Vista's Successor Is Simply 7
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News Commentary. In what can only be described as the most casual of Microsoft Windows naming announcements ever, the next version will be called Windows 7. |
Seriously, Windows 7 is the name, according to a blog post attributed to Mike Nash, corporate vice president for Windows Product Management. He writes: "Simply put, this is the seventh release of Windows, so therefore 'Windows 7' just makes sense."
Now, how's that for showing imagination in nomenclature? The code name and version number become the product name. "How much did they have to pay the branding consultants for that stroke of brilliance?" asked Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies.
There's appropriateness here and foreshadowing, methinks. Windows 7 is Windows going back to basics. Microsoft could just as easily call 7 "Windows No Frills." Mike writes:
The decision to use the name Windows 7 is about simplicity. Over the years, we have taken different approaches to naming Windows. We've used version numbers like Windows 3.11, or dates like Windows 98, or 'aspirational' monikers like Windows XP or Windows Vista. And since we do not ship new versions of Windows every year, using a date did not make sense. Likewise, coming up with an all-new 'aspirational' name does not do justice to what we are trying to achieve, which is to stay firmly rooted in our aspirations for Windows Vista, while evolving and refining the substantial investments in platform technology in Windows Vista into the next generation of Windows.
Mike reaffirms that 7 will be largely based on Windows Vista. Backward compatibility and product reliability are Microsoft's two major measures for Windows 7. I find Microsoft's Engineering 7 blog to be fascinating reading and largely indicative of the no-frills approach. Most posts follow two tracks: Defending decisions made developing Vista and then promising to make changes. If the features are justified, why are they being changed? It's a contradiction. Still, the communication is good. The E7 bloggers are doing a good job setting expectations, which in some ways is reducing them.
The Windows 7 naming announcement is yet another sign that Vista's successor is on track to be released in time for holiday 2009. All the major indicators are in place:
- Windows 7's presence at this month's Professional Developers Conference
- Prebeta Windows 7 code distribution to PDC participants
- Ongoing information disclosure through the Engineering 7 Web site
- Today's name announcement
Barring a major catastrophe, Windows 7 will ship in 2009, I predict. Again.
I want to reiterate how much the no-frills naming announcement reflects about Microsoft's Windows development, and also marketing. Typically, Microsoft would have blown up a naming announcement with big PR splash. Instead, there's a blog post. There is overwhelming significance in the underwhelming naming announcement: It's about Windows. Microsoft's "Windows. Life Without Walls" marketing campaign isn't about Vista but the master brand.
I see the naming as also reflecting where Microsoft's marketing is going—and that's back to basics, too. Windows.
[Please send your tips or rumors to watchtips at live.com.]
Comments (37)
Its simple, to the point and effective. Its not astonishing, since Microsoft debuted Windows with numerals, Windows 1, Windows 2, Windows 3.0. It will certainly help reduce confusion and really continue the brands significance on PC's.
Posted by Andre Da Costa | October 13, 2008 7:33 PM
XP being the minor update to Windows 2000 was 5.2 while 2000 was 5. Vista be 6, so shouldn't Seven be 6.2, as the minor to Vista?
Andre said a long time ago, that users would be forced to upgrade to Vista. And while he was wrong again, as usual, it seems in the long run, if Seven is just more Vista, he could be right long term. If Seven=Vista/SP2, only.
Do yourself a favor, if you got to have the latest bloatware from Microsoft, wait for Windows Seven to come out, it could be out as soon as summer 09. Save yourself the pain of getting Vista and Seven, just go to distrowatch.com and get linux. Free, stable, and not the constant malware problems of Windows.
Posted by chips b malroy | October 13, 2008 7:56 PM
Chips, sounds like you are looking forward to Windows 7, me too. :-)
Posted by Andre Da Costa | October 13, 2008 8:09 PM
If it wasn't for my experience with Vista, I might not have moved my business over to using Linux as the primary OS for both server and desktop use. Hearing Microsoft promise (threaten?) that Seven is going to be a warmed over Vista isn't doing anything to entice me back.
