When a product garners so much positive attention that the press are cheering after demonstrations, it’s generally considered a rather outstanding feat. I don’t remember the same kind of positive attention during the late January 2007 launch of Windows Vista (php str_replace("ch", "j", "cheering") would be a more accurate description of what happened after the Windows Vista launch event), but the crowd at the Windows 7 launch was far more enthusiastic and festive. That having been said, a few things put this launch into perspective for me and might give a sense of just how important and gamechanging Windows 7 might be.

1. Microsoft is fully shifting focus to Windows 7. Windows Vista, of which the sheer length of the development cycle was inversely related to the level of approval and favor it garnered as time passed, has turned into something of an elephant in the room for Microsoft employees. Using the same metaphor and finding an excuse to quote an anonymous Microsoft employee I overheard yesterday afternoon, Windows 7 is the equivalent of a reputational wrecking ball designed for the sole purpose of “getting that elephant the f*** out”; it was the first Windows consumer OS born almost entirely from what the user wanted (read: what the average user hated about Vista). Now that it’s out and it starts replacing what was a good OS blighted by pre-SP1 bugs with what is a good OS right from the get-go, Microsoft has switched into what’s essentially a massive damage control mode.
2. Adoption rates and momentum are high, at least according to an analysis by Rob Enderle. Based on his analysis of a study done independently from Microsoft by Laura DiDio and Sunbelt Software, he believes that Windows 7 adoption rates are “unmatched since Windows 2000” adoption rates almost a decade ago. Consumer adoption rates are also up there, with PCMag using the line “Windows 7 More Popular Than Harry Potter” to carry their point. Given that Windows 7 beat Harry Potter on Potter’s home turf, I’m going with the notion that PCMag and Amazon UK are right.
3. Apple created more ads specifically for launch day. Yes, that depressing and uninspired ad campaign which Apple has continued for the last 4 years saw three new additions to the lineup. That’s three new ads released on the same day, which makes sense given the massive dearth of negative press against Windows 7. When a competitor simultaneously launches three attack ads specifically for your product launch, it’s a sign of desperation and a good enough reason for you to pull out your grill and refill that propane tank.

   Hey, it wasn’t just me. The vast majority of Engadget’s commentators happen to agree.

Despite the recession and the subdued projections stemming as a result, it’s fair to say that all of the excitement is actually making jobs easier. Microsoft’s PR teams have an easier time when products don’t suck, and the press can move on to fuming at something more important, like the name of the next celebrity’s adopted baby.

The benefit to you? Better apps, higher developer morale, a solid OS, a higher willingness to publicly be a fan of Windows 7, and enough free time for a quick and awesome interview with a certain keynoting executive and perhaps the new face of Windows client by the name of Brad Brooks (Brandon LeBlanc would wisely and accurately like to remind me that there is no single face to Windows).

You can catch the video after the break. This interview happened near the end of our day, so the detailed questions were reserved for others who were around the event. You’ll see all (but one) of them over the coming week.

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Update: Please, if you’re going to copy my images, don’t delete the watermark. I went through effort to get these pictures, and having them torn off (as is the case with ArsTechnica’s recent linkback)just means that I’ll have to present unsightly watermarks over the entire picture next time as opposed to keeping the images presentable by leaving the watermark in the corner. Update 2: ArsTechnica corrected their image accordingly. Thanks!

Just about everyone has seen the shots of the new Windows 7 retail packaging, but pictures of the new Anytime Upgrade packaging are much harder to come by. Impossible to find are any current examples of the packaging besides press shots and renders, so having said that, here are a few good hands-on shots I managed to take. For those wondering, yes, this means the boxes themselves are real, and that yes, Microsoft will indeed be pushing Anytime Upgrade through retail channels.

If you want some context as to how Microsoft arrived to this new box design, go ahead and check out Brandon LeBlanc’s post over at the Windows Team Blog. As for a physical size comparison: the full version boxes carry the same dimensions as the current Vista boxes.

(There’s nothing relevant inside the boxes themselves; just a fake key and a CD of Visio inside the retail box of which I was also taking some pictures.)

