Windows 7 Team Blog : Partners

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor and Windows 7 Compatibility Center now available

Mark Relph — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:14:00 GMT

Hello again! It’s Mark Relph from the Windows Ecosystem Team here at Microsoft. There is a lot of excitement for the launch of Windows 7 and we know many of you are looking for information as you think about upgrading. To help you, we are announcing the availability of two great tools today – the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor and the Windows 7 Compatibility Center.

Both these tools are available at www.windows.com/compatibility- your place to go for any Windows 7 compatibility questions you might have. Not only will you find links to the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor and Windows 7 Compatibility Center, you’ll also get compatibility help from experts in the Microsoft Answers Forums and the Windows Help & How-to team.

Now let me tell you a little bit more about what we are releasing today…

The Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor scans your PC to see if it’s ready for Windows 7. It checks to see if your PC meets the system requirements, lets you know if your processor is capable of running 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and gives guidance on your upgrade options. It also tells you about any known compatibility issues with the most commonly installed software programs and devices connected to your PC. If an issue can be resolved, it suggests next steps for you to take before installing Windows 7.

The Windows 7 Compatibility Center helps you easily check the compatibility of thousands of devices and software programs for 32-bit or 64-bit versions of Windows 7. Usually, you won’t need to do anything to ensure compatibility. If you do, the site goes beyond just telling you what will or will not work. It also provides links to drivers and software updates to help get your PC running with the latest software.

These tools draw on an expansive database of product information that is the result of the work I described in my post on our progress with statements of support for Windows 7 for an ever expanding universe of products all around the world. We have thousands of products listed and will continue to add thousands more over the coming months. As a result, the Windows 7 Compatibility Center and Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor will be regularly updated with more products. If you don’t see a product listed on the site, please suggest an addition! If you are a hardware or software partner, be sure to tell us about your products using the Partner Submission page.

Windows 7 has been built for compatibility and we hope these tools help you as you prepare to upgrade. See you on October 22^nd for the launch of Windows 7!

The Windows 7 Logo Program

Mark Relph — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:18:00 GMT

First, let me introduce myself. My name is Mark Relph and I am a Senior Director with the Windows Product Strategy Group and I lead a group known as the Windows Ecosystem Team. My team and I focus on a few specific areas – compatibility of applications & hardware, working with our partners and driving developer excitement for Windows 7 (and beyond). As we count down to the launch of Windows 7, I will be posting updates from all of these areas.

Partners, both hardware and software, are essential to Windows. They build the products that help you at work or entertain you at home. We call this our “ecosystem” of partners and they help to make your experience with Windows great. So, with the launch of Windows 7 right around the corner, I want to spend some time talking about the Windows 7 Logo Program that highlights the products from this ecosystem of great partners.

The Compatible With Windows 7 Logo is designed to help customers make better purchase decisions by identifying products that have passed Microsoft designed tests for compatibility and reliability with Windows 7. Since we designed Windows 7 to be compatible with the products you use every day, many of these products will just work and thousands of partners are committing to meeting an even higher quality bar.

For Windows 7, we’ve made a number of changes to the Logo criteria and the process for granting Logo status. Our goal is to make the “Compatible with Windows 7 Logo” about the customer and ensuring them the best experience possible with Windows. A few of the changes we made include:

We focused on robust testing requirements to ensure optimal Windows 7 experience. Products that receive the Logo are checked for common issues to minimize the number of crashes, hangs, and reboots experienced by the user.
To be granted the Logo, products are tested to work with all versions of Windows 7 including 64-bit. This is an important change since 64 bit systems are becoming more mainstream.
We changed the testing process, reducing the amount of paperwork required and making it less expensive for our partners to achieve the logo.
We reached out to partners earlier giving them more time to test their products for use with Windows 7

These changes have already been met with positive results from our partner community. For the last several months we have been running a program for partners called Ready.Set.7 designed to help them achieve the logo. There are already over 6000 products that have received the logo and many more are added every day. You can see some of the partners who have already passed the logo tests at readyset7.com.