I'll keep my rock solid OS and reliable and free upgrade path, and MS can keep its licensing and software fees.
Posted by anon | October 13, 2008 8:43 PM
I thought it would have become clear by now that when Microsoft say 2010, they mean the consumer availability of Windows 7. In line with all mention of a three year release schedule, I expect that all the current estimates of it being released in 2009 are correct. So roughly around this time next year it will be RTM'd, and business versions will then be available. That would mean probably Oct/Nov '09 for RTM, and Jan/Feb '10 for retail. Chips is way off the mark in thinking that it might available next summer. That doesn't fit any of the statements, or history.
During Vista's long development the Longhorn Developer Preview, released funnily enough on April 1st 2005, is roughly equivalent to the pre-beta version of 7 which will be handed out to attendees of PDC2008 at the end of this month. Given that Vista Beta 1 followed it in July '05, that suggest the beginning of next year for Windows 7 Beta 1. Now assuming that Microsoft don't hit so many of the problems that they did with Vista, which we can expect they won't given that much of their work is already done, that means we won't have to have a ten month wait between the first and second betas. That would mean roughly summer '09 for Beta 2 and then the Release Candidates in autumn.
Posted by Nik Blackwell | October 13, 2008 9:06 PM
can't wait :P
Posted by puppet | October 14, 2008 2:30 AM
OS 10.5, sounds soo much more advanced.
Posted by Paul Beagle | October 14, 2008 5:33 AM
Apple introduced Mac System 7 in 1991 -- (That would be more than 18 years ago from 2009)
-- and then they got mired in System 7.
Welcome to Lucky 7, Microsoft!
Posted by System 7 | October 14, 2008 8:25 AM
Windows 7. Makes sense. Easy to remember. Now don't mess it all up by introducing Windows 7 Home, Windows 7 Home Premier, Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 7 Diet, Windows 7 Code Red etc etc.
Please keep this to one release: Windows 7 - it'll make my job of explaining to my bosses what OS we run or will be running on my 5,000 or so PCs.
Posted by tebesan | October 14, 2008 9:02 AM
One can hope Windows 7 will be able to run on legacy and low hardware/netbook computers. Microsoft should stop trying to painting themselves in the corner with huge behemoth Operating Systems that can only run on certain computers.
Yet as great as XP is, it is a little embarrassing for a high profile, major international corporation with billions at its disposal..... To continue to rely on a OS that is seven years old just to be able to take part in a very hot segment of the computer market....mini laptops.
Posted by Ralph | October 14, 2008 9:20 AM
Joe, will Windows 7 also bring a threefold increase in SKUs? Will we now have Windows 7 Business, Small Business, Home Office, Windows Home Starter, Windows Home Basic, Windows Home, Windows Home Premium, Windows Home Media Edition? Not to mention three or four Ultimate versions.
Posted by Gerardo Tasistro | October 14, 2008 10:07 AM
Re: "Chips, sounds like you are looking forward to Windows 7, me too"
Is that as in, "Windows 7: Windows ME II"?
Which in turn confirms that, "Windows Vista: Windows ME"?
Posted by Philosopher | October 14, 2008 10:57 AM
I view Windows 7 as the reset for MS's Windows Vista. 7 is just a huge software patch for Vista.
Posted by JM | October 14, 2008 12:23 PM
88 versions later, we'll be back at Windows 95.
Posted by Scott | October 14, 2008 1:17 PM
Speaking about windows 7 and continue paying the Microsoft tax this is a very interesting link:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10065296-16.html#
quoting:
"In other words, it's cheaper to continue paying the Microsoft tax, wherein companies give up any hope of future innovation or industry competition, than to try that dreaded, costly thing called "choice." Brooks conveniently forgets the "monopoly tax," the "security tax," its proposed "patent tax," and other taxes that Microsoft happily heaps upon its users.
Brooks may very well be correct about consumers taking a short-term hit in terms of productivity and what-not by choosing a Mac, but by that same logic everyone should just buy into the Microsoft Borg and rely on it to provide eternal sustenance. There is a cost to choice, but there's also tremendous upside. It's called a free market, and costs inevitably fall in truly free markets."
