14 DAY TRIAL // Believe it or not but Windows 7 will only better Windows. Already labeled as the agent of the evolution of Windows, rather than the platform's revolution, Windows 7 is getting better and better, due mainly to its advances through the stages of the development process, a growth which will guarantee that the final operating system is superior to Windows XP (now with Service Pack 3) and Windows Vista (now with Service Pack 1). The promise comes from Brad Brooks, corporate vice president, Windows Consumer Product Marketing, at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference 2008 in Houston, Texas on July 8, 2008.
Brooks applauded Vista despite the inherently associate pain it caused end users and partners, and pointed to Windows 7 as the release to wash away all the sins of the current Windows client. "You know what, it's only getting better. It is only getting better as we move forward, because Windows Vista, it's an investment in the long term," he stated.
Microsoft is not saying all that much about Windows 7. In fact, with the exceptions of just a few details such as support for 32-bit and 64-bit, touch computing capabilities, a revamped graphical user interface, the MinWin core, and the evolution of Vista's architecture from the kernel to the graphics and audio subsystems, the Redmond giant is keeping Windows 7 under wraps. Still, the consensus is, confirmed initially by Steven Sinofsky, Senior Vice President, Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group, and now by Brooks, that Vista will survive into Windows 7, and illustrative examples are the core set of features and capabilities of the operating systems along with the hardware requirements.
In this context, Windows Vista is not only a stage but also an investment for Windows 7, in Microsoft's perspective. "What do I mean by that? Well, the same architectural changes that we put in that caused the heartaches moving to Windows Vista are things that we are going to carry forward into Windows 7. And we are going to target roughly the same hardware specifications that we did when Windows Vista launched," Brooks added.
Skipping a generation of the Windows operating system is not the right way to go as far as Microsoft is concerned. With the proximity of Windows 7, officially planned no later than the beginning of 2010, but heading for general availability as early as the end of 2009, Microsoft is feeling an increasingly stronger temptation to skip Vista entirely from customers. The company is fighting such scenarios by emphasizing that Vista has to be a pit stop on the way to Windows 7.
"What does that mean for you? Make the investment now, because when you make the investment in Windows Vista, you're not only making it for Windows Vista; it's going to pay it forward into the next generation of the operating system that we call Windows 7," Brooks added.