Seventh heaven?
Microsoft recently made the next version of its flagship operating system product – Windows 7 – available to Beta testers, allowing users to download and try out its new Windows free of charge ahead of its official launch. Windows 7 is expected to land in third or fourth quarter 2009.
Colin Erasmus, who heads Microsoft South Africa’s Windows Client business, says the new version operates on the same kernel as Windows Vista but will be more efficient than its predecessor in utilising system resources. There are also many new features.
“We go through various testing phases before a product is released to market. That allows Microsoft to gather feedback from the market and implement last-minute features and tweaks being demanded,” says Erasmus. “Windows 7 focuses on making it easy to interact with technology, especially in dealing with all the different devices we carry with us and connect to our computers and how we find information.”
Erasmus also suggests many of the problems users had with Windows Vista have been resolved in Windows 7. “The initial problems expressed with Vista were mostly about device compatibility. When the product launched, there were some problems in that area that were addressed with Service Pack 1 – the first major Vista update. Fixing that and other problems was a major engineering focus for Windows 7.
“There are some great features coming. We have things like Device Stage that, when you connect a new device to your computer, will give you a photo-realistic image of the device being added and it will then take it to the taskbar and by right-clicking on it you’ll be able to do things with that device. There are also integrations into Facebook and other social networking services,” says Erasmus.
“Another feature – called Home Group – will scan your network at home for all devices and add them together in a central console on your PC. From a business point of view one really nice feature called ‘BitLocker on the Go’ allows users to quickly encrypt USB sticks and other attached storage devices, keeping information on them safe.”
Windows 7 will also be streamlined in terms of bundled software, so when you install the operating system some Windows Live tools – such as Windows Mail and Windows Live Messenger – will not be automatically installed but rather made available as free downloads from the Internet.
However, Erasmus says Microsoft has considered South African users with limited and expensive Internet connectivity. “We’ll post disks with the free software to anyone who wants them without any cost to the user, except where courier services are used. The number to call for that is 0860 22 55 67.”
Though Microsoft isn’t yet able to commit an exact release date for Windows 7, Erasmus says it’s on track to launch the operating system within the timeframe initially stated. “We remain committed to launching Windows 7 three years after Vista was launched. Which suggests we may well see it in this calendar year.”
Finweek
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