Sure, we don't actually have any real idea what Windows 7 will look like. But if you believe the screenshots floating around the web, the next version of Windows will look an awful lot like Vista. With a few new effects. And so when the folks at DeviantART decided to put together a few Windows 7 themes for Windows XP, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the themes look and feel a lot like Windows Vista.
That said, they're much prettier than the default themes available for Windows XP. Unfortunately, Microsoft doesn't make it easy to install third party themes for Windows XP. Officially you're pretty much stuck with Windows XP, Windows Classic, and a Microsoft Zune theme. So the first thing you need to do to install a third party theme is to install a program called UxTheme Patcher.
If you're running Windows XP SP2 or earlier, you can download a Windows 7 theme and UxTheme Patcher in one fell swoop at MegaLeecher. Just unzip the file and click the multi-patcher file in the UX Theme Patcher Folder and then click the Windows 7 M1 VS.msstyles file in the Windows 7 M1 VS subfolder in the Themes folder.
But the included UxTheme Patcher isn't compatible with Windows XP SP3. So if you have SP3 installed, you'll need to download and install a patcher from another location. Once you've done that and rebooted your system, you should be able to install third party themes like the Windows 7 theme. Just don't expect it to look like much other than a Windows Vista theme.
What are some of your favorite third party themes for Windows XP? Let us know in the comments.
Trying to figure out whether to see Indiana Jones or Sex in the City this weekend? Why not just skip the movies and catch up on some of the week's best software news?
Windows 7 says hello world, then runs and hides away After months of speculation, Microsoft has finally lifted the veil of secrecy surrounding Windows 7. And by lifted the veil, we mean one tiny little corner. We now know that Windows 7 will feature multi-touch capabilities. And that's about it.
Flipping the Linux Switch: Banshee learns to sing While Microsoft is busy keeping secrets, the open source Linux media player Banshee is free for anyone to use. The latest beta version adds a ton of features, allowing you to play MP3s, rip CDs, organize your music collection, burn discs, aggregate podcasts, or even connect to your Last.fm account.
Mozilla - They're unbeWeavable Mozilla launched Weave last year as a way to keep your Firefox settings synchronized across multiple computers. But for some reason Mozilla left out one of the most useful features: password synchronization. Fortunately, this week an updated version of the Mozilla Weave browser plug-in was released, which lets you synchronize your bookmarks, saved form data, cookies, and passwords.
Bubbles single-site web browser updated, adds extensions Before there was Mozilla Prism, there was Bubbles, a tool that lets you launch pretty much any web site in a stripped down web browser. Bubbles has been around for a few years, but the developers recently relesed a new beta version that adds support for user-generated extensions that give you more control over how the browser interacts with web pages. Extensions include a Gmail notifier and a Facebook chat application.
OpenOffice.org keeps getting slower with each new release Free and open source office suite OpenOffice.org has a dirty little secret. It's slow. Like, you have to wait 20+ seconds to open a document sometimes slow. And it keeps getting slower. It turns out that OpenOffice.org 2.4 opens documents slower than version 1.1.5. And OpenOffice.org 3.0 beta is even slower still. But you can't beat the price.
Adocu: Nanoblogging gets even nano-er Twitter took the world by storm by launching a blogging platform that limits your posts to just 140 characters. So it stands to reason that the only way to beat Twitter is to launch an even more limiting service, right? Adocu lets users post just a single word.
Last night Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer talked a little bit about Windows 7. But just a little bit. Speaking at the All Things D conference, Ballmer, Gates, and Microsoft's Julie Larson-Green demonstrated some of the features that will be included, including support for Surface-like multi-touch technology.
Some other programs that utilize multi-touch include:
A new photo management application that takes advantage of the multi-touch interface, allowing you to zoom, rotate, and organize your photos
A mapping application that combines Windows Live Local, Virtual Earth, and multi-touch zooming features -- this application might not make it into Windows 7
A multi-touch piano application
In other news, a couple of high profile web sites have been claiming they have some new leaked screenshots of the Windows 7 interface. But as blogger Long Zheng points out, it appears that these images were just concept drawings from someone guessing what the new OS might look like. Aside from last night's multi-touch demo, the truth is we still don't know very much about Windows 7, other than the fact that it will be released in about 18 months, and that Microsoft is keeping pretty quiet about it.
