Microsoft to call Windows 7, err, Windows 7

wunderbar

Sounds pretty simple right, except that windows 7 is actually going to be windows 6.1

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/microsoft_justifies_its_windows_7_naming_decision

Yet they still plan to call it Windows 7.

Say what?

Dark_Side

Isn't that like what Nullsoft did after they went ahead and completely ruined Winamp, and then skipped an entire number for the new version since the old was so so bad?

Pheezer

Dark_Side wrote: »

Isn't that like what Nullsoft did after they went ahead and completely ruined Winamp, and then skipped an entire number for the new version since the old was so so bad?

Actually, this will be the 8th Windows product, it's just that WinXP is version 5.1, not 6.0. Per their twisted version numbering logic this really is 7.0, nothing has been skipped.

Q_Prime

windows 7 is named 7 because it's the 7th revision of the windows NT operating system

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_nt

everything before NT 3.1 is OS/2 a collaborative effort with IBM.

FyreWulff

NT -> 4.x
2000/XP -> 5.x
Vista -> 6.x
W7 -> 7.x

makes sense to me.


And the joke about Winamp 5 was that it was "Winamp 2 + 3". Basically all the new features of 3 built on top of 2's codebase.

Winamp 3 -was- a tragedy, though.

Cyvros

They've done this before with other Microsoft products - Windows Movie Maker, for instance, skipped from version 2.5 in XP MCE to version 6 in Vista. They've also gone straight from Office 12 (2007) to Office 14.

I don't mind the name Windows 7, but I liked it back when it was called Vienna.

Ayulin

I always thought Windows 7 would be the final name, not just the codename. Heh.

I like it, but honestly the version number being 6.1 doesn't seem that big a deal to me. What difference would it make if they had the number as 7, other than maybe some programs that check version numbers breaking? (An example I saw was if programs did a simple check if the version was 5 or 6, and refused to run otherwise.)

wunderbar

Ayulin wrote: »

I always thought Windows 7 would be the final name, not just the codename. Heh.

I like it, but honestly the version number being 6.1 doesn't seem that big a deal to me. What difference would it make if they had the number as 7, other than maybe some programs that check version numbers breaking? (An example I saw was if programs did a simple check if the version was 5 or 6, and refused to run otherwise.)

That's a big reason why they're numbering is version 6.1.

I just feel that's it's going to confuse already somewhat tepid Windows users. "windows 7? but it says that it's 6.1 right there. I need to call Microsoft, my Windows is broken."

variant

They're calling it 7 because they don't want to call it what it really is 6.1, as 6.1 associates it to 6.0(Vista)?

Did I get that right?
Why not just call it Vienna?
But then again, you would probably have to look at the code or somewhere specific to see the version #, because I don't remember ever seeing 5.0 for XP.

HadjiQuest

variant wrote: »

They're calling it 7 because they don't want to call it what it really is 6.1, as 6.1 associates it to 6.0(Vista)?

Did I get that right?
Why not just call it Vienna?
But then again, you would probably have to look at the code or somewhere specific to see the version #, because I don't remember ever seeing 5.0 for XP.

It's 7.

The hard-coded version number is going to be 6.1 to prevent compatibility problems, as apparently many of the early compatibillity issues with vista were caused by it being coded as version 6.X instead of XP's version 5.X.

But yeah, from the wiki, it really just looks like a minimal update. Like an OSX incremental thing.

So, it better be cheap. Or there should at least be some type of incentive program for the 4 of us that switched to vista for various reasons.

variant

What kind of features is it going to have?

HadjiQuest

variant wrote: »

What kind of features is it going to have?

Allegedly, according to the wiki, mostly a ton of accessibillity improvements and some tweaking of certain vista features to make them less clunky (Windows Security Center) or more resource-friendly (the widgets, which are being removed from the sidebar and integrated straight into the GUI).

Also, things like touch screen support (for multi-point touch, even, which means that you can touch multiple areas at once), and other human interface things geared at bringing pcs into the future; including vastly improved voice recognition, speech to text, etc.

Then there are things that they claimed they were implementing a long time ago; mostly a new file system, but that seems to have been mostly forgotten.

Finally, they're balancing the menu options between their vista setups and the classic setups around since Win95 or 98. That's what pissed me off the most about vista; nothing was in the same place anymore, and the menus are almost impossible to navigate now since everything is hidden in the deepest depths of some over-simplified super-gui.

Edit: The wiki also says that they'll be building SLi/Crossfire directly into WDDM/DirectX/Whatever, so it'll work with any two cards of any make, which seems ridiculous to me. However, they did implement a lot of 3rd party GPU driver features into Vista in order to universalize them, so it may happen after all.

variant

That seems pretty weak, better be cheap.

