Microsoft says the version of Windows 7 available now is "feature complete," which means that the functionality of the OS will not change much, if at all.

The new OS appears to be require less of a jump up in hardware capability than Vista did.

The minimum system requirements Microsoft suggests for beta testers include a 1GHz processor, 1GB of main memory, 16GB of available disk space, and support for DX9 graphics. The suggested setup is close to what is recommended for Vista, even though the new operating system is appearing several years after its predecessor.