Newsmaker: Windows chief fields readers' questions

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David Shaw in Italy asks about Vista in the enterprise. His cubicle isn't getting a high-definition TV any time soon. What's going to make Vista a compelling upgrade for business users like him, for many of whom security is a top concern?
Allchin: I mentioned security earlier. There are so many features in terms of security and safety in Windows Vista that I think it will end up saving him time and--certainly--worry. But let's assume that we get past that. What other capabilities? How is it going to make his day more productive? I'll just talk about some of those features. The first is that there could be new applications that might have great appeal and might give him additional information that he couldn't have gotten before using the new Windows FX API.

Also, if he's a mobile user, the capabilities in terms of (tranferring) information very quickly, taking your laptop from work to home. Today, if you run Windows XP, it's quite difficult. You may be on a domain at work and you take (the laptop) home: can you even find your printer? It doesn't even show up. Or then you take it to Starbucks and you say, "Hmm, how will I have my firewall port set? Hmm, I'm worried." So we address those types of issues.

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We're including a set of nice experiences directly in the product with things like Windows Collaboration. You can create ad-hoc meetings between users, whether it be at Starbucks or in a conference room. You can do wireless projection. You get more instantaneous on and off and on and on and on.

Several readers, including Rammutla Ndlove from South Africa, asked about the requirements for Vista. Will today's PCs really be enough to run all of Vista's new graphics? If someone is thinking about getting a PC now, can they be assured they will get a good Vista machine no matter what they buy? Or should they wait for PCs with a "designed for Windows Vista logo?"
Allchin: We gave general requirements earlier, and this is going to take me a little bit longer to explain. The general requirements we say are 512 megs of memory or up. And I can't remember the actual processor level. And that we would run in scale the functions of the operating system based on the power that was there. My general view is the more memory, the better. I would say that's independent of Windows Vista. XP runs better that way and Vista will continue run better. Processor performance isn't as much as an issue on any of these systems.

Today's product that you're buying, in general, has sufficient processing power. We are pushing the graphics on these systems, and we haven't finalized exactly how low a system will be able to have the Glass effect on. Hopefully within a few months, we'll be able to say exactly how low. But if you have gaming systems today, those types of gaming systems will certainly run all of the Vista system on it. The concept: We're going to try to scale the features to the system that's there. So if you're buying the system today and you have a reasonable amount of memory, then Vista will run on it. If you add more, you'll just get more capabilities.

Trace Netter wonders about the future of Windows development. You've announced plans to retire at year's end. Eric Rudder is now working directly for Bill Gates and the new head of Windows is someone with an obviously good record but from the sales and marketing side. Who will steer the ship on the technical side?
Allchin: There are several things: We've had Ray Ozzie join the company and Ray offers a great insight across the entire company. His focus today is moving us into the services space, but he offers help through all the teams. It turns out there is quite a number of very brilliant technologists in the company. And this is an opportunity for them to take the next step up and I think you'll be seeing more from them as time goes on. Certainly, Kevin Johnson, my co-president, is a phenomenal leader and someone who has an incredible track record in being able to pull together all the right people to set direction.

Vaibhav Shah, a software engineer in India asks whether you see Vista as your "perfect farewell gift." And to broaden it, what are you planning on next?
Allchin: Well, let me answer the first one. I'm a perfectionist and none of these products are near perfection and it's very hard if you really want to build great software. If you want to ship it, you have stop at a certain point and ship it. And so you can't quite ever reach perfection. It's always asymptotic. So, I'm very proud of what we did in Windows XP and very proud of SP 2. I'm proud of Windows Server 2003 and the 64-bit. I'm going to be very proud of Windows Vista when it's done.

As to what I'm going to do later, I have no idea. I have no idea.  

More Newsmakers

Assume we get past that...

Yes, lets all ASSUME microsoft finally gets past their infinite
holes, bugs and patches... then what? There may be an
application that will give me more information then I can
currently get? Well then - put me down for two copies. Still
following are we Bill?