As for the problem with Vista's rearrangement of things, Search Bar. It's so damn good. I never go in to the control panel or anywhere else for that matter. Just hit the windows key and type in what you want. I was using XP on my dad's laptop the other day and instantly felt like I was using an outdated software when I had to go through several things to get to whatever I wanted.

Ayulin

I have the nasty tendency to jab the Windows key and start typing on XP, which usually launches something random

Anyways, I wonder if they'll change the look of the interface much in 7. I know past early builds of Windows have always used the same interface as the predecessor (e.g. Vista had the XP start menu and visual style for a while, when it was still known as Longhorn), but it seems with 7 they're trying to minimize the differences between 7 and Vista. Guess we'll have to wait till PDC to find out (although the build that's going to be given out there is called a pre-alpha, right?)

HadjiQuest

Ayulin wrote: »

I have the nasty tendency to jab the Windows key and start typing on XP, which usually launches something random

Anyways, I wonder if they'll change the look of the interface much in 7. I know past early builds of Windows have always used the same interface as the predecessor (e.g. Vista had the XP start menu and visual style for a while, when it was still known as Longhorn), but it seems with 7 they're trying to minimize the differences between 7 and Vista. Guess we'll have to wait till PDC to find out (although the build that's going to be given out there is called a pre-alpha, right?)

It says they're shooting for anytime between June next year and January 2010...

So they're probably pretty far along...

Then again, they kept talking about how Vista was always right around the corner, and it took years to finally hit.

Cyvros

They've changed the taskbar slightly (partially in order to accomodate the new multi-touch features) and it seems that the glass has been toned down slightly. Last time I saw anything new about the taskbar was in May, when they said that they'd be talking about it another time:

During the demonstration (5:25) Walt asks “I can’t help noticing that the taskbar doesn’t look like the taskbar?” Julie [Larson Green, Vice President of Windows Experience Program Management] responds with, “It’s something we’re working on Windows 7 and I’m not suppose to talk about it now today.

variant

The multi touch doesn't help much, apple did it right by adding it to the mouse-pad rather than the screen. I realize that straight up touching the screen is more appealing but keep in mind that's going to require that you buy a new laptop or monitor that has a touchscreen.

Cyvros

variant wrote: »

The multi touch doesn't help much, apple did it right by adding it to the mouse-pad rather than the screen. I realize that straight up touching the screen is more appealing but keep in mind that's going to require that you buy a new laptop or monitor that has a touchscreen.

I see what you mean. Continually raising one's arm(s) would be a pain. Another thing I remembered is that they demonstrated a touchscreen-based piano app at one point. That would be so awkward to play.

Now, the card games could definitely benefit from being touchscreen-ised.

GrimReaper

I wonder whether they've finally added the capability to rearrange the taskbar or whether i'll still have to rely on third party programs for it.

Cyvros

GrimReaper wrote: »

I wonder whether they've finally added the capability to rearrange the taskbar or whether i'll still have to rely on third party programs for it.

It would be great if they did this. It was briefly mentioned in one of the Engineering Windows 7 posts.

Chaitanya Sareen wrote:

Evolving the Taskbar

Before the team even sat down to brainstorm ideas about improving the taskbar, we all took time to first respect the UI. The taskbar is almost 15 years old, everyone uses it, people are used to it and many consider it good enough. We also recognized that if we were to improve it, we could not afford to introduce usability failures where none existed. This automatically sets a very high bar. We proceeded carefully by first looking into areas for improvement.

Here’s a small sample of some things we’ve learned from our data, heard from our customers and what we’ve observed ourselves. One of favorite ways of gaining verbatim comments in a lab setting where we can validate the instrumented data but also gain in-depth context via interviews and questionnaires. In engineering Windows 7 we have hundreds of hours of studies like these. Please remember this is just a glimpse of some feedback—this is not an exhaustive list nor it is implied that we will, or should, act upon all of these concepts.

• Please let me rearrange taskbar buttons! Pretty please?
• I sometimes accidently click on the wrong taskbar button and get the wrong window.
• It would be great if the taskbar spanned multiple monitors so there’s more room to show windows I want to switch to.
• There isn’t always enough text on the taskbar to identify the window I’m looking for.
• There’s too much text on the taskbar. (Yes, this is the exact opposite of the previous item—we’ve seen this quite a bit in the blog comments as well.)
• It may take several clicks to get to some programs or files that I use regularly.
• Icons of pinned files sometimes look too much alike—I wish I could tell them apart better.
• The bottom right side of my screen is too noisy sometimes. There are lots of little icons and balloons competing for my attention.
• How do I add/remove “X” from the taskbar?
• I would like Windows to tuck away its features cleverly and simplify its interface.

In the abstract, we can summarize this feedback with a few principles:

• Customers can switch windows with increased confidence and ease.
• Commonly used items and tasks should be at the customer’s fingertips.
• Customers should always feel in control.
• The taskbar should have a cleaner look and feel.