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 Tracking Windows 7 - News Updates. |
| Jun 18th, 2008. "One potential new Windows 7 feature about which I haven’t seen a whole lot of speculation is something called “Windows Sensors.” What are these mysterious Windows Sensors mentioned under the “Hardware and Sound” category in the Windows 7 Control Panel, alongside Windows SideShow, Tablet PC settings and game controllers? Are they the kinds of sensors that will enable the new and improved multi-touch/gesture recognition that Microsoft has confirmed will be one of the new features in Windows 7?" |
| "Perhaps there’s more going on here and Windows Sensors will be the next version of Plug and Play, a way for Windows to automatically “sense” what kinds of peripherals or devices can/should be automatically connected and synced. Sensors are also key to home-automation systems. Could Windows 7 be the control hub for users’ fridges, stoves and home-security systems, via Windows Sensors?" |
| "I’ve also heard rumblings that Microsoft’s Windows team is attempting to make Windows 7 more context- and location-aware, being able to “sense” when a room is dim so as to be able to brighten a screen automatically, for example. Might Windows Sensors play into these kinds of scenarios somehow?" ZDNet Via Neowin. |
| May 28th, 2008. Touch is quickly becoming a common way of directly interacting with software and devices. Touch-enabled surfaces are popping up everywhere including laptop touch pads, cell phones, remote controls, GPS devices, and more. What becomes even more compelling is when this experience is delivered to the PC -on a wide variety of Windows notebooks, in all-in-one PC's, as well as in external monitors. In working with our broad ecosystem of hardware and software manufactures, we're excited to be showing some of the great work and investments we are working on in Windows 7. |
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| Tonight, at this year's D:All Things Digital conference, Julie Larson-Green showed Walt Mossberg how a few of the multi-touch innovations first previewed in Surface will ultimately enhance the next version of Windows. Please note, the applications you will see are for demonstration purposes only; but it's all Windows 7 underneath. Source: WindowsVistaBlog. |
| May 27th, 2008. Windows chief Steven Sinofsky talks about Windows 7. He reiterates that Windows 7 is coming by January 2010. More on CNet. |
| May 27th, 2008. "Contrary to some speculation, Microsoft is not creating a new kernel for Windows 7. Rather, we are refining the kernel architecture and componentization model introduced in Windows Vista. While these changes will increase our engineering agility, they will not impact the user experience or reduce application or hardware compatibility. In fact, one of our design goals for Windows 7 is that it will run on the recommended hardware we specified for Windows Vista and that the applications and devices that work with Windows Vista will be compatible with Windows 7." |
| The Blog also mentions that "We are well into the development process of Windows 7, and we're happy to report that we're still on track to ship approximately three years after the general availability of Windows Vista." Source : WindowsVistaBlog Via Neowin. |
From what I know about Windows 7 :
Windows 7 builds on Vista code base.
Its compatibility with Vista is good.
Vista deployment will ease future migration to Windows 7.
Devices 7 Application Compatibility will improve. That will be the focus.
UI changes will be minimal
No major changes in the hardware requirements will be there in Windows 7, over Vista.
Windows 7 will have 32bit and 64 bit versions, and both will be priced at roughly the same level.
Is Microsoft dumping Vista?
No. Microsoft executives, including its CEO, praised Windows Vista. Steve Ballmer defended Vista when he talked at the All Things Digital conference. "Vista is not a failure, and it's not a mistake" Ballmer said in response to a question. Nor is Microsoft throwing in the Vista towel. "Are there things that we will continue to modify and improve going forward? Sure," Ballmer added.
Will Windows 7 sport a new kernel?
No; most likely not.
Will Windows 7 be a major or a minor release?
A minor release according to many.
When will Windows 7 be released?
Early 2010
What will Windows 7 be like?
A lot like Vista, underneath, but with some new features.
