Microsoft offers more details about Windows 7

by Stevie Smith - Oct 29 2008, 14:00

Following news that Microsoft has ditched the much-maligned Vista branding from its upcoming Windows 7 operating system, the Redmond-based titan has this week released a pre-beta test version for close business partners and detailed some of the software’s new features.

Expected to arrive in 2010 as the seventh complete iteration of the long-standing Windows platform, Windows 7 received something of an advanced rollout on Tuesday during Microsoft’s annual Professional Developers Conference -- which runs through to Thursday, October 30.

“We’ve done a lot of work around how you manage the windows, how you launch programs and how you manage the windows of the programs that you’ve launched,” outlined Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president for Windows and Windows Live.

“It’s all about personalization and putting you in control of the PC, and that’s a big initiative that we’ve had,” he added.

Addressing gathered attendees, Sinofsky said the emergence of Windows 7 has been built on customer and user feedback collected through the company’s Windows Vista platform. Vista is still struggling to find widespread favour despite being on the market for almost two years.

The Microsoft executive elaborated on that feedback by saying the development of Windows 7 has benefited from constructive input from the press, product reviews, and even the hugely influential blogosphere.

“As an engineering team we have to do what engineers do,” he added. “When you build a product, when you build a service, you step back and say what have we learned from this, what can we do better, what went well, how do we build on our experience.”

While noting that some features are of course yet to be included, Sinofsky used the pre-beta showcase to focus on the enhanced control features of Windows 7, which included improved on-screen notifications, a revamped task bar, evolved search capabilities and more accessible home network and file-sharing aspects.

In a clear attempt to offset any potential criticism regarding power demands, Sinofsky displayed Windows 7 running on an unexceptional Lenovo notebook equipped with an Intel Atom processor and only 1GB of RAM. By comparison, Vista requires 2GBs for decent performance.

In related news, Microsoft also used the event as a platform to announce its plans for Web-based versions of its popular Office software applications via the Microsoft Office Live Web Service.

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