It is so hard to get high-resolution lossless screenshots of unreleased software these days. In the meantime, this extremely compressed JPEG of the Internet Explorer 8 installation window will have to do. This is apparently what beta testers will be getting in the first release, as (super excited) Mithun Dhar kindly shows showed us.

The only difference between this screen and the previous IE7 Beta install experience is in fact just the number. That means either someone was smart enough not to reinvent the wheel, or just lazy. Meanwhile this good new for Windows XP users because it looks like Internet Explorer 8 will still be supported.

Unless that’s one convincing retrospective Windows Vista visual style.

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First, a few words about the following screenshot. To be perfectly clear, this is not an original image. The window and its contents (address bar, tab, window title, page content) have been heavily recomposited to better fit in a smaller image size as well as to obscure any traces where this might have come from. I did not take the screenshot nor do I have access to the beta (so no emails please but do send bribes regardless). Having said that, I can easily vouch for its authenticity.

It appears Internet Explorer 8 doesn’t stray far from the new hybrid menu/toolbar interface of Internet Explore 7, not in Beta 1 at least. Contrary to the ribbon-interface speculation, I think after the rather drastic transition from IE6 to IE7, a more consistent user interface is a good thing as users won’t waste any time relearning how to use a browser.

From top to bottom, the address bar now boasts a new UI trick being able to highlight just the domain in the URL. It’s a very insignificant change but its something that you wish you had thought of. It’s a smart thing to do because it dramatically decreases the risk from domain phishing attacks – where it convinces you to click on “paypal.com” actually taking you to “paypal.com.maliciouswebsite.com”.

The search box now sports the ability to display an icon for the search provider you have currently selected. Currently in IE7, it only displays the name of the search provider in italics which unfortunately means as soon as you type something, it removes any indication of which search you’re using unless you manually click the drop-down button. Glad that’s fixed.

The bookmarks menu makes a much welcomed return above the tabs having endured a year of seclusion inside the side-pane. You can now bookmark links to always appear on this menu bar and I might add is no longer separated by an ugly black line, as well as access to all your other bookmarks accessible from the “Favorites” button.

Last but not least, the whole toolbar has received a very subtle color change. Those who were a fan of #C5DEFA will now have to face up to #C1D5ED. Tough love.

<originally on istartedsomething.com>

An anonymous tipster pointed out to me in a recent (private) Windows feedback survey sent out by Microsoft, asked how often users use the Start menu search functionality, was a screenshot highlighting the aforementioned feature but not of Windows Vista and certainly not anything we’ve ever seen before.

The most logical explanation would be of course, this is a mockup of Windows 7.

If that is indeed the case, which is impossible to prove I might add, then we’re witnessing a number of changes from the Start menu in Vista today and even the Start menu from the leaked build of Windows 7 Milestone 1.

Notably the Start pearl/button/orb rests in a curved corner that is darker to the rest of the taskbar which is now considerably more transparent and white. And quite possibly the taskbar is “double height” by default. Some applications in the start menu also have a cascade button on its right, leading me to believe its some sort of extended menu, for what purpose I don’t know.

There are also a few things in this screenshot which stand for the wrong reasons. Some of the applications have icons which doesn’t match. For example, Outlook has the Windows Mail icon and PowerPoint has a XAML file icon. Then on the right side, the link buttons which are expected to be “Pictures, Music, Games etc” have been replaced by Lorem Ipsum filler text.

In case you were wondering, the screenshot has since been removed from the web server where the survey was hosted. It has been replaced with a more familiar screenshot from Windows Vista. Obviously, too late.

<originally on istartedsomething.com>

Microsoft enthusiast “Raiker” has recently posted his own findings of this infamous yet mysterious leaked build of Windows 7. Surprisingly weeks after the first screenshots were published, he’s still able to uncover some small gems the other guys missed. The article was written in Russian, but Google Translate helps get most of the ideas across. (via UX Evangelist)

First and foremost, Raiker discovered during the initial setup, Windows 7 also asks you to set up a HomeGroup.

Whilst there’s no explanation what HomeGroup is exactly, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to connect the dots between the all-too-familiar WorkGroup and HomeGroup. As far as I know, WorkGroups doesn’t support passphrase security on a network level as HomeGroup seems to suggest it does. I only wish he had clicked on “Learn more about HomeGroup” at the bottom of that dialog box.

Raiker was also sharp enough to point out that they’ve made changes to the appearance of the translucent taskbar. Looking at either individually, you might not see a difference, but when you put them side by side it’s rather obvious. The Windows 7 taskbar (left) is far more glossy but far less transparent than the Vista one (right).

Raiker also noted that maximized windows remained translucent, not the color-filled background some Vista users have complained about. However he speculates this could be simply be an unintended bug, and I concur because filled-backgrounds still makes sense from a usability point of view.

