Whether or not it’s true, ask people if Windows Vista was ready when it originally shipped and the response is generally a resounding “no”. It seems that Microsoft is not taking any chances with Windows 7 as it has been reported that the new operating system is being constructed in a modular basis and will only include components as they pass through the appropriate quality gates.

Those who have a pre-beta build of Windows 7 may be interested to note that there are some extra features in the milestone 3 build (build 6801) that are only available to permanent Microsoft employees using computers that are members of certain Microsoft Active Directory domains.

To circumvent this, Rafael Rivera has written a tool for Windows 7 called Blue Badge (named after the employee passes that permanent ‘softies are issued with). Running this utility will grant access to incomplete features by patching the operating system.

If you do decide to try it (and why not?), bear in mind that there is a reason these features have not been released – they are not ready yet – so don’t be surprised if everything falls over in a heap.