Microsoft will begin selling a version of Windows to replace Vista in 2009 or 2010. Called Windows 7, it's been released in beta form to allow testing. How good is it?

Visually, it's very appealing. It's a lot more Mac like than previous versions of Windows. But anyone used to using a Windows computer should be able to find there way around without too much difficulty. A lot of things are moved around and renamed. But if you look hard enough, you'll probably find what you were looking for.

The search function on the Start menu is really handy for finding features.

It's very polished in appearance. Teens and tech lovers will probably really love it. It can operate in different modes. On an older computer, it can graphically appear the way older versions of Windows have. On a newer computer with 128 MB of video memory, it can really look futuristic, with the 3D Aero features turned on. But that's mainly for fun, and isn't necessary for common tasks.

Windows 7 seems to have the best of Windows XP (not too many annoyances) and the best of Vista (better security). The user account control is less annoying than on Vista, but still offers good security measures.

In January 2009, Microsoft only linked to three antivirus providers: Symantec, Kaspersky and AVG. So it's difficult to tell how the computers that appear on the shelves will behave. There antivirus configurations will offer different companies' products. And having a good match between Windows and whatever security software you use is so important. I tried Kaspersky and found it did a good job. It didn't like Picassa software trying to scan for photos on the computer, and generally was overly paranoid. But it didn't slow things down appreciably and was generally well behaved.

Windows 7 seems to run well with as little as 1 GB of memory. Using Task Manager to see how much memory was actually being used seem to show about 500 MB in use, with a web browser running. That's quite impressive, and even seems better than Vista.

Task Manager showed about 500-600 MB of memory in use most of the time. This is on a "lean" setup, with a simple blue desktop background and without 3d Aero effects running.

One of the big complaints about Windows Vista has been improved, The User Account Control is now customizable. There are four settings you can pick from. So you get the security benefits it offers, without it being to annoying.

The User Account Control now has four settings to choose from.

Control Panel has some new goodies. If you select "Recover" from Control Panel, it opens System Restore. click to enlarge

Here's the remaining Control Panel items. click to enlarge

What's the initial impression? It gets a grade of A- or A.

more features in Windows 7 beta