Microsoft: Why we are not talking about Windows 7 yet

May 27th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under

It is clear since day one that Microsoft is using a different approach to communicating Windows 7. One could say they are extremely tight-lipped and do not reveal more than necessary to the public which includes online and offline press. The approach is not without risks and one of the greatest is that not saying anything about a new operating system leaves room for speculations, rumors and fake news like those fake Windows 7 Videos on Youtube.

Chris Flores is explaining in a blog post entitled Communicating Windows 7 why Microsoft is using this approach for their next operating system:

So, why the change in approach? We know that when we talk about our plans for the next release of Windows, people take action. As a result, we can significantly impact our partners and our customers if we broadly share information that later changes. With Windows 7, we’re trying to more carefully plan how we share information with our customers and partners. This means sharing the right level of information at the right time depending on the needs of the audience. For instance, several months ago we began privately sharing our preliminary plans for Windows 7 with software and hardware partners who build on the Windows platform. This gave them an opportunity to give us feedback and gave us the opportunity to incorporate their input into our plans. As the product becomes more complete, we will have the opportunity to share our plans more broadly.

One aspect that Chris forgot to mention though is the public perception of Windows Vista. Many Windows XP users do not feel that it is necessary to change to Windows Vista yet and an announcement that Windows 7 would be faster, better looking, more secure and coming out in the near future would definitely have an impact on their decision. The lack of information prevents that users make that decision based on the next Microsoft operating system.

As I said earlier not speaking about Windows 7 will inevitably lead to false rumors and Chris responds to the rumor that Windows 7 will make use of a new kernel.

Contrary to some speculation, Microsoft is not creating a new kernel for Windows 7. Rather, we are refining the kernel architecture and componentization model introduced in Windows Vista. While these changes will increase our engineering agility, they will not impact the user experience or reduce application or hardware compatibility. In fact, one of our design goals for Windows 7 is that it will run on the recommended hardware we specified for Windows Vista and that the applications and devices that work with Windows Vista will be compatible with Windows 7.

Last but not least he clears the confusing three years after Windows Vista statement by Bill Gates when asked about the release of the Microsoft operating system. Windows Vista was released on January 30, 2007 to the general public which would mean that the release date of Windows 7 will be most likely in the first quarter of 2010.

We are well into the development process of Windows 7, and we’re happy to report that we’re still on track to ship approximately three years after the general availability of Windows Vista. As always, we will be releasing early builds of Windows 7 prior to its general availability as a means to gain feedback, but we’re not yet ready to discuss timing and specific plans for any Beta releases. In the meantime, customers can confidently continue with their Windows Vista deployment plans.

It obviously is just an estimation and anyone working in IT knows that things sometimes happen that impact a release date dramatically. As of know this is the only information that we got.

Bookmark & Share

«« Windows 7 to make appearance at D6 Conference
Windows 7 Multi-touch demo at D6 Conference »»

About the Author

author photo

Martin Brinkmann is an Online Journalist from Germany who discovered his love for technology in high school. He is currently working as a freelancer for several publications and runs his own Internet website Ghacks

See All Posts by This Author

There Are 10 Responses So Far. »

  1. #1

    Comment by Smiler on 27 May 2008:

    you spelt now wrong on the last bit loland i think that this seems quite negative to be honest (although MS are being positive - the W7news team seems to be a bit negative about this)i just hope that the W7 fans dont feel as though it’ll just be another Windows M E and the news from the MS team seems very nice to hear, Plus we may just get a better responce to the new OS this time around because with OS’s like Vista were released without giving people any updates really…so this is nothing but positive for the future OS’s - maybe if the Hardware fanboys favorite GPU manufacturer makes good Drivers then the new OS will have even more positive feedback from users

  2. #2

    Comment by Ryan Northrup on 29 May 2008:

    It’s at least nice that Microsoft now has an excuse for keeping the details on Windows 7 under wraps.  Why try to advertise things that no one will need or want?  And I’m confident that Windows 7 won’t be another ME; Microsoft knows better.