In the meantime, you can check out a video demonstrating some of the multi-touch features in Windows 7 after the jump.
There've been a thousand and one ways to get your hands on Windows Vista SP1 or various beta versions over the past few months. But Microsoft is set to post the manual installer for Vista SP1 on March 18. If you're not in a hurry, you can wait until April when the update will be available through the Windows Update service.
In other news, Microsoft has confirmed that Vista's successor, which goes by the clever codename of Windows 7, is on track for a 2010 release. We've heard a lot of dates over the last few months, ranging from 2009 to 2011. But Microsoft has consistently said Windows 7 was part of a 3 year cycle. They just didn't really make it clear when the 3 years started. Apparently the answer is, 3 years from the time Windows Vista shipped to consumers. Not the date when Vista development began, or 3 years from the date it was shipped to manufacturers.
Does that mean we'll see a public launch of Windows 7 in January of 2010? Eh, maybe. On the one hand, a lot can happen in two years. On the other hand, when you're trying to retool an operating system as widely used as Windows, you want to spend as much time as it takes getting things right, otherwise you wind up with... Windows ME. What, you thought we were going to make a dig at Vista? How little you know us.
Last month we posted a video and screenshots of what may or may not be Windows 7, the next version of Microsoft's flagship operating system. The company hasn't confirmed or denied the authenticity of these images, but many readers have been a bit... vocal about their doubts. That's not surprising, since right now, the screenshots look an awful lot like Windows Vista.
But JayDog at TG Daily says there's a good reason for that: most of the changes are at the kernel level. He says Windows 7 Milestone 1 actually installs on top of Windows Vista SP1. You can't install the OS on a clean system. Once you install Windows 7, you will automatically have a dual boot system with the option of booting into either Vista or Windows 7.
JayDog reports that his system seems a bit faster when running Windows 7 than Vista, but as a user he really didn't notice any other differences. Of course, Windows 7 M1 isn't really intended for end users. It's for computer makers, developers, and other Microsoft partners who need to see how the new code affects their products. So while there may actually be leaked copies of Windows 7 floating around, we can semi-definitively say there's no real reason you should try to track down an installation disc. Not yet anyway.
Yesterday we posted some images that are allegedly screenshots of an early build of Windows 7, the successor to Windows Vista. A number of skeptical readers pointed out in the comments that the screenshots look an awful lot like Vista. And the fact that the build number appears to be version 6.1 build 6519.1.071220-1525 doesn't help.
But now the guy who posted those screenshots is back. And this time he has video evidence on his side, which would be much harder to fake. Not impossible, but harder.
Worried that Microsoft might ask YouTube to remove the video, the folks at the AeroXP forums went and uploaded the video to a few file sharing sites. So if the video above stops playing, check out the AeroXP links.
Evidence is mounting that Microsoft has really given a select group of testers/partners an early look at the next version of the Windows Operating System. The other day a member of the Neowin forum posted a brief review of Windows 7 before deleting his comments. And now a Chinese web site has posted what could be real live pictures of Windows 7.
Overall, these shots of Windows 7 (or an artist's fictional rendition thereof) show an operating system that looks a lot like Windows Vista. That's not particularly surprising, since Windows 7 won't be launched for at least another two years. Odds are most of the changes would be under the hood at this point.
The images do show a few difference. For example, you can display hidden items in the system tray through a new pop up window. The Control Panel features some rearranged menus, and the display properties dialog for changing screen resolutions looks pretty awesome. Check out the screenshots after the jump.
Last week we started to hear a rumor that Windows 7, the successor to Vista could be on schedule for a 2009 release. And it's also rumored that early builds of Windows 7 are making the rounds to early testers and developers. So it should come as no surprise that someone claiming to have access to Windows 7 surfaced this weekend and posted his initial thoughts on the web.
