Even if it is virtually Windows Vista at the core, or at least an evolved form of Vista, Windows 7 is being artificially dissociated from its precursor. At the start of August 2008, Microsoft finally put an end to the deafening silence surrounding the Windows 7 project, and started actually communicating bits and pieces about the next iteration of the Windows client. The most relevant initiative from Microsoft is the Windows 7 Engineering mouthpiece with contributions from Senior Vice Presidents Steven Sinofsky and Jon DeVaan, and the Windows 7 Engineering team members. However, Microsoft claims that the pitter-patter of barely significant Windows 7 details is not making Vista irrelevant.

"Windows Vista is still very much relevant today. There is still very much to say in regards to Windows Vista and lots more experiences to blog about surrounding Windows Vista and Windows Live. Our blogs here won't be going away. We continue to add value to Windows Vista with releases such as Windows Search 4.0 and coming soon the Beta 2 release of Internet Explorer 8. You can also expect us to take part in the ongoing discussion taking place from the Engineering Windows 7 blog on building the next version of Windows as well," revealed Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc.

The most representative aspect indicating that Microsoft is breaking away from Vista with the next version of Windows, is the fact that the E7 website is hosted under the Internet Explorer brand umbrella, and not under that of the official Windows Vista Team Blog (with the Windows Experience appendix). E7 is not even a Windows 7 blog per se, but a source of information, and the agora designed to catalyze an open dialog on the way Microsoft is building the next version of Windows.

"The one thing you won't find on the Engineering Windows 7 Blog is major product announcements. The focus is to simply the engineering of Windows 7. Not only can we expect posts from both Steven and Jon on the Engineering Windows 7 Blog, we can also expect to hear from other members of the engineering team who are essentially building the next version of Windows as we speak," LeBlanc stated.