  3. #3

    Comment by maskman on 2 June 2008:

    What is the point of the website?  Let Microsoft die and some good products creep in.  Maybe Google will step up and let everyone see that open source has potential with leadership (i.e. Firefox 3 runs faster then Firfox 2 and has more features)

    We’ve suffered through too much M$
    Crash 95
    Crash 98
    Mistake Edition
    Windows XP (the x stands for exceptional security holes, but hey it crashed less)
    Windows Bloat (which shows the M$ has no idea what is going on in IT.  While everyone is coming up with netbooks that need an efficient OS’s they come up with a pig that offers no value.  The OS should not be why we are upgrading hardware).

  4. #4

    Comment by SEO Tips on 13 June 2008:

    So effectively the Vista kernel, extensively reworked, will be Windows 7?

  5. #5

    Comment by Sonic on 23 June 2008:

    @ Smiler:

    “spelt” is not a word. You spelled “response” wrong. You used improper grammar and punctuation all over your post. Don’t be so quick to point out someone else’s errors when you can’t take the 30 seconds to proof read your own post. It makes you look pretty arrogant.

    @ maskman:

    Seriously man. For real? Have you any idea how old and pointless Microsoft bashing is? And Vista? I use Vista every day. I love it - It has never crashed, hiccuped, killed my family, stolen all my computer’s hardware etc. Guess how much money I spent upgrading my computer to handle it? None. Go figure. And even if I had to …what’s to complain about? I could put together a brand new machine for less than what it cost to buy 2gb of ram several years ago. Almost forgot the best line of your post - what is the point of this site? The point is to share news with people who are curious about the next iteration of Windows. Kinda obvious, don’t you think?

    @ SEO Tips:

    Um… yeah ….that’s what the article says…

  6. #6

    Comment by vistauser on 23 June 2008:

    Vista works fine on my p4 2.6 HT, 200 ata, d865perl, 1 GB Ram which was built in 2003!

  7. #7

    Comment by SEO Tips on 23 June 2008:

    My Athlon 64 3200+, with 1GB RAM, 200GB SATA HDD and 6600GT Video card is also OKish with Vista, but am happier with XP performance after comparing the two back to back.

  8. #8

    Comment by Jamie on 25 June 2008:

    I can see why its best not to over excite everyone, I’m a mac and pc onsite engineer so have a very open view, apple and ms are both working for a common goal, w7 and snow leopard both expected to reduce footprint s more processing power for US!! 

  9. #9

    Comment by Lincoln on 25 August 2008:

    I have been using Vista for over a year now and performance is comparable to XP if you turn off the Windows Search and Aero interface, and so far more reliable.

  10. #10

    Comment by Chris on 7 September 2008:

    “What is the point of the website?  Let Microsoft die and some good products creep in.  Maybe Google will step up and let everyone see that open source has potential with leadership (i.e. Firefox 3 runs faster then Firefox 2 and has more features)
    We’ve suffered through too much M$
    Crash 95
    Crash 98
    Mistake Edition
    Windows XP (the x stands for exceptional security holes, but hey it crashed less)
    Windows Bloat (which shows the M$ has no idea what is going on in IT.  While everyone is coming up with netbooks that need an efficient OS’s they come up with a pig that offers no value.  The OS should not be why we are upgrading hardware).”

    You have no idea what you’re talking about. At least Microsoft uses the public’s views and ideas every time they make an OS. People wanted a flashier interface, they got one. Other OS users (and some of us XP/2000 fans) complained about the lack of security upon the installation of new software. We got that too. It’s not like those features most people complain about are permanent or non-functional. They exist because the public wanted them. If MS can’t take the public’s requests seriously, then its the public’s own fault for not knowing what it wanted.

    And on a more personal note, W95 was the best thing to happen to operating systems since the invention of binary. It introduced more features by the end of its time than any other OS available to the majority public than ever before (or during!) it.

    Also, Windows ME alwase seemed to be more of a test-edition of XP to me. Mass produced and fed to the public, just like Vista. W7 should be able to take all those petty little complaints you know nothing about and stuff your mouth with them.

    LONG LIVE VISTA, XP, W7 and MICROSOFT.

    Without you we’d all be lost to the swines.

Subscribe without commenting

Post a Response


Comment Policy: Any comments are permitted only because the site owner is letting you post, and any comments could be removed for any reason at the absolute discretion of the site owner.

Bad Behavior has blocked 1095 access attempts in the last 7 days.