I got my first look at Windows 7 just after TechEd EMEA last November, however it wasn’t until I saw it on an atom powered sub notebook that I got excited as these things (e.g. the Asus Eee, Dell Mini X, Samsung NC10 etc.) are selling in spades despite or because of the current economic climate.

So what’s all the fuss about? Basically for the IT professional it’s a better citizen on the corporate network:

  • It is stable, loads of us including me have been running it on old laptops with no trouble
  • It’s easier to use remotely, as you can VPN over port 1443 using DirectAccess
  • It’s  easier to manage and deploy.
  • It’s even more secure. Bitlocker has been extended to cover removable drives and applocker allows an administrator to better control what’s allowed to be run on each machine via group policies.
  • Search has been improved to allow consistent searching mail, SharePoint and files

The UI is more vista so if you liked that you’ll like this. 

I mention all this now because the Beta is out there for TechNet subscribers by going here. Be aware of a few things if you are planning to have a go:

  • It is a Beta so although it is pretty stable it’s not for production
  • Download from the link above. There are hacked copies out there which may well have additional non Microsoft code in.
  • The Beta expires on 1 August 2009.

Finally if you don’t have spare kit or space on a Virtual machine environment you can keep up to date with all things Windows 7 here. 

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