Windows exec tackles CNET readers' questions

LOS ANGELES--Over the past few days, readers have been diligently sending me their Windows 7 questions and on Wednesday I had a chance to put some of them to Jon DeVaan, the head of the Windows core operating system division.

Microsoft's Jon DeVaan, talking Windows 7 at the WinHEC 2008 conference in Los Angeles.

(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET News)

Microsoft has talked about the ability of Windows 7 to run on a Netbook, adding today that it can fit on a solid-state drive as small as 16GB. But just how much space does that leave?
Devaan said Microsoft has done a lot of work to ensure that Windows 7 occupies a smaller amount of both memory and storage, allowing it to run comfortably on a 16GB drive.

So how much space is left on that drive?
It's over half by quite a bit.

Windows 7 is supporting multitouch. Is there a way that I can tell whether a touch screen Vista PC will support the touch features of Windows 7.
DeVaan said there will be a logo program by the time Windows 7 rolls around, but the company is still working on the facets of that, so there isn't a program today.

"I'm not sure we quite know," DeVaan said. That said, Microsoft has shown Windows 7 running on HP's TouchSmart PCs as well as on Dell Lattitude XT laptops, so those two lines are probably a safe bet.

Is there anything new on the professional audio side, as compared to Vista?
DeVaan said that Microsoft isn't making major changes to the audio system in Windows 7, though it is adding support for a bunch of new audio and video formats, such as DivX, H.264, and unprotected AAC files.

Anyway, I'm here until Friday, so if you have more Windows 7 questions, send them my way.

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