I think you’ll find that Windows XP had it. They just said that it’s marginally easier now that you don’t open a seperate window. It must be hard being simple but I do sympathise

Hey, and it automatically picks the printer based on your location! Wait… my Mac already does that… oh well, seems like MS will finally be releasing a decent OS, at least.

“other PCs in the house will need to be left on for you to access their files” Another encouragement to ecological ignorance.
MS improvements are almost invariably towards “more power needed”, “new hardware”, “You’ll never want to turn it off”.
Microsoft seem to have no grasp of the terms “enough” or “efficiency”.

For me slightly older hardware and Linux is now almost enough.
The windows versions are becoming irrelevant, there is no hook for me personally to “upgrade” or to replace the working set up on the 60+ workstations I administer.

So use your damn Linux then and stop wasting your time bitching about an OS you are “never” going to use ………Idiots

In case you want to link all your PCs together but haven’t migrate them to Windows 7 yet, you can try Gbridge ( http://gbridge.com ). With the help of a google account, it automatically creates a virtual private network among all your computers and let you share/sync/streaming files freely. In addition, you can use the built-in vnc to remote control your computers. You can even extend the virtual network to your friends computer after both parties agree. Better than windows 7, the Gbridge virtual network can cross WAN without any configuration.

I think it’s awesome that Microsoft is putting out an operating system as innovative as this. To have the multi-touch from their R&D department finally integrated into their OS is a giant leap toward seamless user interfaces. Hopefully, Microsoft will be able to fully integrate PCs running this with their Microsoft Surface product and continue to develop the technology into a wider full solution for a family’s home of PCs, not just one or two.

@ RichyS

Yeah, and it can play all commercial games just like Macs do…..n’t.

And I can run Maya and other 3D design programmes on it – obviously a feature stolen from Apple…..

And you can install it on absolutely any machine you buy, just like OS X lets….you…. not.

Give it a break – do you criticise Apple for ’stealing’ Microsoft’s idea of letting games work on Macs now? I seriously bet not. Well done for showing yourself up as an elitist moron – “Oh, my platfor of choice does this, so if a competitor’s platform does anything similar, it’s like…so passe.” Sneering condescension is always a vote winner.

It’s like being a Mercedes C-Class fanboy and jeering at Ford for ’stealing’ the idea of 3-point safety belts as standard. Except you’re even turning a blind eye to when *your* favourite company steals ideas in return. Grow up and get a clue.

On-topic:

MS certainly messed up with the networking in Vista compared to XP – so much more difficult to find things like network device MAC addresses. Glad they’re fixing it, but they should never really have broken it in the first place!

I wouldn’t base my purchase of *any* OS with the sole reason for supporting a feature threatened not be made available on an earlier version, for example DX10 was a pointless arm-twist that didn’t pay off. USB3 could be supported on XP with a 3rd party PCI card and thus having wider driver support for older OSes. Don’t let MSFT fool you into thinking
‘It’s our way or the highway.’

Yes, it appears that once again Microsoft have completely broken something that was on the verge of working well.

Using Windows 7 is like having a fight with a very aggressive Alligator. Simple things in Xp, such as assigning IP addresses and sharing files are now a horrific misery that eventually doesn’t work at all across to other platforms.

Well done Microsoft, you’ve made life difficult.