For those wondering, Mike Nash is (according to his business card) the “Corporate Vice President” for “Windows Product Management.”

Mike held a small roundtable for a number of pressies. He gave a quick rundown of things you all basically already know, so I took the time to ask a few questions which kept you guys in mind. The questions I asked:

• What’s the difference between “API Complete” (build 6801) is and “Feature Complete” (Beta 1)?
• Why were lots of code samples and features being shown off for the Superbar at PDC when developers can’t develop for it? (Rafael’s extension of my API v. Feature Complete question)
• Why were the sensor demonstrations missing from the Windows 7 keynote today?

The answers to these questions can be found in the true-to-life* transcript after the break.

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Slashdot readers, thanks for visiting. Feel free to chime in here or on the forums.

Mike Nash, former Security Guru and current Client Guru over at Microsoft, has just announced on the Windows Vista Blog that the new name for Windows “7” will be:

Windows 6.1 7

…which makes me wonder why it’s going to be NT 6.1.

It also means that Windows Strata will likely be the codename for the new Cloud OS discussed by Ballmer earlier this month. We’ll carry more about all of this from PDC in two weeks.

Update: Brandon followed up with me on twitter saying it’s the 7th release of Windows, which is ridiculous:

1. Windows
2. Windows 2
3. Windows 3.0
4. Windows NT (NT 4)
5. Windows 2000 (NT 5)
6. Windows XP (NT 5.1)
7. Windows Vista (NT 6)

That’s 7 releases right there, including XP. If XP isn’t counted because it’s Kernel 5.1 (which would bring the total with Windows 7 back down to seven), then why is Windows 7 being counted as the “seventh” release if it’s kernel 6.1? I hope I’m not the only one seeing the naming problem here.

Kernel increments are used mostly for application compatibility purposes, but still, the logic is lost upon us as most people would count XP as a semi-major release in comparison to 2000. I hope the guys at the Blog have an update, because this is weird.

More potential views of how this could have worked (Update 2: as well as Mike’s clarification) after the break.

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I kicked yesterday off talking about things which, hypothetically speaking, might be present in Windows 7 Milestone 3 based on what was in Milestone 1. I’m going to dedicate today’s followup serving of yam dip to something much more concrete.

I already mentioned the existence of Libraries. Based on what the technical fellows who used Vista Beta 1 know, if Libraries are anything like Virtual Folders, the feature will likely enjoy the frequent use and prominence that Virtual Folders enjoyed in Windows Vista Beta 1. Because of this, Libraries will likely be very well woven into Windows 7, thus making it exponentially more useful than Vista’s search folders. Examples of how this would be done:

• Libraries would be viewable and accessible as if they are normal folders. Whether this applies to applications as well as users is a good question, but if libraries could be treated by applications as normal folders, a whole host of possibilities would suddenly open themselves to developers.
• Paths could be relative or absolute, which trumps the usefulness of search folders altogether.
• It would be possible to manually add folders to libraries.
• A user will likely have default libraries for his pictures, videos, etc.

Integration would go beyond simple aesthetics. Logically, Homegroups could hypothetically support sharing libraries as opposed to folders simply because Libraries would inherently be more organized. A user may have many folders filled with pictures, but if all of those are in a “pictures” library, all of this user’s photos could then be shared over a homegroup just by sharing that one library.

On that wonderful note, since Libraries will likely be xml files interpreted by Explorer just like Virtual Folders were, let’s take a look at  what the basic structure of such an xml file could be after the break.

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The following post contains only my thoughts about the subject. As such, this posting is provided “as is” with no warranties, and confers no rights. There is absolutely no guarantee that anything you read here is even remotely true. You can interpret it as you wish, or not interpret it at all, but be aware that I could easily be way off the mark or even be lying. Keep a salt shaker handy as you read.

