Its official: Windows 7 at PDC

Microsoft has confirmed that attendees of its two forthcoming developer conferences get an early version of Windows 7, the next version of its desktop client.

The company made the news official on a blog for the Professional Developer Conference (PDC), which takes place in Los Angeles from October 27th to the 30th. The following week will be the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC), also in Los Angeles, and those attendees will also get the early beta.

"At this year’s PDC, keynote attendees will be among the first to receive the pre-beta build of Windows 7. Additionally, attendees will have the opportunity to attend 21 different sessions that drill down into the details of developing for Windows 7," wrote Denise Begley, a Microsoft marketing manager.

InternetNews.com first reported two weeks ago that Microsoft was aiming to release a beta at the PDC show, and that internally the company was aiming for a June 2009 final code release. Publicly, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has said Windows 7 will be released in the first half of 2010 [...]

Official Windows 7 blog is now live

Windows 7 Engineering blog has finally gone live now. Its authors include Steven Sinofsky is in charge of the Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group and Jon DeVaan heads the Windows Core Operating System Division. There have been 2 posts on the blog and they don’t include any useful info.


So far Microsoft has been very tight lipped over Windows 7 and what were likely to expect from Vista’s successor. There have been a few hints with the leaking of Windows 7 M1 build in January Microsoft also said there will be some sessions at this years PDC Event covering Windows 7.

Windows XP Support till 2014

Microsoft has finally given in to public demand. The company has decided to offer technical support for Windows XP with updates and security patches for an extended period until April 2014. However, it will not go back on its decision to discontinue Windows XP sales after June 30.

This means that after June 30, Microsoft will stop distributing Windows XP as a stand-alone product, as well as stop licensing it to PC manufacturers like Dell, HP, Lenovo, and others. However, it doesn't mean that XP will be disappeared somewhere because some stores work through their inventories.

As per earlier's announcement of Microsoft, Windows XP will be available with 'nettops'.

Microsoft's move to extend the deadline for technical support is primarily influenced by large business customers, who haven't yet upgraded their systems to Windows Vista. I don't think most of the companies will prefer switching to Windows Vista because of its heavy requirements. But if that's not the case, they have to wait for Windows 7, which is expected to be released in 2010.

Microsoft breaks silence on Windows 7; No new kernel

Microsoft officially broke the silence on Windows 7 today on its official Windows Vista Team Blog by publishing information on the changes in the kernel, compatibility and why they had stayed silent all this time.

Chris Flores stated that the silence on Windows 7 was very much intentional and will be the new approach to publishing information on products in development as they believe this will improve the quality of the product. Also it guards the innovation in its products.

The article also says that Windows 7 will very much be compatible with software and hardware that works for Vista. System requirements will not go up. Microsoft still believes Windows 7 is a major release despite the unchanged requirements. However, Microsoft will not be shipping Windows 7 with a brand new kernel (the speculated MinWin kernel). However they are refine the componentized approach of the Vista kernel and are making more and more refinements to the current kernel.

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Windows 7 ScreenShot Gallery

Folks, if you are a Microsoft fan and want to explore the next version of Windows then check out its gallery and find out how does it look like!

Gallery Link: http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/win7_6519.asp