Comments on: Windows chief talks '7'

In an exclusive interview, Steven Sinofsky offers up a few details on the new operating system and the rationale for why he is not saying more publicly.

[robotbuilder]

Sounds like Steve is talking in order to defend his position of not saying anything. Mission accomplished.

[JRude667]

Ask MS any question, get the same answer. Nothing has changed. Didn't expect it to. EVERY search on MS includes as results speeches by Bill! Then the looong rambling non-responsive sites and articles that raise just more questions. Then they have the gall to ask if the results of your query were helpful! lol!

[SniperSlap]

There's a huge glaring hole in this interview: Linux

They couldn't have been more blatant about it. I'd bet a decent amount there was a condition on this interview and it was that Linux not be mentioned or compared to Windows in any way.

In so many more ways, Microsoft is trying to draw attention away from how Linux is solidly beating it out more than "just a bit" or "as an up and comer". They do that by trying to galvanize the competition between them and Apple which is at best nonexistent. The reason being, Apple can't lose customers to Microsoft and Microsoft can't gain customers from Apple.

I'm pro linux, right the way through, but I find it really interesting how even Apple has also turned a blind eye to Linux, they see it as some unfathomable horror they can't perceive. Both companies are crippled by Linux's ability to demolish performance and need with a relentless forward moving pace.

Looking at Windows on its own, Vista was a disgrace and Sinofsky is of the mind that he needs to build on that? The man is such a classic, optimistic pencil pusher. His theories are going to splinter the remaining scraps of support Windows has. The red stain is already fading from the mouths of kool aid addicts...

[tekwiz4u]

The mention of Windows 7 just goes to show MS Vista is on its way out. Why not ask the question, "Where was the breakdown in making Vista a success?". I feel sorry for users that spent their hard-earned money in upgrading when there will be supposedly "A better product" down the road.

[The_Decider]

Why do you feel sorry? With no exceptions, the first and second iteration of a MS product is always crap. Occasionally the third iteration isn't total crap. After all these years, those that haven't figured out that truth get what they deserve.

[tekwiz4u]

XP was their shining product, so i would have hoped they learned from it. Doesn't mean that the whole generation is crap. MS just needs to go back to their roots via XP and build from it, not overshadow it with bells and whistles like they did with Vista.

[open-mind]

Based on this interview, I think Microsoft is really in trouble. For example, it's like this guy didn't even understand the "compatibility layer" question. I wonder if he's ever developed software or if he's just another MBA.



For the last five years, it seems like MS has been direction-less. Much like Apple starting around 1985-1997. It took about 12 years of direction-less management to almost destroy Apple. We will see how long it takes before this catches up to MS. If nothing else, they seem to be giving Apple/Linux several more years to increase market share.

[tekwiz4u]

Lets be realistic here....LINUX will never have the market share. As long as there are legacy software out there, windows is here to stay (and unfortunately....growing).

[open-mind]

Just wanted to clarify ... I'm not suggesting that MS is doomed. Rather, I'm suggesting that they appear to be squandering away the monopolies that have provided them so much wealth and power. The market share of Windows is declining. In five years, I think Windows could have 50% market share on the desktop. The other half would be OS X and Linux. At that point, MS has to compete solely on features and price ... something they're not used to doing.

[DrtyDogg]

That's a great thing for the consumer. I can't wait for a more level playing field to really bring out desktop innovation from all parties.

[Seaspray0]

It made perfect sense to me. He basically said that the direction with the targeted specifics of the product focuses dimensional models of activity with understanding the PC ecosystem significantly and compatible with the vista 64 bit kernel while releasing major backfeed... Or something like that.

[sanjayb]

Too funny!! :-)

[Mr. Dee]

I think the reason why Steven did the interview is because he was forced by possibly Gates and Ballmer. It was Gates who had to tell the Internet Explorer General Manager to be more open about the next version of IE. The premise of Steven being interviewed is to really change peoples perception of who he is and to reassure the enthusiast communities for Windows and early adopters that they are indeed hard at work on the next release of Windows. Of course the information is still clamped down, its still a sign that Microsoft is listening to us. If you read carefully, there will be lots of features in the OS. Which means Windows 7 will be distinctive in that there will be value for users to upgrade to, whether its new applications in addition to major upgrades of the built in ones.

