Windows 7 Takes Flight

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Windows 7 Takes Flight

Redmond Developer News | Windows 7 Takes Flight
by Sandro Villinger
December 2008

Our hands-on review of the Windows 7 pre-beta reveals an operating system that is remarkably stable.

Developers who have labored to make their applications run well on Windows Vista should -- with a few notable exceptions -- be able to move over to Windows 7 with little effort. At least that's the initial verdict after an extensive review of the first pre-beta (6801) build of Microsoft's next operating system.

This hands-on evaluation of the Windows 7 pre-beta was commissioned by Redmond Developer News following the operating system's release to attendees at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in late October.

Microsoft is on a path to fix much of what is wrong with Vista in Windows 7, asserts Bola Rotibi, principal analyst at U.K.-based Macehiter Ward-Dutton Ltd. "If it worked on Vista, then Windows 7 should be fine. It should run faster. In terms of the developer, Windows 7 won't introduce new hardship."

Those who have yet to adapt their applications to Vista-based technologies like User Account Control (UAC) still face an uphill climb. The good news: Windows 7 is poised to offer significantly better performance, usability and hardware compatibility than Vista did when it was released in November 2006.

Of course, the final verdict will ride on the official release of Windows 7, expected to ship in the second half of 2009 or in early 2010. Microsoft has not committed to a launch time frame.