Behold world – we have Windows 7 in our midst. That is how Microsoft would like us to greet Windows 7 but we know better by now. However, it is true that the new Windows marks a decisive change in the way Microsoft works and it is perhaps for the better. A lot of it was because of the spectacular Vista debacle and some of it was the economy and general condition of the market. All things combined, we have had a very different Windows development cycle compared to what used to be.
Let’s take it from the top. Before Windows 7, Microsoft has followed a strictly closed-lid development process. No one gets in and nothing gets out. Leaks will of course happen from time to time. You simply can’t control everything when so many different employees at so many different levels are involved in something so big. Also, strategic leaks towards the end of the development are actually good for business.
So usually, manufacturers would not get too many details about the great new OS before it arrives. Once Microsoft thinks that it’s done and that the final line of code has been written, they simply spring it on everyone outside the haloed Redmond grounds. Then manufacturers find themselves with this sudden development (in a way) and without much time to build machines to run them. Of course, I am not talking about chipmakers or GPU makers but the general tech industry.
This strategy had one drawback and this is something Apple has always harped on – the lack of tandem between hardware and software. Of course, it is easy for Apple, who has kept it limited to very few machines. Microsoft, on the other hand, has to handle myriad devices. They cannot pick and choose like Apple can. So not talking to the device makers has not been a good idea so far and Vista sort of blew away any defense Microsoft might have had.
Ever since Windows 7 was conceived, Microsoft has been extremely forthcoming and cooperative with the general industry about their new OS. It has shown early builds to manufacturers, had innumerable meetings with them and has generally taken their inputs in to consideration while developing Windows 7.
The prolonged alpha and public beta testing was also part of this process, where it took the opportunity to spread the OS to as many machines as possible. This gave the company valuable performance data about its new OS. But there was more than a technical side to it.
Microsoft kept its ears pricked to catch all the banter that was going on about Windows 7 and it tried to gather exactly what the public wanted, liked, hated, etc. They then tried to learn from that and make the OS even better.
While this was going on, the economy continued to slide down and took the tech industry with it. Sales fell drastically and everybody was struggling to survive. The netbook boom also happened at this time and made Intel a lot of profits from Atom sales and gave impetus to many other allied companies and projects. Microsoft was not happy though.
The netbooks coughed and spluttered under the burden of Vista and most manufacturers chose to run stripped down versions of Windows XP on them. Like any self-respecting and non-suicidal OS development company, Microsoft did not like people clinging on to the 8-year old OS. But they had no choice but to sit and watch as revenue was lost.
This time, they hope to do it right with Windows 7. Even the change in the naming says that Microsoft has been deeply humbled. They admitted it in their own words when they said that naming OS’ things like XP and Vista often makes it misleading because the OS will continue to evolve and nothing will remain great forever. So having such high sounding names was redundant.
Windows 7 is what a major part of the tech industry is pinning its hopes on. It is looking at the OS to pull up the sales and give the industry some much-needed respite. With new touch-based features, netbook-friendliness, a logical and tiered upgrade path and many more smaller features, Microsoft too hopes that this will finally make people abandon their XP machines and buy new hardware to upgrade to this new OS.
And it is working too. Windows 7 really is very stable and it is much more pleasing to use. Sales figures are high at the moment but this might just be pent up demand. It has received praise from almost all quarters and everyone is hopeful in the PC industry. But it will be the end of this year before any verdict can be reached. Till then, we wish Microsoft all the best.