The interview in my opinion is not a failure.

[David Gerard]

SAN FRANCISCO, Redmond, Friday (UnGadget) - With Vista? just out the door, Microsoft is drawing up plans to deliver its followup, codenamed Windows 7, by the end of 2009^W2010. That would be a much faster turn-around than Vista, which shipped more than five years after Windows XP.

Vista's uptake has been stupendous, with copies flying off the shelves and midnight queues on release day turning into major street riots, police deploying water cannons and rubber bullets, to rival the release scenes for the PlayStation 3 and the Zune. It is expected to give a significant boost to the computer hardware industry, per the Mended Windows Theory of economics. But Windows 7 aims even higher.

"We have a radical vision for Windows 7," says Steve Sinofsky, corporate vice-marketer for development. "It's definitely the one to wait for. You should avoid buying any other operating system or even looking at them until you see Windows 7 ... Except Vista, of course. That's pretty good. But Windows 7 is just so amazing. Wow?! It's the most fantastic thing ever. Incredible. Mac OS 10.4 can't possibly hold a candle to it."

So what will be the coolest new feature in Windows 7? According to Sinofsky, that's still being worked out. "We're going to look at a fundamental piece of enabling technology. Maybe it's hypervisors, or a new user interface paradigm for consumers, or rotating cubes like in Ubuntu, or WinFS, which is definitely due to ship with Windows NT 4 in 1994. Or whatever Apple puts in Mac OS 10.6, really. Hell, I dunno. What's really shiny?"

The much-derided Digital Rights Management system in Vista will be worked over. "We'll be including user-downloadable 'tilt bits,' which you can configure to your own liking. It'll require every user to supply a blood sample for DNA analysis, but of course that's only if you want to play *premium* content."

Independent blogger Wiki Jelliffe was incontinent in his praise. "I am so excited about $NEXT_VERSION of Windows. It will surely go beyond just solving all of the problems with $CURRENT_VERSION, it will be an entirely new paradigm. Forget about security problems, that will be all fixed with $NEXT_VERSION. And they?ll finally be ridding themselves of $ANCIENT_LEGACY_STUFF. Also there will be $DATABASE_FILESYSTEM. It?ll be awesome! I wonder how $NEXT_VERSION will compare to $NEXT_NEXT_VERSION."

"It's too early for me to talk about it," added Sinofsky. "But over the next few months I think you're going to start hearing more and more."

[tkredmond]

do interviews like these give credit to MS? Ina kept asking (used every possible way of trying to obtain a descent answer), but he just avoided everything. Does he think this interiew elevated MS to consumers eyes? I am sure MS has a plan for the future. Steve B has articulated it many times. Why was he so unable to avoid this corporate meaningless talk?

[kgsbca]

Somebody clear this up for me: I'm assuming since windows 95 was the first major release after 3.1, it was windows 4. Then came windows 2000 (windows 5), then windows XP (windows 6), and then Vista (windows 7). So why is the next windows being called 7? do they think they'll get lucky and get a usable OS?

[Commander_Spock]

If as you are assuming "windows 95 was the first major release after 3.1, it was windows 4. Then came windows 2000 (windows 5), then windows XP (windows 6), and then Vista (windows 7)..." Then - What are Windows NT, OS/2 Warp 4.52 and eComStation?

XP builds off of Win2K, so don't count both.