Have at it:

On an unrelated note, we (the staff of AeroXperience) would like to wish our condolences to the Jackson family with regards to the recent, sudden, and highly tragic passing of Michael Jackson

For those of you visiting from the recent Associated Press article, feel free to follow me on Twitter and stick around on the forums as well.  In addition, for those of you looking for where this article falls on the grand timeline of things (most people miss the date published at the bottom of the article), this post was posted on the 4th of March at 12:03 AM Eastern Time, coinciding with Chris’s post just over one hour prior.

Thanks for stopping by, and welcome to AeroXperience. ~Bryant

Thanks exclusively and entirely to efforts between Chris Holmes and me, we discovered that Internet Explorer 8 can be removed from at least Windows 7 build 7048, which is a good sign for regulatory overlords in the EU and in the States. Given that this change doesn’t exist in Beta 1, the odds that this change will persist through to RC are quite high. Don’t believe this can be done? Well, how about a Windows Features dialog below for proof?

There is a catch: For now, this only seems to wipe the actual executable running Internet Explorer 8 (iexplore.exe), but given that many of the most vocal proponents of choice were just looking for an option to functionally remove IE8, this might’ve been the only way to do it without killing the rest of Windows. In addition, this actually takes two reboots and a configuration step to complete, so there’s definitely something going on behind the scenes (likely a remapping of where IE-related functions can be found for other elements in Windows so that Windows doesn’t complain about IE’s nonexistence).

You can catch the steps, as well as final screenshots of the somewhat-obliterated product, after the break.


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At first, many expected the opening keynote at PDC to be about Windows 7. However, PDC’s first major keynote was dedicated to the announcement of Windows Azure, a platform which (until PDC) was completely concealed by Microsoft from the public (except through occasional, highly dramatic blurbs from Steve Ballmer). The platform’s announcement also came as a surprise to many developers, IT professionals, and pundits who saw Azure as an attempt at matching Amazon’s offerings through Amazon Web Services.

With this in mind, a number of questions regarding Windows Azure remained unanswered. Who exactly was this platform targeting? Was it after IT professionals looking to offload some of their services to Microsoft’s servers? Was it for developers looking to create interactive, deep web 2.0 applications? What would Microsoft do with the data? What about security?

Amitabh Srivastava, corporate vice president and head of Windows Azure within Microsoft, took some time to answer the most common questions about Windows Azure. You can read his responses and comment below the fold.

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Microsoft has shown off some crazy features in Windows 7 over the past two weeks. Most of these additions are on the user interface level, such as the replacement of the sidebar with simply “desktop gadgets” which can pin to specific locations on the desktop. The evolved taskbar (first time a major usability change was brought to the taskbar since Windows 95 with IE4), the updated Aero features (Aero Peek, Color HotTrack, etc.), as well as Jumplists are also usability and “likeability” features which were added to Windows 7.

Beyond simply the looks, however, there’s also gesture and touch support. These two will have a significant role in Windows 7, as can be seen already via features such as Aero Shake and gesture functionality in common controls (such as scrolling) via the the tablet framework.

Finally, Windows 7 will be much more context-aware than any other operating system thanks to a new sensor framework debuting in Windows 7.

Despite all of thiis, there are still some Windows Vista features which have not been expanded upon during PDC; SideShow, for example, was curiously absent. Will SideShow see more enhancements which will increase adoption? Here’s the quick list:

• Touch support with SideShow displays
• TCP/IP support via the updated .net micro framework
• 100% Backwards Compatibility with all Windows Vista SideShow gadgets

You can hear the full answer in an audio interview I magically recorded with the SideShow lead while at WinHEC (!) after the jump.

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During my time at PDC, I managed to speak with many people knowledgeable about various aspects of Windows 7. One of these people was Dan Polivy, a lead on the team behind the new Windows 7 sensors framework which was mentioned a number of times during the old days when Windows 7 speculation was rampant. Dan and I carried an informative interview regarding a number of functions of the Windows 7 sensors framework, including topics such as how easy it might be for a user to receive sensor data from sensors which are plugged into the framework as well as what one could do with various forms of sensor data, such as locational input from WiFi triangulation and GPS signals.

If you’re a developer, watching this video would be a wise decision; we’re doing something special for those who watch, so stay tuned.

You can catch 720p and 1080p download links as well as an embedded version (via Vimeo) after the break. All videos are x264/MP3 in AVI containers.

Update (Sunday, Nov. 8, 2008): If you have yet to see the interview, a… “reasonably good incentive” embedded within the video is now live.

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