Instant On for Windows 7?

By Davey Winder
Thursday, 16 October 2008 18:31

Strategy

Netbooks are small and cheap, but they are also lightning fast to boot - if you have a flash storage Linux-based one that is. A Windows netbook is slower than a tortoise wading through treacle by comparison. Could that all change as Microsoft explores an Instant On Windows OS?

Just a couple of weeks back, a chap by the name of Michael Fortin was blogging about boot performance in the Windows 7 operating system. Stop yawning at the back, because Fortin is not just another blogger and this was not just another blog.

Fortin is actually a Microsoft Distinguished Engineer who happens to head up the 'Fundamentals Feature Team' in the Core Operating System group at Microsoft. He is therefore ultimately responsible for performance and reliability developments across the Windows platform.

What's more, he was writing about Windows 7 boot performance on the official 'Engineering Windows 7' blog. The combination of who he is and where is is writing adds a certain gravitas to what was being said. And just what is it that has got me all excited?

"For Windows 7, a top goal is to significantly increase the number of systems that experience very good boot times. In the lab, a very good system is one that boots in under 15 seconds" Fortin wrote. He also admitted that current boot performance could be a lot better. File that one under No S*** Sherlock, methinks.

Anyway, it seems that Microsoft is taking the whole boot time thing very seriously indeed as far as Windows 7 is concerned. For now we hear of the leaking of a survey asking for feedback on a new concept called Instant On, new to Windows at any rate.

This describes Instant On as being a very different experience to 'Full Windows' and talks of taking the PC from being powered down to usable in a "short amount of time" but usable only for a few specific activities and applications.

What does it mean by a short amount of time? Apparently, the survey is quite specific here and states that in such an Instant On scenario it would be up and running in just eight seconds flat.

Expect more revelations to come out of the Professional Developer Conference later this month, where Microsoft will also be giving away copies of Windows 7 for free.