Video: Windows 7 Prebeta Rundown

The folks at CNet got their hands on a prebeta build of Windows 7 (didn't we used to call those alpha builds?), and although the OS won't see the light of day until 2010, the prebeta build is reportedly very stable and compatible for such an early design.

As announced, Office's questionable (IMHO) toolbar ribbon now appears in other accessory application, such as WordPad and Paint, and User Account Control now features a sliding bar so that you can decide which events to monitor and which to permit without constant, mega-annoying popups. Popups as an OS feature are truly one of the worst inherent design flaws of Vista - putting a hated side effect of indiscriminate internet browsing into an official OS could only have happened under a design-by-committee ethos such as that at Microsoft. Committees, of course, being the famously-quoted place "where good ideas go to die."

Gone is Vista's Welcome Center, and the taskbar now shows application icons rather than names. Other Mac OS-esque enhancements include Sticky Notes and enhanced Windows Key functionality (thank god, what a game-breaking waste of a button!). The new Bluetooth File Transfer Wizard shares files betwixt computers, and, in an almost innovative move, windows will now snap to fill half of the screen when dragged to either edge of the display - in anticipation of your multiple window browsing and productivity habits.

One downer is the replacement for the Welcome Center - Windows 7 boots straight to Windows Live Messenger, which sounds wonky. I'm hoping WLM will get some added functionality of its own, otherwise I'll be cranky when my PC boots to an IM service I don't ever plan on using.

As an aside: special Homotron bonus points for CNet and NPR Journo Ina Fried, award winner and fabulous male-to-female transsexual. Rock it out, lady!