Like I said, the Logo is really about our end-users. We have a simple goal to help Windows customers to easily find great products that work exceptionally well with Windows 7. Hardware and software products that receive Compatible with Windows 7 Logo offer many advantages for our customers:

It is very easy to identify products that are for Windows 7. The logo will appear on packaging and on retailer websites
Devices that carry the logo will work seamlessly. For example, a digital camera will automatically transfer photos or a wireless router will easily be set up in minutes and you can add a wireless device to Windows 7 that has received the logo in seconds.
Software will install without worry. Applications and drivers are signed so that you know the file has not been tampered with and can trust there is no malware or spyware.

If you are in the market for new hardware or software and you want to know it will work well with Windows 7, look for the Compatible with Windows 7 Logo. If you are a software or hardware vendor, see how other partners are getting ready and learn more by visiting readyset7.com

You will hear more from me about the Windows Ecosystem in future posts and you can follow me on Twitter @mrelph.

Update: To be clear, this program “Compatible with Windows 7” is intended for applications and devices you purchase after you get a computer, which is why supporting 64-bit Windows 7 is a logo requirement. As part of the Windows 7 Logo Program for computers, we have separate requirements that ensure PC’s will have a great Windows 7 experience out of the box and can upgrade to any edition of Windows 7. We’ll have an update on PC’s and what you’ll see on shelves in the coming weeks.We already have tons of great new PC’s in the pipeline running 32-bit and 64-bit in all types of form factors including small notebook PC’s (netbooks), tablets, desktops and all-in-ones)

The Device Experience in Windows 7

Brandon LeBlanc — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:06:08 GMT

UPDATED 09/01 2:14PM

I’ve moved the content of this blog post to a separate stand-alone page on the site due to it being so long and how it reads more like a whitepaper rather than a blog post. You can find the new page here.

Windows 7 Has Been Released to Manufacturing

Brandon LeBlanc — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:40:43 GMT

I am pleased to announce that Windows 7 has RTM’d!

As I mentioned previously, RTM officially happens only after sign-off occurs. What happens is a build gets designated as a RTM contender after going through significant testing and meeting our quality bar for RTM. Then, it goes though all the validation checks required for RTM including having all languages of that build completed. If all the validation checks have passed – sign-off for RTM can occur. Today after all the validation checks were met, we signed off and declared build 7600 as RTM.

Not only is RTM an important milestone for us – it’s also an important milestone for our partners. Today’s release is the result of hard work and collaboration with our partners in the industry to make Windows 7 a success. We delivered Windows 7 with a predictable feature set on a predictable timetable that allowed OEMs to focus on value and differentiation for their customers.

Our customers told us what they want (and expect) and we defined those specific experiences and then built features to support them (like HomeGroup and the Windows Taskbar enhancements). Our customers also told us that “fundamentals” on both the hardware and software side was extremely important. Windows 7 today runs great on the broadest array of hardware types ranging from netbooks to high-end gaming machines. We worked closely with OEMs so that their PCs delight customers with the new features in Windows 7.

Of course, today’s release is also the result of the amazing amount of feedback we received from the millions of people who tested Windows 7 – from Beta to RC. We actually had over 10 million people opt-in to the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP). That’s a lot of people opting in to help us make Windows 7 a solid release. Through CEIP, our engineers were guided by customer feedback all the way to RTM. We also have had a great group of beta testers who have dedicated a great deal of their time to testing Windows 7 too. A special thank you goes out to all the people who helped test Windows 7.

I’d also like to give a shout-out to my friends over on the Windows Server Team. Today they are also announcing that Windows Server 2008 R2 has RTM’d. Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 together can help businesses cut costs and increase productivity. Click here to read their blog post on Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM.

The RTM code will be delivered to our partners within the next few days who will then start preparing to deliver some amazing new products timed to hit at General Availability (GA) of Windows 7 on October 22nd. And going forward, I expect to be showcasing MANY of these new products here on The Windows Blog.

