Microsoft is set to release its new Windows 7 operating system on October 22, much sooner than expected, which finally marks a worthy successor to Windows XP.  

Though Windows Vista had a huge hype machine behind it in the lead up to its January 2007 launch, the operating system failed to meet expectations, leading Microsoft to go back to the drawing board.

From the outset, Windows 7 is meant to be a leaner and more user-friendly OS. Most tasks have been simplified to make it easier for you to figure out where everything is and how to get to it faster. There are some great new features that really do help, but there are others that need work, and some old bugaboos rear their ugly heads, too.

New look, new Taskbar

First and foremost, you can tell that there's a visual upgrade with Windows 7. It just looks cleaner, more vibrant and equally refined, but the best part is that it tends to maintain that once you start cluttering up the pretty desktop with open applications. The Taskbar deserves a lot of the credit for that because Microsoft designed it to be the key to how you manage what you're doing. Like the Dock in Apple's OS X, you can now drag any application icon you want over to the Taskbar and it will sit there permanently (unless you remove it, of course).

In Vista, the Taskbar was littered with tiny icons that really didn't look entirely different from what XP had to offer. You could at least hover over an open application's icon to view a preview of what was open, except it limited that to just one window. In Win7, hovering over an open application shows you a preview of every window open for that app in a neat row. Click on the window you want to see and it pops up prominently to the front. It's a wonder Microsoft didn't have something like this sooner, as Apple has had a similar feature in OS X since 2003. You'll know that an application is open because the shade of the box around the icon is less transparent. When an alert comes up, the box will turn orange, though you can sometimes expect a dialog box to turn up as well.

Right-click on an app on the Taskbar and you get what's called a Jump List. What's especially cool about this is that you can launch an application and a task at the same time. For example, if I was watching a movie using VLC, but quit the program in the middle of the film to watch later, I could just right-click on the VLC icon on the Taskbar and it will include a list of video files that I opened recently. It won't take me back to the exact point that I left off, but at least it takes away a couple of steps to get to what I want.

Another cool visual aid is the feature called Snap. Drag a window to either the left or right and it will snap in place. Drag another window to the opposite side and they will line up side-by-side. This doesn't work with every application though. While it's easy to do it with, say, a Word document and a Web browser, it won't work with every app, especially third-party ones.

On the far right corner of the Taskbar is a small little box. Mouse over to it and it will make all windows see-thru, so you can see the desktop. Click on it and it will hide everything that's open to give you working access to the desktop. Microsoft calls this Aero Peek, and it's very cool to see it work, though long overdue, given that Apple has had a similar feature in OS X for over six years. Either way, this is a much better method than what Vista offered.

I should also mention that Gadgets, those tiny applications introduced with Vista that were ideal for quick information (sports scores, stocks, weather, etc.), are now relegated to the background with the desktop, so they don't compete with your apps for screen real estate.

New System Tray

If you're a casual PC user, you may not immediately recognize what the System Tray is, but it will have no doubt frustrated you in the past. The Tray lies on the right of the Taskbar, and it basically tells you when something needs updating, when something is wrong and when something needs your attention. For the most part, this can be useful, but it's also been a recurring nuisance long before Win7 ever arrived on the scene.

For starters, you have more control over what resides in the Tray and what doesn't. Some apps you install will also install little "applets" into the Tray, which all work to inform you of different things using word balloons that can pop up at any given time. That's changed now, as you can decide what these applets can do and whether they should even be in the Tray to begin with. Experienced users will adopt this right away, whereas casual users might be a bit unsure as to what they should and could do, so treading a little carefully isn't a bad idea. To help with this, Microsoft improved on what it called the "Security Center" in Vista and has repackaged it as the "Action Center". Within that setup, you can tailor the notifications to your liking, so that you get a less intrusive experience overall.

User Account Control finally puts you in charge

Without question, one of the most annoying features in Vista was the User Account Control (UAC) that insisted on asking you to "Cancel" or "Allow" every single move you made that the OS deemed a potential threat to your PC's security. On top of Apple spoofing it on one of its many "I'm a Mac, and I'm a PC" commercials, users of all stripes decried the restrictive nature of the feature and either turned it off or just blindly clicked through the prompts without a second thought. Given either scenario, the point and purpose behind it was completely lost, and ultimately became the punchline for Vista haters everywhere.

Win7 has a more friendly approach to how UAC works, though it's not without its faults. The best move Microsoft made was to offer the feature using a slider that could be adjusted to cater to your preferences. The slider has four settings; the top being a full-blown restrictive experience similar to that of Vista, and the bottom turning off UAC altogether. The middle two are the intermediate options, and they just vary in degree. For example, in these settings, the prompt will only pop up if you've installed software that wants to change something within Windows. This matters because in Vista, the prompts would show up even if you were making changes manually. Oh, and I should also mention that you can disable the screen dimming effect that accompanies the prompts.

Take note, however, that Windows 7 is no more secure than any of its predecessors, so relying on UAC is certainly not enough to keep your PC safe from hackers.

Libraries and HomeGroups

Any PC user will remember and recognize the My Documents folder that can house all your documents, photos, video and music into separate folders. When you open a window, you will see that the left pane shows these folders, along with other pertinent directories. You can add any folders you want to the Favorites tab, which is nice, but even better is the ability of the Libraries folders to aggregate content to their respective folders. Not trying to beat a dead horse here, but there are aspects of the left pane that are eerily similar to the Finder in Apple's OS X, albeit with distinct differences, too.

A personal favourite about Libraries is the option to create a new folder that contains other folders or files that pertain to a specific need. So, for example, if I was working on a project and had documents, photos, video clips and spreadsheets for it, I could stuff them all into a dedicated Libraries folder I created. It's a neat feature, though I wish it was a bit more automated. As is, you either have to manually drag each file or folder or right-click on them to place them into the Libraries folder.

You will also notice the HomeGroup tab on the left as well. The idea behind this is to make it easier for PCs in a home network to talk to each other, thereby simplifying the process of sharing files and peripherals, especially printers. I'm a huge fan of file sharing, personally, as I do it regularly with my PCs and Macs, as well as my home server, which is where a vast majority of my media is stored. And while I liked the idea of what HomeGroup is supposed to be, there is still plenty of work for Microsoft to do on the feature.

For one, in order for HomeGroup to work, you need at least two PCs running Win7 because it isn't compatible with XP or Vista PCs. This is particularly annoying since there are Macs and an XP notebook in my home network, all of which are unreachable using this feature. The HomeGroup is also password-protected, which is fine, except the magic word isn't chosen by you. For some reason, you're given a 10-digit password of mixed letters and numbers that you have to write down. This is ideal for security reasons, but why not give me the choice to create my own if I have the option of changing it later anyway? It just makes no sense.

More useful to me was the Network tab, but that's largely because I have two home servers that can feed me all the media I have stored on them. I can get to the content on there under Network or use Windows Home Server to manage what I have on there and who can view it on the network. I could also see the Macs on my network here, but accessing what I have on them required third-party software. To my disappointment, Win7 didn't play all that nicer with Macs as is the case vice versa. But at least it was easy to make contact with an XP notebook, which as I mentioned before, is a huge omission in the HomeGroup feature.

One cool thing about opening a Window is the search feature at the top. Win7 allows you to apply your own search bars to the top for searching through YouTube or Flickr from right within the Explorer window, for instance. It's pretty cool, but it's a feature that you wouldn't know about because there's seemingly no support for it from Microsoft. I only stumbled upon it on forums online. In order to get the search bars you want, you have to do a search for them online and download them from third-party sites. Pretty strange, I must say. They support a feature but they don't provide any options to get the tools for it.

