Windows 7 details to be revealed in October

15 Aug 2008 08:05

Microsoft has said in a blog that the first technical details on the forthcoming operating system will come at the Professional Developers Conference in October

In a posting on the newly launched Windows 7 blog, Microsoft has announced that details on the forthcoming product will be made available at the Professional Developers Conference in October.

"The Professional Developers Conference (PDC) on 27 October and the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) the following week both represent the first venues where we will provide in-depth technical information about Windows 7," Windows engineering boss Steven Sinofsky and Windows Core operating system head Jon Devaan wrote in the posting on Thursday. "This blog will provide context over the next 2+ months with regular posts about the behind the scenes development of the release and continue through the release of the product."

Microsoft had already said Windows 7 would be on the PDC docket in some manner.

Sinofsky acknowledged that Microsoft continues to say less than many people would like, but repeated his standard line that the company doesn't want to share details until they have reached a certain level of concreteness.

In an interview with ZDNet.co.uk's sister site, CNET News.com, in May, Sinofsky did disclose a few details — namely that it would use the same driver model and basic kernel approach as Windows Vista and that the company wanted the whole thing on the market by January 2010, three years after the mainstream release of Windows Vista.

Microsoft also showed in May a glimpse at a new multitouch interface that will be part of Windows 7.

Sinofsky suggested that the company wants to be more open at some point as it tries to create a product that serves the needs of a customer base as broad as that of Windows.

"We strongly believe that success for Windows 7 includes an open and honest, and two-way, discussion about how we balance all of these interests and deliver software on the scale of Windows," he wrote. "We promise and will deliver such a dialogue with this blog."

Microsoft has also said it is engaging much earlier and deeper with computer makers as part of the Windows 7 design process, an approach which so far has received a positive response from PC manufacturers. "It's like night and day," one PC company executive told CNET News.com.

Story URL: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39461776,00.htm