[OT] Gates sees next Windows "sometime" in next year

Boy, a huge disincentive for anyone, especially businesses, to upgrade
to Vista.

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Gates sees next Windows "sometime" in next year
Fri Apr 4, 2008 12:39pm EDT

MIAMI (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp.(MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research)
co-founder Bill Gates said on Friday he expected the new version of
Windows operating software, code-named Windows 7, to be released
"sometime in the next year or so."

The software giant has been aiming to issue more regular updates of the
operating system software that powers the majority of the world's
personal computers. Nevertheless, Gates' comments suggested that a
successor to the Vista program might be released sooner than was
generally expected.

Microsoft has said it expected to release a new version of Windows
approximately 3 years after the introduction of Vista in January 2007. A
company spokeswoman said Gates' comments are in line with a development
cycle that usually releases a test version of the software before its
official introduction.

"I'm superenthused about what it will do in lots of ways," Gates said in
a seminar on corporate philanthropy held during an annual meeting in
Miami of the Inter-American Development Bank.

"That'll be sometime in the next year or so that we'll have a new
version," Gates said in response to a question from the audience.

Gates, who is due to leave his day-to-day functions at Microsoft and
dedicate himself to the philanthropic efforts of the Gates Foundation in
June, said the company aimed through its $6 billion annual research and
development budget to take the products running on its software to "the
next level."

He said new versions of Windows would help revolutionize mobile phones
and run the desk of the future, which would have a touch surface display
allowing users to call up items using their hands.

(Reporting by Michael Christie, Editing by Gunna Dickson)

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expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.
Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and
trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Reuters journalists are subject to the Reuters Editorial Handbook which
requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.

http://www.reuters.com/article/busin...e=businessNews

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This announcement is a good example of exactly how far Gates has
distanced himself from Microsoft's operations IMHO.

This sort of announcement sure could put the brakes on sales of new computers,
since it goes hand in hand with Microsoft's announcement to end OEM sales of XP
at the end of June, 2008. Of course, the economy is down and maybe this is a
good time to cut back on the sale of computers to people who don't have much
disposable income any more.

The other reaction I have every time I read a Gates or Ballmer pronouncement
about an operating system is a cynical "same old, same old." I'll believe the
ship date when the product is sitting on the shelves at 11:59pm the day prior to
the official date of availability, and all the big box mass market stores open
their doors at midnight to let the hordes lined up outside to come in and buy.

To put it more succinctly, Microsoft pronouncements as to availability of new
versions of Windows have zero credibility, even with a ballpark "next year or
so." ... Ben Myers

On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:36:48 -0400, Tony Harding <> wrote:

>Boy, a huge disincentive for anyone, especially businesses, to upgrade
>to Vista.
>
> ---------------------------------------------------
>
>Gates sees next Windows "sometime" in next year
>Fri Apr 4, 2008 12:39pm EDT
>
>MIAMI (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp.(MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research)
>co-founder Bill Gates said on Friday he expected the new version of
>Windows operating software, code-named Windows 7, to be released
>"sometime in the next year or so."
>
>The software giant has been aiming to issue more regular updates of the
>operating system software that powers the majority of the world's
>personal computers. Nevertheless, Gates' comments suggested that a
>successor to the Vista program might be released sooner than was
>generally expected.
>
>Microsoft has said it expected to release a new version of Windows
>approximately 3 years after the introduction of Vista in January 2007. A
>company spokeswoman said Gates' comments are in line with a development
>cycle that usually releases a test version of the software before its
>official introduction.
>
>"I'm superenthused about what it will do in lots of ways," Gates said in
>a seminar on corporate philanthropy held during an annual meeting in
>Miami of the Inter-American Development Bank.
>
>"That'll be sometime in the next year or so that we'll have a new
>version," Gates said in response to a question from the audience.
>
>Gates, who is due to leave his day-to-day functions at Microsoft and
>dedicate himself to the philanthropic efforts of the Gates Foundation in
>June, said the company aimed through its $6 billion annual research and
>development budget to take the products running on its software to "the
>next level."
>
>He said new versions of Windows would help revolutionize mobile phones
>and run the desk of the future, which would have a touch surface display
>allowing users to call up items using their hands.
>
>(Reporting by Michael Christie, Editing by Gunna Dickson)
>
>© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of
>Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is
>expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.
>Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and
>trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
>Reuters journalists are subject to the Reuters Editorial Handbook which
>requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
>
>http://www.reuters.com/article/busin...e=businessNews
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>This announcement is a good example of exactly how far Gates has
>distanced himself from Microsoft's operations IMHO.

Hi!

> The other reaction I have every time I read a Gates
> or Ballmer pronouncement about an operating system
> is a cynical "same old, same old."

This sounds suspiciously like my thinking.

> and all the big box mass market stores open their doors
> at midnight to let the hordes lined up outside to come
> in and buy.

Another Windows 95?

I wonder if Microsoft could pull that off again. Say what you will
about the actual product, the buzz was phenomenal...it really had
people excited, or at least that is what I perceived at the time.

(No, I wasn't there when it first "dropped". I waited...and well
remember feeding my Compaq Contura 4/25 all thirteen setup diskettes.)

