The first Windows 7 beta was made publically available this past January, and after testing it for a while in my office, I upgraded my family’s main Media Center to it. It’s that good.

The word came down this past Friday that things look on track for a release of the Windows 7 RC beta to the public the week of May 5. (RC is “Release Candidate” in software lingo. Basically, it is one of the last beta builds before prime time).

I’m pretty excited to see the changes in this new build, and in anticipation of it, will be highlighting some of the things I have found I love about Win7 Media Center already.

First up: The Photo Wall Slideshow Screensaver thingy

I know I talk a lot about how much I love slideshows in Media Center and I know in part that it’s because my wife is a fantastic photographer, and we have a lot of great pictures because of it.

In Windows 7 Media Center, my screen saver can be this cool new “photo wall.”

When this kicks in, instead of seeing one photo at a time, we see a huge mosaic of all of our family photos. The camera sort of flies gracefully over this black and white expanse of kids in soccer uniforms, Christmas mornings, candles being blown out, science fairs, etc. Then it will slowly pick an image and zoom in on it, and as it does, the image is colorized.

It’s kind of  a meditative thing to watch. In some cases, after zooming in on an image, it will play a few more color images in that same frame, like a mini slideshow within a slideshow.

Digital cameras have blown the idea of family snapshots wide open, and the best way to enjoy a digital picture is on a big screen with some good music, with slow pans and zooms. In my years, I’ve note found anything better at this than Media Center, and in Win7, it gets even better.

I found this video that goes over some of the enhancements to Media Center’s Pictures + Videos in Windows 7. Check it out:

Windows Media Center Picture and Videos Features in the Windows 7 Beta

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New to Windows Media Center? Start here. or here.Or even here.

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