What with the holidays and all that, you probably forgot the all-important fact of the Windows 7 public beta coming next month. Some file sharers couldn't wait, it seems, and have leaked what appears to be the final public beta -- M1 Build 7000, as opposed to the previous closed beta version 6801.

No new features are introduced (for an extensive look at the ones already detailed, see A look inside the Windows 7 "pre-beta"), but everything Microsoft said would be in there is there, working better, and ahead of schedule.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes of ZDNet has reviewed the final beta, mostly praising it, but holds issue with the taskbar:

The new revamped taskbar is visually very interesting (and certainly a lot easier to use at higher screen resolutions that the Vista or XP taskbar), but it tries to do too much and as such comes across as kludgey and counter-intuitive. One failure is that it’s hard to tell the difference between apps that are running and shortcuts that have been pinned to the taskbar. It also incorporates the new Jump Lists feature which acts as a context-sensitive menu for applications. Problem is that there’s very little rhyme or reason to what to expect from Jump Lists, making them awkward to use in the real world.

His final thoughts:

I like Windows 7, a lot. Microsoft seems to have put a lot of effort into developing a core operating system that is free from the pointless frills of the likes of XP and Vista. The OS is solid and fast and based on what I’ve seen so far I’d have no problems in rolling out beta 1 and using it daily.

I am concerned about the new taskbar. I hope that Microsoft is receiving constructive feedback on this feature and working to improve it for the release candidate version of Windows 7. The new taskbar isn’t a deal-breaker for me, but I do feel that it’s the least refined part of Windows 7.

He later discovers its customizability however, and finds it much more likeable.

There are two very interesting features that have come up that seem to have gone unnoticed before: 'Personalizations', and 'game updates'.

As Hughes explains, 7 comes with "several ready-made themes that include specific background images, colors, sounds and screensavers, [as well as] themes that make use of a desktop slideshow to continually change the desktop image." As someone who considers OS themes and customization in general a vital need, it's good to hear this built into the OS -- here's hoping the level of customization is adequate. If not, there's always external sources for that sort of thing.

'Game updates and news' is the other feature, which is seen below. As it seems, Microsoft has built a rather exciting service into the system which will 'automatically check online for updates and news [...] about the games installed on your computer by downloading information from the Internet', including art. I would guess this will be integrated somehow with its Games for Windows LIVE service, especially judging by the look of things. If this really could be an all-in-one package to automatically update PC games, then much joy is to be had. Or it could be the worst thing ever, as my co-worker Kevin pointed out (visions of DRM, OS-exclusivity, passwords and more abound).

Windows 7 is planned for release either sometime in 2009 or around January 2010. Check out the Engineering Windows 7 blog for a peek inside the development -- the latest entry details the discussion on performance.

But enough with these words things, on to the picture things. Paul Thurott (of Paul Thurott's SuperSite for Windows), has captured a large batch of screenshots on the build, anyhow, and we're here to present to you with the most interesting: