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Is it so much to ask for some more wallpaper options? I have a huge list of wallpapers and have found a 3rd party app that changes the wallpaper every time Windows restarts etc. Can't MS just add something simple like this into Windows as well?

That aside, I like most of the changes, and this is a M3 build. Who knows if they'll do a M4 or go to Beta 1, either way we're talking about next year for a beta anyways.

So far so good, imho. I can see a few good improvements.

Anyone expecting big interface leaps really needs to be patient. UI is likely to be unchanged or finalised until pretty late in to the beta process. Functionality is key before aesthetics.

Indeed (Y)

I think we can confirm that there custom themes with this screenshot.

If by 'custom themes' you mean the default theme with different colors, and some different wallpapers, then yes, you're right :p

Why do you guys keep insisting that there will be radical GUI changes? Microsoft has stated multiple times already that Windows 7 will be a minor upgrade to Vista. Therefore, the GUI is expected to change with the same 'radical changes' u saw between Windows 98 and 2000. Thats it. Vista's GUI is the same style Windows 7 is. They will radically change it on Windows 8 probably if there is even going to be another windows.

Now if only Paint could get a couple more features ;)

That Ribbon implementation thing is by far the best feature I've seen in Windows 7 so far. I hope it'll be implemented in a good number of apps..

The rest doesn't impress me, especially that sort of QuickLook implementation, good way to copy Mac OS :)

Why do you guys keep insisting that there will be radical GUI changes? Microsoft has stated multiple times already that Windows 7 will be a minor upgrade to Vista. Therefore, the GUI is expected to change with the same 'radical changes' u saw between Windows 98 and 2000. Thats it. Vista's GUI is the same style Windows 7 is.

I agree. And anyway, it's about time Microsoft stuck with a similar UI for a while, just like they did from Windows 95 - 2000, rather than changing it for each version of Windows. I'd like some uniformity with the UI.

I like what they did with explorer and the folders etc on the left:

Me too. I like the new bluish folderband too, rather than the less subtle turquoise one that Vista has (which I have disabled for me by editing the shellstyle).

the fact that they've already implemented part of the new UI shows they are aiming for a completely new UI for Windows 7.

There is lots of work to be done on paper and the artistry part before any programming is put into the UI so we won't see any of the 7 UI until Beta 1 at least. These milestones are purely from the programmers point of view.

Win7 probably has a completely new icon set, new branding new color set and redone interface. They've still got a whole year to do the UI and there usually isn't a software issue with UI as much as there is with say networking.

Why do you guys keep insisting that there will be radical GUI changes? Microsoft has stated multiple times already that Windows 7 will be a minor upgrade to Vista. Therefore, the GUI is expected to change with the same 'radical changes' u saw between Windows 98 and 2000. Thats it. Vista's GUI is the same style Windows 7 is. They will radically change it on Windows 8 probably if there is even going to be another windows.

Wrong. This link pretty much sums it up.

So far so good, imho. I can see a few good improvements.

Indeed (Y)

If by 'custom themes' you mean the default theme with different colors, and some different wallpapers, then yes, you're right :p

Seems good enough for me. I personally don't think Microsoft should fully support themes, the hacking works good enough. And that would leave Windows Blinds obsolete. :p

Is it so much to ask for some more wallpaper options? I have a huge list of wallpapers and have found a 3rd party app that changes the wallpaper every time Windows restarts etc. Can't MS just add something simple like this into Windows as well?

That aside, I like most of the changes, and this is a M3 build. Who knows if they'll do a M4 or go to Beta 1, either way we're talking about next year for a beta anyways.

You'd think that would be a big request but what i've noticed is that people don't even want their icon's location changing cuz they get all lost in all the madness. Surely a wallpaper wouldn't be that big of a deal but people are picky with their machines for sure. Then again i hardly ever see the wallpaper i'm using. Someone asked me once and i had to go back to the desktop to look as i even forgot which one i had. My girlfriend on the other hand would remember that cuz she has a picture of her cat (eine katze - "Leini Maus")

Yup. I don't know if I like that new silver color scheme they're using on applications, though (instead of the turquoise-ish color). The latest Live software stuff uses it, too, and I don't like it there.

I don't care if they change the color to be silverish, but right now it just looks sort of crappy and unpolished and doesn't tie together well. I'm wondering what made them decide to get rid of the icons also.

In any case I hope they also change the appearance of some of the popups, like for icon views, so it fits in with the appearance of the apps instead of being old-style battleship grey

I think it looks great, so far. I've always liked the Aero UI, and it seems that it's not going away in Windows 7, and instead getting enhanced. Adding the Ribbon to other applications is a great idea, such as Paint and Wordpad. I would like to see tabs added to Explorer, though.

Niiiiice! Me want me want, lol.

I heard that Win 7 is going to be the last 32-bit client-side OS. Dunno if that's true, but if it is, then yippee!