Alright, so I talked about Windows 7’s pillars not so long ago. Paul, along with a member of our forums, recently mentioned build 6780 as Milestone 3. This post serves as my thoughts of what might hypothetically exist in this build based on what I saw in M1. I’ll start with the applications:

Based on the trend we saw in M1, The Sidebar the thing which really shouldn’t be called the sidebar anymore will be embedded into the desktop even further, eventually annihilating the concept of a sidebar in the first place. The gadgets might remain on the side, but for all intents and purposes, the gadgets might just stay on the desktop, ready and willing to be called to the front using a key combination (not different from what you see in Vista now: Win+Space to pull gadgets to the front in Vista). It will likely be more heavily integrated into the shell than we saw in Milestone 1. Besides these changes, I doubt M3 would have anything different for the user who takes a look. The gadgets thus far would most likely be the same, though I personally hope they switch to a better codebase for the gadgets.

Wordpad and Paint will likely have seen major overhauls to their user interfaces by this point. My suspicion is that they will probably have adopted an Office-esque look along with possibly some added tools and features for both, simply for the sake of consistency. Since adding tools to Paint and Wordpad likely isn’t the Windows team’s largest focus, one could expect to see two or three tabs for the ribbon. By this point, there likely won’t be any other major changes, though seeing feature additions in the future would definitely be in line. Update 9-16-08 8:39PM: Looks like I was right. Stephen has a screenshot.

Calculator in Milestone 1 saw a few minor functional and visual tweaks, such as the addition of programming and statistics modes. With this in mind, it’s reasonable to expect the calculator to be much more aesthetically pleasing in order to follow suit with the pattern likely established by Wordpad and Paint. After all, bundled applications will be seeing an overhaul in Windows 7, so expect them to look similar in terms of design. Calculator almost definitely will not carry an Office UI, as it isn’t a productivity application per se.

Windows Media Player likely won’t see much of an overhaul from Milestone 1 besides possibly being more organized and pretty. It will also start to take a shape of its own as it turns into Windows Media Player 12.

Milestone 3 could also carry rough implementations of various technologies which carried merely a footnote’s worth of importance in Milestone 1. Quick examples:

Homegroups might actually work by now! I suspect the Homegroups feature to be much more well integrated into the networking center as well as other functions in Windows 7 Milestone 3. Joining a computer to a Homegroup, for instance, would likely be something which could be done from the Network and Sharing Center as opposed to only being established during the OOBE what used to be called the OOBE as it was in Milestone 1. It might even be possible to join a computer to multiple Homegroups , though if you only have one home, I’m not sure what good this would do.

Windows Live integration will most likely have increased compared to the first milestone. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Internet Explorer 8 accelerators found their way into Windows 7, likely with shortcuts to make things easier (such as Microphone commands and quick access to accelerators via a taskbar toolbar, perhaps). Also, as has been making the rounds recently on sites such as LiveSide and All About Microsoft, certain applications present in Windows Vista will, by now, start being subtracted from Windows and dropped under the Windows Live designation.

Themes probably wouldn’t be such a discombobulated process for the user in Milestone 3 as it was in Windows Vista. As a part of the goal to make simple tasks easier to do in Vista, a number of quick thematic combinations (visual themes. Probably nothing fancy yet) will likely find their homes in the main Personalization page by way of an iconic representation of the final outcome. Customization would still be available to those who wish to choose something less standard, but the default combos would be helpful for selecting a mode on a glance, such as a high contrast mode for those who have difficulties seeing what’s on their screen.

Other minor visual tweaks will almost definitely exist, likely in the start menu and in typical folderview. However, features such as the “superbar” seen at D6 may not be available out of the box, if at all.

That’s it for my speculative extrapolation on what Milestone 3 of Windows 7 hypothetically could contain. Tomorrow, I’ll detail how one feature which I discussed in the first serving of yam dip might work in Windows 7.