William

Tony Harding wrote:
> Boy, a huge disincentive for anyone, especially businesses, to upgrade
> to Vista.
>
<SNIP>

And then there's this:

http://thebetaguy.com/exclusives/?po...ws-7-exclusive

Bob

Von Fourche wrote:
> "Tony Harding" <> wrote in message
> news:47f6755c$0$15163$...
>> He said new versions of Windows would help revolutionize mobile phones and
>> run the desk of the future, which would have a touch surface display
>> allowing users to call up items using their hands.
>
>
> Using their hands? Does that mean no more "mouse/point and click"
> and using my computer will be like using my super cool iPod Touch (touch
> screen)?
>
>

You can have that now.
Just buy a touch screen monitor for your current machine. I just
bought a conversion kit to make a 19" monitor into a touch screen. Plan
on using it to make a unit for the shop. Should make it easier when I
want to pull up manuals and test data on vehicles. No hunting for a flat
space for the keyboard and mouse.

--
Steve W.
Near Cooperstown, New York

Life is not like a box of chocolates
it's more like a jar of jalapenos-
what you do today could burn your ass tomorrow!

I suspect so.
Even if the actual release is 6-18 months later than announced, why would I
get Vista???

Mel, who is pleased enough with XP Home

"RnR" <> wrote in message
news:...
> On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:37:48 -0500, Journey <> wrote:
>
>>On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:49:06 -0400, Ben Myers
>><> wrote:
>>
>>>The other reaction I have every time I read a Gates or Ballmer
>>>pronouncement
>>>about an operating system is a cynical "same old, same old." I'll
>>>believe the
>>>ship date when the product is sitting on the shelves at 11:59pm the day
>>>prior to
>>>the official date of availability, and all the big box mass market stores
>>>open
>>>their doors at midnight to let the hordes lined up outside to come in and
>>>buy.
>>>
>>>To put it more succinctly, Microsoft pronouncements as to availability of
>>>new
>>>versions of Windows have zero credibility, even with a ballpark "next
>>>year or
>>>so." ... Ben Myers
>>
>>I wonder why Gates would even bother to make such a pronouncement
>>because only the completely naive and inexperienced would believe that
>>they would be capable of releasing a new version of Windows by next
>>year. They would be lucky to be done with the first beta by then.
>
>
> I wonder if this is an admitance that Vista is not what they expected
> it to be so they want to make it short lived and move on to greener
> pastures?

Journey wrote:
> On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:49:06 -0400, Ben Myers
> <> wrote:
>
>> The other reaction I have every time I read a Gates or Ballmer pronouncement
>> about an operating system is a cynical "same old, same old." I'll believe the
>> ship date when the product is sitting on the shelves at 11:59pm the day prior to
>> the official date of availability, and all the big box mass market stores open
>> their doors at midnight to let the hordes lined up outside to come in and buy.
>>
>> To put it more succinctly, Microsoft pronouncements as to availability of new
>> versions of Windows have zero credibility, even with a ballpark "next year or
>> so." ... Ben Myers
>
> I wonder why Gates would even bother to make such a pronouncement
> because only the completely naive and inexperienced would believe that
> they would be capable of releasing a new version of Windows by next
> year. They would be lucky to be done with the first beta by then.

Good point. I think it's damage control at this point. Looks as though
MS is still selling vaporware, a term I can't remember seeing lately.

On Apr 4, 5:12*pm, Journey <jour...@merr.com> wrote:
> On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:19:08 GMT, Bob Levine <f...@fake.com.invalid>
> wrote:
>
> >Tony Harding wrote:
> >> Boy, a huge disincentive for anyone, especially businesses, to upgrade
> >> to Vista.
>
> ><SNIP>
>
> >And then there's this:
>
> >http://thebetaguy.com/exclusives/?po...le=microsoft-w....
>
> >Bob
>
> Quoting part of the article:
>
> <start article snippet>
>
> "Windows 7 takes a different approach to the componentization and
> backwards compatibility issues; in short, it doesn't think about them
> at all. Windows 7 will be a from-the-ground-up packaging of the
> Windows codebase; partially source, but not binary compatible with
> previous versions of Windows. Making the break from backwards
> compatibility is a dangerous proposal but a dream for software
> developers. Performance of native applications can be increased,
> distribution sizes can be cut down, functionality can be added without
> the worry of breaking old applications, and the overall end-user
> experience can be significantly improved."
>
> <end article snippet>
>
> MS is in a VERY difficult position if Windows 7 will have issues with
> backwards compatibility especially after the negative criticism with
> Vista which IMO wasn't really that bad. *Can MS afford even worse
> criticism? *What would that due to the perception of Windows at a time
> when half the world is coming "online" both literally and figuratively
> with China's market as the obvious flagship example.

Well, Yes & No.

Breaking from the past would cause some trouble to be sure but I have
been wanting the OS guys to do this for over twenty years now.

At a certain point you come out with some thing new, and if you didn't
have to support _everything_ from the past things would run a lot
smoother.

OF course you would expect the current crop of endusers who systems
work just fine to forgo upgrading if it's too disruptive/ expensive to
replace all new apps and everything.

If the end user is told what to expect and it isn't some big surprise
then you can manage expectations (to a certain degree).

Tell em; "We are working on a new OS that will be starting from
scratch so don't install that crappy free screensaver you downloaded
ten years ago and expect it to work.

OTOH the major players will likely put out a new (hopefully) paired
down version of Photoshop, CD Burn utils, Digital still & movie apps,
etc.

Some times you just need to move on.


TBerk