Windows 7 will feature not only a redesigned GUI, but also new user interface guidelines, a fresh API along with an interface component, but also a native code runtime and the ability to use markup in order to develop UIs. Even as early as the first public demonstration of Windows 7, at the end of May 2008, and earlier than that with the Milestone 1 build of Windows Vista's successor, Microsoft implemented a limited amount of redesign to the graphical user interface of the operating system. Of course that neither the Redmond company, nor Julie Larson-Green, Corporate Vice President, Windows Experience Program Management (back in May), offered any detail about the development of the next generation graphical user interface of Windows 7. But make no mistake about it, silence is not synonymous with inactivity, and the Windows 7 graphical user interface is evolving in more ways than one, with Microsoft promising a comprehensive evolution across the operating system.

According to a member of the Windows Client user Interface Platform team, the work poured into building Windows 7 is designed to crank up a notch the level of rich client user interfaces. The end purpose is to deliver a much richer and engaging UI for the Windows operating system. The Windows Client User Interface Platform team's “mission is to enable the next generation of user interface development on the Windows platform by building a new platform that supports large-scale development,” a representative of the team stated.

A startup team working on the Windows 7 project is responsible with not only the vision for the next-generation Windows UI, but also the design and implementation of a new framework into the operating system. The work is focused not only on the actual Windows 7 GUI, but also on the infrastructure set in place for developers to put together rich interactive user interfaces for applications running on top of Windows.

“We’ll eliminate much of the drudgery of Win32 UI development by using markup based UI and a small, high performance, native code runtime. We will be determining the new Windows user interface guidelines and building a platform that supports it. In the next version of Windows we’ll deliver our first major public API and interface component as a key part of several Windows experiences including Internet Explorer,” promised the Windows Client user Interface Platform team representative.