Plowing ahead towards Windows 7, Microsoft tossed up two more job listings explicitly looking for software engineers who want to “shape the vision of browsing, searching, indexing and visualizing data.” Given Microsoft’s track record with previous insane data-fluidity projects, I’m not too hopeful for where this might end up. Here’s a quick look back on what Microsoft unsuccessfully tried to bring to the masses:

• Cairo was a Microsoft project which revolved around Object Oriented Everything. This massive undertaking encompassed a number of ideas, such as using distributed computing for easy access to data anywhere. Most of what made up Cairo found its way into Windows later on, though there was one concept which never truly materialized on its own: the Object File Store (OFS). OFS was designed on top of an object oriented database allowing for the retrieval of information based on content.
• WinFS was an attempted revival of the Object File Store. The idea this time was to organize everything, including pictures, music, sound clips, documents, PowerPoint presentations, PDFs, etc. in such a way where a user or application could quickly and easily retrieve and work with any data on the system regardless of location. WinFS was intended to work its magic through a relational database. Because of this, a number of insane usage scenarios suddenly seemed possible. For example, inter-related data could be searched and retrieved within a single query (say, finding the pictures of anyone who called you two days ago who also happened to send a work-related email to you within the past month).
  Sadly, the project was drawn and quartered, with the remaining pieces integrated into other projects such as SQL Server 2008, ADO.NET 3.5, and Windows Desktop Search.
• Virtual Folders weren’t nearly as ambitious as the previous two, which only meant that it had much more promise of reaching fruition. It worked via xml files which wove different locations and files into one “folder.” This xml file would appear as a translucent-blue Windows folder but would function no differently from any other folder on the drive, despite the fact that the folder doesn’t exist as a folder on the file system. The virtual folder itself would be pieced together in real time when Explorer loaded the xml file, thus allowing it to change dynamically depending on the way the virtual folder was built by the user. For example. a user could have a virtual folder which would show all pictures no older than thirty days ago, and the contents of the folder would change as the days wore on and pictures got older.
  Unfortunately, the Windows Vista beta testers as well as the consumer research teams at Microsoft (remember the Maryland family from the Windows Vista Launch? People like them) decided that this was too confusing. Instead, they butchered virtual folders and carved “search folders” out of the remains. Search folders works largely on the same premise except for the fact that it’s much harder to do something useful for people with more experience than a typical salesperson.

These new job listings only have one major difference: assuming this isn’t a typo like the word “a” further down in the listings, one is searching for an engineer for the next version of Windows (238893), whereas the other is in search of someone for future versions of Windows (238899). Besides this, the two are completely identical, which leads us to the substance:

Want to shape the vision of browsing, searching, indexing and visualizing data?
The Windows group is looking for engineering staff to be a part of history by reinventing the way people think about their data. Our team is responsible for developing the Windows Explorer. In the next version[s] of Windows we will be breaking new ground enabling users to act on their items, irrespective of where they are stored and delivering a [sic] indexing technology to provide wicked fast views over their local data. [emphasis added]

First of all, the engineer hired for the task will work alongside the Windows Explorer team, which could immediately knock out the possibility of WinFS making a comeback. There is also no word of applications being able to interact with data as there was with WinFS. Since Virtual Folders were an Explorer-centric feature meant mostly for users, this could just be a revival of the old Virtual Folders. Given how popular Virtual Folders were amongst power users when Beta 1 of Windows Vista went live, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Just so long as this doesn’t turn out to be more roasted yam dip (har har) like the previous projects. everyone will be happy.

Update (9-13-08 11:04pm edt): looks like I was dead-on with the Virtual Folders; they’ll be reincarnated in Windows 7 as Libraries. In short, they’ll “let you access and arrange items from one or more folders quickly without moving them from their original locations.”

Sounds like Virtual Folders to me; I’m looking forward to it!

Mary-Jo Foley posted an entry saying that Microsoft was planning to skip the next logical in-band server release, Windows Server 2008 R2, and go straight to Windows Server 7. This created quite a discussion among some techies, wondering why they would skip this release.

I personally had mixed feelings on this situation. I said on one of the tech forums I visit,

There’s only ever been one R2 release, and that was for Windows Server 2003 (and all it’s various sub-SKUs). That was because they had features to release, but no major platform to build it on. Consider that when WS2003 R2 was released, the latest build was the Pre-Beta 2 5259. There were also several other large platform launches that year - Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005. Now in 2008, this “big-three” was revived - Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008, and recently, SQL Server 2008.

Also, I think 2010 seems to be on track for Server 7, as that would follow their schedule they’ve kept for a while now, and would confirm the late-2009 client release.

