14 DAY TRIAL // Just in case you were holding your breath for a new Windows 7 kernel, you might as well exhale. Microsoft has infirmed speculations that the successor of Windows Vista would deliver a new kernel. Rather than revolutionary, the core of Windows 7 will be evolutionary building on the heart of Vista. One of the biggest arguments against the genuine nature of Windows 7 Milestone 1 leaked details was the fact that the release featured a kernel version similar to that of Vista. Microsoft now only provides a sneak peek at the direction it is heading with the Windows 7 kernel, as well as pointing out what is the starting point.
"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," revealed Christopher Flores, Director Windows Communications.
The confusion around a potential new kernel for Windows 7 was started by a presentation delivered by Microsoft Distinguished Engineer Eric Traut in 2007. Traut informed that Microsoft was building the MinWin kernel for Windows 7, looking to cut as much as possible the dependencies between the core and the rest of the operating system and to isolate carve the smallest standalone component of Windows.
Mark Russinovich, Microsoft Technical Fellow explained later on that the Redmond company was not diverging from the Windows Vista kernel in a way that would irremediably affect the environment of hardware and software products designed for Windows, but that it was simply taking the core to its next stage in evolution.
"Windows Vista was about improving those things. We are going to build on the success and the strength of the Windows Server 2008 kernel, and that has all of this work that you've been talking about. The key there is that the kernel in Windows Server 08 is an evolution of the kernel in Windows Vista, and then Windows 7 will be a further evolution of that kernel as well," stated Steven Sinofsky, Senior Vice President, Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group, according to Beyond Binary.