Posted by Marco | October 14, 2008 1:26 PM
Those of you that are wanting Windows 7 to run on older hardware are funny. The reason for new OS releases are to harness the advantages of the newest hardware. If your companies are running on old hardware.. Think about a refresh... IT'S TIME
Posted by Ryan | October 14, 2008 2:52 PM
Gerardo, exaggerations that are very unconvincing. Whatever point you are trying to convey needs to be rethought. Windows Vista is available in multiple editions yes, 6 editions. Two of these are not available in retail, that leaves four. Microsoft had 5 different SKU's on the market for Windows XP and there wasn't a major problem why is it now? Choosing the Windows with everything vs choosing Windows with the features you need based on your scenarios can't be that hard. I would choose the Windows platform any day with its 6 SKUs over Linux which suffers from uneasy to use and over 300 distributions with two different user environments, memory hog because it has to load all the libraries for both KDE and GNOME.
Persons are confusing the Kernel version with the Brand name. Microsoft stopped emphasizing the kernel versions in Windows with the release of Windows 2000 which is NT 5.0. XP is 5.1 and Vista 6.0.
Microsoft chose to continue on the 6x path because of logical reasons, maintaining compatibility and reliability. In addition to the fact there are no major changes expected to the kernel requiring an increment to NT 7.0.
There are developers to think about too, not every application is programmed perfectly to do OS version checking to avoid it acting weird when an end user tries to install it. These are things that must be taken into consideration.
Windows 7 (NT 6.1) will still be a major release. Look at Windows XP, that is NT 5.1 yet it was a major upgrade that introduced major changes to the UI such as the improved Start menu, Task Panes, improved compatibility over Windows 2000 and was the first consumer version of Windows based on NT.
Posted by Andre Da Costa | October 14, 2008 3:32 PM
@Nik Blackwell
Vista came out in Jan 07 for general release, but was released about 3 months earlier for businesses. Steve Ballmer, MS CEO, has said that Windows will never lag so long between releases as Vista did for XP, in fact, he said that MS will never go beyond a 2 1/2 or 3 year release cycle. Since Seven is a minor release to Vista, this will be easy to release early. In fact, the 3rd alpha of Seven is ready to release at PDC conference. As stated, Seven will be more of a service pack with Vista, with UAC improvements, touch drivers, and new wallpaper (lipstick on the pig), nothing too had to do to fleece windows users out of more money for the same old tired code. Seven needs to come out soon, as Vista has not gone over as well as MS hoped it will. Mac and Linux are gaining too much converts, and therefore MS will hasten the release of Seven.
Just for you Nik;
Windows 7 coming June 3rd, 2009?
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/15/windows-7-coming-june-3rd-2009/
Also, as per that link, Windows 7 Ultimate is Version 6.1
@Ralph;
Good point about XP and the low end laptops. Will a version of Seven be able to replace XP on these computers? Maybe, but most likely MS is hoping that these machines get faster cpu's and will then , by then, be able to run bloated software like Seven. However, some of those netbooks, will be running cpu's like mipps, atom, and other low end cpu's, which will require linux or maybe XP, and most likely never be able to run Seven at acceptable speeds. So your question Ralph, brings up another question, if followed to its logical conclusion; will MS be force to continue to develop XP for these netbooks, and release future versions of XP, the way they release current version of Vista and Seven? I think they will have to.
@Marco;
Nice link. Quoting from your link;
"Microsoft has become so dominant in markets like the desktop that its best argument for consumers and enterprises avoiding the Mac and open source is, "But it will cost you so much money to leave Windows."
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What is amazing is this argument, as it applies, as it has some basis in fact if converting to MAC. But not to linux, as almost all software is free there. Another argument is always all the 3rd party apps and games written for Windows. These arguments are weak, as Linux has its own software, usually free, stable, and open source. What can you say for and operating system (windows) that the best thing you can say about it is the 3rd party software written for it, and nothing about the system itself? Obviously, Windows itself is not that good, and has many many problems. The first problem that comes to the mind is the malware problems of Windows.
