What the Future brings with Microsoft Windows 7
If the leaks and rumors about the next Windows version are true, Microsoft has learned a lot from the Vista fiasco. Windows 7 is Microsoft’s code name for Vista’s successor, and by all accounts it’s going to be smaller, lighter, and swifter than Vista. According to numerous published rumors and stories based on leaked developer builds, the forthcoming operating system will be built around a more modular iteration of the Vista kernel. (And the so-called called MinWin kernel, which fills just 25MB of disk space and runs in 40MB of memory, may not be it.)
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A modular kernel would have built-in networking but lack a graphical user interface (GUI), which means that Microsoft could build an OS with either an elaborate GUI for eye-candy addicts or a minimal one for use on low-end computers that can’t dream of running Vista—the kind of hardware that now runs Linux and that’s likely to be found in emerging world markets. Microsoft owns the corporate desktop, and has enterprise-management tools no one can match, but Linux made an end run around this market to take over the cheap hardware used everywhere else, and Vista is too big and clumsy ever to catch up. Windows 7 is designed to be swift where it needs to be swift, but even more feature-packed than Vista on high-end systems built for entertainment and the enterprise. (Search online for a widely distributed video of Microsoft’s Eric Traut talking about the MinWin concept.)
Microsoft hasn’t said much officially about Windows 7. During a recent speech in Japan to the Windows Digital Lifestyle Consortium, Bill Gates said that it would “be lower power, take less memory, be more efficient, and have lots more connections up to the mobile phone.” He also said, “if you have two personal computers, your files automatically are synchronized between them, so you won’t have a lot of work to move that data back and forth.” The rest of what we know comes partly through leaks from developers, partly from interpretations of job listings by Microsoft.
To compound the confusion, we don’t know when Windows 7 will appear, but dates ranging from late 2008 (unlikely) to 2010 (more plausible) are being bandied about. There’s a slightly desperate undertone to Microsoft’s public and private remarks about Windows 7, which suggests that the company wants to forget Vista as soon as possible, so you can expect the Redmond giant to move full speed ahead toward shipping Windows 7. About the five-year gap between XP and Vista, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told a group of Microsoft MVP’s (Most Valuable Professionals), “We can’t ever let that happen again.” But whether the Incredible Hulk can successfully morph into the Silver Surfer is an open question.
To see why it’s called Windows 7, open a command prompt in your current version and enter the command VER. Under XP SP3, the version number displayed is 5.1.2600. Under Vista SP1, it’s 6.0.6007. No prize for guessing the first digit when you run VER in Windows 7’s command prompt
