Windows 7 - arriving soon(ish)

The Windows operating system is one of Microsoft's crown jewels, particularly the client version. Versions including Windows XP and more recently Windows Vista are important revenue streams for Microsoft.

Over the past 10 years or so, a new client OS has meant a new Server OS as well as a new version of Office. New versions of the client occur every few years, and are preceded by a technical beta test.

The more cynical amongst you may suggest the release is completed by the near-obligatory (at least for enterprise customers) Service Pack one that fixes the bugs that should have been fixed in the original release.

The Good News

Early in January 2009 Microsoft released "the" beta version of Windows 7. I've loaded this beta onto my laptop and have been using this as my main OS. As I travel a lot, the reliability of Win 7 is very important. I got a new Laptop at the same time so supporting the latest technology, as well as all my apps was also very important.

On both counts, Windows 7 has been very good. I like the new functionality, nearly all my key applications run, and stability has been very good (for a beta).

Win7 is not perfect, but miles ahead of where Vista was at this stage in development. I also appreciate all the new features - most of which I do not have room to discuss here.

I particularly like Aero-Peek which makes using my rather cluttered desktop and task bar ever so much easier - and I find I really miss it when I use my desktop at home (not running Win 7). The updated wireless code seems to work far better than Vista's ever did and seems even better than XP. And of course, including PowerShell V2 will be a huge boost for PowerShell and a great feature for admins! Finally, I find the performance excellent - which is all the more remarkable as this is a beta (and later builds are rumoured to be faster still).

The Bad News

There really isn't much in the way of bad news. But I do have three gripes:

· My T-Mobile USB wireless USB device will not install. T-Mobile have been unhelpful - simply using the "We do not support beta operating systems" approach. They have been unwilling to even offer any suggestions. As corporate customers, it's well worth testing all your hardware carefully, so you can press vendors for updated drivers as needed. Thankfully, all the hardware in my new laptop was either supported by the drivers on the installation DVD, or from Windows Update after I'd finished installation (very cool!).

· There are two stability issues - every couple of days, Win 7 locks up - the only solution is a reboot. And from time to time, coming back from hibernation either fails (I get a black screen and can't see anything) or worse I get a blue screen. Mind you, my old laptop had this issue and I suspect it's an nVidia driver issue rather than an issue with Win 7. So far, I've lost little except time - I suspect these issues will be resolved in the final code.

· MS have made more changes to the way Shell Extensions are presented in the browser¸ so I've lost a bit of functionality in Turnpike, my mail and news client. This is not uncommon - and happened for both XP and Vista. I suspect an application upgrade may be required.

While this isn't a key issue, I just don't understand Microsoft's fascination with changing the way desktop properties are shown. In Win 7, we've lost the ability to right click the desktop and see properties - now we see Customize (sic). WHY?

Where do we go from here?

Microsoft seem intent to push this out as fast as possible. They've made it clear they are not anticipating a second beta - I keep hearing early April as the date for the release candidate (although there is no official confirmation yet, and the recent 'accidental' leaking of a May date makes this less likely).

Despite earlier positing that the beta was "feature complete", Microsoft is certainly planning a slew of updates as noted on two recent Windows 7 Engineering blog posts, which you can find here and here. 

These changes look like making Windows 7 better still - I can't wait to get the release candidate.

Summary

The technoratii seem pretty excited about Windows 7. But in the haste to get Win 7 out the door and make Vista a distant bad dream, Microsoft are cutting down on some of the traditional beta testing. There have been no interim releases and there will be no Beta 2 (or Beta 3).

This beta was even presented as feature complete, although thankfully this has turned out to be wrong as evidenced by the two blog posts I refer to above.

I strongly recommend you to get the beta, if you can, and the Release Candidate when MS release it. Test it hard and file bugs on problems you find, if you can!

I'd also suggest that enterprise customers, in particular, be in no overwhelming hurry to deploy it, despite enthusiasts like me clamouring for it. You should test it carefully before deploying it, as ever, making sure it supports the hardware in your organisation. But to me, Windows 7 looks like a real winner - and will allow the whole industry to put Vista behind us and move on.