What is Windows 7?

by Jon Honeyball  |  Friday 8 February 2008
What is Windows 7?

Here's our 60 second guide, and a wishlist for Microsoft's new baby.

- Vista replacement, first codenamed Blackcomb
- Virtualisation, "pie" menu, WinFS on table
- Will retain Windows NT underpinnings

From its original designation of Blackcomb and then Vienna, the internal codename for Steve Sinofsky’s first major Windows project is now generally referred to as Windows 7.

It was initially thought that Windows 7 would be a fundamental rewrite, much as Longhorn was originally intended: 64-bit only, with a major interface redesign and a break in compatibility with previous versions; akin to the transition between Apple Mac OS 9 and X.

Radical interface improvements are being considered, including a new Explorer core, pie-style menu and the death of the Start button, all overseen by Office 2007’s design guru, Jensen Harris.

Some form of Hypervisor Windows virtualisation is likely, and we should also see some of the technologies developed during WinFS finally making their way into Windows. However, the underlying mechanics will ultimately derive from the teetering NT codebase. Windows 7 is planned for release in 2010, in a bid to tighten the schedule after the long delays that affected Vista.

Will it be enough? Only if Microsoft manages to hit its deadline and continues to listen to its users. For a head start, Jon Honeyball provides his wishlist on the next page.

Next page - our Windows 7 wishlist (click below)...

Browse this article:   Next
Related Articles

Source: Copyright © PC Pro, Dennis Publishing

See more about:  windows
 
 
Comments: 1
mpanebia@kidspeace.org
30 April 2008
 I agree with much of what you have to say.
However
1. Call me old-fashioned but I like to know where my data is! Maybe hide it for those who do not care but I Always like to say save in “X:\xxx\xxx” and know it is there. Because there will always, somewhere sometime by someone, be a need to KNOW. Systems/OS's screw up and user profiles get lost.

This business of letting a database on the system keep the system info, backup and everything else with no known logical plan from which, the little better than average user, can figure out where there data is stored and still have access rights to it is unsafe.

2. What MS needs to do is stop packaging "my" data with program/database specs. i.e. access etc

3. Ms should use unix as the os and build the gui stay away from NT, which was a poor copy of VMS.

4. MS should have a setting to keep other programs from hijacking the look and feel a user has setup to their (software co's) logo etc.



Comment made about the PC Authority article:
What is Windows 7??
Here's our 60 second guide, and a wishlist for Microsoft's new baby.

What do you think? Join the discussion.
Comments have been disabled for this article.
Most Read Most Discussed

Latest Comments

Powered by Disqus
Ads by Google

From our Partners

PC & Tech Authority Downloads