Mary-Jo Foley of All About Microsoft blog got a look at the latest build of Windows 7. The latest build is called the Windows 7 Milestone 3 (Build 6780) and according to Foley, it’s already in the hands of testers outside the company. She was not allowed to take any screenshots of the OS, but she has posted information about the latest Windows OS from the quick glimpse she got.
The latest build is quite stable and Microsoft has adapted Ribbon user interface found in Office 2007 throughout the OS. Even though slight changes have been made to the user interface, Windows 7 does not look or feel like a major departure from Windows Vista. Microsoft has already said that Windows 7 is an improvement to Vista and not a completely new OS.
Foley says that Microsoft has no plans for Milestone 4, next up is preview build that may or may not be distributed to developers. The company plans to launch Beta 1, which should be feature-complete by mid-December. Mary believes that it’s not impossible for Microsoft to hit a 2009 release for Windows 7. It will be a pleasant surprise, if Microsoft can deliver something before the deadline it has set (2010 for Windows 7).