The basics on XP Mode

Win7 includes something called XP Mode, which is basically a feature that allows you to use XP programs that aren't otherwise compatible with Win7. A potentially useful feature, but not so fast. XP Mode only comes in Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise, so if you get a PC with Home Premium or Starter Edition installed, you won't have XP Mode included. There are other hurdles you have to get through, too, some of which include what processor your PC has, and whether virtualization technology is embedded in the BIOS, a PC's firmware.

In all honesty, most basic users won't need the feature, especially since it was aimed primarily at business users who still rely on old and outdated software that is very specific to what they work on. As there may be no Win7 version of that software, Microsoft had to include XP Mode to cater to those needs. It's a different story for games, however, as XP Mode isn't necessary to run XP-era games. Installation and gameplay may vary but Win7 should be able to handle a majority of games. You can see a list compiled by Win7 users right here.

Windows Media Player and Center

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Windows Media Player 12, which comes pre-installed on Win7, can now play AAC music files and H.264 video files, both of which are used on iTunes. Now that there are no DRM restrictions on music purchases on iTunes, you can easily play all those tracks on Media Player 12. It's also got a slicker interface and you can now control playback by just right-clicking the icon on the Taskbar for a quick Jump List.

You can also integrate MP 12 with Windows Media Center, which I might use as a PVR, since I have a TV tuner that I can connect to Win7 notebook. Both programs also tapped into all the content that I have on my home servers, which is nice. But I do have a beef with Microsoft in that Media Player refused to show me all the video I had separated into folders. Instead, it shoved every video clip and movie stored on the device into one folder, which made a visual mess.

Device Stages

An interesting addition in Win7 are Device Stages, which are essentially little apps that are tailored for specific hardware devices you use with your PC. For example, a printer's Device Stage can show you ink levels, but also include access to manuals, related sites and other online materials. What's particularly useful about this is that it can integrate with the Taskbar just like any app. Plug in a digital camera, and its icon will show up on the bar, and when you mouse over it, the contents of the camera's Device Stage will pop up, providing you with quick access to whatever you need to do with the device.

Device manufacturers are working with Microsoft to develop Device Stages, so you may not see the feature work right from the get-go, and there's no word on how far back they'll go to supporting past devices. No matter what, the viability of Device Stages rests on just how much manufacturers are willing to support it, and how far they'll go to cover all the products they've each released over the years.

Is it worth the upgrade?

If you're buying a PC after October 22, you won't have a choice on what OS to get, since Win7 will come pre-installed. But if you already have a PC and are thinking of upgrading, you don't absolutely have to do it. From my experience, I found Win7 ran faster than any Vista machine I've used. But I was soured on Vista very early on, and despite the fixes Microsoft made to improve it, I still didn't like it.

I felt differently about Win7. It's cleaner, more refined and simplifies tasks that used to take longer to do. The fact that it's leaner also means you have a better chance of running it on PCs with lower specs. If your PC could run Vista, then you have nothing to worry about in running Win7. If your PC is dated and runs on XP, you may want to ask someone who might know. The problem with making the jump from XP to Win7 is that you will have to back up all your data and then reinstall all your programs because everything will be wiped out otherwise when installing Win7 on an XP machine.

Compatibility is always an issue when upgrading to a new OS, and there are likely to be some pains in that respect after you upgrade. But it's also highly unlikely that Microsoft will repeat the same mistakes it made when it launched Vista and users found that some of their hardware wasn't recognized at all by the OS.

One piece of advice I can give is that you shouldn't avoid Win7 completely. You can wait to upgrade to it, especially after the initial flaws are patched up, but there's no need to stay away for too long. After all, it offers a better experience - even if it is years later than it should've been. And to be honest, Win7 is totally what Vista should've been almost three years ago.

Windows 7 will be available on October 22 at the following retail prices: Home Premium is $229.99 ($129.99 for the Upgrade version). Professional is $329.99 ($249.99 for the Upgrade version). Ultimate is $349.99 ($279.99 for the Upgrade version).