Windows 7: will we get it six months early?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 16 September 2008 17:29

Opinion and Analysis

The gap between XP and Vista is what was the big change, although originally “Vista” was supposed to appear in 2003 or 2004, which would have made more sense. There was even talk of a Windows XP second edition to appear at the time, although it came instead as XP SP2.

Had Microsoft bitten the bullet and simply called SP2 a “second edition” of XP, the “gap” wouldn’t have seemed as long.

Originally, Microsoft said it would release Windows 7 in early 2010, “three years” after Vista’s released.

But launching an operating system in “January”, as happened with Vista, is a silly idea – you miss out on the entire Christmas/end-of-year/holiday shopping season that sees massive sales take place.

Indeed, Microsoft stuffed things up in late 2006, promising Vista upgrades and forcing computer manufacturers to release computers with “Vista Ready” stickers, which on some computers was only true for Vista Basic, resulting in the scandal of some computers not truly being Vista Ready at all.

Then came news that Microsoft would release Windows 7 in late 2009 after all, specifically to take advantage of that Christmas/end-of-year shopping season.

But if Windows 7 is a solid update to Windows Vista, ironing out as many remaining bugs as possible, improving and simplifying the interface, keeping the same hardware drivers as Vista (to avoid Vista’s original driver woes) and more...

Then a June 2009 release makes even more sense, because Windows 7 should be well and truly polished by then, especially if the first beta is arriving in late October 2008.

That means Windows 7 will have plenty of time to settle in for 2009’s Christmas shopping season, and plenty of time for OEM’s to offer suitably equipped machines to best show off Windows 7’s features, benefits and capabilities.

Microsoft isn’t confirming anything yet, of course, but these kinds of reports can be seen as testing the waters to gain consumer and pundit reaction.

Well, if Windows 7 truly can be polished and finished by June 2009, then by all means, release it!

Get it out there, and get Vista behind you, Microsoft, so you can promote Vista’s big sister... Windows 7!