Apparently, Mary-Jo was later told by Microsoft that Windows Server 2008 R2 is on track to become the next version of Windows Server. Supposedly this release is on track for 2010, immediately parallel to the next client release, Windows 7. Then another version, “which may or may not be called Windows Server 7″ is expected in 2012. This would leave Microsoft in a somewhat regular pattern, as seen in the below timeline.

Timeline of Windows, Windows Sever, Visual Studio, and SQL Server 2002-2012

More of my own analysis of the recent events, along with a quick versioning primer, comes after the break.

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The last couple of weeks, I have been working incredibly hard on a tool to create Vista Style Builder. Vista Style Builder supports everything that is needed to create Visual Styles for Vista:

• Import and export images
• Change, add or remove properties
• Import and export STREAM images
• Compile into a totally new MsStyles-file

In this post I will highlight some details of Vista Style Builder (VSB) which show how much easier this application makes it to edit MsStyles.

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I can give a pretty interesting perspective on the Windows 7 leak, considering said perspective is coming from someone who has had this build for 3+ months as of the writing of this post.

Before I really jump in, I should explain why leaks of this magnitude are bad. Believe it or not, these leaks do hurt Microsoft and the dev process of the operating system, especially this early in the cycle. When a leak happens, Microsoft has to devote time to investigating the leak and trying to pin down a source, ultimately the internal source or OEM who leaked it. Leaks are also bad because there are just some things that aren’t ready to be seen outside of Redmond yet, especially by the average Joe user. Say a build leaks, and average Joe doesn’t like a certain feature, or even more realistic, finds a real nasty bug. He blogs about that and next thing you know everyone is jumping on the slingfest bandwagon and presto, bad image before the product is even out of the gate.

The main thing about the 6519 leak that gets me is the fact that it leaked after so much time. I can only assume that it came from someone in the group that got the build about a month ago, and for some reason was looking for a “15 minutes of fame” moment. There is, however, a silver lining to all of this. The build is hard coded to expire on June 6th, after which date the activation system will lock you out of the system. Why someone would leak after expiration, you ask? Well it’s actually a pretty simple answer. They get their little moment of fame and (they think) cause little damage to Microsoft since Joe user can’t use it on a daily basis. The fact is though, the beta community is rather unique, we take builds of OS’s and actually use them on our machines to tinker with and see the direction that Microsoft is going with the future of Windows. With 6519, running on the current date is now impossible, but the OS can be used if you set the date back before expiration, which some will probably be willing to do, just for bragging rights.

I guess the point I am trying to make with all of this is 6519 never should have been leaked, but it is the unfortunate fact that we have some people in this community that just can’t seem to keep anything under wraps and thinks that leaking a build will gain them some kind of celebrity status. That could not be more inaccurate. Within the last few years leakers have been looked upon as the black sheep in the community, for the exact reasons that I mentioned earlier. The fact is that these people will never learn, and will likely continue to do things like this.

Wired has an interesting article on how the iPhone boosted smartphone sales for other manufacturers (most notably RIM and Palm). With the next version of the iPhone now released, you might be asking yourself

• What will Microsoft do to keep Apple from breaking into the enterprise smartphone market?
• Why haven’t I bought this new iPhone yet?
• What’s that pretty thing in the Crystal Ball?

Now might be a good time to analyze the potential impact Apple’s iPhone might have on Windows Mobile.

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This posting is provided “as is” with no warranties, and confers no rights. All of the information herein could easily be right, wrong, up, down, in, out, backwards, forwards, heavily dated, or totally false. You can interpret it as you wish, or not interpret it at all. Also, in case you haven’t figured it out, all of this is non-static and heavily subject to change.

The final pillar focuses much more on the business-oriented aspects of Windows 7 rather than the consumer additions we saw in the previous four pillars. The scenarios covered by this particular pillar are designed to make deployment and maintenance of Windows 7 easier than any prior operating system. Most of the scenarios in this pillar seem to be nothing more than enhancements of features which made their debut in Windows Vista, which is good for companies looking to minimize costs while looking to deploy an improved OS since it would mean less training for both employees and IT professionals.

This is the final post in the series, so feel free to comment on any of the five pillars in this thread. The fifth pillar is across the link
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