Windows 7 Team Blog : Windows 7

Windows 7 & Saks Fifth Avenue Working Together to Bring Holiday Cheer

Brandon LeBlanc — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:35:36 GMT

This holiday, Saks Fifth Avenue and Windows 7 are working together to bring the magic of the season to life. For the first time, the legendary Saks Fifth Avenue’s holiday windows will be powered by Windows 7. Additionally, Saks customers will have the opportunity to interact with the newly launched Windows 7 in store through PC lounges.

While this may seem an unusual pairing, the best holiday traditions are the simple ones. Windows and Saks are bringing a 60 year holiday tradition to life and celebrating the simple things that make this time of year special, spending time with family, connecting with friends and sharing good cheer. In addition, fashion and technology are hot items this holiday season and consumers today want their personal technology, like their fashion, to be as unique as they are. Just as Saks Fifth Avenue enables customers to find their personal style, Windows 7 gives customers the ability to customize their PC experience.

Saks’ holiday windows have always been about telling a heart-warming story. Windows 7 will help tell this year’s story, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Flake, with greater detail and excitement, as customers will find holiday windows enhanced through technology. Together, the two companies will share holiday cheer while entertaining New Yorkers and tourists alike in a new and captivating way. The Center 6 windows on 5th Avenue will showcase several of the book’s vibrant scenes and bring Twinkle’s world to life before shoppers’ very eyes.

In the store, customers will experience Windows 7 PCs first hand and ask Microsoft experts questions about both the hardware and software featured.

Windows 7 Netbook PCs and AT&T Join Together in Rising Telco Trend

Brandon LeBlanc — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:48:15 GMT

Now that Windows 7 is available, we’re seeing more and more demand from customers, OEMs and telcos to include the new OS on their PCs. I’m excited to announce that later this month; AT&T is offering subsidized mobile broadband plans on the Acer Aspire One and the Samsung Go Netbook PCs, featuring Windows 7. More info can be found here.

This is the first time AT&T will be launching its 3G service for Windows 7 netbook PCs; it’s a great pairing given these devices are used primarily by people on the go for work, school, travel or just moving from room to room in the house.

Many telecommunications companies are joining this trend – in fact, more than 50 providers in the US and internationally will be deploying Windows 7 PCs by 2010. They’re seeing that Windows 7 supports netbook PCs in a way that offers a better experience than ever before. Why?

Windows 7 netbook PCs are the perfect companion device and are familiar and easy to use. People don’t want “complicated” when they’re moving around – they need an OS that’s simple, works the way they want and opens doors to new possibilities in computing.
Customers want a complete, connected experience across their phones, netbook PCs, laptops, desktops, and TVs. They want connectivity everywhere regardless of device; this makes that possible.
In the same way that Windows XP made Wi-Fi mainstream for the first time, Windows 7 has the potential to do the same to 3G and at the same time redefine what people come to expect from their PCs while they’re on the go.
Customers like that they’re seeing cost reductions through data and voice bundling on netbook PCs and they’re seeing lower-cost PCs through subsidization.

In addition to AT&T’s announcement, you may have heard recently at TechEd Europe that UK-based Vodafone announced support for Device Stage. Canadian telecommunications company Sierra Wireless is doing the same. You can find more information about Device Stage in a previous blog post, but suffice to say that this is a positive step toward providing even more connectivity possibilities to the Windows 7 experience.

How we really designed the look and feel of Windows 7

Brandon LeBlanc — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:55:39 GMT

An inaccurate quote has been floating around the Internet today about the design origins of Windows 7 and whether its look and feel was “borrowed” from Mac OS X. Unfortunately this came from a Microsoft employee who was not involved in any aspect of designing Windows 7. I hate to say this about one of our own, but his comments were inaccurate and uninformed. If you’re interested in learning more about the design of Windows 7, I suggest reading this AP story with Julie Larson-Green as well as these WSJ (membership required) and Fast Company articles. And here is one of many blog posts on the E7 blog discussing the design process of Windows 7.

