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We’re starting to hear increasingly detailed information about Microsoft’s followup to Vista. As usual, Chris Jenkins of the Ohio Society of CPAs knows more than most, so I’ll let him take it from here.

After years of cute names, Microsoft is going back to its roots. The successor to Vista will be called Windows 7.

While none of the information about Windows 7 is concrete, Microsoft is allowing some of the upgrade information to slip to the public.

Windows 7 is more of an OS refresh than a full-fledged major release, meaning MS isn’t planning to add new incompatibilities into the system. It seems this update is more about taking off the rough edges and adding additional polish to the Vista platform.

Some of the areas that will be enhanced include UAC (User Account Control), Windows Explorer and Desktop Gadgets. While useful UAC was rather annoying in Vista, in Windows 7 it can be customized, allowing varying levels of alerting. Windows Explorer has been tweaked to offer a simplified toolbar, a new content icon view and a resizeable search box. The Vista Sidebar has been removed so gadgets will not live directly on the desktop.

Windows 7 has a new application navigation scheme called Scenic that works much like the Office 2007 Ribbon interface. Both Paint and WordPad take advantage of Scenic.

Scheduled for release in early 2010, Windows 7 will come in bundles with Internet Explorer 8 and a new feature called Windows Credentials, which will allow users to store online IDs and passwords for Web sites they visit. Some applications like Windows Mail, Windows Photo Gallery and Windows Moviemaker will no longer be bundled, but will become optional installs through Windows Live.

Several new control centers have been added to ease configuration and administration. Windows Solution Center replaces the Windows Security Center and combines security and maintenance features. HomeGroup networking will ease setup and management of SOHO networking solutions. Windows Mobile Device Center will now come preinstalled rather than an optional download. A new troubleshooting control panel allows for “one-stop shopping” for troubleshooting applications, devices, networks, printing, sound and other Windows features. Multiple monitor support has been overhauled to allow quick transitions between portrait and landscape views. DPI Scaling and ClearType Text can both be tuned to allow cleaner fonts in the interface.

Two major “geek additions” are PowerShell V2 and Native VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) support. PowerShell V2 allows administrators to manage several parts of the OS and applications without the need for graphical tools. Virtual Hard Disk support allows administrators and users to mount, tweak and utilize virtual images within the OS. It may be possible to boot directly to the VHD, opening several new virtualization opportunities.

• More about these enhancements as well as several others can be found here.

Overall, it looks like Windows 7 will be a worthy upgrade, but I think it would have been Vista R2 if we would have seen better adoption. I’m sure as time passes we’ll see more great features added to the solid foundation Vista already offers.