Talking About Windows 7

News Analysis. Microsoft is smartly using April 30's Windows 7 Release Candidate release to MSDN and TechNet to prelaunch the new operating system.

There is just so much about Windows 7 marketing that reminds me of Windows 95. Perhaps most important is product evangelism, which if done right should be easier now than 14 years ago. Way back, enthusiasts gathered on AOL, bulletin boards, CompuServe, IRC (Internet Relay Chat) and Internet newsgroups. Today's communities are bigger and more consolidated than in the mid-1990s.

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Not since Windows 95 have I seen Microsoft push marketing, end-user and partner outreach so aggressively so soon in the development process. Clearly, Microsoft is committed to making Windows 7 a success in all the ways Windows Vista couldn't be. For their marketing and partner value, some resources stand out, such as Web resources "Talking About Windows" and "Ready. Set. 7."

"Talking About Windows" is a new Website that offers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Windows 7 from the Microsoft engineers who helped build the product as well as showcasing real IT professionals talking candidly about their implementations and experiences in considering a more modern OS. This is done through a series of videos hosted on the Talking About Windows Website. "Ready. Set. 7." showcases Microsoft partner solutions, through videos, for Windows 7.

These and other larger marketing efforts are the air cover. Microsoft's more effective marketing will come from blogs, Twitter and social networking services. But that's a topic I don't have time for in this post. For now: Enthusiasts are the best marketers. Microsoft is right to go for them.

For Apple, the days of reckoning will be many, and they start today. Macs had a good market-share run in 2007 and 2008. Apple's "Get a Mac" ads effectively marketed its computers during a time when Microsoft didn't advertise Windows and there was so much grassroots countermarketing against Vista. Today, Microsoft has got effective marketing, the sizzling hot (my fingers are burning on the keyboard) Windows 7 and a community of grassroots supporters. I predict that Microsoft will own holiday 2009. Sorry, Apple.

But evangelism doesn't just happen. Nurturing is needed, and that's what Microsoft so effectively has done since Windows 7 Beta 1 was released on Jan. 9, almost five months ago. But the coordinated effort going on now is simply breathtaking for its scope—and, I predict, its effectiveness.

Apple will lose the PC market-share war, as the marching Windows 7 horde overruns the Mac camp. The question: Will Windows 7 be Microsoft's last campaign? Windows 7 represents the PC, which is computing's past. The mobile phone, where Apple has the increasingly popular App Store, is the future. But that's another topic I don't have time for today.

Running Windows 7 Release Candidate
None of this evangelism could be effective without a good product, and Windows 7 is just that. There has never been a better Windows operating system, and Windows 7 is sure to give Mac OS X a deserved kick in the butt. I ran Beta 1 since early January until Tuesday, April 28, when I moved to the release candidate. On April 6, I blogged about how, in part because of Windows 7, I switched to a Sony Vaio from a MacBook.

Here, I want to give some first impressions of the release candidate. I would write more, but I'm unusually rushed today. I'll explain why in the post that follows this one.

My initial reaction to the release candidate isn't as good as to the beta, although I'm more satisfied today than on Tuesday. My upgrade took about 4.5 hours. I wanted to upgrade from Windows Vista Business, which meant backing up my data, restoring the laptop to factory settings and upgrading to Windows 7 Ultimate. A clean install would likely have taken about 30 minutes.

I installed Seven on a Sony Vaio VGN-Z590, with 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 13.1-inch LED backlit display with 1600-by-900 resolution, 256MB Nvidia GeForce 9300M GS graphics, 3GB of DDR3 (double data rate 3) memory, 320GB hard drive, DVD burner, fingerprint reader, Wi-Fi and Sprint 3G modem. The computer had a Windows Experience Index of 4.4 before and after the upgrade, but some component ratings changed, possibly because of hardware drivers. The 2.4GHz processor rating went up to 5.8 from 5.3, while memory dropped from 5.9 to 5.5.

The upgrade portion took about 2.5 hours, which is much longer than I expected. Suspected reason: updates. Early on in the process, the upgrade moved back to Windows Business Service Pack 1 to download and apply 45 updates. This surprised me. I suspect that a fully updated Vista installation would upgrade much faster.

I got some unexpected surprises when Windows 7 booted up for the first time. The system performance wasn't nearly as snappy as it had been running Beta 1. Maybe there was search indexing or other optimization features running. I will say that System Idle Process is much more active now than with the beta. What's going on with the kernel? Disk activity is increased, and the laptop's fan runs more frequently. I haven't looked at logs or done any real tests to see what's going on in the background. Perhaps some drivers need updating.

Performance is much better today than two days ago, but there are hesitations in the user interface that are Vista ghosts in the machine. The Beta 1 UI was snappy and applications switched smoothly. There are little annoyances that are just that, and they're decreasing. I would still recommend Windows 7 over Vista or even Mac OS X Leopard.

Windows 7 features some surprising desktop backgrounds that can only be described as charming, comic or colorful. The provided Aero Themes, desktop backgrounds and user control over translucency don't just allow for personalization. Other Windows versions have had garish personalization. Windows 7 creates a pleasant working environment, and the UI looks better the higher the screen resolution. The 13 new audio themes sound delightful. Microsoft made personalization one of the design priorities for the UI, but done tastefully for the first time in any Windows version.

Overall, my initial reaction to the RC is quite good. It's in some ways unfair to compare the release candidate with the beta. I'm as committed as ever to running Windows 7 as my primary operating system. Later today, my daughter will switch from a MacBook to Sony Vaio VGN-CR290. That laptop requires 64-bit Windows 7, which I don't yet have.

Windows XP Mode Security
This morning, eWEEK published my news analysis about Windows 7 RC availability. Yesterday, April 29, another story highlighted 10 things to expect from Windows 7.

The first story includes some detail about Windows XP Mode, which deserves further consideration. Yesterday I spoke with Jeff Price, senior director for the Windows ecosystem team, about the new feature, which for compatibility purposes provides a virtualized Windows XP environment for running older applications.

XPM comprises "both the underlying virtualization layer that has been updated for Windows 7 as well as a pre-built [version] of Windows XP SP3," Jeff said. He asserted that XPM "sets us up for a smoother migration experience for customers, because it allows them to carry forward compatibility with some older XP apps that provides a good transition experience as they're moving to Windows 7."

Microsoft is releasing Windows XP Mode concurrently alongside the release candidate but not as part of Windows 7. XPM will come as a beta, for now. In concept, once installed, XPM looks to the end user like any other application. "We will populate that to the Windows 7 Start Menu," Jeff said. "You as an end user might not know anything about virtualization or how this was set up for you by your IT pro. You'll just start Quicken 2004 from your Start Menu, and in the background we will start up the XP virtual machine and surface that application into a window."

I was really curious about security. Earlier in the week, eWEEK colleague Larry Seltzer raised legitimate questions about XPM and security protection. So I asked Jeff and got the answer I dreaded.

"We recommend that you secure it just as if you were running it on a physical PC -- meaning you should use anti-virus software and all the security practices that you would within the VM as you would on a Windows XP PC," Jeff responded. I asked if this would mean running two security software products, He replied: "Yes. Yes. Suspenders and a belt." Cute.

In concept, I think XPM is a great idea. Microsoft should have done something like this years ago. But I wonder how enterprises will deal with the licensing and management logistics.

Anyway, to close, this is a big day for Microsoft. From a marketing perspective, it's perhaps more important than Windows 7's launch.

Label: Science , Technology