Internet TV & Netflix Comes to Windows Media Center in Windows 7

Brandon LeBlanc — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:51:44 GMT

In case you haven’t already heard, I wanted to let you know that we’ve launched Internet TV in Windows Media Center for Windows 7 users. Internet TV lets you watch videos from a variety of providers via the Internet right in Windows Media Center in addition to live and recorded TV (if you have a TV tuner for your PC).

For Windows 7, Internet TV has been updated with enhancements to the UI and features more content from new content providers. Those providers include the CBS Audience Network, Zune (Full Zune Video Podcast Library available), MSNBC, MSN, and more.

And you can access Internet TV right from the Guide in Windows Media Center!

Internet TV is currently now available for free for people running Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate. The CBS Audience Network and the Zune Video Podcast Library in Internet TV is only be available within the U.S. ~~but Internet TV is also available in the UK with content from Sky and MSN~~.

UPDATE: Internet TV will be able in the UK coming soon with content from Sky and MSN.

Also now available is Netflix for Windows Media Center in Windows 7!

Right from Windows Media Center, you can access your Instant Queue to play movies and TV shows and browse the Netflix library and add movies or TV shows to your Instant Queue or Instant Queue. Netflix in Windows Media Center is only available in the U.S. today as Netflix On-Demand (“Instant Watch”) videos are available only in the U.S.

Fire Windows Media Center in Windows 7 up today and give both Internet TV and Netflix a spin!

For more on Windows Media Center in Windows 7, I highlight recommend you check out my post from earlier last month on the 7 great things about Windows Media Center in Windows 7.

Brad Brooks demonstrated Internet TV and Netflix during the keynote at the New York City Windows 7 Launch Event on October 22^nd. You can watch the keynote from the event on-demand from the PressPass Windows 7 Virtual Presskit site.

Awesome Windows 7 Resources

Brandon LeBlanc — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:34:49 GMT

With Windows 7 now available worldwide, I wanted to share some resources available to help IT Pros become more proficient with Windows 7 and consumers more savvy about new support resources for Windows 7.

Microsoft Learning has developed a wide range of training and resources for IT Pros that address the benefits and key technical aspects of Windows 7. With these resources, IT Pros can prepare for deployments and become Windows 7 experts within in their organization. These resources include:

The Windows 7 Learning site with information, tools and resources to help people get up and running on Windows 7, such as Learning Snacks, Learning Plans, certifications currently available on Windows 7, and resources for classroom and online training.
The Career Campaign site that provides guidance, career paths, special offers and certifications for common IT job roles. Through Learning Plans and special offers, IT pros can train to get certified on Windows Server, Windows client technologies, Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft SQL Server. Individuals can chart their course from their current skill level to their desired job role and skill level, from beginner through experts, with clear guidance on classes, upgrades and newest releases, along with special offers that will help individuals meet their career goals.
Special offers from Microsoft make it easier for individuals who are getting started in their careers, changing job roles or advancing within their organizations get the training they need. This includes limited-time offers and discounts on training and certification, making it easier to embark on a career course, such as: discounts of up to 25% on certification exams, Career Packages that include classroom training, a Certification exam and a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate (available through select Certified Partners for Learning Solutions) and discounts on e-Learning collections for self-paced study.
Springboard Series on TechNet is a GREAT place for IT Pros to Discover & Explore, Pilot & Deploy and Manage Windows 7. Be sure to keep your eyes on the Springboard Series Blog too.

Since many IT Pros serve double-duty as the IT expert for their friends and family, there are support tools available in and around Windows 7 that make it easier for them to help consumers address their issues. Detailed on Microsoft’s PressPass site, these resources provide end-to-end Windows 7 support that includes built-in self-healing and support tools, easy-to-use automated and scripted solutions and customer support through new social media forums, including:

Windows Update: Automatically updates software to help prevent problems.
Windows Action Center: includes more than 20 automated troubleshooters that fix more than 150 common problems.
Scripted diagnostics and solutions: through Fix IT solve common software problems with the click of a button.
Online Support: through Microsoft Answers provides peer to peer help, guidance from customer support experts and Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs).
In the moment help: through tweets to the @MicrosoftHelps Twitter account.
Easier, more intuitive online resources such as the Windows Help and “How To” center and the solution centers available on support.microsoft.com .

