Windows 7 Milestone 1 Build 6519 features the same keyboard shortcuts as Windows Vista. This aspect is understandable as the early development milestone of Windows 7 made available to Microsoft's closest partners at the end of 2007 is closer to Vista than to the final version of the next iteration of the Windows client. In M1 Build 6519, the user experience is in fact identical to that in Windows Vista. From Windows Aero to the Windows Sidebar, to DirectX 10, and even to the keyboard shortcuts, Windows 7 M1 brings nothing new to the table.

In terms of the interaction with the Windows 7 graphical user interface, end users have at their disposal the same basic keyboard and mouse, but also a new model based on touch computing. Of course that touch, gestures and object recognition are intimately connected with the underlying hardware and not just with the operating system. As for the traditional input models, the keyboard and mouse function in the same manner as they did in Vista.

And just as Windows Vista inherited some of the keyboard shortcuts from Windows XP, so does Windows 7 rely on its predecessor. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. Microsoft is poised to ensure continuity from Vista to Windows 7. Delivering merely an evolution of what Vista currently has to offer, including the kernel, the graphics and audio subsystems and software and hardware support, Windows 7 will offer users a similar interaction to Vista via the keyboard. You will be able to find a complete list of Vista keyboard shortcuts via this link in order to give them a try if you manage to come across a copy of Windows 7 M1.

Julie Larson-Green, Corporate Vice President, Windows Experience Program Management, is not done yet with the new graphical user interface of Windows 7. And even as far as the early development milestones of Windows Vista's successor it is clear, and Larson-Green confirmed it, that changes will be implemented starting with the Windows Taskbar. Additionally, as Bill Gates indicated, the Fluent/Ribbon GUI of the Office 2007 System will be featured across applications in Windows 7 as a standard user interface.