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LOS ANGELES—Microsoft Corp. demoed its new operating system, Windows 7, for the first time Tuesday during a keynote address at its Professional Developers Conference.
How the somewhat-new Windows Vista and the much-beloved Windows XP fit into the upcoming Windows 7 ecosystem was a key point coming from Windows and Windows Live senior vice-president Steven Sinofsky. “The newest platform always delivers our best innovations possible,” Sinofsky said, acknowledging that support for older platforms will be maintained.
Much of the keynote kept pushing Windows Vista, too, with execs pointing out how kinks in the OS have been worked out both within the current version and in the new OS. For example, the backlash against the dearth of Windows Vista drivers has been rectified on Windows 7, according to Sinofsky.
“If you look at all the major release in the past, there’s always ecosystem issues to start with, but those initial hiccups are always solved in a shorter and shorter period of time, so there shouldn’t be as many issues to start with Windows 7,” said IDC Canada analyst Kevin Restivo. “It has a clear development path now, and Microsoft is especially vigilant about delivering on its promises,”
The Windows 7 beta will be available early next year. In terms of a general release date, however, Sinofsky said that Microsoft is sticking to its desire to release Windows 7 three years after the general availability of Windows Vista.
The Windows 7 demo was synched to Windows Server 2008 R2.
The 1,000-strong developer team has worked to reduce the core deployment footprint via reductions in the disk I/O and memory use from the reference set and graphics. Windows 7 will also benefit from increased boot-time and faster availability.
Support staff get a bone, too, said Shanen Boettcher, general manager of Windows product management for the enterprise, during the earlier reviewers workshop. The operating system will allow users to take screen shot videos of problems they may be having with their machines. These files can then be easily submitted to IT staffers, who can more easily diagnose the problem. A detailed log can also be generated around system problems, he said, which can then be sent to the IT department to track operating system issues.
“To have this built in to the system is very, very convenient,” said Ezra Silverton, owner of Toronto-based Web marketing and Web development company 9th Sphere. “Most users, you have to go visit with them, and then you ask them, “So, you have a browser issue?’ and they say, ‘What’s a browser?’”
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