The bare minimum requirements for the 32-bit include a 1GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 16GB available hard-disk space, and a DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver. Windows 7 will support both 32-bit and 64-bit systems. The three versions that Redmond will be promoting most heavily are Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate, although Starter will also be available to consumers. Microsoft is offering six versions of Windows 7: Starter, Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate, OEM, and Enterprise. Instead, it's the successor to Windows XP that Microsoft wishes Vista had been, and finally places it on competitive footing with other major operating systems like OS X and Linux. As buggy and irritating as Vista was, Windows 7 isn't. It's important to note that the public testing process for Windows 7 involved one limited-availability beta and one release candidate, and constituted what some have called the largest shareware trial period ever. Importantly, it won't require the hardware upgrades that Vista demanded, partially because the hardware has caught up, and partially because Microsoft has gone to great lengths to make Windows 7 accessible to as many people as possible. It's stable, smooth, and highly polished, introducing new graphical features, a new taskbar that can compete handily with the Mac OS X dock, and device management and security enhancements that make it both easier to use and safer. Luckily for Microsoft, Windows 7 is more than just spin. This review is based on an official copy of the Windows 7 RTM that Microsoft provided to CNET on July 30, 2009.

Bombarded by complaints and negative press even after the first service pack was released, the bar had been set high for Vista's successor: Windows 7. Users demanding that Redmond extend the life of Windows XP wasn't exactly something they could be proud of, either. Deserved or not, Microsoft had dug itself a cool, deep, dark hole with Windows Vista.

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