I've moved on with Vista Ultimate 64-bit on my laptop. JMHO, but everybody else should go into the 64-bit boat.

ThinkNext has posted some new screenshots for Windows 7. So far everything is looking amazing. Media Player especially is looking really good.

Link

Still has ALOT of work to be done; the interface is a nightmare when it comes to consistency.

It actually looks quite good, huge UI changes aren't needed - just minor improvements. Anyway I look forwards to the day when I can square root, without having to remember to use powers.

Exactly. Did anybody remember how big a change there was UI-wise going from Windows NT to Windows 2000 (or even from Windows 95 to 98 SE)? Surprisingly, despite ActiveDesktop becoming standard, the rest of the UI changed very little (however, what you could do within the UI changed a ton). I remember working for the Big Cable TV Company which was migrating enmasse from NT 4 to 2000 Professional (and I was one of the early migratees precisely because I had been using Windows 2000 Professional as my home OS) and therefore was one of those showing folks some of the new features. The biggest *wow factor* was one that was not expected to be much of a wow factor: printer browsing. You could sort available printers by capability, by location, or even by the length of the document queue (not to mention that printer browsing was Just Plain Quicker in Windows 2000 than in NT 4). Here's the surprise: no hardware upgrades were needed. In fact, other than a DLL upgrade in one application (and the OS itself), not a single program change was necessary. Little things can have a surprisingly large impact. (Seriously; how big an impact was expected from improved network printing?)

