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Bill Veghte posts “An Update on the Windows Roadmap”

Today, Bill Veghte (SVP in the Online Services and Windows BG) posts a letter discussing Windows XP, more info on Windows Vista, and the future leading to Windows 7.

imageUpon visiting the Windows page on Microsoft.com this afternoon, I was prompted to open the following letter from Bill Veghte, Senior Vice President of the Online Services & Windows Business Group.  

Bill’s letter provides more information on the continued support and availability of Windows XP, with more facts on Windows Vista, and the future leading to Windows 7. Given the number of questions I get on both topics, I thought it would be good to post a couple of excerpts here and a few thoughts as well.  Bill says…

“Your experience and satisfaction are Microsoft’s top priorities. I wanted to take this opportunity to share some thoughts about Windows and to answer some questions you may have about Windows XP and Windows Vista.

“There are three things I want to give you an update on:

  1. Our plans for Windows XP

  2. Our progress with Windows Vista

  3. Our view on Windows 7″

In talking about the future of Windows XP, Bill covers what exactly the “end of sales” date (June 30, 2008) for Windows XP means, calling out that (as I mentioned here previously  on the facts about the future of Windows XP)…

  • Yes, Windows XP will continue to be supported, given we recently released Service Pack 3, and “we will continue to provide security updates and other critical updates for Windows XP until April, 2014.”
  • And yes, customers will be able to buy PCs with Windows XP after June 30. “We will stop selling Windows XP as a retail packaged product and stop licensing it directly to major PC manufacturers. But customers who still need Windows XP will be able to get it [via]…
    • “Downgrade rights” from Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate to Windows XP Professional. 
    • a new, low-end personal computer available with Windows XP, [and via] System Builders [and] major OEMs have the option to “continue to purchase Windows XP through Authorized Distributors through January 31, 2009.”

But chance are that you already knew that. 😉

What you may not have know of some of the details behind the progress with Windows Vista.

On security improvements…

“During 2007, Windows Vista had half the number of critical vulnerabilities as Windows XP Service Pack 2 did during the same time period. PCs running Windows Vista were 60 percent less likely to be infected by malware than those running Windows XP Service Pack 2. The phishing filter in Internet Explorer 7—which is included with Windows Vista—stops about 1 million phishing attempts every week.”

On Compatibility

“Today Windows Vista supports about 77,000 components and devices, which is more than twice as many as we supported at launch… [and] 98 of the top 100 applications for Windows sold at retail in US in the last year…

“But what about gaming?”

Yes, what about gaming?

“We are happy to report we now have Application Compatibility Updates for more than 125 popular PC games to enable them to work on Windows Vista. These updates are installed automatically using Windows Update.”

My kids can attest to this: their four-year old PC running Windows Vista Home Premium runs just about every game they have… including (as of Christmas 2007) Toontown. (If you want to see what runs and what has issues, run the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor.) 

And of course: improvements with Service Pack 1

“For example, Windows Vista SP1 copies files up to 50 percent more quickly, improves the time it takes to decompress contents of a large folder by as much as 71 percent, and provides diagnostic system enhancements that make Windows Vista easier for IT organizations to support.”

As I noted on my post Windows Vista RC1 brings improved performance…, the release candidate (RC) of SP1 performed quite well on old notebook PCs, with far less time to recover from Hibernate (20 seconds), and less than five seconds from Sleep.  Since moving all machines to Vista SP1, we’ve seen improvements on a couple of areas, particularly when I removed some of the additional software pre installed by the OEM — that alone reduced my start up time dramatically on my main home PC. 

I found that a clean install on the kids’ playroom PC cut boot time to what appears to be half of what it was on XP.  (Kids are an impatient bunch, and some of the harshest critics you’ll encounter when it comes to computer performance issues.)  This level of improvement is noted in Bill’s letter as well, calling out that “One major OEM we worked with reduced system boot times by almost half, and system resume time from 15 seconds to 2 seconds.”

You can view the letter in the entirety at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/letter.html for more details.

For more information about Windows Vista, please visit this page on Windows Vista.  And for more on Windows XP availability and support, please visit this page on the future of Windows XP.

Tags: Windows, Windows 7, Microsoft, Windows Vista, Bill Veghte.

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Of interest: More money for Windows advertising and image

Last week, Mary Jo Foley posted an article on how Microsoft earmarks another $200 million for Windows advertising…

According to a June 20 Fortune Magazine article, Microsoft has earmarked “an additional $200 million for Windows advertising this year, even though in nonlaunch years thre is typically no budget increase at all.” It sounds as though this is in addition to the $300 million Microsoft already has agreed to spend with Crispin Porter + Bogusky to improve the company’s overall image and brand.

Fortune explains Microsoft’s image makeover plan, codenamed “FTP168” (with FTP being “Free the People”):

“A year ago Ballmer okayed the effort, led by Bill Veghte, who is responsible for both Windows and search. He partnered with marketing boss Mich Mathews, then the two recruited an all-star team from across the company – the best experts at branding, packaging, online advertising, and other specialties…. The aim of the campaign will be to talk about things you can do with your PC that you could never do before.”

