14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is cooking a new testing program tailored to the future releases of Windows. The Redmond company confirmed Windows 7 as an evolution of Windows Vista, but this doesn't seem to apply to the infrastructure that helped produce the current Windows client. In fact, not only for Windows 7, but "beyond" as Microsoft has put it indicating the need of continuation for Windows 8, the software company will work to perfect Windows releases. The initiatives debuted by the Redmond giant and associated with the development of Windows 7 are pointing all in the same direction, the stringent need to steer away from the mistakes made with Windows Vista which resulted in inherent incompatibility issues.
As far as hardware is concerned, the Windows 7 apple looks set to indeed fall far from the Vista tree. The new program is focused on Original Design Manufacturer technical engagement revealing Microsoft's efforts "to drive partners' bugs to resolution. [And] to address the changing hardware ecosystem landscape," according to the company. The new program will be built from scratch, signaling a break from the work that was poured into building Windows Vista.
The Microsoft PC Ecosystem & Planning organization's OEM/ODM Readiness team is driving the effort geared to the company's partners. The software giant is attempting to reach out to ODMs and get Windows 7 tested from the earliest stages, drive an influx of bug submissions, and deal with all the problems centralized following feedback.
The upcoming ODM "readiness" program is in fact a combination of technical engagement, testing and Microsoft Evangelism, and in this context the recipe that Vista lacked. The Redmond company knows that it is the sole to blame for the incompatibility problems and Vista's incongruence with some items in the software and hardware product environment.
This is why, with Windows 7, Microsoft is stepping up its game of building intimate relationships with ODM partners. In the end, the move is designed to maximize "testing efforts for our beta phase client and server products," a member of the OEM/ODM Readiness team stated. No telling if the server product reference is related to Windows Server 2008 R2, or to Windows 7 Server.
A critical aspect of the new program is not only to catalyze the "early identifying and resolution issues," said the OEM/ODM Readiness team representative, but also to deliver "early warnings for issues that might affect our ship readiness." This, even though Microsoft has yet to provide the actual deadline for the availability of Windows 7, which is planed to drop in late 2009, or early 2010.