[Gorifyny]

What about ME ;=)

[Ischyros]

Forget Windows 9x. Those were completely separate of Windows NT, which is what Microsoft currently uses. After Windows NT 4.0 you had Windows 2000, which was NT 5.0. Windows XP was when Microsoft finally merged Windows 9x and NT into one operating system and XP was really NT 5.1. Vista is NT 6.0. So yes, the next Windows version will be 7.0, though Microsoft currently lists it as version 6.1. There's a great article on Wikipedia with a table showing the NT releases over the years and the versions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_nt

[Mr. Dee]

The thing is, Windows 7 should not really matter to consumers right now, that will be determined during the later stages of development (BETA 1, 2, RC). What matters now is interest by the various partners IHVs, ISVs who build on the Windows ecosystem. They are the ones who will guarantee whether Windows 7 is adopted well by both consumers and businesses.

[timber2005]

its HER blog ;) Ina is a she.

[achh123]

This is Perfect.

Keep it going like this for Windows 7, .net framework was version 7 of the development platform of microsoft and I love it for what is it...

I wish you will make Winodws 7 the same platform that people will love.

And please keep the tight lip, I don't want apple hippies running around mad chicken saying crap about win 7.

Talk when you are ready to ROCK us.

Surpirse Us

[billythekidcal]

I'll know that I won't buy another Microsoft operating system until it is extremely well tested, has been out in the market for a long enough time to know that it works. I custom built a top of the line PC, and loaded Vista which has failed to recognize my colour laser printer or HD camcorder from the start, then for no good reason, all of my USB peripherals (webcam, cardreader etc.) stopped working. Then I lost sound when playing DVDs, then I lost all sound (2 weeks ago). I hate Apple, but those commercials about Vista being flawed and no support are right. Think I will have to roll back to XP (oh yeah, and the Vista update never loaded on my PC no matter what I tried). Not sure why I should have to pay several hundred bucks every few years for a OS update anyway. Seems like a sham to me. Sorry Microsoft, feel free to convince me if I'm wrong and I'll continue to defend you and will be a big advocate. But for now, the chances of my next PC being a MAC (which hasn't happened since I had an Apple 2E) have gone from zero to fairly good. My email address is [e-mail].

[clewis5]

I dont understand how this company keeps making money, this Q/A is alot about nothing. I agree with one of the other posters that said with all this tight lip service maybe MS has no clue about its direction. The answers are very light to non-exist of any real substance. Bill gates should leave this company to someone else, other than Steve Ballmer.

[ssherez]

Why base the next version of Windows on a server? It seems to me that Microsoft doesn't want to tell the truth. If they were to come out and say that the next version of Windows would be an up dated version of Windows XP, they would have to admit that Windows Vista is a dud. Imagine the field day Apple would have in there well known 'Hi, I a Mac - I'm a PC" adds. It seems to me that they would be better off not saying anything at all.

[ssherez]

Windows ecosystem?? What kind of double talking crap is this? I think "Clippy" is running Microsoft, and "BOB" is his top adviser. .

[Imalittleteapot]

No, no. Clippy wouldn't do this. Clippy isn't like that at all.

[sh4d0w42]

wow, what an absolutely pointless interview

[mcharge]

A bit of a pointless interview. He wanted to speak about direction. A lot of the questions were asking about features. I know you want information about features, but that was obviously not what he wanted to talk about.

[TerryC]

I just can't seem to come up with a way to designate the next version as Windows 7.

v3 Windows 3.1/3.11
v4 Windows 95/95OSR2
v5 Windows 98/98SE
v6 Windows ME
v7 Windows 2000
v8 Windows XP
v9 Windows Vista

Next one is Windows 10

...or, if we're really fast and loose with the numbers:

v3 - Windows 3.1/3.11
v4 - Windows 95/98/ME of all flavors
v5 - Windows 2000
v6 - Windows XP (...or is it v5.1?)
v7 - Windows Vista

That would STILL make the next Windows version 8.

How did they get 7?

Oh, and politicians should be awestruck at Sinofsky's matchless bloviating prowess. The man can speak at LENGTH and say absolutely nothing at all.

The actual information disclosed could be summed up in about three sentences.

Amazing.

(Happily staying with XP until they pry it from my cold, dead hands. Learning Linux too.)