Posted by chips b malroy | October 14, 2008 3:38 PM
@Andre
You said "Gerardo, exaggerations that are very unconvincing."
I really dont know how you have the nerve to say that after your posts. I notice you havent yet answered any of the questions put to you (fourth time) and youre still posting your copy and paste adverts for Microsoft.
In answer to your previous comment about looking forward to Win 7, Id say that I am. Vista is now getting old as a joke and Im sure that when Win 7 is released we will have some new material.
Andre, we have a term in the UK which goes "Youre flogging a dead horse" I think that is particularly relevant to you, as nobody seems to put any worth in anything you say (now we know the truth Andre)
@Everyone
I still think it possible that Andre is a Linux fan in real life. Take a look at the ihatelinux site. On that site the creator gets everyone else to highlight windows shortcomings by highlighting problems hes had with Linux. The end result? Thousands of posts running down Windows and a great advert to anyone thinking of making the change to Linux. So come on Andre, which distro are you using? Your doing a great job of promoting Linux. Well done!
Posted by Goblin | October 14, 2008 3:50 PM
Ryan :wrote
"Those of you that are wanting Windows 7 to run on older hardware are funny. The reason for new OS releases are to harness the advantages of the newest hardware. If your companies are running on old hardware.. Think about a refresh... IT'S TIME"
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A new release of a operating system that can run on legacy and new equipment is something that seems to be totally foreign to Microsoft.
MSFT's answer to the red hot mini laptop market is to extend XP for another decade...for that important market. Thats REAL innovation....lol
That is why Linux is being adopted by more and more people, corporations, school districts, and government entities. Linux excels at running legacy, low hardware laptops and all the way to the newest high end machines.
Too bad MSFT seems to have lost its way. Not every school district, corporation, government agency can afford new computers or upgrade hardware to satisfy Microsoft's hefty hardware requirements with this economy.
MSFT only hurt themselves with Vista and will likely again with Windows 7.
Posted by Ralph | October 14, 2008 5:42 PM
"Mike reaffirms that 7 will be largely based on Windows Vista."
So W7 = Vista SP3-ish. We should have a better idea of the features list in W7 sometime after Apple releases OS X.6 betas in early '09. That gives the crack devs in Redmond nearly a full year to copy & paste this vaporware into existence.
Posted by Jeff S | October 14, 2008 6:43 PM
Whilst we wait for Andre, let me quote another of his classics:
"....memory hog because it has to load all the libraries for both KDE and GNOME. "
A Windows agent having the nerve to say about memory hogging? Last time I checked, you could run Linux with a lot less memory then you could Windows, and on an older machine.
That could possibly be Andres "quote of the week"
Posted by Goblin | October 14, 2008 8:51 PM
@Goblin,
Yes indeed. An a 64-bit Ubuntu 8.04 system with 2 GB of RAM, a full Gnome desktop, Thunderbird email, Emacs, NetBeans IDE, Firefix 3.03, and OpenOffice.org all loaded and running, memory usage is about 34%.
What's Vista's memory usage with a similar suite of applications running? Perhaps just a teeny tiny bit more than 34% of 2 GB?
Oh, how utterly and completely naive of me to think that I could upgrade from the 2005 era Fedora Core 5 to the latest Ubuntu 8.04 with all of its myriad of fixes, new functions, and greatly updated office and programming applications, and expect that I wouldn't have to add any more memory to the original 2 GB that I started with. EVERYBODY just knows that you can't expect existing hardware to run new software unless you throw wads of money at it.
Posted by Philosopher | October 14, 2008 10:38 PM
@Philosopher :
Seen many linux distro's that run very well indeed on P3 cpu's and 256 mb of ram. Try that on Vista.
chips prefers Mepis, PCLinuxOS
WWW.distrowatch.com it will set you free
Posted by chips b malroy | October 14, 2008 11:16 PM
@Andre
"Choosing the Windows with everything vs choosing Windows with the features you need based on your scenarios can't be that hard. "
But that is exactly the point. What use is choice if you can't choose your choices. I'm not pleased with the current feature segmentation Vista offers and I can't do anything about it. Both Linux and OS X lack this limitation.
