Enterprise Windows | J. Peter Bruzzese | InfoWorld | Vista successor already in the works | January 23, 2008 08:31 AM

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Vista successor already in the works

January 23, 2008 | Comments: (0)

Vista successor already in the works

Well, we had to assume something would come after Vista -- or did we think Microsoft just folded its hands, looked at all it had created, and said, "It is good" in the Biblical way?

Windows 7, ladies and gentleman. What cool name will the minds at Redmond give it this time? And will they continue with the Spanish version, e.g. Windows Caliente? Or perhaps try some other languages for future projects, like Windows Akunamatata or Windows FeiChangHao? Who knows? But we have several years to find out: It's slated for 2009 (but we all know how that works, so let's plan for 2010).

But the first known build of Windows 7 was identified as a Milestone 1 (M1) code drop and was sent to key Microsoft partners this month in both x86 and x64 versions.

One of the next-gen OS's coolest features that's being discussed: the minimalistic version of the kernel, called MinWin (not to be confused with Windows 2008 Server Core). Back in October, our good friend Long Zheng (who no doubt appreciated my slight use of Chinese pinyin above) posted a demonstration of MinWin here that you might want to watch.

Now, I am no fortune teller, but I foresee this next release causing controversy as people complain about it and cry about leaving Vista behind. (By then, of course, everyone will love Vista, and talk badly about their XP systems with words such as cartoon-ish.)

Windows Grande Problemo. Catchy name.

Posted by J. Peter Bruzzese on January 23, 2008 08:31 AM

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I guess Microsoft is finally coming to the same realization that many corporations have, Vista is turning into another ME and people would rather stick with XP. They figure they better have something in the wings, especially with Leopard's market share growing...

Posted by: Joel at January 24, 2008 03:43 PM

You'll be safer planning for 2012 if past release plans are any guide. And actually J.Peter, the only person using the word "cartoon-ish" is you, in your ludicrous 'Save XP, why bother?' rant. The word is cartoonish, without a hyphen.

Posted by: duckie at February 4, 2008 02:49 AM

Who cares what MS has in store until then? If my sweet shiny MacBook breaks down until then, I'll just get another one.

Posted by: mkill at February 11, 2008 10:35 PM

This all assumes Microsoft will still be a functioning business in 2012, which will depend on how much money they want to continue to lose on X-box, Zune and Yahoo! - I don't see the world beating down the door to have more pain, misery and expense laid at their feet.

I might be wrong, but I expect Microsoft to deliver more bloated code, rewritten from scratch at least twice, 5 years of development, delivered late and overpriced and with no distinguishing features to make it unique and compelling, with oppressive licensing terms, DRM and anti-piracy measures that make the legal users suffer more than the pirates, marketed in 12 different versions that no one can understand which one to purchase and incompatible with existing hardware software and have a snazzy marketing phrase like "the wow starts now"!!!

Am I predicting the future or mere extrapolating from past experience?

Windows 7 - more useless software to choke your hardware now with monthly licensing fees - paypal accepted. Windows 7 - the one with the Titanic logo on the box.

Posted by: Gary Kildall at March 14, 2008 04:24 PM

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