Windows 7 Team Blog : Windows

More happy is coming…

Brandon LeBlanc — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:57:23 GMT

Check out our new Windows 7 ad! I thought it was far too cute to pass up sharing with everyone.

The 2009 MVP Global Summit

Mike Nash — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:46:19 GMT

Hi, Mike Nash here. I had the opportunity to deliver the Windows 7 keynote yesterday at the annual Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Global Summit here in Seattle. Every year we have the privilege of hosting over 1,400 members from our MVP community in a multi-day summit where we do deep drill downs on our products and get very direct feedback from them. This year the product and engineering groups hosted 700 sessions across 70 Microsoft technology areas, presenting over 140 sessions focused on Windows 7, IE8 and Windows Live expertise areas.

MVPs are independent technical experts and early adopters of Microsoft technologies who voluntarily share their knowledge and experiences in offline and online technical communities to help other technology users to solve problems, discover new capabilities and get the most from their technology investments.

Our MVP community as a whole, represents more than 90 countries, speaks 30 different languages, and covers more than 85 Microsoft technologies.

We have thousands of MVPs around the world, with hundreds who are specifically focused on the Windows Desktop Experience, Windows System and Performance, Internet Explorer, Digital Media, Media Center, Printing and Imaging, Tablet PC and more. We rely on them heavily to be our critics and infuse our conscience with how customers are experiencing the Windows client operating system while sharing insights into how we can continue to improve our products and most importantly the customer experience.

Our MVPs have been very engaged in testing and reviewing the Windows 7 Beta, since our first pre-release build was made available at PDC and our feature complete beta that was released at CES in January. MVPs have provided support by contributing to over 40,000 posts on the Windows 7 Beta Forum where technical enthusiasts can find answers to questions with MVP subject experts contributing to an 85+% answer rate during the beta timeframe. More importantly, MVPs are the one group that has an official feedback channel to file their bugs and input feedback directly to the product and engineering teams.

To date, our MVP community has provided great feedback from their voice of the customer perspective to help us deliver on the next milestone of Windows 7.

I want to say THANK YOU to ALL our MVPs for their hard work in helping us to fine tune Windows 7 and put the final fit and finish on the product as we march to our next milestone of a release candidate.

In closing, we had a bit of fun at the MVP Summit producing an “I’m a PC” MVP video with the keynote audience with myself and Steve Ballmer. Have a look.

MVP "I'm a PC" Video

- Mike

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.

Windows 7 Puts it’s Finger on Enhanced Biometric Support

Brandon LeBlanc — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 02:00:53 GMT

I’ve always found biometrics to be an interesting aspect to technology. And I was excited to discover that Windows 7 offers changes to the way Windows handles biometrics to enable better experiences. Windows 7 introduces the Windows Biometric Framework which makes integration easier and more consistent to help deliver enhanced reliability, compatibility and usability of fingerprint-based solutions. The Windows Biometric Framework also makes it easier for developers to include biometrics in their applications by providing a common API that can be added independently with each biometric fingerprint solution. For a more in-depth look at the Windows Biometric Framework check out this whitepaper from Windows Hardware Developer Central.

This week at CES 2009, we have several key partners announcing support for the Windows Biometric Framework in Windows 7.

With tens of millions of notebooks in the market with UPEK fingerprint sensors, UPEK has worked closely with us on the development of the Windows Biometric Framework and sees strong value in using applications that support fingerprint biometrics through the Windows Biometric Framework. If your laptop uses a UPEK fingerprint sensor, such as my Lenovo X300, you can download the pre-release Protector Suite software here which utilizes the Windows Biometric Framework in the Windows 7 Beta today. I’m currently testing it out myself and its pretty slick! Rob Blau, UPEK’s Vice President of Development, talks more about UPEK’s support for Windows 7 here in their press release (Word Document).

AuthenTec has also worked closely with us on the development of the Windows Biometric Framework. They are providing beta test participants with access to software that enable convenient logon for Windows 7-based PCs, thanks to AuthenTec fingerprint sensors integrated with the new Windows Biometric Framework. You can download their 32-bit software here and their 64-bit software here. AuthenTec fingerprint sensors can be seen in business and consumer notebooks from the world’s leading brands from ASUS, Acer, Dell, Fujitsu, Fujitsu Siemens, HP, Lenovo, LG, Samsung and Toshiba. Andy VanDamia, AuthenTec’s Director of PC Software, discusses working with us on the Windows Biometric Framework here.

And Validity believes the Windows Biometric Framework facilitates greater adoption of fingerprint security solutions by providing a flexible platform, enabling easy fingerprint sensor integration into PCs.

The early adoption and readiness by these companies has played a vital role in validating the suitability of the Windows Biometric Framework as a platform for fingerprint biometric devices in Windows 7.

Information on Downloading and Installing Windows 7 Beta

Brandon LeBlanc — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:51:35 GMT

As of today, I am running the Windows 7 Beta on several different PCs including my laptop, my work PC, and my PC at home, which I upgraded recently to Windows 7 from Windows Vista SP1. (I’ll be outlining the PCs I’m using to test Windows 7 shortly.) I’m all connected with HomeGroup, I’ve got several different Libraries set up, and I’m loving the new Windows Taskbar. I’ve got Windows Media Center recording my favorite TV shows and my Zune 80 syncing up with the Zune software. And things are even better with Windows Live Essentials installed. I find the Windows 7 Beta to be an amazing beta release and I am extremely excited for you to get your hands on it later this week! I’d like to take a moment to share some specifics regarding the Windows 7 Beta that I think are very important for people looking to give Windows 7 a spin.