For more information about the value of training and certification, and to keep up with new Windows 7 training resources, visit Born to Learn; and for more information about the consumer support resources available in Windows 7, please visit support.microsoft.com.

Special thanks to the folks at Microsoft Learning and Microsoft Customer Service and Support (CSS) for reaching out to me and compiling these awesome resources to share with you today.

Announcing Final Releases of Platform Update for Windows Vista Technologies

Brandon LeBlanc — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:54:22 GMT

Today we are announcing the final release of the Platform Update for Windows Vista. The Platform Update for Windows Vista features a set of runtime libraries which add support for new technologies making it easier for developers to develop for Windows 7 and Windows Vista without impacting their users.

The Platform Update for Windows Vista will be available for free via Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services and the Microsoft Download Center. You will need to have Windows Update “recommended settings” enabled in order to automatically receive the update without additional action.

These updates include the following:

Windows Ribbon and Animation Manager Library: contains the Windows Ribbon API, a command framework that enables developers to quickly and easily create rich ribbon experiences in their applications, and the Windows Animation Manager API, an animation framework for managing the scheduling and execution of user interface element animations.
Windows Graphics, Imaging, and XPS Library: components for developers to leverage the latest advancements in modern graphics technologies for gaming, multimedia, imaging and printing applications. It includes updates to DirectX to support hardware acceleration for 2D, 3D and text based scenarios; DirectCompute for hardware accelerated parallel computing scenarios; and XPS Library for document printing scenarios.
Windows Automation API: allows accessibility tools and test automations to access Windows user interface in a consistent way across operating system versions.
Windows Portable Devices Platform: supplies the infrastructure to standardize data transfers between an application and a portable device, such as a mobile phone, digital camera, or portable media player.

Note that the Windows Automation API will also be made available as a separate download for PCs running Windows XP.

For specific details about the Platform Update for Windows Vista as well as the Platform Update for Windows Server 2008, click here.

By making these libraries broadly available through the Platform Update for Windows Vista, we expect customers will find an increasing number of applications using new features in Windows 7.

Kindle for the PC Announced – and it’s awesome!

Brandon LeBlanc — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:51:52 GMT

Today, Amazon announced “Kindle for PC” – a free application that let’s readers enjoy reading books purchased from the Kindle Store right on their Windows PC. Today the Kindle Store has over 360,000 books to purchase, download and read. That’s a lot of books. We showed off Kindle for PC today for the first time at our New York City Launch Party for Windows 7.

The beta for Kindle for PC will be available as a free download in November. You can sign-up here to receive an email when Kindle for PC Beta is available.

Kindle for PC takes advantage of key Windows 7 features such as Windows Touch for zooming in and out with a pinch of the fingers and turning pages with the swipe of a finger. It also includes integration with the Windows Taskbar through a Jump List. I’ve been playing with it for the last few days on my HP TouchSmart tx2 and it’s wonderful.

Kindle for PC will also run on PCs running Windows XP and Windows Vista as well.

The Kindle for PC application also uses Amazon’s Whispersync technology. This allows the application to sync bookmarks and the last read page across PCs (and other devices such as the Kindle and Kindle DX).

Here is a demo of Kindle for PC in action!

Windows 7 Arrives Today With New Offers, New PCs, And More!

Brandon LeBlanc — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:02:40 GMT

You have no idea how excited I am to be able to say this: Windows 7 is now available worldwide!

Windows 7 reflects the input from millions of customers from around the world. Many of you helped us by testing and providing feedback on Windows 7 since its initial introduction about a year ago. Thanks to all of you for your input along the way. Windows 7 is the PC, simplified.

