Gizmodo has a peak into Windows 7 and so far, I like what I see:
Stream Your Library Over the Internet With Windows Media Player
This is hot—it’d be hotter if it was easier to set up. Windows Media Player’s Remote Media Sharing will let you access your media library from anywhere over the internet. You need a Windows Live ID that you associate with your Windows 7 user account using a tool you have to download. (This could grow to include other “online identities,” like Facebook I’m guessing, but I wouldn’t hold your breath for your Gmail account.) You also need the same version of Windows Media Player running on both computers. After everything’s all associamated, then your home library you wanna stream from should show up just like a local library under the “Other Libraries” section in the side navigation pane. Can’t do this in iTunes, buddy.
Windows XP Mode
To encourage enterprise people to let loose and rock Windows 7, it runs a full-fledged Windows XP virtual environment using Microsoft’s Virtual PC. It requires an additional download (booo), but you won’t have to worry about your applications breaking like with Vista.
This is really good stuff and smart on Microsoft’s part. I have a feeling that Windows 7 is going to be much, much better than Vista is. I hope they’ve learned a lesson from Vista and won’t release such crap again in the future. Although it does seem to be a trademark of Microsoft to released good product followed by horrible product followed by good product again.
So now to the details. Streaming your home library from anywhere is awesome. Come to think of it, why hasn’t Apple or Microsoft done this sooner? There are applications out there that can do that now, but it will be nice to have it built into Media Player.
No matter what anyone tells you, adding XP mode is genius. XP is their most stable, most reliable, and most used operating system. Most business and corporations have not purchased Vista because pretty much nothing works on it. Now corporations can purchase Windows 7 and not worry if their employees be able to run the applications they need to do their jobs. This is great for the end user and even better for Microsoft as it should dramatically increase their Windows 7 sales.
Definitely some welcome changes from Microsoft. I can honestly say that I was never looking forward to Windows Vista. However, I am looking forward to Windows 7.
