Thread: Microsoft Sets the Stage for Windows

AS USERS CONTINUE to grouse about Win¬dows Vista nearly two years after its introduction, Microsoft appears relieved tq turn its public focus on the next release of its flagship operating system. Pre-beta code (as Microsoft calls it) for Windows.7 is reportedly already in developers' hands, and reviewers should have their first peek by the time you read this; officially, the OS itself is slated to appear in early 2010although some industry insiders say it may arrive before the end of 2009.

Last spring, Microsoft's lead Windows spokesperson Chris Flores wrote a blog post saying Win-dows 7 would refine (but not abandon) the Vista kernel. However, additional details about the new OS have been scant-and Flores and others have basically said this is because they don't want to create expectations that might not be fulfilled. (Remember when Vista was going to include the data base-like WinFS file system?) Consequently Microsoft says it will talk only about features that will definitely be in the OS.

The company declined interview requests for this story, pointing to various internal blogs that include Windows 7-related posts-most notably the Engineering Windows 7 blog hosted by senior Windows engineering managers Jon DeVaan and Steven Sinofsky on the Microsoft Software Developers Network. Here's what we've gleaned from the blogs and assorted published reports:

Performance: Although Windows 7 will be built on the same code base as Windows Vista, a Fundamentals team (one of 25 within the Windows 7 development group) is working to speed up boot time, in part by trying to reduce the num¬ber of startup services, and to optimize the OS to take better advantage of technologies such as solid-state drives.

Let's hope those improvements are more effective than those that Vista Service Pack 1 prvided. In our World¬Bench 6 tests, Vista SP1 generated only a marginal performance improvement over the original version of Vista-and both versions' performance fell far short of Windows XP SP2's.

Interface: In one of the few early demonstrations of Windows 7, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer last spring showed off its use of multitouch technology, similar to soft's Surface tabletop computer.

Microsoft will improve the taskbar to better support users who tend to open large numbers of windows on their screen EAI (the company's research thet indicates that nearly half of all users keep as many as six to nine windows open at a time), as well as to provide better ways to manage the windows themselves (including their size and arrangement). Published reports indicate that the ribbon interface that made its debut in core Office 2007 applications may also be a feature of Windows 7.

One Engineering Windows 7 blog post says that developers are looking into ways to customize notifications (the balloons that popup on your taskbar toinform you about software and hardware updates), since many people find them intrusive. The same post suggests that Microsoft wants to better expose Windows Media features (its research shows that only 10 percent of users actually enable the Windows Media Toolbar). But the post stresses that users should be in control: One person's useful toolbar is another's desktop clutter.



Applications: Microsoft officials have said many traditional Windows accessories and apps that were bundled in Vista (including the Windows Mail e-mail client and image and video editors) will not be included in a standard Windows 7 installation. Instead, you will have the option of downloading Web-based Windows Live apps (see "Leaner Windows 7 Will Let You Add Features a la Carte, next page).

User Account Control revisited: Microsoft has said that the underpinnings (APIs and logo requirements) of the User Account Control security feature in Windows Vista won't change in Windows 7, but the actual user experience will. Intended to prevent unau¬thorized software installations, UAC is one of the most controversial features in Vista, drawing wide criticism for its intrusiveness. As a result, Microsoft says Windows 7 will allow developers to reduce the number of User Account Control prompts, thereby speeding up application installations.

Improved graphics: Though Windows Vista's Aero environment is designed to take advantage of the power available in modern graphics processors, Microsoft apparently believes that more remains to be done. Among other things, company blogs have devoted considerable ink to discussing how applications could be optimized to look better on high-DPI (dotsper-inch) displays.

Energy-efficient computing: A description for a session at this October's Microsoft Professional Developers Conference says that with Windows 7, software developers will find it easier to design applications that "do not neg¬atively impact mobile PC battery life."

World support: Windows 7 will include new globalization support that will make it easier to change the languages and other location-related features of
applications.

Server version: This won't be a major release. In fact, Microsoft has said that the server version of Windows 7 will be what was original ly planned as Windows Server 2008 release 2 (the initial release, hailed as one of the most significant Windows Server upgrades in years, is less than a year old, having shipped last February).

The names ofthe 25 engineering groups working on Windows 7 sug¬gest other areas where Microsoft will be tinkering. A documents and printing group is an effort to build support for the XPS (XML Paper Specification) document-printing format introduced with Windows Vista. A group called "Find and Organize" suggests that Microsoft has not yet finished working on Windows' search capabilities.

Microsoft planned to reveal more details at the Professional Developers Conference and the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in early November. Ironi¬cally, however, on the eve of these milestones, the company announced it would extend the cut-off date for providing discs for Windows XP Professional to new Vista PC buyers who wish to downgrade. Originally slated to end on January 31, that program will now continue through the end of July 2009