Windows 7 News
Microsoft announced that the successor of Windows Vista will not be called Windows Vienna but Windows 7. According Microsoft is this the seventh edition of Windows.
Some people think Vienna should not be used because of the song “Vienna” from 1980 by Ultravox which ends with the text :”It means nothing to me, This means nothing to me, Oh, Vienna. This means nothing to me. This means nothing to me. Oh, Vienna.”
The in the past used years to indicate version didn’t work well. Because of the complexity it was not possible to release every year a new OS. (Windows 95 was the first windows indicated with year of release, Windows 98 (in 1998, 3 years after Windows 95), Windows 98 2nd edition (in 1999, 1 jaar after Windows 98) Windows Millenium Edition (2000, 2 years after Windows 98), Windows 2000 Professional (2 years after Windows 98). From that moment Microsoft didn’t used anymore years for their client/workstation versions of Windows (After Windows 2000 came Windows XP and Windows Vista) (Server edition from 2000 till 2008 are still promoted with years, it’s a rumor the new Windows 7 Server will be name Windows 2008 R2 Server).
I don’t know from which versions they count because I count more than 7 Windows versions. When I only choose the 32 bit Windows-versions : NT3.1, NT3.5, NT4, 2000, XP and Vista I count 6, than the next version is indeed 7. But if I count all versions I see a different picture. I don’t understand their logic of counting, but ok. If I only take the mayor release I see :
- Windows 1.x
- Windows 2.x
- Windows 3.x / NT 3.x
- Windows 95 / NT 4.0
- Windows 98 / 2nd edition /
- Windows Millenium / Windows 2000
- Windows XP
- Windows Vista
- Windows 7 ?
I count 8 or 9 (depending how you count NT). I’m curious how they calculated Windos 7 is the 7th release. They did maybe only count only the 32-bit OS versions, what also is strange because of the existance of 64-bit versions.
Now some interesting news over Windows 7.
Currently some features and changes are known which will be in Windows 7 :
- Several programs like Paint and Wordpad will have the same ribbons as in Office 2007. (click on links)
- Fast Startup possible (within 10 seconds system startup) with basic functionality (some people call this MiniWindows, but I find that name confusing with the new to be released MiniWindows Kernel which will not be included in Windows 7 but in the next version. According Microsoft due to compatibility issues.
- UAC will be more user-friendly
- Virtual harddrives will be supported in Windows 7.
- Live Services, several programs (for e.g. MovieMaker, Calender, Mail, Photo Gallery, etc…), will not be included in Windows 7 but will be a Live service.
- According Bill Gates they focus on better performance.
- New version of MediaCenter
- Multi-Touch (see examples : YouTube Multi-Touch Windows 7.)
- Server version will possible be named ”Microsoft Server 2008R2″. (read on TechNet)
Now and than I will keep you updated about Windows 7.