14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft ensured that the Windows 7 development milestone delivered at the Professional Developers Conference 2008 and the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference 2008 delivered less than what it showcased at the two events. In this context, a variety of features were blocked in Windows 7 pre-Beta Build 6801 Milestone 3, including the new Taskbar, dubbed the Superbar, but also Aero Peek, Desktop Slideshow and Aero Shake. On the heels of the availability of Windows 7 pre-Beta Build 6801, the “Blue Badge” hack was released to unlock all the features that Microsoft was so careful to block.
Developed by Rafael Rivera, Blue Badge is up to version 3, a revision which managed to enable Aero Peek, the sole which was not available out of all the Windows 7 native features demonstrated at PDC 2008. However, at PDC, Microsoft was showcasing Windows 7 Builds as advanced as 6936, and not the 6801 released, which was handed to all participants. Despite this, Windows 7 pre-Beta Build 6801 does contain the entire span of features enabled in later development milestones of the operating system.
Aero Peek was demoed at PDC 2008 in the Windows 7 Desktop session presented by Chaitanya Sareen, a senior program manager with Microsoft. Peek's functionality is intimately connected with the new Taskbar. In Windows 7, interaction with the thumbnails of programs from the Taskbar will cause the corresponding window to be brought in focus, while the remaining items on the desktop become fully transparent. This is valid for any of the windows opened on the desktop at a given time.
Moving onward from Build 6801, Microsoft stopped blocking the features in subsequent milestone releases. In this regard, Windows 7 Build 6956, showcased at WinHEC 2008 China, delivers all the items blocked in Windows 7 Build 6801 by default. However, the same is valid for Windows 7 pre-Beta Build 6801, provided that the Blue Badge tool is used to tweak the client.