14 DAY TRIAL // Make no mistake about it, Windows 7 development milestones are cooking over at Microsoft. One thing should be extremely clear at this point in time. Microsoft's silence on Windows 7 should not be taken for inaction. Windows 7 M1 Build 6519 along with the public demonstrations of the next iteration of the Windows client in May 6, 2008 offer proof that Windows 7 is evolving, and that the operating system is not only dogfooded inside Microsoft but also tested outside the company. The latest illustrative example designed to support this comes from U.S. governmental regulators, more specifically the Department of Justice who are test driving a fresh copy of Windows 7, but not Milestone 1 Build 6519.
"Microsoft has recently authorized TC (Technical Committee) access to another early build of Windows 7 (the successor to Vista), which the TC will review. As the builds of Windows 7 progress, the TC will conduct middleware-related tests in an effort to assure that bugs fixed in Vista do not re-appear in the next operating system, as well as to assure Final Judgment compliance generally," reads a fragment of the Joint Status Report on Microsoft's Compliance with the November 2001 Justice Department antitrust settlement (emphasis added).
Another early build of Windows 7 says it all. This because DOJ has already played with Windows 7 Milestone 1 Build 6519 at the start of this year. Back in March, when I contacted Microsoft on the matter, a representative for the company acknowledged that Windows 7 had indeed been handed over to governmental antitrust regulators but failed to disclose more details. Following the release of M1, the Redmond company was supposed to move onward with the Milestone 2 Build of the operating system.
"Additionally, the TC's on-going review of Windows' treatment of middleware defaults is being expanded to include an operating system source code scan in an effort to determine whether some commonality in the code accounts for default overrides. The TC also is investigating certain default browser overrides, which Microsoft asserts arise from reasonable technical requirements that competing browsers apparently do not implement. The TC will discuss its findings with Microsoft once this inquiry is concluded," it is added in the report.
There is no indication if the additional early build of Windows 7 DOJ mentions in the report issued last week on June 17 is Milestone 2. Microsoft has certainly not given any clue to the evolution of Windows 7, and is keeping the lid sealed tight on the development process for Vista's successor. So tight, in fact, that no information has been leaked since M1. If this situation perpetuates itself, the earliest that Microsoft will give another taste of Windows 7 will be at the 2008 Professional Developers Conference in October, 2008.