Windows' two most senior managers, Jon DeVaan and Steven Sinofsky, have started a developer blog devoted to Engineering Windows 7, but they are unlikely to give too much away. The opening post says:
Related to disclosure is the idea of how we make sure not to set expectations around the release that end up disappointing you -- features that don't make it, claims that don't stick, or support we don't provide. Starting from the first days of developing Windows 7, we have committed as a team to "promise and deliver". That's our goal -- share with you what we're going to get done, why we're doing it, and deliver it with high quality and on time.
Sinofsky -- who delivered the very successful Office 2007 -- might prefer not to talk about it at all. Unfortunately, that's not an option. Windows 7 will be used by more than 10,000 PC manufacturers and will have to run tens of millions of programs, so there is a huge constituency that needs to know where its going. And we're approaching the time when Microsoft will have to start telling many more of them. As the blog says:
We have two significant events for developers and the overall ecosystem around Windows this fall. The Professional Developers Conference (PDC) on October 27 and the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) the following week both represent the first venues where we will provide in-depth technical information about Windows 7.
Still, there's probably nothing in the engineering sphere that's as tricky as coming up with a name for the thing. I'd bet it doesn't start with a V, but Windows 7 and Windows 2010 (say "twenty ten", but not a Roman numeral, X) must be possibilities. Sinofsky also runs Windows Live so Windows Live Desktop might just cross his mind, if not Windows XP2.
Any ideas?
