Vista SP2 beta here, Win 7 not a "service pack" for Vista

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Thursday, 04 December 2008 01:56

Opinion and Analysis

This is despite the Windows Server team calling the Windows 7-based version of the server software “Windows Server 2008 R2”.

An “R2” or revision 2 version is often seen as being a minor update, and while this is the message from the server division, clearly not wanting to spook companies while re-assuring those still on Windows Server 2003 that with R2, the 2008 version is more ready than ever to upgrade to.

So, Microsoft is positioning Windows 7 as a major update with plenty of new features, faster boot times, longer battery life, better memory handline, better performance on existing equipment, new “touch screen” capabilities including “multi-touch”, better workflow through the new “superbar” and plenty more.

Is it a major or minor update? It seems somewhere in between, and while detractors are happy to insist its much more minor than major, I'm leaning towards the major side of things, while acknowledging that Windows 7 is "Windows Vista done right", as Stevel Ballmer himself has asserted.

Those using the Windows 7 pre-beta, coupled with the Rafael Rivera’s “Blue Badge” tool, as I am, are already seeing many of these improvements in action, and aside from Randall C. Kennedy at Infoworld, everyone else seems to be mightily impressed.

Indeed, the official Windows 7 beta, reportedly due on January 13, is highly anticipated, and many computer users seek to see the improvements for themselves.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is expected to use the pre-CES Keynote, for years delivered by Bill Gates, to publicly demo the official Windows 7 beta, and hopefully to unveil a few surprises that have been kept out of the pre-beta version, beyond what the “Blue Badge” tool already enables.

Given the poor reception of Windows Vista, the rise of Ubuntu and the ever increasing popularity of the Mac platform, there’s a lot riding on Windows 7 being the rip-roaring success that Vista wasn’t.

So far, Windows 7 pre-beta is delivering much of the wow that was expected of Vista, with expectations very high that Windows 7 upon launch will leave the “ow” behind and deliver the “wow” on steroids, instead.