Photos: The "beachfront property of Windows 7"

With uptake of Vista still lagging, a lot of IT departments are pinning their operating system upgrade hopes on its successor Windows 7.

After Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference saw an unveiling of elements of Windows 7's desktop, Redmond's Engineering Windows 7 blog has unwrapped how the next version of the Microsoft OS will see a makeover for the taskbar, or what Windows 7 engineers call "the beachfront property of the Windows OS".

According to Microsoft, Windows 7's taskbar will be slightly larger than its Vista counterpart and bigger icons will be the default option. The idea, according to the software giant, is that the taskbar will become the main location that users launch their programs from.

The taskbar will also be given what Microsoft calls a "glass treatment", as shown here.

Photo credit: Microsoft