Windows Explorer is one of the areas of Windows generating disappointment for users in the evolution from Windows XP to Windows Vista. Although in Vista, Windows Explorer was indeed kicked up a notch in terms of design, functionality and capabilities, the fact is that hardcore users were left missing the amputated Windows File System, even though Microsoft claimed that the best parts of WinFS were included into Vista. Well, with Windows 7, the Redmond company has yet another chance at reinventing the wheel with Windows Explorer and, apparently, the software giant will go for it.

The Windows group is looking for no less than to “shape the vision of browsing, searching, indexing and visualizing data,” according to a member who pointed out that efforts are being made to reinvent “the way people think about their data. Our team is responsible for developing the Windows Explorer. In the next versions of Windows we will be breaking new ground enabling users to act on their items, irrespective of where they are stored and delivering an indexing technology to provide wicked fast views over their local data.”

With Windows 7, Microsoft is in fact looking to “redefine the face of Windows,” something which of course was not the case with Windows Vista. In this regard, the most interesting development direction for Windows Explorer in Windows 7 is the users' ability to “act on their items, irrespective of where they are stored”.

Microsoft might be preparing Windows 7 to actually stretch into the Cloud. The Redmond company has already confirmed that Windows 7 and Windows Live Wave 3 would be virtually joined at the hip, but there is an additional scenario for the successor of Windows Vista “to ignore” the actual location of files. The Redmond company is working on a Cloud platform dubbed Live Mesh. The new platform permits users, among other things, to store and synchronize files and folders across a variety of devices including laptops, PCs, mobile phones, servers, etc. In this regard, it could be possible that Microsoft is considering a very intimate connection between Windows Explorer and Live Mesh straight on Windows 7 desktops.