Today, Windows 7 is available in more than 45,000 retailers worldwide on new PCs and packaged product in 14 different languages: English, Spanish, Japanese, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Chinese (Hong Kong). Some of the many retailers offering Windows 7 include Best Buy, Staples, and Wal-Mart. It is also available at online retailers such as Amazon and our own Microsoft Store. The remaining languages will be available starting October 31st.

Speaking of retail stores - today we are also officially opening Microsoft’s first retail store in Scottsdale, Arizona. And the online Microsoft Store also got a refresh too!

Today, PC manufacturers will be offering a range of new sleek and stylish new Windows 7 PCs. I’ll be taking a look at a number of these cool PCs shortly. Also, yesterday we announced several very cool new offers for Windows 7 too. Click here for the “7 Days of Windows 7” offers on Windows.com.

One question I get quite a bit is from people is about how they can move to Windows 7 without a DVD drive. Some PCs including most netbooks don’t come with one. We have a solution we think will work great for more technical users who want to upgrade their Windows XP machines. When people purchase Windows 7 through our online Microsoft Store, they are given 2 options:

Have the copy of Windows 7 packaged retail product (boxed product) shipped to them.
Download a digital copy as an ISO image.

The Microsoft Store will be providing a tool called the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool (rolls right off the tongue doesn’t it?) – or WUDT for short. For netbook users without DVD drives, the WUDT will take an ISO image and create a bootable USB device that can be used to install Windows 7. The WUDT can also create a Windows 7 installation DVD from the ISO file as well.

Please note that in order to boot off of a USB device (or external DVD player), you will need to configure your BIOS to boot off of that device. If you are not comfortable making this type of BIOS change I recommend you seek some assistance from your favorite “tech geek”. WUDT will run on Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7. We’re working with partners now to deliver similar tools through their sites and hope to have more news to share in this regard soon.

Whether you are upgrading existing PCs or buying hot new PCs – there are lots of awesome deals, offers and options for you. Go get Windows 7 today!

The latest evolution in the Windows brand campaign also kicks off today, and stays true to our core theme of spotlighting customers in a fun and light-hearted manner. “My Idea” captures the spirit of the development of Windows 7 and celebrates the millions of people who tested Windows 7 and gave input which ultimately shaped the product. See the ads for yourself at here!

Want to check out many of Windows 7’s newest features and see for yourself how simple they are to use? No Problem. Click here to see a series of online videos showcasing some of the newest features in Windows 7.

Windows 7 is also now available and ready for businesses large and small. You can read more about how Window 7 meets the needs of companies of all sizes through the customer case studies located here. The PressPass folks put the case studies on a worldwide map using Bing Maps based on customer location.

For the latest Windows 7 launch videos, photos, new ads and more check out the Windows 7 Virtual Presskit!

What People Are Saying About Windows 7

Brandon LeBlanc — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:57:41 GMT

Just moments ago, we launched a social media “hub” for Windows 7 on Windows.com in celebration of launch tomorrow. This hub is designed to highlight what our customers are saying about Windows 7. It does this by pulling content from all over the web (via tweets, blog posts, etc.) of people talking about Windows 7 and bringing it all to one central location so you can see what everyone is saying about Windows 7.

Note: To ensure the content and conversations we’re pulling from the web is relevant to Windows 7 (and of course appropriate), we moderate what gets put up there.

If you’re going to be tweeting (posting on Twitter) about Windows 7, I encourage you to use the following hashtags (if you don’t know what hashtags on Twitter are, click here):

#Win7: Use this in place of “Windows 7” or add to the end of any tweet about Windows 7.
#WinLive: Use this place of “Windows Live” or add to the end of any tweet about Windows Live.
#WinWin7: For our several fun giveaways we have going for our Twitter followers (US only, employees are not eligible), tweets tagged with #winwin7 relate to the contests. See Contest Rules here.
#win7tip: Use this in any tweet sharing a Windows 7 tip or trick.
#igotWin7: Use this tag to share once you get a copy of Windows 7.
#win7meetup: Use this tag when tweeting about the Launch Parties or Meetup initiatives.

