Thought Behind the Change: Windows 7
On Wednesday, Microsoft officially promoted Steven Sinofsky to the President of the Windows Division. The power move indicates that Microsoft is happy with his Sinofsky’s work on Windows 7 and confident that the system will impress after Vista received largely negative criticisms.
Sinofsky has made a number of changes to address some of Vista’s criticisms and has created a sleeker and more user friendly operating system than Microsoft’s last effort. While Vista implemented a large number of changes, Windows 7 is more of a re-imagining of the popular pre-Vista staple, Windows XP, in that it is a return to the simpler and more stable operating system. Furthermore Sinofsky is handling the promotional and pre-sales aspect of the Windows 7 release better than the Vista’s pre-release.
Vista’s pre-release was muddled by the bad press over the cost of the system upgrades and it’s pushed back release date. Sinofsky, known for staunchly remaining on schedule, is making sure to avoid any negative associations with Vista. It is even rumored that, coinciding with Microsoft’s new image, Windows 7 has an affordable family pack upgrade coming out for under $150 meaning that Windows 7 is making a bid to compete with Apple’s Snow Leopard, coming out around the same time.
While Microsoft has officially remained silent about any family pack, there is no doubt that Sinofsky has something in the works to round out the new Microsoft image, complete the comeback that Microsoft hopes is coming with the new system, and allow Microsoft to take back its role as the industry’s producer of some of the best operating systems.
While the future for Windows 7 and it’s popularity with consumers remains to be seen until October, there is no doubt that Microsoft expects their new operation system and their new President to blow consumers out of the water with the revitalization of a company that lost its steam.
Gotta love it. Having been running Windows 7 RC for quite a while, I agree with your take completely. It’s absolutely awesome and worth checking out. It’s my primary system now. I am a techy and have yet to see a more refined OS.
For a couple of more days, Windows 7 can be pre-ordered at half the price (I think it’s a Microsoft promotion). Since it won’t ship until October, there is really no harm in pre-ordering it to get the price at 50% off right now and you can always change your mind later. I already ordered a couple of copies a few days ago.
Maybe someone will find it useful too.