"I would choose the Windows platform any day with its 6 SKUs over Linux which suffers from uneasy to use and over 300 distributions with two different user environments, memory hog because it has to load all the libraries for both KDE and GNOME."
This just comes to show your level of ignorance of the Linux platform. There are more than two "user environments" as you call them. I believe the term your mean to refer to is "desktop environments". Take a look here for a more complete list: xwinman.org
Now regarding your comment on loading "all" the libraries. I just did a quick request to install Gnome (on my Kubuntu that uses KDE) and a list of 300 files to install came up. When I requested to install Gnumeric (a Gnome spreadsheet) only 23 required files were listed. So no you do not need to load "all" the libraries to enjoy the benefits of Gnome programs under KDE.
Posted by Gerardo Tasistro | October 15, 2008 12:07 AM
I guess now at PDC we will see all sorts of promises of features and functionalities in Windows 7, along with a really aggressive release date. Then after PDC we will get a long string of blog posts as these features/functionalities are removed one by one in order to have a chance of making the release date. So in the end will Windows 7 be anything more than the already announced Vista SP2 with a new color scheme? Maybe a couple more editions to confuse things? Some tougher DRM and WGA just to annoy everyone? Some security change deep in the guts to break all the hardware drivers? Always lots of fun.
Posted by smist08 | October 15, 2008 11:42 AM
Andre this is for you:
Microsoft Astroturfers to be Subjected to New Laws
http://schestowitz.com/UseNet/2006/December_2006_2/msg00775.html
"The Federal Trade Commission yesterday said that companies engaging
in word-of-mouth marketing, in which people are compensated to
promote products to their peers, must disclose those relationships."
Posted by The Hand | October 15, 2008 1:45 PM
After using Vista Home Premium, I can save Microsoft millions in software development. Just print the boxes for Windows 7, stuff them with XP, and it is a win-win for everyone!
Posted by Michael Sugar | October 15, 2008 3:01 PM
Microsoft Astroturfers to be Subjected to New Laws
http://schestowitz.com/UseNet/2006/December_2006_2/msg00775.html
So Joe Willcox, this should mean that it is against the laws to comment here without stating that one has a relationship with certain companies. If I read this correctly. Also, there should be some kind of advisory on your site stating that posters who are astroturfing, for whatever company, should in their post (comment) identify themselves as such.
Posted by The Hand | October 15, 2008 3:52 PM
Now Hiring - Astroturfer, apply at Microsoft
http://penguinpetes.com/b2evo/index.php?p=474&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
Posted by The Hand | October 15, 2008 4:08 PM
The Hand : wrote
"The Federal Trade Commission yesterday said that companies engaging in word-of-mouth marketing, in which people are compensated to promote products to their peers, must disclose those relationships."
----------------------------------------------------
I get free software from Linux, I guess this doesn't apply to me. :-)
Posted by Ralph | October 15, 2008 4:19 PM
Andre's been online today updating his "blog" so one can assume hes not posting here because:
a/ He knows hes been found out and has realised his posts look silly.
b/ He cant argue with anything being said as he hasnt got a relevant MS press release to cut and paste from (has that ever stopped him before though?)
c/ Hes been given the warning by his employers not to post here as he is damaging the product.
d/ Hes heard that the Gutsy Geeks radio show was refered to his posting in the hope that they may mention it on this sundays broadcast. (Gutsy Geeks is a "proper" radio show in the States and also offers its shows as podcasts online.
e/ Maybe hes just had a system crash and had to re-install Vista. If thats the case I dont think we will see him for at least a day. Shame, if hed been running Linux, you could have re-installed in about 1/2 hour.
Come to think of it, Joe has gone quiet as well.
Hmmmmm.
Posted by Goblin | October 15, 2008 6:20 PM
@Goblin,
Re: "Shame, if hed been running Linux, you could have re-installed in about 1/2 hour."