We continue to be overwhelmed at the community’s response to Windows 7 and it has been an extremely rewarding experience to witness. We hope the enthusiasm will continue to grow even more as our partners build amazing experiences with their products and Windows 7.

If you want to know when you’ll be able to get RTM of Windows 7, click here to read my post from yesterday outlining which audiences will get access to the RTM bits.

When will you get Windows 7 RTM?

Brandon LeBlanc — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:53:04 GMT

When will I get Windows 7 RTM?

I recognize this is an important question to have answered. Many of you have said you want to know exactly when you will be able to get your hands on RTM. Last Monday, I gave an update on RTM to close out some myths. In that update, I also gave a broad timeline on when different groups of people – or “audiences” – would get the final RTM code.

While I have nothing new to add regarding RTM today, I do however have more precise information to give on when you will be able to get RTM. Again, when you can get RTM depends on who you are.

For Partners & OEMs:

ISV (Independent software vendor) and IHV (Independent hardware vendor) Partners will be able to download Windows 7 RTM from Microsoft Connect or MSDN on August 6th. There is already a lot of momentum from ISVs and IHVs in the ecosystem today for Windows 7 as Mike Nash blogged last week. If you are a partner who has been working on Windows 7 for a while, now is the time to complete your testing with final version of Windows 7. For partners that haven’t gotten started yet with Windows 7, now is the time to get involved. You can also visit www.readyset7.com to learn more about getting ready for Windows 7.

Microsoft Partner Program Gold/Certified Members will be able to download Windows 7 RTM in English through the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) Portal on August 16th. By October 1st, the remaining languages will become available to download.

Microsoft Action Pack Subscribers will be about to download Windows 7 RTM in English starting August 23rd here. By October 1st, the remaining languages will become available to download.

OEMs will receive Windows 7 RTM software images beginning approximately 2 days after we officially RTM, as a little time is required to release and distribute these images. This will allow them to begin preparing images for new PCs to ship with Windows 7 on them. We know our OEMs are excited for Windows 7 and we can’t wait to hand them the final RTM bits!

For Business Customers:

If you are a Volume License (VL) customer with an existing Software Assurance (SA) license you will be able to download Windows 7 RTM in English starting August 7th via the Volume License Service Center (VLSC). The rest of the languages for Windows 7 RTM should be available within a couple of weeks after that.

Volume License customers without a SA license will be able to purchase Windows 7 through Volume Licensing on September 1st as we announced last week at WPC09. Mark these dates on your calendar and start making your deployment plans!

For IT Professionals:

There are a few ways you can get Windows 7 RTM. IT Professionals with TechNet Subscriptions will be able to download Windows 7 RTM in English on August 6th and remaining languages by October 1st.

IT Professionals at companies with Volume Licensing see above on how you can get Windows 7 RTM.

We have quite a bit of resources for IT Professionals to use to become experts on Windows 7 and to aid in their deployments. Those resources can be found at the Springboard Series.

For Developers:

Developers with MSDN Subscriptions will be able to download Windows 7 RTM in English on August 6th and remaining languages by October 1st.

To help developers who are developing applications for Windows 7 or updating existing applications to take advantage of new Windows 7 features, check out the Windows 7 for Developers Blog. Also, be sure to check out the Windows 7 Developers Guide on MSDN. Oh and there are also some fantastic videos on Channel 9 too!

For Beta Testers & Enthusiasts:

A special thank you to our beta testers is needed for their time and effort in helping make Windows 7 a solid release. The special pre-order offer we did offering Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional at almost 50% discount was done with our beta testers in mind. And many of you jumped at the chance to take advantage of this deal – thank you!

I know there have been some rumors going around about a “family pack” for Windows 7. We have heard a lot of feedback from beta testers and enthusiasts over the last 3 years that we need a better solution for homes with multiple PCs. I’m happy to confirm that we will indeed be offering a family pack of Windows 7 Home Premium (in select markets) which will allow installation on up to 3 PCs. As I’ve said before, stay tuned to our blog for more information on this and any other potential offers.

