Microsoft readying Windows 7

chris

Bill Gates says Microsoft is moving close to an all-touch operating system. By 2010 he hints that the mouse, the all-important interface with the keyboard and screen, might be dead.

Windows 7 depends on the user’s ability – or willingness – to switch from a mouse-dependent system to one based on touch. The success of Apple’s iPhone and a growing appreciation of certain “tablet” PCs indicates the way Microsoft is thinking.

However, Windows 7 (not currently scheduled to be introduced before 2010) will, in the words of Bill Gates, change “the way you interact with the system…. [which] will change dramatically.” He suggests that fingers, the backs of our finger-nails and pens and pencils will be used instead, which caused one wit to suggest that Mr Gates make the complete revolution and go back to chalk and a slate!

Other experts suggest that while Windows 7 is just vapourware, this talk does no favours for sales of Vista, especially with Gates, and sidekick Steve Ballmer happily telling all and sundry how much better Windows 7 will be. Besides, Vista has only been on realease for some 18 months – and apart from systems bundled into new kit sales have not been meteoric.

Gates and his team unveiled the Windows 7 system at a Wall Street Journal conference in California, showing images of people manipulating photos, browsing a map and playing an on-screen piano with simple on-screen taps. Not visible were journalists bashing out 1000 word stories, or busy office workers manipulating columns of tabulated numbers or even creating complex PowerPoints using Windows 7.

Of course, time will tell, and Microsoft has a powerful marketing machine behind it. But the general scepticism over the core technology, and tradition that Microsoft has for missing promised release dates, suggest that Windows XP (the generally debugged OS) will be around for some time to come.




Source: Rapid TV News