Recently, there was some buzz about Windows 7 coming out next year. We know it’s the major release of a new Windows and we all know it’s called Windows 7, and it’s meant to replace the much maligned Vista. But, why all the fuss about Windows 7 now, when it’s still at least a year away? Let’s take a look.
With such hullabaloo, the new OS has come under some criticism too. Some people feel that Windows 7 is nothing that exciting, but just a development to fix the old problems hounding Vista. Thus, using Windows 7 will just mean an improvement of existing Vista features and capabilities.
However, according to Windows engineering chief Steven Sinofsky, the Windows 7 is leaner, faster and embedded with more advanced features. From the press meet it seemed Microsoft is serious about making Windows 7 sturdy enough to run on devices with limited power. Sinofsky pointed out that they had really worked hard on the project and tried to fix all the problems of slowdowns and bulk which were introduced in Windows Vista. The new Windows 7 seems to have some promise of being faster and leaner from boot times, to menu response. And that, is GOOD news.
Windows 7 was codenamed as Blackcomb and then Vienna, originally. It appears to be designed for all personal computers, laptops, media center PCs and Tablet PCs. Unlike Vista, the operating system would be fully compatible with many existing device drivers, applications, and hardware. The presentations of Windows 7 show that Microsoft have focused on a new designed Windows Shell, multi-touch support, home networking system called HomeGroup, and other enhancements.
Essential features for embedded devices can be componentized in the operating system with this new Windows 7. You can pick the features and technologies which are required to resize the OS. Thus by migrating to Windows 7 from XP there will be large number of improvements like gesture support, Windows Presentation Foundation, Internet Explorer 8, Silver Light2 and others. The current WES 2009 offers Silverlight 1.1 and IE7.
So with Windows 7 having such advanced features like speech and handwriting recognition, support for virtual hard disks, improved boot performance, improved performance on multiple core processors, and kernel improvements – I think all these so far, will be what Windows 7 will be about. And one more thing. For all its sophisticated features, Windows 7 is awaited as a migration from XP, not Vista. And so, will that mark the end of Vista’s lifespan by perhaps, next year?