We continue to look for ways to include our customers and highlight real conversations both during launch and long after GA. To learn more about how the social hub works check Marty Collins’ blog post here.

Windows 7’s Big Day Tomorrow + New Offers Announced!

Brandon LeBlanc — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:06:41 GMT

Tomorrow’s our big day – Windows 7 officially launches and hits General Availability (or GA as we have acronyms for everything). That means Windows 7 will be available for purchase worldwide! I thought I’d take a moment to highlight some things to look out for as Windows 7 becomes available in stores and online around the world.

We have big events happening in many countries, including: Japan, UK, Germany, France, China and more. Plus we’re hosting a launch party in New York City tomorrow, which will be hosted by our own CEO Steve Ballmer. Even if you’re not in New York, you can still attend online.

Watch the New York City Windows 7 Launch Party LIVE – Starting 8am Pacific / 11am Eastern!

Customer-hosted Windows 7 Launch Parties will also be taking place starting tomorrow. As you know, Microsoft employee Windows 7 launch parties have been happening already. If you don’t live in a country where Launch Parties are available to host, you can hold a Windows 7 Meetup instead! We are providing people with the resources they need to host a Meetup here on Windows.com.

We will be updating our Virtual Press Room on Microsoft PressPass for Windows 7throughout the day tomorrow. You will be able to find all kinds of goodies including the webcast of our New York launch party, video clips and b-roll footage, photos, fact sheets and other materials, and more. If you’re planning to blog about Windows 7 tomorrow, this will be an excellent resource for you!

I’ve got several important (and pretty exciting) blog posts coming tomorrow that you’ll definitely want to read. So be on the lookout for these. And we have quite a few partners lined up doing guest blog posts for the Windows Partner Blog as well! I’m pretty stoked about what we’ve got lined up in terms of blogging for tomorrow.

Tomorrow is shaping up for one exciting day!

Beginning tomorrow, several very cool new offers will start that customers can take advantage of to get Windows 7:

Screaming Deals: We worked together with our partners to introduce a series of limited-time offers with great deals on hardware, software, upgrades, support, and other options. New offers will be released daily and available for the next 7 days here on Windows.com ~~(site goes live tomorrow – stay tuned for link!)~~ as well as through participating retail and OEM partners. These “7 Days of Windows 7” offers are available in the U.S. only (other countries have specific deals as well). Tomorrow is Day 1 and those offers will include:

Best Buy Bundle: HP Laptop, Desktop PC with monitor, Netbook, wireless router and set-up by Geek Squad for $1,199. For the price of one average Mac, you can outfit your entire family with 3 great Windows 7 PCs and a home network!
Dell: Save more than $100 on a Dell Studio XPS13
Gateway: All-in-one Acer Gateway ZX6800 23" for $899

Buy a PC - Get a Discounted Upgrade for another PC: Customers who buy a PC with Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional or Ultimate will be able to purchase a discounted copy of Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate to upgrade an existing Windows PC. For people wanting to add a 2nd or 3rd PC in their home (and take advantage of HomeGroup) this is the perfect deal. This offer will run through January 2nd, 2010 and be available in Germany, UK, Czech Republic, Greece, Slovakia, Poland, Latvia, Hungary, U.S., Canada, Denmark, France, New Zealand, Australia.

Windows 7 Family Pack: The Windows 7 Family Pack is also available today while supplies last. Customers can buy 3 licenses of Windows 7 Home Premium for one low price – for the U.S. it’s available for $149.99. The Windows 7 Family Pack is available in the U.S., Japan, Canada, Germany, UK, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland, Luxembourg, Sweden. One of my favorite features in Windows 7 today is HomeGroup. And with the Windows 7 Family Pack, you can truly take advantage of this feature for easy sharing of your music, pictures, video, and document libraries with the Windows 7 PCs in your home, as well as your Xbox 360.