UPDATE 8/6: See this blog post here for information on the Windows 7 Family Pack.

Beta testers will not automatically receive a free copy of Windows 7. Many beta testers are already subscribers to TechNet; those of you who fit that description will be able to download Windows 7 RTM shortly after RTM happens for free as part of your subscription.

UPDATE 8/6: See this blog post here regarding a special thank you for beta testers.

However, if you don’t have TechNet and are waiting for GA (to either purchase Windows 7 or wait for your pre-order to arrive) you can continue to use the RC. In fact, you can continue to use it until it expires on June 1st, 2010 (expiration actually starts March 1, 2010, this is when the reboots start).

While our special pre-order offer with the near 50% has ended, Windows 7 can still be pre-ordered today from the various online retailers (including the Microsoft Store).

We are also going to release an evaluation of Windows 7 Professional for IT Professionals via the Springboard Series shortly after RTM. Over 40% of beta testers are IT Professionals and this will allow them to quickly access the RTM code and plan for deployments.

For Consumers:

Windows 7 will be in retail stores and shipping on new PCs starting October 22nd. If you pre-ordered Windows 7, it should be delivered sometime around the October 22nd timeframe (depends on the retailer).

UPDATE 8/6: I’m including a nifty chart to summarize the above information for everyone (click to make bigger).

An Ecosystem Update for Windows 7

Mike Nash — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:57:10 GMT

Hi, Mike Nash here from the Windows Platform Strategy Team.

Earlier this week, I was in New Orleans at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC). It was amazing to see the strength and scale of the Windows ecosystem at this event, particularly as we get closer to the launch of Windows 7.

As I return to Redmond, I’d like to give an update on our approach to partner outreach and enabling the Windows ecosystem.

Driving early engagement

Our partners have been clear from the outset that they needed access to stable Windows 7 builds as early as possible. So we started our ecosystem readiness journey by delivering an API complete pre-release developer build of Windows 7 in October at the PDC, a year before our scheduled General Availability (GA). We followed that with Windows 7 Beta at CES in January, and Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) in May.

This access has enabled partners to be in a great position to complete final testing of their products and services when Windows 7 is released to manufacturing (RTM) later this month.

Focusing on application and device compatibility

When we designed Windows 7, we worked to minimize changes in the way applications and devices interact with Windows. As a result, the work done by 3rd party software and hardware developers to make their products work on Windows Vista generally carries forward for Windows 7. In most cases, the same software and hardware that works on Windows Vista will also work on Windows 7 today.

Some software that is written to very low levels of the operating system, like antivirus and disk imaging software, may require some updates. We have been able to engage closely with those partners and have addressed compatibility issues earlier in the process. As a result, today 10 antivirus companies offer beta versions of their flagship products that are compatible with Windows 7 RC.

New content and programs for partners

Millions of developers and partners have been able to get detailed technical guidance, white papers, tools and code samples from the Windows Developer Center, so they can plan, build and test on Windows 7 sooner. Moreover, thousands of partners are participating in the Windows Ecosystem Readiness Program, which has reached nearly 45,000 software and hardware developers. And over 6 million people have checked out the content at Ready. Set. 7 about how many of our partners are preparing for and innovating on Windows 7.

How customers can get ready for Windows 7

We’ve also been working to ensure customers can take advantage of all of this great work by the Windows ecosystem.

We have created the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, an end-user tool designed to help customers assess their ability to upgrade their Windows XP or Windows Vista-based PCs to Windows 7. A Beta version of the can be downloaded here.

We also have the Windows 7 Logo Program, to help customers know what is compatible with Windows 7. While many products will work with Windows 7, products that carry the “Compatible with Windows 7” logo have passed testing for compatibility with Windows 7 – and because 64-bit support is a logo requirement, logo’d devices will work with both 32 and 64 bit!

