New Microsoft Windows 7 to Offer More Simplicity Over Vista

New Microsoft Windows 7 will include better battery life for laptops and faster boot-up times in comparison to Windows Vista. Microsoft is shipping early versions of Windows 7 to hardware and software manufacturers. No official release date has been mentioned.

Microsoft Corp on Wednesday unveiled a series of improvements of its new Microsoft Windows 7 operating system. The new improvements were unveiled at WinHEC 2008, the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in Los Angeles.

The software giant encouraged hardware and software engineers to begin full development for the new Windows platform. Microsoft distributed a new API to WinHEC 2008 attendees to help engineers develop on the new platform. Attendees also received a complete pre-beta of Windows 7 and a pre-beta release of Windows Server 2008 R2.

"One of the things that we knew that we needed to do was to give you reliable, prerelease builds, builds you could use to do your early work, and builds that would give you confidence that when we say we're going to ship Windows 7 on a particular date, you'll believe us," Jon DeVaan, senior vice president of the company's Windows Core Operating System Division, said during a keynote speech.

Windows 7 promises better battery life for laptops and an array of new features. The new operating system has faster boot-up times in comparison to Windows Vista.

DeVaan demonstrated how Microsoft is working to reduce boot-up times of its new Microsoft Windows 7. The demonstrated involved two PCs, one running the new Windows 7 while the other ran Windows Vista. The Windows 7 PC took several seconds less to boot-up than the Windows Vista machine.

Microsoft also demonstrated a new "Device and Printers" stage within the new Microsoft Windows. This is an area where consumers will interact with all external devices connected to the PC. Some of these external devices include a Bluetooth headset, a USB flash drive or a wireless network printer. The Device Stage can also manage mobile phone connections and digital cameras.

The new "Windows Touch" allowed attendees to move through the operating system by a simple touch of the screen. Windows 7 includes multi-touch technology which lets users zoom in, zoom out, and rotate images with their fingers.

There is no official release date for Windows 7. However, the Microsoft products page has two possible release dates. One date showing January 2010, another date showing Fall 2009.