Last week we reported the news that Microsoft seems to have lost faith in Windows Vista and may be releasing Windows 7 earlier than originally proposed. Now the latest on the Windows 7 front is that Microsoft may have not lost as much faith in Windows Vista as originally reported; at least not in one of its most important aspects.

Whether you love or loathe the functionality (or lack thereof) of Windows Vista, the Operating System’s appearance is one of its positive aspects. Large, user-friendly icons, a simplified interface, and little aesthetic touches that make menial tasks more visually engaging result in a Vista visual logic that simply makes sense. Windows XP users can even convert the XP appearance to make their more reliable OS mimic the Vista look, and in this way can retain a positive part of Windows Vista without the host of potential negatives.

So it comes as no surprise that Microsoft hasn’t moved too far away from the Windows Vista look and have instead, built on it. The above screenshot shows off the latest Windows 7 M3 Build, and it is clearly not too far removed from Windows Vista’s current appearance. The minor visual differences attributed to Windows 7’s latest build include; the replacement of ‘My Documents’ with ‘Libraries’, fewer User Account Control Alerts (no-one is complaining there) and a return to the Ribbon interface.

You can check out some more Windows 7 M3 Build screenshots here at the thinknext website.