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    • Disabling open on hover, great! That was so stupid! They need to do a fix, where if a network share is disconnected, it doesn't hang when opening "This PC" for 20 seconds.
    • Microsoft releases major feature updates for stock Windows 11 apps by Taras Buria In addition to releasing new Windows 11 preview builds, Microsoft announced that inbox Windows apps now have dedicated release notes in the official documentation. At long last, users have access to all the release notes for each app, with changes listed in chronological order. Microsoft used to announce feature updates for stock apps with each build. Now, with Windows Insider release notes hosted on the Microsoft Learn website, each app has a dedicated space for its changelog, which is very useful for those who want to track new features and improvements. Alongside that, Microsoft dropped massive feature updates for six stock apps: Clock, Media Player, Calculator, Voice Recorder, Photos, and Paint. Each app packs quite a lot of changes and new capabilities, so here are the release notes. Here are quick notes so that you can jump to the app you are interested in the most: Calculator Camera Clock Media Player Paint Photos Sound Recorder Here is what is new for the Calculator in version 11.2605.9.0: More accurate square-root results — Fixed rare cases where a calculation that should equal zero (like sqrt(2.25) - 1.5) returned a tiny leftover value instead. Readable text in High Contrast themes — Settings text now shows the correct colors in the High Contrast Aquatic and Desert themes. Fixed layout for right-to-left languages — For languages like Arabic and Hebrew, the graph, number pad, equation fields, and scroll buttons now appear correctly oriented. Reliable launch after upgrading — Fixed an issue where upgrading from much older versions could leave outdated settings that stopped the app from opening. Here is what is new for the Camera app (version 2026.2605.7.0): Zoom slider works on more cameras — The zoom slider now works on the latest cameras, respects your system zoom settings, and updates instantly when you change those settings. Full range of zoom levels — Fixed an issue where the zoom slider only showed three steps on some devices that zoom in finer increments. Front camera works on more devices — Resolved a problem that blocked the front-facing camera on certain wide-angle devices. More video resolution choices — You can now pick video resolutions that were previously hidden; the app shows a heads-up warning instead of removing them. QR links you can still use — When a scanned QR code points to something with no matching app, the link is now copied to your clipboard (with a notification) while still offering a Store search. Smarter default settings — When you haven't set a preference, the app now follows your system settings by default. The Clock app has a massive changelog with the following improvements in version 11.2605.9.0: Timers keep counting after they hit zero — When a timer runs out, it now keeps counting up (for example, -00:27:31) so you can see how far past the time you've gone. You can turn off the daily goal — Focus Sessions now include an "Off" option so you can skip setting a daily goal entirely. New 15-minute snooze option — Alarms now offer a 15-minute snooze interval. Run up to 3 countdowns at once — The Countdown Widget now supports three simultaneous countdowns, up from two. Timer Widget notifications now appear — Fixed an issue where the "timer finished" notification didn't show when the timer was started from the widget. Less clutter in Focus Sessions — Tasks you've already completed no longer show up in the Focus Session task list. More accurate focus progress — Fixed a rounding issue that could show your daily focus progress as a minute short (for example, 49 minutes instead of 50). Smoother World Clock comparisons — The World Clock compare page now loads dates as you scroll, so it feels more responsive. Up-to-date World Clock locations — Refreshed country and city names to match their current names. Correct sun and moon icons during midnight sun — Fixed an icon that wrongly showed a moon during all-day daylight in polar regions. Fixed back-button behavior in clock comparisons — Pressing back once now takes you back as expected, instead of jumping the date to 1926. Corrected the Newfoundland time zone — Newfoundland now uses the right time zone (St. John's). Disabled alarms stay looking disabled — Editing a turned-off alarm no longer makes it appear turned on. Cleaner timer cards — The expand button is now turned off on timer cards that have no time set, preventing actions that wouldn't do anything. Clearer theme setting — Updated the wording to "Choose your preferred app theme." Smoother Settings links — The "About" links in Settings no longer trigger an unexpected "switch apps" prompt. Fixed spacing in Spotify settings — Corrected uneven spacing in the Spotify settings card. Better focus visibility in High Contrast — The focus highlight in World Clock is now clearly visible in the High Contrast Aquatic and Desert themes. No more double announcements — Screen readers no longer read the timer value twice. Countdown names read correctly — Screen readers now properly announce the name of each countdown. Keyboard focus stays put — Focus no longer disappears after you press the Timer Reset button. Clearer alarm toggle for screen readers — Tidied up how the alarm on/off switch is announced. The Media Player app received plenty of changes as well (version 11.2605.14.0): Custom captions — You can now personalize how closed captions appear, with caption styling tied to your Windows caption settings, plus a quick link to open those settings directly. "Indexing" banner in the play queue — When your media library is still being scanned, a banner now explains why some items may not appear yet. Fixed the look of selected items — Corrected a layout glitch with selected items in lists. Fewer playback failures — Improved how the app recognizes supported file types, so more files play without issues. Playlists need a name — You can no longer accidentally save a playlist with a blank name. Cleaner look for empty playlists — Improved how a playlist appears when it has no items yet. More stable play queue edits — Fixed a crash that could happen when changing the play queue while the app was switching between sessions. Clearer "missing codec" message — Improved the dialog that appears when a file needs a codec you don't have, with clearer guidance on what to do. A big update is also available for Paint in version 11.2605.61.0: Adjustable eraser transparency — You can now control how transparent the eraser is. Cleaner stamp brush strokes — Fixed visible color shifts and artifacts when using stamp-style brushes. JPEG photos save in place — Opening a rotated JPEG and pressing Save now overwrites the original instead of unexpectedly prompting "Save As." No more crash on bad image files — Opening a damaged or invalid image, from within the app, by double click, or commandline, now shows a clear error message instead of closing the app. Classic selection behavior restored — The selection outline now hides while you move, resize, or rotate a selection, just like in classic Paint. Tidier AI image panel — Fixed missing spacing at the bottom of the AI image generation panel for a cleaner layout. Visible button hover in light theme — Toolbar split buttons now show a clear hover highlight in the light theme. Snappier toolbar — Streamlined how the ribbon lays out, giving a small speed boost at startup. Fewer background crashes — Fixed a crash that could happen while background tasks were finishing up. Stable app shutdown — Prevented rare crashes when closing the app. Fixed layer removal glitch — Deleting the active layer no longer leaves the layers list in an inconsistent state. Here is what is new in the Photos app (version 2026.11060.2004.0): AI watermarking — AI-generated or edited images can now carry a visible Copilot watermark. You choose Never, Always, or Ask Every Time in Settings, with a confirmation when saving. The watermarking is off by default in settings. Better viewing of small images and pixel art — Tiny images (like 16×16 pixel art) now zoom in far more to fill the screen and stay crisp instead of looking blurry. Select scanned text with the keyboard — When text is detected in an image, you can now navigate and select it using the arrow keys, Shift+Arrow, Home/End, and Ctrl+A, with a clear focus highlight. Fixed a crash in text recognition — Resolved a crash that could close Photos while detecting text in images; the app now recovers gracefully. Easier keyboard navigation — Tabbing through the navigation bar no longer stops on hidden controls, so it takes a single Tab to move past it instead of three. And finally, here is the Sound Recorder (version 11.2605.1.0): Waveform shows with Bluetooth mics — The live waveform now displays correctly when you record using a Bluetooth audio device. No more stray scrollbar — A non-working horizontal scrollbar no longer appears at the bottom of the waveform unless you've zoomed in. Mark button ready right away — The Mark button no longer looks grayed out until you hover over it after opening the app. Markers hidden for WAV files — Markers are now turned off for WAV recordings, since that format can't store them — so they're no longer lost silently. Smoother deleting — Quickly pressing Delete and Enter to remove several recordings in a row no longer triggers a "file doesn't exist" error. Fixed a memory issue — Resolved a memory leak that occurred each time a recording started. You can find all these changelogs in the official documentation here.
    • again, an article about Microsoft Edge and ridicules hater's comments
    • From this very same article: "For organizations that prefer a “more deliberate pace”, the Extended Stable channel remains an option."
    • Or every other browser, because they all behave the same, at least the mainstream ones. Firefox does exactly the same: background updates, restart to install them. Haters gotta hate, I guess.
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