Microsoft revealed that it was happy with the way Windows 7 was received at the Professional Developers Conference 2008 in Los Angeles, at the end of October. The software giant applauded the good reception of Windows 7 pre-Beta Build 6801 bits at the event, which gathered more than 6,500 developers to the Staples Center. PDC 2008 was synonymous with the first broad taste of Windows 7, with Microsoft delivering Milestone 3 of the operating system. According to the company, the pre-Beta Build 6801 bits were received with enthusiasm by attendees, despite some inherent caveats. “Things like mounting virtual hard drives – we were just drooling over that,” stated Tim Huckaby, CEO of Interknowlogy. Microsoft indicated that the new features showcased for Windows 7 indeed managed to impress developers, in addition to the speed of the platform. “I installed the pre-beta (the third build, handed out at PDC) and was surprised at how stable it is. And it seems very, very fast. And I like a lot of the UI stuff, the multi-monitor support, and the DirectX improvements,” revealed Dan Rigby, lead software engineer at Interactive Intelligence. Still, at PDC 2008, Microsoft demonstrated Builds of Windows 7 superseding Build 6801, which was actually delivered to participants. In fact, some demonstrations featured Windows 7 pre-Beta Build 6933, and, in this respect, the Milestone 3 version that was handed out was a few features short, especially in regard to the graphical user interface. The main concern that developers have with Windows 7 is Microsoft repeating the Windows Vista episode. “When we saw Vista, no one wondered whether it would be a functional OS with great features,” one PDC participant told the company. “But what we found is that it wasn’t fast or stable enough. If Windows 7 is stable, then we should be in good shape.” source: news.softpedia.com
Seeing as (Build 6801) has been so widely leaked over the net. Microsoft could indeed use it to their advantage by asking users like myself of (Build 6801) for their feedback. That way things can only improve the final product, because it will then be as close as to what we 'the people' want. LUg.
I think it is very important to showcase Windows 7 to the masses, especially the business community, who still have most of their machines running XP. Though the big problem MS has is that a lot of companies that have older hardware are more than willing to recycle that old hardware and scavenge from non-working systems to build new systems. Most companies are still running Pentium D or P4 systems, unless the departments themselves buy their own hardware. So people will continue to use XP until MS forces them not to. I don't expect businesses to adopt the Windows 6 kernel at the desktop level until at least 2010 or 2011 if not even 2012 when MS stops deploying XP updates. As long as MS continues to support XP then businesses will continue to use it.
The current business/financial climate is not going to encourage people/business to buy anything they don't need. MS need some ''good ink" after the less than great reception Vista got.
The thing businesses have to consider is what to do after Jan 31 2009. Most companies buy PCs with Windows pre-installed so that way they do not have to buy volume licenses. Most companies do not want to move to Vista, but without the availability of XP they will be violating their license agreements because the downgrade option will not be available.