At PDC 2008 Microsoft gave the world the first glimpses of its new/next operating system, Windows 7.

At a high level, Windows 7 looks pretty similar to Windows Vista. But if you look closer there are many improvements on the UI and of course, on the core of the operating system. On top of its Surface Computing (Surface Touch) there are many improvements at the core of Windows 7 compared with Windows Vista.

On the UI side, Windows 7 looks like it uses lot of glass design. One of Vista’s drawback was the use of Aero Glass, that’s a resource monger, particularly on a mid-config to low-config PCs. I’m not sure what Windows 7’s system requirements are but it looks on the heavier side. If they can deliver these cool effects without much resource usage then that would be fantastic.

The major eye-catching new stuffs are,

Improved Task Bar, Improved System Tray, Gadgetized Desktop and there is no Side Bar.

The Task Bar looks more flat. Task Bar items are reduced to just icons and that’s a good thing. If there are multiple windows open then those are represented with a slightly different icons on the Task Bar to give a visual distinction.

Also, when you pin programs to the Start Menu it looks like Windows 7 displays history items for that program, for example, Windows Explorer on the above screenshot displays “Frequent” items and “Recent” items.

Since the running program windows are reduced and grouped to just a single icon it becomes necessary to show Window Previews of what that group holds.

Windows Media Player (and I’m sure lot other Windows programs) can be controlled from the Task Bar with the Window Preview. Controls are built-in to play, pause, move forward and move backward.

No, the above one is not an unfinished screenshot. You can now peek-thru your Desktop even when you have windows open. Windows 7 just renders a see thru glass representation of the windows on your desktop and so you can see the desktop (aka. the gadgets).

There are many more improvements that are very visible on the UI side. There are may more screenshots of Windows 7’s UI from Neowin.

Watch videos of Windows 7 getting demonstrated at PDC 2008.

Picture credit to Neowin.

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