No New News Yet About Next Windows Version

Several recent news reports have suggested that things are heating up with the next Windows version, code-named Vienna (aka Windows 7). However, despite a few off-the-cuff remarks by Microsoft executives, no new information has been revealed about Windows Vista's successor.

Here's what we do know. Upcoming client versions of Windows are now being developed by a team run by Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president of Windows and Windows Live Engineering. Formerly in charge of Microsoft Office, Sinofsky is well known for his calculating manner and a proven ability to ship products on time and is expected to deliver Vienna and future Windows versions in-line with Microsoft's new internal schedules.

Make no mistake, Vista isn't the final Windows version; it's not even the final major Windows release. Vienna, due in about two years, is expected to include several features that didn't make it into Vista, as well as a new shell that's being developed by the people who created the Ribbon UI for the Microsoft Office 2007 system. However, Vienna will be a minor upgrade compared to Vista. A future Windows update, due about two years after Vienna, is expected to be the next major Windows release.

You can expect Vienna to include some features that will debut in the next version of Windows Server (code-named Longhorn Server), which is due in late 2007. (The Longhorn Hypervisor has been mentioned as a possible Vienna feature.) But Vienna isn't even the next deliverable from the Windows client group: Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), code-named Fiji, will precede Vienna. I've been told that Vista SP1 will ship alongside Longhorn Server and will include a new kernel version that will bring Vista up-to-date with the kernel in Longhorn Server. Vista SP1 will also include several other new features, although Microsoft has remained closemouthed about those features. (Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has even publicly denied that the company is working on Vista SP1, although it most definitely is.)

Here's a bit of speculation about Vista SP1 that you probably haven't heard elsewhere: The Media Center team at Microsoft has admitted that it will complete Vista's version of Media Center in the future, and they told me that it's logical to assume that such an update might arrive in time for the 2007 holiday season. Including that update with Vista SP1 makes a lot of sense, given the timing and the fact that Vista's Media Center UI is only partially complete.

So what does all this mean? Although Vista was just recently released, it's only natural for enthusiasts and news sites to be clamoring for information about future Windows versions. After all, Vista slogged through a five-year development process that was full of public mishaps and delays. Microsoft, meanwhile, has promised that future Windows versions will be delivered more quickly. And that, indeed, is the plan. But don't be confused by any news reports you might have seen online or elsewhere. There's been absolutely no new information released about Vienna, Fiji, or any other upcoming Windows version recently. Instead, we're just seeing a Windows community champing at the bit for the next big thing.

End of Article

My advice to Microsoft about future Windows: Keep tight-lipped!

That way there's less crow to eat when the company drops features and misses deliverable dates.

mwrisner February 12, 2007 (Article Rating:

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Considering that there's no new news about Windows 7, Paul sure makes a lot of conjectures. New shell? Major version will be the one after W7? Hypervisor? Where's he getting all this from if there's such little news available?

PatriotB6007 February 12, 2007 (Article Rating:

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"Where's he getting all this from if there's such little news available?"

That's Paul's way of planting the seeds for a future "You saw it here first". It's his way of accusing Mary Jo Foley of ripping him off.

;-)

lotsamystuff February 12, 2007 (Article Rating:

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@patriot, there is no NEW news about Vienna. Paul is only trying to say that he knows all, and that these other lame news orgs are just getting with the picture now with what all-knowing Paul has known for quite some time. In fact, Paul knows about it before even MS does.

bmnbmn February 12, 2007 (Article Rating:

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@ lotsa:

ahahha! Awesome.

sticknick February 12, 2007 (Article Rating:

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Well ever way i can't wait to see what comes out the door next in the way of Winodws. It look like it going to be good times ahead for a while.

To we here more it will be funny to see what is said and then to see what is right.

ra@ix.net.au February 12, 2007 (Article Rating:

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I can't wait to see what they will include in the next Windows. My ideal would be a complete re-doing of the entire OS, stripping out all the backwards-compatibiliy crud that has been a part of Windows for the past 10 years.Using the virtualization features in most modern chips, apps that would not be compatible with the new Windows would run in a virtual machine.

---Slightly off-topic

For those people who own Vista, and yet like OS X's Expose, here are two solutions:

If you own a Microsoft mouse, head over to www.microsoft.com/hardware and download the latest Intellipoint. By default, clicking the scroll wheel will launch the Expose-like feature. For everyone else, go to
http://blogs.labo-dotnet.com/simon/archive/2006/11/08/11485.aspx

This thing looks and acts like Expose, complete with the F9 hotkey and moving your mouse to the top-left corner of the screen. Any part of the program can be configured. However, this does take up a chunk of memory. It is now possible to do this eye-candy quickly and easily because of Vista's revamped DWM.

NateB2 February 12, 2007 (Article Rating:

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"My ideal would be a complete re-doing of the entire OS, stripping out all the backwards-compatibiliy crud that has been a part of Windows for the past 10 years.Using the virtualization features in most modern chips, apps that would not be compatible with the new Windows would run in a virtual machine."

I agree. If there is one thing I would like to see "copied from Apple" (as the pundits would would no doubt label it), this is it: Microsoft needs to start fresh and bring us an entirely new OS - but put in some kind of compatibility like Apple did with the "Switch to OS 9" feature (slow and not ideal), or, like you mentioned, a Rosetta like VM (more acceptable) that would continue to run old Windows apps until everyone (coders and end users) can upgrade.

Personally, the lack of this is one of the reasons I'm holding off on Vista until the last possible second - and even then I just *may* look at Apple when it comes time to upgrade; probably around next spring/early summer. As mentioned in a previous rant, there is not enough change in Vista to make me want to upgrade. Someone said Vistas biggest competitor would be XP, and they were right.

I know when I first caught wind of Longhorn, it was still destined to be an entirely new OS.

Here's hoping the next Microsoft OS will be.

sticknick February 13, 2007 (Article Rating:

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Maybe Microsoft should fix Vista first:

http://tinyurl.com/394twr

lotsamystuff February 13, 2007 (Article Rating:

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might i point you to the problems discussing NVIDIA's drivers? i have the same issue with games on my desktop containing an NVIDIA 7800 GTX, yet my notebook system with an ATI chipset has no issues with the same games. both systems have Windows Vista RTM running on them with nearly identical software. NVIDIA does have a beta driver out for Vista RTM (100.xx), and it seems more stable than the release version of their driver (95.xx). it gives the same performance as any game did under XP, too. Microsoft already slammed NVIDIA for not having stable drivers when a product demo featuring an NVIDIA chipset actually crashed Windows Vista in a pre[consumer]-release presentation in front of a band of big-box reseller reps. the performance and reliability monitor actually tracked the bug to the drivers.

with NVIDIA focusing much of their graphics horsepower on DirectX10, i may be looking for an upgrade in the coming months. the 8800 GTS is reasonably priced, and tomshardware.com mentioned that a cheaper 320MB version is going to be available. the 320MB 8800 GTS is going to be identical in clock & RAM speeds to the standard 640MB 8800 GTS, but just with half the RAM, making it yet another awesome graphics chipset to run DirectX10 at a different price point. the 768MB 8800 GTX is still the King, though.

XP

Waethorn February 13, 2007 (Article Rating:

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