Windows 7 Student Offer: If you are a student (an .edu email address is required), you can upgrade to Windows 7 at the LOWEST PRICE offered, $29.99 in the U.S. This offer runs through January 3rd, 2010 for US, Canada, France, Germany, Korea, Mexico and UK and March 31st, 2010 for Australia.

UPDATE: For more information on the Windows 7 Student Offer, click here.

One more thing… How would you change the world? We have a contest running asking folks to submit an idea they have on how they would use Windows 7 to help their local community. Record a video of yourself explaining your idea and submit it here on the 7 Ways to Change the World website. You have until November 11th to submit your video. The 7 people with the best submissions, as chosen by our judges, will each win a new PC running Windows 7. Each winner's chosen (eligible) community organization will receive a $7,000 grant.

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!

Compatibility & Ecosystem Momentum For Windows 7

Mark Relph — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:06:00 GMT

Hi, it’s Mark Relph again from the Windows Ecosystem Team here at Microsoft. Over the summer, our team posted a series of updates on our progress overall and with hardware and software vendors. In advance of the launch of Windows 7, I wanted to provide an update on our progress to ready the ecosystem of hardware and software products that work with Windows. While Windows 7 is designed to be compatible with the most popular hardware and software products you use every day. Compatibility is critical and we’ve continued our focus on making sure our hardware and software partners have all the resources they need to test and build on Windows 7. We have spent a lot of time with these partners in the last few months, including hosting more than 60 application compatibility labs, 6 logo fests, and outreach to partners in more than 93 different countries. In the Windows Ecosystem Readiness Program alone we now have over 50,000 developers from 17,000 companies using our technical resources to ready their products for Windows 7. This is translating into great momentum and real results:

We have been hard at work partnering with vendors to confirm the compatibility of thousands of products to work with Windows 7.
As seen in our Windows 7 Logo Program update, while many products just work, we have thousands of partners meeting a higher quality bar by receiving the Compatible with Windows 7 Logo more than 6,000 hardware and software products. For example, we have more applications with the Windows 7 software logo today than we had at launch for any previous release of Windows.
On the hardware side, 9 out of 10 beta testers and early adopters of Windows 7 have the drivers available for all hardware devices in and connected to their PCs.
Here are examples of two partners, Sansa and Roxio who are ready for Windows 7 as part of the Ready.Set.7 program:

All of this activity by partners and Microsoft goes to ensuring that customers continue to have a breadth of choice of great products available on Windows 7. To help customers find compatible products, we will unveil a new Windows Compatibility Center Website for the launch of Windows 7. We will have more on this as we get closer to launch, but thousands of products are being populated into the Compatibility Center right now based on confirmed statements of support from partners. If you are a customer, you can be confident that we are working with our partners to ensure you find the compatibility status, downloads, and helpful resources for the products you use every day.

If you are a hardware or software partner, please help Microsoft to tell our customers about your products. If you have not yet submitted your status - now is the time. Ensuring your product status is listed on the Compatibility Center so customers know your Windows 7 readiness status. You can visit the Product submission page to get started. If you are an ISV, there are some additional resources as a part of our Green Light program at www.isvappcompat.com.

Coming Soon – Final Release of Windows XP Mode

Brandon LeBlanc — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:23:02 GMT

Thanks to everyone’s feedback, we’re happy to announce that Windows XP Mode has RTM’d today. We expect to make the final release of Windows XP Mode available via the Microsoft Download Center on October 22nd. OEMs will be able to offer Windows XP Mode on their PCs based on their manufacturing schedules.

For more information on Windows XP Mode, including feature highlights and quotes from some of our partners, I recommend reading this blog post.

Windows XP Mode is designed to provide small business and mid-sized businesses running Windows 7 Professional (or higher) the ability to run Windows XP productivity applications that may not be natively compatible with Windows 7. We expect many Windows XP applications to be compatible Windows 7 however Windows XP Mode is meant to serve as an added safety net so small and mid-sized businesses can migrate and run Windows 7 without any road blocks. Windows 7 Professional is designed to meet the needs of small and mid-sized businesses.

