a low price. I also think we deserve it!
Only time will tell how good the RC will be. Early signs are positive. Very few naff reviews of the beta.
Its almost fashonable to like a MS product – weird eh? ;)
Sandy,
I know of a few people, who have started using Win7 beta for their main OS. It’s not something I would recommend. The beta is due to die in August after all.
Danny,
A fashionable MS OS – What next!