Microsoft Releases Windows 7 To Manufacturers
Microsoft announced today that it had finished development on the Windows 7 Release Candidate and was shipping it to PC manufacturers. The official release of Windows 7 will be October 22. Microsoft will now turn its attention to Windows drivers and other critical applications like anti-virus and anti-malware software to make sure they will be available when Windows 7 hits the store shelves.

Hold The Vista Encore, Please!

Microsoft doesn’t want a repeat of the Windows Vista release, which saw many manufacturers claiming that their hardware and drivers were “Vista-ready” when in fact they weren’t. While the list of consumer complaints about Vista was long, the complaints persisted long after many of the most serious problems with the OS were fixed.

Windows 7 is built on a Vista chassis, but don’t expect Windows 7 to be “more of the same.” The new release of Windows 7 doesn’t contain a whole lot of dazzling, new features. Instead, Microsoft spent time repairing the underpinnings of Windows 7 to avoid repeating the Vista errors. The result is a more stable operating system that has fewer glitches out of the box, has tested drivers, and is most likely more secure.

For Windows XP diehards, Microsoft will allow users to purchase downgrade rights on new computers for about six months following Windows 7′s release. After that, Microsoft will try (again) to unhitch its wagon from the aging-yet-ageless operating system that so many users still run.

For Windows 7 to be a success in the IT market, it will have to play nice in a networked environment, something Windows Vista never quite learned to do. Most IT professionals looked at Vista as a “home-user” operating system that had nothing to offer users in the enterprise environment.

Being rolled out on the fringes of a recession didn’t help, either. Companies had a difficult time justifying the expense of rolling out a new operating system that didn’t provide any significant benefit over what they had, was slower, less stable and didn’t have the drivers they needed to run their hardware well, if at all.

Corporate IT often gives a chilly reception to new operating systems, so don’t be surprised if Windows 7 initially gets the cold shoulder from the business crowd. But at the same time, don’t be surprised if the same crowd embraces Windows 7 with open arms within the next 18-24 months.

Admittedly, the stakes are higher for corporations than for home users; corporate IT departments must be sure that their million- and multi-million dollar investments in their enterprise software won’t be laid to waste by a carelessly designed OS. Microsoft has, for the most part, addressed the major complaints with Vista. Whether new complaints are waiting to take their place has yet to be seen.

Photo Credit: Christopher Walker, via Flickr