A bit of an update regarding Microsoft's Windows 7 development since the public Beta (build 7000) release on Jan 7. It's been discovered that an internal beta update was compiled just over a week later (Jan 15) with build number 7022 and has only just been leaked onto the web yesterday.

Some of the known changes in this build include :-

- You would find Internet Explorer 8 RC1 in this build
- Their has been lots of changes to the sidebar.The colour has been changed and some minor tweaks too.
- A video and three music tracks has been added.
- A few minor changes has been done to the design of the Windows Media Player
- Control panel gets a new look (Category, large icons and small icons options has been added)
- Instant Search in the start menu
- General stability of the OS has been improved

Further to that is mention of a newer beta (build 7034) having since been released to Microsoft employees with a very recent compile date of February 2nd. And with the first RC (Release Candidate) scheduled to be released in April, it's expected there'll be at least a couple more internal beta updates beforehand.

Thanks goes to the Windows 7 News website for the heads up.