There has been all kinds of buzz around the Internet in the last week regarding Windows 7. It started when a roadmap of the Windows 7 release cycle was leaked revealing that Microsoft’s intentions are to ship the operating system in 2009, instead of the previous 2010 estimation that was announced. At that time it was also revealed that the first milestone of Windows 7 had already been given to key partners.
It wasn’t long after that when a Neowin forum member claiming to have Windows 7 Milestone 1 posted some things that he had noticed when using the new operating system, but he must have felt some remorse because he quickly pulled down the post that he made… not before the caches could pick it up though. Then just yesterday a Chinese site posted several screenshots of Windows 7 M1 which left us squinting just to see how it differed from Vista.
And today there is a video available [via I Started Something] from the Chinese site who posted the screenshots. Don’t bother going to watch it because you’re not really going to see anything you haven’t seen before. They didn’t bother to open the Control Panel or demonstrate how the new System Tray expansion works, which was probably the only thing exciting about the screenshots in the first place.
By the time Windows 7 Milestone 3 rolls out later this year we should start to see some changes to the appearance, but Mary Jo Foley is wondering if Windows 7 is going to be the Anti-Vista that the Vista critics want it to be. She really hit home when she said:
But Microsoft is in a tricky spot. Apple can put consumers front and center when it designs a new operating system. But Microsoft needs to strike a balance between creating an operating system that appeals to both business users and consumers. If Microsoft only had to appease business users with Windows 7, a minor, no frills point-release update would be perfect. But it also has to fend off Mac OS X with Windows 7 on the retail front.
I think Microsoft is going to try and spend some time figuring out what users need the most out of Windows 7, and they’ll make sure that it’s done right. Don’t expect to see a ground-up redesign, but at least we shouldn’t have to worry about Microsoft making promises that they can’t keep. I think they’ve learned they’re lesson on that one.
Microsoft also just posted record profits for the second quarter saying that their revenue was over $16 billion. Their chief financial officer said that is $2 billion over their previous record, and a good chunk of that has to be fueled by Vista sales. Considering that they’ve sold over 100 million licenses since Vista’s launch I would say that it’s not as much of a dud as some sites lead you to believe.
Nothing Microsoft could do would satisfy those the haters over at Slashdot and Zdnet. Nothing is going to satisfy the “I upgraded to XP” crowd.
My best hope for Windows 7 is that it will improve a lot of the networking issues I have seen with Vista. I suspect most of the issues I have seen are due more to the fact it uses the TCP/IP v6 stack. I worked on an XP machine on which someone had put the TCP/IP v6 stack and it would not work properly on the network. Once I removed that component from Windows everything just started working. Thats what I hope will happen with Windows 7, that everything that was broken with Vista will just start working.
Have you tried Vista SP1 yet? I wonder if that will fix any of those issues.
Don’t forget to mention the diehard Mac fans who look for faults in Windows, yet can’t seem to get away from having to use it on their Mac.
I don’t think it will satisfy users, at least not till about 2 years after release. Same goes for Vista as well, as it did for XP.
People bitched about XP for a couple of years, then after Service pack 2 a lot less, and now they are like “XP is so much better than Vista, why would I ever upgrade”.
By the time 7 come out, it will be “Vista is so much better than 7, why would I ever upgrade.”
I am pretty happy with Vista 64 at the moment.
I’ve been a bit skeptical about jumping on the 64-bit operating system right now. I’m just not sure if I’m ready to find out how many 64-bit drivers my system lacks.
I think Microsoft is focusing a little bit too much on the UI. If Windows 7 ends up to be a program that looks like Windows 98, but fixes most of the problems in Vista; it would still be a program I would consider buying. I don’t care about the UI. I care about how stable the operating system. Besides; you could always skin your computer to make it look a whole lot better.
I will agree that Vista or Windows 7 would be better after a few years since their release; but how many people are actually going to wait for Microsoft to fix everything? People believe that there are much better alternatives out there. Why should they stick with an operating system that just “doesn’t work”?
As far as I know, MS coders who work on stability are separate from coders who work on UI (correct me if I’m wrong) so MS should be able to produce both a nice looking and stable OS. I just don’t get how Vista was released with Win 3.11 stuff in it. Mind boggling.
If that is true, then I wish that Microsoft would get more people to work on the stability part. It seems that the people who worked on Vista were drunk because Vista’s compatibility/stability is horrible. It’s like Windows ME all over again. Hopefully Microsoft can dig themselves out of this hole…
By the time Windows 7 is released i hope to see a 3 way fight considering how Linux( Particularly distro’s like Ubuntu is catching up). And i agree with Verdican, stability is much more important than UI for me, but that cant be said about everyone. so Microdoft will need to strike a balance.
“which left us squinting just to see how it differed from Vista”
Does it really need to be, look at Apple they bring out .x increment for the past 7 years and OS X still looks the same. No was does OS X looks bad don’t get me wrong but Microsoft doesn’t really need to change the way Win7 look when it is going to be coming about 2 and half years after Vista IMO.
Yes, they are completely separate teams. I’ve talked with a project manager on the graphics team and they worked solely on the presentation foundation, which is used for things like Flip3D.
It is no where near as bad as Windows ME in my experience. Windows ME would crash almost everyday for no apparent reason, and I’ve received a blue screen once in over a year that I’ve been running the RTM version of Vista. And that was only because I tried to install an antivirus application to see if it was compatible.
I’m one of those people who find the UI to be be an important aspect of the operating system. Don’t ask me why, I’m just a sucker for eye candy.
That’s a really good point, and I like Vista’s appearance enough where I wouldn’t expect to see much of a change the next time around.
I just don’t get it xp and 2000 UIs are clean and nice. Vista’s UI is so bloated. They hide all the good stuff behind crap in vista. If they just improve certain things in the XP/2000 UI and make windows a better product. Instead of spending a bunch of money on a pile of crap like Vista
People,STAY in Windows Vista,7 sucks,I got it,ul have no sound workinhg in 7,no working graphic card and…90% dont work