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| Addl Reads: |
| Windows 7 Release Date : All Smoke, No Fire ! |
| Time To Move On ! |
| Microsoft : Windows 7 STILL in planning stage and will take approximately 3 years to develop. |
| Core of "Windows 7" taking shape : Meet the "MinWin" kernel |
| Nov 13th, 2007. Windows 7 wish-list / top feature request list has been 'leaked'. See Neowin. |
| Windows Seven now has an official ship target : 2010. |
| At Microsoft’s Global Exchange (MGX) annual sales conference in Orlando this week, Microsoft shared a bit more. Microsoft is anticipating it will take at least three years from now to get the next version of Windows client out the door. |
| Microsoft officials told MGX attendees that the company is currently internally planning Windows Seven. So far, the company has determined Windows Seven will come in both 32- and 64-bit flavors. Well, The faster Microsoft forces things like 64bit, multi cores, vitalization via on die hypervisor the faster we get better driver support and better application support to make use of these. Microsoft is actively considering the concept of how to extend Windows Seven with subscription-based services. |
Why 7 ? Well Windows 1 & 2 were not commercial successes. They didn't even recognize arrow or mouse movements. Windows 3.1 did well ! Windows NT was 4; Windows 2000 was 5, Windows XP was 5.1 and Vista is 6 ! Hence Windows Seven now !!! |
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| WinVistaClub's First Post, May 27th, 2007 : Ever since the last quarter of 2006, when a survey was held on a Microsoft web site, where one of the questions towards the end of the survey was "Have you ever heard of Windows Mesa?", the question itself and the answer to it, has foxed many! |
| But it appears that codename "Vienna" (Blackcomb/Windows7) will be/has been re-codenamed as Windows MESA in its 5th phase of development. Is this true ? Your guess is as good as mine; but searching carefully...very carefully can give one that impression. But then, what's in a name !? First Blackcomb; then Vienna, then Windows7 & now (?)Mesa(?). Why Windows 7? Vista is Windows 6, hence the next generically referred to as Windows 7 ! |
| Microsoft has officially said that the code name for this Vista follow-up is Vienna, but Microsoft Development VP Ben Fathi said he could not disclose the current name. "We've been told not to use it publicly" he said. |
| Ben Fathi also has this to say about "Vienna" : "We're going to look at a fundamental piece of enabling technology. Maybe its hypervisors, I don't know what it is...Maybe it's a new user interface paradigm for consumers...It's too early for me to talk about it...But over the next few months I think you're going to start hearing more and more." |
| And then there's the Windows Fiji which is said to be the next version of the Microsoft operating system that will follow Windows Vista on the road to Windows Vienna (Blackcomb). And it is not certain if Windows Fiji is a codename for a Windows Vista SP ... or if it is a Media Center upgrade... |
Windows has over the past 20 years, accumulated old code libraries that brought it to the size it has today, 2.5 GB and about 50 million lines of code in Vista. These old code libraries consume resources and are often the targets of security exploits.
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| Microsoft plans to code 'Vienna' from the scratch. and will represent the start of a different generation of operating systems.This OS is expected to include some very interesting and useful features and concepts, some of which, were dropped during Windows Vista’s development program. Most importantly, it will have a new shell for Explorer and the Start Menu, which is being written by the very team that developed the highly acclaimed Ribbon Interface for Microsoft Office 2007. It will also include the Hypervisor/WindowsVirtualization technologies as well as the Windows Future Storage technologies. Microsoft has already declared its intent to make a subscription-based / pre-paid versions of its software available soon ... so i guess we can expect this of Windows7 too ! |
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osbeta.org has displayed some images of the Windows7 OS, 3 of which have been displayed here. |
| And new can the consumer expect ? Expect it to be much more easier, secure, stable &better connected ! Err ... sounds familiar ??? But expect a world of a difference ! More on Wikipedia. |
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Bill Gates, in an interview with Newsweek, also suggested that the next version of Windows would "be more user-centric". When asked to clarify what he meant, Gates said: "That means that right now when you move from one PC to another, you've got to install apps on each one, do upgrades on each one. Moving information between them is very painful. We can use Live Services to know what you're interested in. So even if you drop by a public kiosk or somebody else's PC, we can bring down your home page, your files, your fonts, your favorites and those things. So that's kind of the user-centric thing that Live Services can enable. Also, in Vista, things got a lot better with digital ink and speech, but by the next release there will be a much bigger bet. Students won't need textbooks; they can just use these tablet devices. Parallel computing is pretty important for the next release. We'll make it so that a lot of the high-level graphics will be just built into the operating system. So we've got a pretty good outline." |
| Microsoft had also earlier on declared its intent to move Windows exclusively to 64 bit architecture, which is expected to offer significant performance and security benefits and modular approach. But again certain compulsions may have weighed down on Microsoft. Now, Windows7/Vienna/Mesa or whatever it ends up being called will very likely be made available for 64 bit as well as for 32 bit processors. |
| Incidentally, this next OS (irrespective of the codename) was originally timelined 2011, Latest reports indicate it as 2010. As a result, Microsoft Corp. has already said that it would limit support for three versions of the Windows Vista operating system, including its most expensive Ultimate, to 5 years rather than the usual 10 years ! |
A rather short time for Vista users ? With Vista yet to settle down, such news can make the "about-to-upgrade-to-Vista" users prefer to wait-n-watch. And now with so much smoke and talk being released about Windows 7, could adds credence to those arguments of those asking "Why upgrade to Vista" ! But then, unless you use VISTA, you cant really experience the "WOW" !  |
These Links May Interest You:
Vista Trivia : Known & Unknown facts about Vista.
Will Windows Vista Rule? |
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