14 DAY TRIAL // If Windows Vista has taught Microsoft anything, and it did, it is that poor performance or even the perception of poor performance from a user experience perspective can kill a product just as much as lack of driver support and software and hardware incompatibilities. This is why with Windows 7 Microsoft is preparing to tackle head on the first UX killer on the performance front, as far as end users are concerned, namely pre-loaded OEM software. The Redmond company indicated that 15-second startup times for Windows systems are "very good" boot performance results, but only in the lab. In the real world things are a tad different.
In the real world, Microsoft claims that 35% of Windows Vista SP1-based machines boot in as much as 30 seconds, with 75% going as high as 50 seconds, this while the startup time for a clean installation of the operating system plus the first service pack is just 23 seconds. The problem in this context is the software pre-loaded on new computers from original equipment manufacturers, which delivers a drastic negative impact on performance. Well, consumers don't call it crapware for nothing, but Microsoft has so far been deaf and blind to customers' displeasure with the additional software installed by default on top of Windows copies shipping with new OEM machines.
"For a PC to boot fast a number of tasks need to be performed efficiently and with a high degree of parallelism: files must be read into memory; system services need to be initialized; devices need to be identified and started; the user’s credentials need to be authenticated for login; the desktop needs to be constructed and displayed and startup applications need to be launched," explained Michael Fortin, Microsoft Distinguished Engineers and Fundamentals feature team lead in the Core Operating System group.
Microsoft itself has tested off-the-shelf Windows OEM computers booting in 45 seconds, while for the same machine, but optimized, the startup time could be brought down as low as 21 seconds, even with crapware. The Redmond company is of course at the mercy of its OEM partners. Since over 80% of the revenue of the Windows Division comes from selling licenses of the operating system preloaded on new computers, the OEM crapware is here to stay. But this is not to say that Microsoft is not doing anything about it.
"The typical OEM ships dozens of software applications on top of Windows, many developed in-house, making our OEMs some of the most influential software developers Microsoft partners with. These applications both represent significant value to end users and have a material impact on the end user’s perceptions of quality and performance," revealed a member of the OEM Engineering and Services group. "Our team focuses on the OEM’s total system quality with an emphasis on making their SW stack performant, reliable and highly satisfying to end users."
The fact of the matter is that Windows 7 OEM off-the-self computers will come with just as much crapware as Windows Vista machines. Microsoft plans to work with the OEM ecosystem to optimize configurations, and in this regard the company is looking for a new senior lead to build intimate connections between Microsoft engagement teams and the major global OEMs.
"The role combines management of engagement program managers, senior-level partner management to scope programs and resources and product strategy helping to drive key Microsoft initiatives in partner roadmaps and driving better end user focus with our core OEM partners. Challenges your team will face will be varied and interesting with work spanning from high level system consulting and analysis with our partners to detailed engineering consultant engagements where Microsoft is helping our OEM partners develop the code, best practices and experience to become outstanding software developers that make Windows-based PCs shine," the OES member stated.
But in the end, the real question is what impact is Microsoft going to have on third-parties configuring, modifying, tweaking Windows 7 to their liking while severely handicapping the operating system's performance? The Redmond company joggles terms such as performance, reliability and satisfactory pre-loaded OEM software on top of Windows, the same solutions that end users refer to as crapware, and have been criticizing vehemently. In this regard, Microsoft might find that it is fighting a hydra cutting off one head at a time, when the obvious solution is to no longer allow OEMs to ship new machines by default except with clean installations of Windows.