Windows 7: Will it completely freeze Vista deployments?
If Windows 7 is Vista done better, will go beta in early 2009 and built on a foundation that's working today why wouldn't you wait for it?
The case for skipping Vista and going to Windows 7 is looking better by the minute. Ed Bott has the goods and the screenshots on Windows 7, which was demoed for the first time at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference (PDC) (Techmeme). Mary Jo Foley notes that there will be some enterprise goodies for businesses (although you'll only get eye candy today) and that Office will be hooked up to the Web (sort of). And ultimately you may even get some Windows 7 hooks into Azure, Microsoft's cloud platform.
Also see: Microsoft Live Mesh to bridge Windows and Mac
No matter what Microsoft says about a 2010 timeline it's highly likely that Windows 7 will ship early. Windows 7 will represent the great Vista do-over and even Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says it's ok to wait for it.Of course, Microsoft wants you to implement Vista as a warm-up act, but it knows it has a captive audience that
- loves XP;
- hates Vista;
- and is willing to wait despite the risks.
Sure there are risks that are clearly outlined by folks like Gartner:
But you can expect technology execs to get over those concerns pretty quickly. Expect Windows 7 to get out the door more quickly as Microsoft and IT departments close the chapter on Vista.