Today kicked off the WinHEC conference for engineers and developers to begin development for the new platforms and technologies from Microsoft.
As John Devann and Steven Sinofsky took center stage the focused on a lot of the new things they have been working on under the hood of Windows 7. Some of the major points that they focused on were improved boot times. Doing a direct comparison to Windows Vista, the Windows 7 machine booted into a ready to use desktop about 5-10 seconds faster than the Windows Vista machine. This is definitely promising since boot times have plagues Windows Vista users since well before the RTM was released but not really addressed.
Another point that drew attention was Windows 7’s ability to have better memory management and scaling. Devann demoed a stress application that would show how Windows 7 could continue to look the test and not run out of memory where it took only a couple seconds to break Vista and shift the UI to Aero Basic. This definitely looks promising because it will greatly help those who typically have a lot of applications open.
Battery life for laptop’s were also a central point when talking about mobile computers and many laptop users will be glad to know that better power management will allow for almost an extra hour in terms of use for laptops that usually get 3 hours of battery life.
Devann also pointed out a Call to Action plan which includes the following:
- WinQual – Find the top Crashing item and Fix it quickly.
- WHDC –
a. Xperf – for performance
b. App Verifier and Driver verifier for improving reliability.
c. Check OS version correctly in installers. - WVCC – Update your Support information for 64 bit.
- Run powercfg/energy in Windows 7
There was a brief mention that with dropping memory prices that the adoption for 64-bit technology is now at the tipping point and breaking the 25% mark. Most PC Manufacturers are now shipping with full 64bit support and operating systems.
In addition to the point’s listed earlier, Stephen and John also demoed the new functionality and ease of use that comes with Bluetooth 2.1 and how it seamlessly makes connecting your mobile devices easier than before. All part of the Device stage initiative which improves the recognition and ease of use for any peripheral.
Look here tomorrow for more coverage of WinHEC as Day 2 will focus on Windows Server 2008 R2.