A member of the Neowin forums says that he installed Windows 7 this weekend and was less than impressed (which wouldn't be surprising for such an early build). But that member has not presented any screenshots and has since deleted his post, so we're going to take anything he says with a grain of salt. Of course, it's possible that his post was legit but that he was contacted by a team of lawyers.
In a nutshell, he said that installation was difficult and the driver support was lacking. The GUI, he says looks a lot like Vista, but Gadgets are integrated into Explorer, rather than hosted in a separate sidebar. In other words, you can add, or hide gadgets by right clicking on the desktop. There are also reportedly some changes in the start menu and search box.
The most interesting bit is that Windows 7 aims to streamline the integration between the operating system and Microsoft's online services. For example, you should be able to sync your Internet Explorer settings with your Windows Live account so you can use them on any PC. This is and other online features are on a list of goals though, and aren't currently integrated into Windows 7. If in fact, Windows 7 is even out there right now.
OK, time to put your salt shakers down. What we do know is that Microsoft is already working on the next version of Windows. We also know that Microsoft has been playing up its Windows Live online services. It's not much of a stretch to imagine that Windows 7 will bridge the gap between desktop and online software. But whether the Neowin report is a leak or a pretty decent guess of what Windows 7 will look like, it's too early to say.
Looking for a good way to load YouTube videos onto your iPod, organize your digital camera photos, keep your Mac software up to date, or protect your privacy while surfing on a public computer? Download Squad's got you covered. Here's a roundup of some our favorite stories from the past week. Keeping it private (and safe!) on public computers
Ever find yourself looking up health advice or other potentially sensitive information while at the library? Our resident librarian has some tips for protecting your privacy when using public computers. Some tips are common sense: don't enter sensitive data like your social security information on a public PC, but there are some other basic steps you can take to keep your browsing sessions safe. Tooble: Get YouTube videos on iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV
Sure, programs which download and convert YouTube videos to formats you can watch on a portable media player are a dime a dozen. Cheaper, actually, since most are free. But if you've got a Mac, you owe it to yourself to check out Tooble, a freeware YouTube video converter which does everything you could ever dream and more with just a few clicks.
While we weren't really expecting Microsoft to release the successor to Windows Vista until 2010, TG Daily is reporting that Windows 7 could be on track for a 2009 release. Considering how poorly Windows Vista has been received by many circles, we're guessing the news could be a mixed blessing for Microsoft.
On the one hand, it's nice to know there's something new and hopefully more stable on the horizon. On the other hand, many individuals and businesses that may be holding off on "upgrading" to Vista might decide to skip the current generation of Windows altogether.
Microsoft is not officially confirming or denying TG Daily's report, but according to TG Daily, some parties have already received an early build of the operating system
Microsoft engineer Eric Traut gave a presentation on virtualization technology at the University of Illinois last week. And as part of that presentation, he showed off a few old versions of Windows running in Virtual PC. And he also pulled up a disc image running a tiny version of Windows 7.
No, we can't tell you anything really new and exciting about Microsoft's successor to Windows Vista. But we can tell you that Microsoft has begun work on the next generation of its operating system, which you probably already knew.
Basically, Traut showed off something called MinWin. This won't be available to the public, but is essentially a minimal Windows system running on the Windows 7 kernel. The kernel itself is just 25MB and MinWin takes up less than 40MB of RAM. It doesn't do much. Traut was basically showing its ability to host a simple HTTP server. But if you're hoping to skip over Windows Vista entirely and upgrade your XP system to Windows 7 in a few years, take heart in the knowledge that some progress is being made.
You can check out an 8 minute that includes a snippet of Windows 7 information at istartedsomething. Or if you're really into virtualization, you can check out Traut's entire hour-long talk.
Trying to figure out whether to see Indiana Jones or Sex in the City this weekend? Why not just skip the movies and catch up on some of the week's best software news?