Interesting to note the reference to this as “Microsoft’s image makeover plan…” Well, now that ABC’s Extreme Makeover has ended its run, here’s another “makeover” you can watch from the comfort of your PC. 😉

Tags: Windows, Windows 7, Microsoft, FTP168, Mary Jo Foley.

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Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer demo Preview Windows 7, multi-touch at D6 conference

image Fresh from the net, here’s a highlight from D6 down in Carlsbad and number one on the All Things D Top Ten list (as at right)…

“With Microsoft (MSFT) Chairman Bill Gates soon relinquishing his daily role at the software company he co-founded as it grapples with Google (GOOG), European regulators, Yahoo (YHOO), and Windows Vista critics hoping to upgrade from XP to Windows 7 (skipping the much maligned Vista entirely), tonight’s conversation with Gates and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will be a memorable one in the history of the software sovereign.”

Of particular interest: multi-touch in Windows 7…

“So is this the next phase of how people will use their computers. Gates says it’s the beginning of an era of computing based on a new hierarchy of input systems. Today the machine is really set up for one person to sit at a keyboard. “We’re at an interesting junction,” he says. “In the next few years, the roles of speech, gesture, vision, ink, all of those will become huge. For the person at home and the person at work, that interaction will change dramatically.”


Video: Multi-Touch in Windows 7

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Steven Sinofsky speaks with CNET’s Ina Fried about Windows 7

Steven Sinofsky

More on CNET’s Ina Fried’s interview with Steven Sinofsky discussing Windows 7…

A quick post as I have a few minutes during a quick lunch break before my noon teleconference.  Earlier today, Ina Fried posted her Q&A with Steven Sinofsky in Windows chief talks ‘7’ with some insight and info into the future OS release affectionately referred to as Windows 7. Steven as you probably already know is the senior vice president for Windows Client and Windows Live engineering. Ina notes…

“Last year, Sinofsky penned a blog to his Windows unit co-workers, explaining his public silence and urging them to follow his lead.

“I know many folks think that this type of corporate ‘clamp down’ on disclosure is ‘old school’ and that in the age of corporate transparency we should be open all the time,” Sinofsky wrote. “Corporations are not really transparent. Corporations are translucent. All organizations have things that are visible and things that are not.”

“Well, Sinofsky is breaking his public silence, slightly, to offer a few important details about 7 (he reiterated that it is coming by January 2010) and to explain why he is saying so little publicly.

“In an exclusive interview with CNET News.com last week, Sinofsky talked about how the new version of Windows is designed to build on top of Vista’s architectural changes without adding things like new driver models that can increase compatibility challenges. Below is the edited, but still rather lengthy transcript, of our conversation.”

This article helps provide some visibility on Windows 7, coupled with the post today on the Windows Vista Team Blog by Chris Flores…

“Typically when Microsoft ships a new OS (like Windows Vista), we immediately start talking about the next version-which begs two questions: 1) is Microsoft working on a new version of Windows, and if so, 2) why aren’t you talking about it?

“I thought I would spend a minute giving you an update on where we are. First, yes, we are working on a new version of Windows. As you likely know, it’s called Windows 7.  We are always looking for new ways to deliver great experiences for our customers.  This is especially true of Windows – where we’re constantly examining trends in hardware, software and services to ensure that we continue to drive the innovation that has both made Windows the world’s most popular operating system and has provided a foundation on which our partners built great products and businesses. When we shipped Windows 2000, we were already working on Windows XP and we started working on Windows Vista even before we released Windows XP. So naturally, we’ve been thinking about the investments we made in Windows Vista and how we can build on these for the next version of Windows.

“What is a little different today is when and how we are talking about the next version of Windows.  So, why the change in approach?  We know that when we talk about our plans for the next release of Windows, people take action. As a result, we can significantly impact our partners and our customers if we broadly share information that later changes.  With Windows 7, we’re trying to more carefully plan how we share information with our customers and partners.  This means sharing the right level of information at the right time depending on the needs of the audience.  For instance, several months ago we began privately sharing our preliminary plans for Windows 7 with software and hardware partners who build on the Windows platform.  This gave them an opportunity to give us feedback and gave us the opportunity to incorporate their input into our plans. As the product becomes more complete, we will have the opportunity to share our plans more broadly.”

Over the last few months, I’ve found that more people ask me about Windows Vista than Windows 7, and (with consumers) I don’t expect that to change.  But press, analysts and large customers are a different bunch who always want the latest scoop on as-yet-to-be-released products, including Windows 7, so it’s nice to see the volume turned up a bit on Windows 7. 

More is available at Windows chief talks ‘7’ on Ina’s blog, which is also on CNET homepage today.

Tags: Steven Sinofsky, Windows 7, Microsoft.

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Windows XP Home for ULCPCs available until 2010

I read the news today, oh boy…


In case you missed it, Microsoft announced that the availability of Windows XP Home will be extended worldwide in support of “an emerging, new class of mobile personal computers commonly known as ultra-low-cost PCs, or ULCPCs.”



This will Windows XP Home for ULCPCs will be available until the later of June 30, 2010, or one year after general availability of the next version of Windows.


 Tags: Microsoft, Windows XP, ULCPC, Windows.