While it'll be another year or two before most people can get their hands on Windows 7, Microsoft began making an early build of its next generation operating system available to a select group of developers this week. And that means a ton of information is popping up on the old telegraph internet alerting us to new and (hopefully) improved features tucked away in Windows 7. Here's a little roundup of Windows 7 news from around the interwebs:

• Windows 7 will actually be Windows 6.1
  While Microsoft has explained that the reason the next version of Windows will be 7 (in spite of the fact that there have actually been more than 20 Windows releases), is that it will be seventh build number (Windows XP was 5, Windows Vista was 6), it turns out Windows 7 will actually have a build number of 6.1.6801. The reason? So that programs designed for Windows Vista will run out of the box on Windows 7 without running into compatibility problems. But no, this isn't Vista SP3. It's a whole new OS. Mmm hmmm.
• Tablet PC features
  Like Windows Vista, Windows 7 will have built in Tablet PC functionality. This week screenshots emerged of the handwriting and on-screen keyboard features.
• Touch and multi-touch gestures
  Windows 7 will include support not just for touch-screen devices, but for multi-touch devies (think iPhone). In other words, you'll be able to manipulate images and documents by pinching, rotating, and doing other unspeakable things with your fingers.
• Next version of Windows Embedded will be based on Windows 7
  While the kids on the street had all been expecting the next version of Microsoft's embedded Windows operating system to be based on Vista, it looks like it will actually be Window 7-based, and due out sometime in 2010.
• First look at Windows Media Player 12
  The next version of Windows Media Player has a new, brighter theme. And the playlist view replaces the now playing view. You can switch to a compact now playing view if you want to actually see the file you're looking at. The media player will also support H.264, AAC, Xvidand DivX out of the box, in addition to all of the formats supported by Windows Media Player 11.

You can also read more about Windows 7 by checking out our previous coverage of the new operating system, including a preview of the new Windows 7 Media Center application.