Just as is the case today with Windows Vista and Windows XP, Microsoft is preparing to harvest end user feedback from the first Beta build of Windows 7. According to Christina Storm, a program manager on the Windows Customer Engineering feature team, the next iteration of the Windows client will simply continue the Windows Feedback Program (WFP) set in place for XP and Vista. Storm indicated that Microsoft is in fact tailoring WFP in order to fit Windows 7, starting as early as the Beta 1 development milestone. Microsoft is currently not accepting any new participant in the WPF, and hasn't been since early 2007.

“Customers choose to be part of a survey program, an automated feedback program or both. They then complete a 20-minute profiling survey, which later allows us to look at their feedback based on their profile. We have customers spanning a wide spectrum of computer knowledge in our program, and we are constantly working on balancing the panel to staff up underrepresented groups. The majority of customers who are spontaneously willing to participate in a feedback program like ours are generally enthusiastic about technology. They are early adopters of consumer electronics, digital devices and new versions of software. In contrast, customers who see the PC as a tool to get a job done tend to be a bit more reluctant to join,” Storm stated.

According to Microsoft, all the participants in the WFP, be it for Windows Vista, or for Windows 7, have to install a data collection tool built by the Windows Telemetry Team. The utility has the purpose to automate the feedback collecting process. At this point in time, Microsoft is preparing its feedback infrastructure for the advent of Windows 7 Beta 1.

“When we release the Windows 7 beta we will also be collecting feedback from this panel [the Windows Feedback Program] and asking for participation from a set of Windows 7 beta users. Our current plans call for signing up for the beta to happen in the standard Microsoft manner on Microsoft Connect,” Storm concluded.