The other fascinating feature Raiker uncovered was “Wipe and Reload” in the Control Panel. Now this is extremely fascinating and potentially game-changing for both OEMs and end-users because what it describes it does is what most people waste a hell-of-lot of time doing anyway, that is formatting their hard drive and reinstalling Windows to get that fresh new smell. Imagine doing that without juggling discs and scourging for that Windows license key.

Windows Media Player is also in for a small update. From what we can see, only the menu bar has been modified so far with some of the items relocated around. Also some of the mini icons on the bottom right corner has been changed, but that’s nothing compared to what’s coming up next.

Last but certainly not least, the new calculator. Low and behold this incredible piece of software engineering and revolutionary user interface. With now two lines of numbers, it’s pretty much game over OSX and Ubuntu.

Head over to Raiker’s “Whats Next” blog for the full details and the entire screenshot gallery.

<from istartedsomething>

Notice the keyhole shape of the back/forward buttons.

Download here.

Control panel

All items in control panel, now you can see which ones are newly added in Win7 Milestone 1

right click on the desktop. Here we get several new ones: Hide/Add Gadgets and a new Display command

This is the sidebar, yes the last one is the new Media Center gadget, I’ll show more about this gadget and MC later.

click ‘Add Gadget’ from Explorer or Sidebar, we get a Gadgets folder, by default, we have gadgets listed below:

click on a gadget

yes, every non-release version Windows is shipped with a feedback tool.

Internet Explorer 7: minor version changes

Remember this system properties dialogue?

And this one? Backup and recovery related settings.

Seldom do I use Windows Mail but I think the version number can be viewed as an indication (for some guys).

A member named “kenipnet” on Neowin.net’s forums claims to have and installed this very build on his own desktop and laptop machines, and posted this short review on Neowin. For unknown reasons, it was later deleted by the poster, but fortunately the website administrator “Neobond” has republished a cache version of the original post for all but Sinofsky to see. Of course there’s no way to prove this is true, but the facts appear consistent with ‘other reports’ of what the build contains. Take it with a grain of salt and a cup of tea, donuts sold separately.

So here we’re at it, again

Over the weekend I finally managed to play with the build…. but disappointed.

One my primary machine, it asked for my SATA driver (never happened when installing Vista, as my drives were set as IDE in BIOS). After adding the driver from my USB thumb drive it would finally install. It didn’t boot after first restart, however.

On my laptop it installed perfectly, but with no driver support for the video card. After numerous tries I gave up in the end, so Aero is now left in the dark.

Oh well, so there’s nothing to show.

The build is 6.1.6519.

The GUI, as much of you have guessed, is very much like Vista. I don’t know if once the right video card driver is in place whether there will be flashy stuffs to surprise me. The system is very responsive, using barely 480MB of memory after boot.

Gadgets are now integrated into explorer. You can right click on desktop and select “Add Gadget” or “Hide Gadget”. There is a new gadget called “Windows Media Center” that displays now playing information from the WMC. On the same menu, “Display” is added above “Personalization” which gives you direct access to display DPI settings. The page is much more polished than the one in Vista.

The start menu features a pin besides each item. Clicking on it toggles pinning/unpinning the item. Search in explorer is now states where you search within (usually being within the folder, as in Vista). You can now, however, adjust the size of the search box.

XAML fonts, called the “Composite Fonts” are now added to the font folder. Perhaps WPF will be much more prominent in this release. It’s disappointing that I don’t have Aero running, or otherwise there might be some interesting stuffs to see.

A new application is added, dubbed the “XPS Viewer”, no surprises, either.

Then finally, something interesting came up: the feedback tool. The feedback tool lists the “pillars” of Win 7. You can see that Microsoft is aiming to fine tune this release as the case in XP rather than technological advancement as in 2K. highlights include”network aware”, with improved connection tools and detections. It will have the ability to detect which network you’re in and switch your settings and devices accordingly; With Live account, you can carry your IE settings and favorites with you; Gadget data caching; New Calculator, Paint, and Wordpad using WPF; install to desktop in 10 mins with only 1 reboot; instant streaming; better battery mileage, etc. All descriptions are scenario-based, so what will actually turn up is still yet to know.

Oh.. how could I miss this. A new boot screen does show up, finally. A full screen Vista-logon screen like boot screen with a beam scrolling across the whole screen near the bottom. Looks nice but reminds me of Win9x (well since XP we’ve been in the “dark”, so surprised to see such a bright boot screen)!

I for one simply cannot wait for the new calculator. As long as no one gets into unrealistic release date guesstimations again, it’s all good fun. Although I don’t agree with what the poster described as a “disappointment”, because there shouldn’t be any expectations. Let’s not make the same mistake twice.

<originally published on istartedsomething.com>