Business customers can also use the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, but they need more information on compatibility for enterprise applications. So we’ve also put together a comprehensive list of the most widely used enterprise applications, which we have continuously tested on Windows 7 throughout the product cycle. In addition, there is the Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) to help customers assess compatibility of software.

For internally developed line-of-business (LOB) applications, Windows 7 provides a number of in-box compatibility tools. For example, if an application fails to install because of a hard-coded version check (some software installers check the version of Windows you’re running), the Program Compatibility Troubleshooter can troubleshoot the problem by using a version number expected by the installer and running the installer again, with user consent.

How developers can get ready for Windows 7

If you’re a developer and you haven’t yet started testing for Windows 7, I recommend you do 5 key things:

Go download the Windows 7 Release Candidate and try it out.
Get compatible and test your products. You can visit www.readyset7.com to learn more about getting ready for Windows 7.
Test for the Logo Requirements with our Windows Logo Kit for software and hardware.
Tell the world! Make a statement of support on the Windows Compatibility Center.
Unlock your creativity and innovation with the new features in Windows 7. Get started by taking advantage of new opportunities in Windows 7 by evaluating the Windows 7 Developer Guide and Windows Hardware Developer Central.

Being at WPC is a good reminder of all the work it takes across tens of thousands of companies and millions of developers and IT professionals to get ready for a new Windows release. So let me conclude by saying THANK YOU to all of our partners from around the world for your engagement, testing, innovation and feedback – all which will help make Windows 7 a great release for our mutual customers.

--Mike

Partners to Support Native Windows 7 Mobile Broadband

Brandon LeBlanc — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 21:08:40 GMT

Yesterday at Mobile World Congress 2009, we announced an amazing line-up of partners who will be supporting Mobile Broadband enhancements in Windows 7. These partners include:

Acer
Asus
Birdstep Technology
Dell
Ericsson
HP
Fujitsu Siemens Computers
Huawei Communications Technologies
Option
Qualcomm
Sierra Wireless
Smith Micro
T-Mobile International
ZTE

Windows 7’s Mobile Broadband enhancements give people a more reliable way to connect to the Internet using a wireless modem. Taking advantage of this feature is just like connecting to any other wireless network, and is done using the View Available Networks feature.

A consistent experience for customers on top of a common infrastructure for partners to build off of enables several benefits including lower support, maintenance, deployment and management costs. It also allows partners to focus on higher-end services instead of having to focus on basic connectivity development.

Mobile World Congress, in progress throughout this week, is an annual event that takes place in Barcelona, Spain where the mobile industry comes together to show off new devices and services. You can read more about Mobile World Congress here.

Ecosystem Readiness Program helps partners develop products for Windows 7

Brandon LeBlanc — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 20:21:39 GMT

To help the ecosystem of software developers, device manufacturers, independent software vendors and others prepare for Windows 7 – I wanted to let you know about the Windows 7 Ecosystem Readiness Program.

The Windows 7 Ecosystem Readiness Program is designed to help hardware and software partners ensure that their existing applications, devices and systems will be compatible with Windows 7. The program provides partners with access to Windows 7 builds, application testing labs and toolkits through Microsoft Connect to help with their development efforts to build innovative solutions for their customers.

If you are a hardware or software developer, I encourage you to visit the following sites where you can get tools and resources you need to get started on the path to Windows 7:

MSDN – Windows Client: www.msdn.com/windows
Windows Hardware Developer Central: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/win7

Mike Nash, Corporate Vice President of Windows Product Management (and author of many blog posts here on The Windows Blog), discusses the new program and how partners can prepare for the availability of Windows 7 in a Q&A with Microsoft PressPass. Mike’s Q&A with PressPass is a great way to find out what we’re doing to ensure the ecosystem will be ready for Windows 7.

The Windows 7 Ecosystem Readiness Program is designed for hardware and software partners only.

For folks just wanting to try out Windows 7, please visit www.windows.com/windows7 to try the Windows 7 Beta. Hurry though as we are about to limit downloads for the Windows 7 Beta – see details in my blog post here.