On January 9th, the Windows 7 Beta will be available for Windows enthusiasts to download via the Windows 7 page on Windows.com. The Windows 7 Beta is going to be available download-only (we’re not sending out physical media) and available for a limited time to the first 2.5 million people who download the beta.

The Windows 7 Beta will be available in English, German, Japanese, Arabic, and Hindi, and each language will be available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions (except Hindi which will only be available in 32-bit). Because the Windows 7 Beta will be offered download-only, it will be provided to you as an ISO image (an .iso file) that you download. After downloading either the 32-bit or 64-bit ISO image of the Windows 7 Beta, you will be required to burn the ISO image to a DVD to install Windows 7. So you want to be sure you have a DVD burner before spending the time downloading the ISO image.

To burn the ISO image of the Windows 7 Beta to DVD, if your PC comes with Nero or Roxio products – you should be able to burn the ISO image to DVD. If you don’t already have DVD burning software on your PC, you can also check out ImgBurn which is free and can be downloaded here.

The Windows 7 Beta only supports Windows Vista SP1 to Windows 7 upgrades. So if you intend to do an upgrade – be sure it is on a PC running Windows Vista with Service Pack 1. We are not yet announcing anything regarding finalized upgrade paths for Windows 7.

The Windows 7 Beta will be only available in one edition, which is roughly equivalent the Ultimate edition of Windows Vista.

Also, another important thing to keep in mind is that the Windows 7 Beta will expire on August 1st, 2009.

I also need to emphasize that this is a beta of an unreleased operating system. Be sure to backup all your important data. As much as the Windows 7 Beta completely rocks, part of the beta process is discovering bugs and reporting those bugs. Some of those bugs could possibly lead to data loss. I tend to be a risk-taker myself and have gone all-out with the Windows 7 Beta by putting it on almost all my PCs both at work and at home, but not everyone should do this. I recommend using Windows Vista’s Backup and Restore features to ensure your information is backed up before trying out the Windows 7 Beta. Click here for several methods of backing up your data in Windows Vista.

The Windows 7 Beta is targeted toward the enthusiast crowd – people excited and knowledgeable with technology. If you don’t quite understand much of what I’ve written above, it is probably best you don’t try to install the Windows 7 Beta.

If you are an IT Professional, you can visit the Springboard Series for Windows 7 on TechNet (see the Windows 7 tab) on January 9th to sign up for the Windows 7 Beta but also can also get access to dynamic resources including video walkthroughs and the new Windows 7 forums.

Windows 7 Unveiled Today at PDC 2008

Mike Nash — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:36:00 GMT

Hi all, Mike Nash here live from the Professional Developers Conference.

Today we are unveiling Windows 7 to the world here at the PDC taking place in Los Angeles this week. I am excited to be bringing you this news in the very first post on our brand new Windows 7 Team Blog here on The Windows Blog website. Here, we will focus on delivering to you all the important Windows 7 news and announcements. I look forward to utilizing this blog as a way to talk to you about Windows 7 in the future.

Windows is the world's most popular software product. With more than a billion customers worldwide, Windows has created an ecosystem of hardware and software developers that continue to offer growing choices and capabilities for consumers and businesses around the world. Because of this, we believe PDC is the perfect place to show off Windows 7 for the first time - in front of thousands of developers anxious to start taking advantage of the new advancements in Windows 7.

Windows 7 will build on the substantial investments the company has made in the fundamentals with Windows Vista - improving security, reliability and performance while improving security features that people expect. Windows 7 is designed to be compatible with the same hardware, applications, and device drivers as Windows Vista today.

Windows 7 will offer improved navigation, a new taskbar and a streamlined UI so that common tasks done in Windows are done easier and more quickly. You will be able to share data to all your PCs and devices in your home network or at work. With Windows 7 + Windows Live, you will be able to stay connected to the people that matter to you, and with Internet Explorer 8 you will get a faster, safer, more productive Web experience.

Along with Touch Gestures and Device Stage, Windows 7 enables you to get more out of your devices including the ones you use most often like your digital cameras, mobile phones and printers. Windows 7 makes it easier to use networked media devices to play music, watch videos, and display photos that are on your Windows PC.

And Windows 7 will offer more options than ever to customize and personalize your Windows PC with styles that match your personality.

Windows 7 is being designed to be a solid platform for developers so that they can enable next-generation solutions for Windows. Developers can be more productive and offer new capabilities to their applications utilizing new API's in Windows 7. Here at the PDC, we are delivering the first pre-beta of Windows 7 to developers. This was the first developer release of Windows in recent history to be API-complete when first delivered.

The next phase for the development team is getting to beta. For Windows 7 this will be a feature complete beta and we expect that to be available to customers in early 2009. Feature complete means that we will not be adding any new features once we get to beta (since they are all there) but will instead focus on fixing bugs that we find in our testing and in feedback that customers give us. By being API complete now and feature complete at the beta, we will also make it easier for our ecosystem partners to builds solutions for Windows 7. Watch this blog or www.microsoft.com/windows for information about how to get the beta when it's available.

Mike