News

Windows 7 Gets a Blog

• By Kurt Mackie
• August 14, 2008

Windows 7 is being built on the kernel of Microsoft's current operating system, Windows Vista. The new OS has been estimated as appearing around January 2010, but Microsoft has been very quiet about the details.

The Engineering Windows 7 blog maintains that tradition by providing few details about the new OS. However, it has a long explanation for why Microsoft has said so little thus far. One of the problems is keeping Microsoft's partners clear on exactly what will go into Windows 7.

"Our intent with Windows 7 and the pre-release communication is to make sure that we have a reasonable degree of confidence in what we talk about when we do talk," the Engineering Windows 7 blog states. "Again, top of mind for us is the responsibility we feel to make sure we are not stressing priorities, churning resource allocations, or causing strategic confusion among the tens of thousands of partners and customers who care deeply and have much invested in the evolution of Windows."

The blog is being hosted by Jon DeVaan, senior vice president of the Windows Core Operating System Division and Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president of Windows and the Windows Live Engineering Group.

Sinofsky is the Microsoft senior leader who spilled some of the details, in a vague way, about Windows 7 to CNet blogger Ina Fried in a May interview.

Microsoft plans to disclose further details about Windows 7 on its new blog leading up to two of its high-profile tech events this year: the Professional Developers Conference (Oct. 27 in Los Angeles) and the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (Nov. 5 in Los Angeles).

Some of the hard technical details about Windows 7 will be disclosed at those two events, according to Microsoft's blog.