Blogger Zhou: Can't believe it? Yes, again, news about Windows 7.
It's has been 2 months since my last post about Windows 7 Milestone 1. It was interesting and funny to watch how skeptics around the world reacted to my news. Many people denied and tried hard to prove what I posted was not true. Well, skeptics here is very reasonable but the evidences they used were merely those not-yet-updated 'Vista' in version windows or dialogues, and, many F words. That's not reasonable, nether works. How desperately I hope those guys know more about software development and engineering.
You know there is something like the dark side of the force, especially when you have control on something and feel a little bit more powerful than the people you're watching.
I'm afraid I'll kick those guys again since today I bring you new bits of Windows 7.
This time it's the 2nd release of Windows 7 Milestone 1. Version 6.1 (build 6574.1.{SECRET}). The {SECRET} here means I won't expose detail.
No, even Milestone 1 isn't a single release. Microsoft releases multiple versions of M1 with different minor version numbers. Well, for me it is the 2nd one I've gotten but I've no idea about how many releases Microsoft did before. I'll use Win7 M1 R2, which stands for Windows 7 Milestone 1 Release 2, to describe it in the following. Please be noted, 'Release 2' is my naming convention, not Microsoft's.
BTW, I do think my plain English here is OK for non-English speakers especially for readers from Europe and Asia. Anyway I'm not writing for WIRED or New York Times. I won't provide translated local versions (What? Somebody asks what if the plain English is a fatal disaster for those native English speakers? … )
I use the same platform as for M1 R1: Intel G35 chipset motherboard, Core 2 Duo 2.66G dual core processor, 1 x 1G memory, integrated graphic card. Moderate, if not decent.
The installer is not greatly changed since M1 R1, only some words are updated from Vista to 7. Last time I use R1, the License Terms and SKU selection referred 'Windows Vista', now it's changed to 'Windows 7".
The SKU selection shows these options:
Windows 7 Business, HomeBasic, HomePremium, Ultimate, HomeBasic N, Business N and Starter.
See some new SKUs are included however I don't think these will definitively be the SKUs Windows 7 will provide. The installer program may inherit from some development tree so the SKU names are inherited also. Anyway, it's not important to argue how many SKUs Win7 will bring to us. It's much of business, not technology.
The SKU selection uses something like a grid control, the 1st column is SKU name, and 2nd, Date Modified. For all those SKUs, the date is March 2008.
An important change, also a nice improvement, is that you aren't asked to input product key during the whole installation phase. For Vista installer, you can input a blank key and proceed but there is still a step and a text box for that purpose. Win7 M1 R2 installer simply skips this.
As in the M1 R1, Win7 installer automatically creates an additional 500.0 MB partition before system partition. A user doesn't have control on this. No idea on what for. The partition doesn't appear in My Computer but you can see it in disk management.
Other parts of the installation are same as in M1 R1.
The post-installation setup wizard, may be used for performance benchmarking to determine experience index, differs from that of Vista in that Win7 removes those fancy animation pictures during the process and the time it spends on this step is much less (less than 2 minutes on my platform).
Finally, after the setup here comes the product key… Yes, you can still input a blank key.
M1 R2 recognizes my G35 integrated graphic card and adapts display mode which makes my eyes comfortable at the first sight on Win7. Remember I had to find drivers for M1 R1.
The user name, machine name setup windows isn't the default Vista style, I mean, neither Basic nor Aero. See below. The font is even Arial not Vista's default.
Health Center, looks like Microsoft really starts caring your computer's health. Besides, mind the mouse over effect.