The New Efficiency

Brandon LeBlanc — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 05:35:22 GMT

We are all experiencing the results of the economic “reset”. Companies and consumers are scaling back spending to lower levels despite modest signs of growth. However, we are all recognizing that you cannot simply save your way to success. Costs savings are critical but not enough. In response to this, businesses are emphasizing efficiency which includes trimming costs but also involves increasing productivity and innovation for sustained growth. Microsoft is calling this the New Efficiency.

As mentioned last week by Stephen Rose, Microsoft is hosting a special VIP Business Leadership Roundtable event on September 29, 2009 in San Francisco from 9 to 10:30am Pacific to discuss the New Efficiency and other relevant trends.

Attendees are encouraged to join in on the conversation with our CEO Steve Ballmer and co-host Robert Youngjohns as they discuss major trends in the workplace and the role of technology in driving growth and competitive advantage during this economic reset. Steve and Robert will be joined by a panel of early adopter customers representing key industries like automotive, hospitality, transportation and IT. Attendees will get a close look at how real companies are justifying IT investments across the desktop, server, and network and beyond. The event will be broadcast live over the web and listeners will be able to submit questions to Steve Ballmer and the rest of the panel.

Add the event to your calendar and watch it live here at www.TheNewEfficiency.com.

Things are heating up as we ramp up for Windows 7’s launch on October 22nd!

Moving to Windows 7

Brandon LeBlanc — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 04:16:48 GMT

Most consumers will experience Windows 7 one of two ways, either by upgrading their existing PC or by purchasing a PC with Windows 7 preloaded. At work, most of our business customers have their own in-house IT support (or a dedicated partner that they work with) to deploy new versions of Windows.

For the customers that want to upgrade their own PC (and have experience installing Windows), an overview of the process is provided below.

For customers running Windows Vista:

Once Windows 7 is available on October 22nd, customers will be able to upgrade from their current edition of Windows Vista to a corresponding edition of Windows 7. For example, it is fairly straightforward to upgrade from Windows Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Home Premium or from a 32-bit version of Windows Vista to a 32-bit version of Windows 7. The process involves inserting the appropriate Windows 7 installation disc, running the setup program, and choosing the “Upgrade” installation option. An Upgrade is the fastest and easiest type of installation and will preserve your files, settings, and programs.

For customers running Windows XP:

Customers who wish to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7 will need to follow a different upgrade process due to the changes in PCs since the introduction of Windows XP in 2001. To upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7 you must first determine if your PC meets the minimum system requirements using the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. Assuming it meets the requirements, you can install Windows 7 using the “Custom” installation option. A custom installation does not preserve your files, settings or programs so you need to first back up your data to an external drive and re-install your programs once installation has completed.

If you are upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 and installing it yourself, we have detailed step-by-step instructions here.

If you are a business customer, please note that there are other migration options for you that include a broad range of deployment tools and guidance to assist your migration to Windows 7. This also includes solutions to assess application and hardware compatibility. Please visit the Springboard Series.

For customers who want to upgrade to Windows 7:

We’ve received a lot of questions from our customers about getting Windows 7 before October 22nd. While you won’t be able to go into a store and purchase a copy until then, you can take advantage of our pre-order option which is available now via the Microsoft Online Store as well as a variety of participating retailers. If you’re an eligible college student, you can also take advantage of a sweet deal on Windows 7 for $29.99 by visiting http://www.win741.com/. And, if you have multiple PC’s at home, then on October 22nd for a limited time, you’ll be able to get the Windows 7 Family Pack Offer, which will provide 3 Upgrade Licenses for $149.99. Look for more details on this soon.

For more information on moving to Windows 7, I suggest you read our Windows 7 Upgrade FAQ which answers many of the commonly asked questions regarding moving to Windows 7.