If he had been running Linux, he wouldn't have needed to reinstall it at all because it wouldn't have crashed!
I only experienced one crash on my Linux desktop, and it startled me to see my windows cleanly but surely disappearing before my eyes. As the Gnome desktop disappeared completely and the last of the green text messages went by, I noticed an over-temperature warning message.
The CPU fan had died. A quick trip to the local store by my sys admin, and the system booted back up and nothing was lost. Even good ol' Firefox put all my browsing windows and tabs right back where they were before (and during) the crash.
Anyway, sorry to nitpick. If I had to choose likely candidates from your list of options, I would choose "Almost all of the above": a, b, c, d, and the first half of e. :-)
Posted by Philosopher | October 15, 2008 7:42 PM
@Philospher
LOL, yeah forgot myself there. Had he been running Linux he wouldnt have had the crash! Doh. Maybe I should change it to "If he changes to Linux now, he can will gain himself extra hours of windows promotion time" Afterall alot of sites promoting Windows are running on Linux, so I dont suppose it matters if someone wants to promote Windows whilst running Ubuntu, its the same double standard.
In my personal experience Ive yet to have a crash with Hardy Heron (upgraded in August) so thats not bad going for an OS.
Ive recently just got functionality out of an old XP machine thats sat in the cupboard for a few years, its running Puppy Linux and its functioning very well. Andre, if your Vista machine is down, Id be happy to supply you the Puppy Linux rig. Just let me know.
Posted by Goblin | October 15, 2008 8:07 PM
@Goblin
I think he's not posting because his copy paste line against Linux failed to hold any traction with the experienced in the field. Which is typical of him. Comes and posts some nonsense about competing products thinking we'll buy it because all his fellow Microsofties are buying into those lines.
On another note I'd like to share my reasons as to why Microsoft came up with the term Windows 7. Since the first time I heard it I kept reminding myself about the movie Seven. You know the seven deadly sins. I'd like to share my path to the Windows 7 name. The seven deadly MS sins:
Invidia (Envy) Windows 1, why not have a GUI like Apple. Envy was such that it compelled them to release such a [poor] product.
Acedia (Sloth) Windows 2x, never really wanted to do anything right now. Looking back Windows 2x looks a bit like a permanent Windows 1x beta test.
Ira (Wrath) Windows 3x, finally they scored with a GUI and they didn't loose their time hitting back bigtime. Remember Windows for Workgroups?
Avarita (Greed) Windows 4x, why share the pie with IBM. Why do something with OS/2 if we can keep it all for Windows 95 and NT.
Luxuria (Lust) Windows 5x. The big boom of Microsoft, their most successful products and most long lived (aside from NT). Microsoft left no doubt about the height of their success.
Gula (Gluttony) Windows 6x. Intoxicated by prior success in their lustful era, they began both acquiring companies to have more stuff on their software stack and kept adding more and more wonderful features to their next OS Longhorn. We all know what type of belly ache that gave them.
Superbia (Pride) Windows 7, because they can. Could be mistaken with Vista. Sure people could think Microsoft was living its Superbia stage with Vista. Somehow they believed we'd take it just because they'll ship it. But no, superbia comes with Windows 7. Actually thinking we'll buy into it after the endless lies, frustrations and feature cuts Vista brought us. Certainly they are sinning with pride if they believe they can do in two years what they have not managed to do in a decade.
Posted by Gerardo Tasistro | October 16, 2008 12:50 PM
Another piece of good news for those that support OS's other than a MS one:
It appears Russia has adopted opensource in its schools. Perhaps they havent, as Andre would say, "Matured to Vista" maybe theyve just "matured"
http://reddevil62-techhead.blogspot.com/2008/10/russias-open-source-revolution.html
Posted by Goblin | October 17, 2008 6:47 PM
@Andre,
I see that "Goblin" advised you that 'we have a term in the UK which goes "You're flogging a dead horse".'
Just so you know, out here in Australia we might also say that you are "pissing into the breeze".
Microsoft is a dead company trading, so start learning Linux now, and beat the rush.
Posted by Hugh | October 23, 2008 6:01 AM