The beta release of the last Microsoft operating system, Windows 7, can be downloaded since yesterday on downloadwin.com also. You have both versions available to download, review or comment:

- Windows 7 Beta, 32-bit
- Windows 7 Beta, 64-bit

The download pages contains also the Windows 7 Beta serials that Microsoft offered with the .iso files. To install Windows 7 Beta you will need to burn the .iso file on a cd. I recommend Nero 9.2.6.0, one of the world’s most trusted integrated digital media and home entertainment software suite.

The usability improvements or the fact that it consume less resources than Vista, the touch screen features, speech and handwriting recognition are not the reason for this article. Reading about Windows 7 Beta, I realised one thing that no one said anything. It requires 16G hard-disk space!

Yeah, I know. You can purchase a 1T HDD with a little bit more than $150, but I’m thinking that 13 years ago, my HDD had 125MB capacity. Yeap! 125MB. I was using MS-DOS 6.22 and Windows as you know it today was only a graphical environment that gave us the possibility to write texts and play Minesweeper.

I thought that no-one will believe me, so I searched on the Google Images for desktop screens with all windows operating system I have ever used since 1996, when I have bought my 1st personal computer, a x386 SX 33Mhz with 2MB RAM, 125MB disk space, 512k video card. :-)

So take some popcorn and relax. This is a short but interesting journey of Microsoft seen by my eyes :-)

Windows 3.11

Not even an operating system. I do not remember why we used it. I think for the fun of it and because you could use WordPad, Paintbrush, Minesweeper, Solitaire and it has nice dings :-). In those times we only had 10-15 apps to use, from ms-dos to Command and Conquer :-)

Windows 95

After Windows 3.11, Microsoft began to develop a new consumer oriented version of the operating system code-named Chicago. Chicago was designed to have support for 32-bit preemptive multitasking like OS/2 and Windows NT, although a 16-bit kernel would remain for the sake of backward compatibility.

A revelation! So the game era begun! :-)

Windows 98 and 98SE

On 25 June 1998, Microsoft released Windows 98, which was widely regarded as a minor revision of Windows 95, but generally found to be more stable and reliable than its 1995 predecessor. [...]

In 1999, Microsoft released Windows 98 Second Edition, an interim release whose most notable feature was the addition of Internet Connection Sharing, which was a form of network address translation, allowing several machines on a LAN (Local Area Network) to share a single Internet connection. Hardware support through device drivers was increased. Many minor problems present in the original Windows 98 were found and fixed which make it, according to many, the most stable release of Windows 9x.

Windows Millennium Edition (Me)

This was my favorite.

In September 2000, Microsoft introduced Windows Me (Millennium Edition), which upgraded Windows 98 with enhanced multimedia and Internet features. It also introduced the first version of System Restore, which allowed users to revert their system state to a previous “known-good” point in the case of system failure. System Restore was a notable feature that made its way into Windows XP. The first version of Windows Movie Maker was introduced as well.

I think no-one believes me if I will say that I kept Windows ME until 2004 when I decided to buy Windows XP, skipping some windows versions :-).

Windows XP

In 2001, Microsoft introduced Windows XP (codenamed “Whistler”). The merging of the Windows NT/2000 and Windows 95/98/Me lines was finally achieved with Windows XP. Windows XP uses the Windows NT 5.1 kernel, marking the entrance of the Windows NT core to the consumer market, to replace the aging 16/32-bit branch. The initial release met with considerable criticism, particularly in the area of security, leading to the release of three major Service Packs.

This is the operating system I’m using since 2004. Believe it or not, I did not succeed to get involved into a relation with Vista that came with my actual laptop and I downgraded Vista to XP.

Windows Vista

The current client version of Windows, Windows Vista (codenamed Longhorn) was released on 30 November 2006 to business customers, with consumer versions following on 30 January 2007. Windows Vista intends to have enhanced security by introducing a new restricted user mode called User Account Control, replacing the “administrator-by-default” philosophy of Windows XP.

Yeah right. I had a lot of trouble trying to move files from a partition to another. It was a real and welcome security improvement. So good and so real that made me downgrade my laptop to XP. :-)

Windows 7 BETA

I did not test it. As I said in the beginning, you can download both 32-bit and 64-bit releases here:
- Windows 7 Beta, 32-bit
- Windows 7 Beta, 64-bit

You may come back and tell us how it was :-)

Sources of the images and quotes:
http://www.guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/firstrun
http://wikipedia.org