Microsoft Philippines has announced the availability of Windows 7 in the country. Windows 7 delivers on a simple premise: make it easier for people to do the things they want on a PC. The new operating system offers a streamlined user interface and significant new features that make everyday tasks easier and allow people to get the most out of computers of all styles and sizes.

Building Windows 7 has been a collaborative process from the beginning, with Microsoft’s engineers and designers working with customers and partners to build an operating system that delivers on the vision of the PC, simplified.

Filipino Windows Icons

To celebrate the launch, Microsoft has pooled together a group of successful individuals who excel in their chosen fields and who have successfully integrated technology in their daily lives called the Windows 7 Icons.

They are writer and fashion icon Tessa Prieto-Valdes, director-actor Audie Gemora, lawyer cum motivational speaker Alex Lacson, entrepreneur and professor Jay Bernardo, businessman and avid gamer George Tan, dedicated mother Ligaya Salonga, and all-around artist Zoe Sandejas.

During the launch of Windows 7, Microsoft has also given these icons the opportunity to “Pay It Forward” by identifying a group or individual whom they think deserves to get a Windows 7 laptop from Microsoft and its partners. Microsoft and the Windows 7 icons awarded computers to the following beneficiaries: Caritas Manila, Batino Elementary School, Gifts and Graces, Bureau of Secondary Education, and The House of Refuge Foundation; as well as Bia Montante, a Marikina Science High Student, and Geraldine Colimbo, an accounting student from Negros Occidental.

Simplifying the PC

Over the past 18 months, feedback from more than a billion opt-in customer sessions and eight million beta testers validated Microsoft’s research on how to simplify everyday tasks. Here are a few of the many ways you’ll experience a more simplified PC with Windows 7:

Simplifies everyday tasks

• Taskbar: The go-to spot for launching programs and switching windows, the taskbar has been completely redesigned to help you work smarter, cut clutter, and get more done, with features like thumbnail previews of webpages, documents—even running video.
• HomeGroup: Easily share your files and printers with other Windows 7 PCs in your home.
• DeviceStage: Shows you the status of all your connected devices such as cameras and mobile phones and makes it easier to synchronize and manage them.
• Photos and Videos: Windows Live Photo Gallery and Windows Live Movie Maker offer customers great, free options to edit photos and videos and easily share with loved ones.
• Snap: Drag an open window to your screen’s border to automatically re-size it. Snap two different windows to the left and right borders for a perfect comparison.
• Shake: Click a window pane and shake your mouse to minimize all other open windows. Shake the pane again to restore the windows to their original sizes.