Unveiled at Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in Los Angeles that was held Monday, October 28, the company’s new Operating System (OS) Windows 7 promises to fix all the problems users have had to face regarding Windows Vista, which was mainly deemed as a disappointment.

Also at the PDC, a pre-release version of the new software was made available for developers that participated in the conference, while a full beta version is scheduled to be introduced at the beginning of 2009, according to a statement made by Debby Fry Wilson, senior director of Windows product management at Microsoft.

Windows 7’s complete release is due in the year 2010.

Every developer that was present at the PDC received a 160GB external USB hard drive that comprised, alongside the bits from the gathering, the alpha version of Windows 7.

Of the features that the company said the OS was fitted with, some are said to bring much improvement from the sub-par Windows Vista. These include device compatibility and making sure that all applications that Windows 7 runs comply with any system that works with the new operating system. Moreover, the software has the ability to move in and out of different networks and is also said to have enhanced capabilities where efficiency and security are concerned.

Other features listed were location-aware printing, meaning that Windows 7 can tell whether the printer is at the user’s home or at his work place, enabling access to one's company’s intranet sites without a Virtual Private Network (VPN) being required and also entertainment optimization.

Windows 7 was reported by Microsoft officials to come in more than one version when it would be released, both Enterprise and Ultimate editions being scheduled to be made available in 2010.

Microsoft has placed their highest bet on the OS’s multitouch support feature that allows users to control graphical applications with several fingers, since it recognizes multiple simultaneous touch points.

Windows 7 also offers a customizable taskbar, computer users being able to alter the order of their applications within it, and visual previews of the apps in the taskbar, which have replaced text descriptions.

Another tool that Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president of Windows and Windows Live at Microsoft, has shown during the PDC was the one called Libraries, which is said to enable users to browse through the folders on their computers more thoroughly than before.

Where IT professional are concerned, the Windows 7's teasers include allowing the latter to search and get their results from an interface that joins several computers in a sole location, the option to refine these searches and acquire specific information that has been previously divided into various categories named „libraries” and BranchCache, a feature that enables almost instant access to requested info that has been previously downloaded and cached into a branch office server.

Furthermore, companies can much benefit from the AppLocker tool that identifies the apps that are permitted to run on the business’ network and also from the PowerShell Remoting one, which allows company administrators to remotely run various commands on their clients systems.