22 October 2009 is Microsoft's date with history, the day the
company will introduce Windows 7, the next version of Windows,
which could make or break the company's lucrative operating
system.
Steve Guggenheimer, Microsoft's OEM Division corporate vice
president, said the company was confident it would deliver Windows
7 on 22 October. He also said Windows Server 2008 R2 would be
available in July 2009.
Guggenheimer said. "We announce each milestone once we're
confident of where we are in the development cycle and that it is
ready to be shared with customers and partners. We've received
great feedback from our partners, who are looking forward to
offering Windows 7 to their customers in time for the
holidays."
The operating system will be available as an upgrade for users
who buy Windows Vista PCs before the launch.
Microsoft is hoping businesses that were unhappy with their
existing applications being incompatible with Windows Vista, will
move to Windows 7, which should be more compatible. Microsoft has
developed a Windows XP virtualisation technology called
XP Mode, that will allow users to continue running XP
applications on Windows 7, something that was not possible under
Vista.
Users will also be able to run federated searches across their
local hard discs, corporate intranet and the internet.
Other enterprise features include Direct Access, which,
Microsoft says, will allow users to work from outside the company
firewall without requiring virtual private network access.