"Gadgets are now integrated into explorer. You can right click on desktop and select "Add Gadget" or "Hide Gadget". There is a new gadget called "Windows Media Center" that displays now playing information from the WMC. On the same menu, "Display" is added above "Personalization" which gives you direct access to display DPI settings. The page is much more polished than the one in Vista.

The start menu features a pin besides each item. Clicking on it toggles pinning/unpinning the item. Search in explorer is now states where you search within (usually being within the folder, as in Vista). You can now, however, adjust the size of the search box.

XAML fonts, called the "Composite Fonts" are now added to the font folder. Perhaps WPF will be much more prominent in this release. It"s disappointing that I don"t have Aero running, or otherwise there might be some interesting stuffs to see.

A new application is added, dubbed the "XPS Viewer", no surprises, either," says Parker.

Apparently, there will also be refreshed Paint, Calculator and Wordpad applications, all based on the Windows Presentation Foundation and you"ll be able to save/carry your IE favorites/settings with you using your Windows Live account. Finally, another thing worth mentioning is the new, bright boot screen.