As the beta for Windows 7 draws to a close there are questions over whether it was a ‘good’ beta process or not. I’ve been a technical tester for Microsoft for some years now and I’ll be writing a full unbiased review of the beta soon. However one of the most important questions to ask was “did Microsoft learn any lessons from the Vista beta?”
After that beta ended Microsoft invited about a thousand or so beta testers to join “Windows early feedback”, a programme where testers could suggest features and upgrades for what later became Windows 7. I was lucky enough to be invited onto this programme.
Now, let’s start by saying that I don’t think some people in Microsoft like me very much, I have to say I don’t much like some of them either but this comes from my wanting Windows to be the best product it can be. I’ve rubbed some people, including some very senior people, up the wrong way by being one of the blogosphere’s harshest critics of the new taskbar and the way libraries work. I have also heavily criticised some of the feedback given to technical testers during this beta through the connect website, but more on that in my review of the beta itself.
That said, I’m also fair and even handed and want to give credit where credit is due. The Windows early feedback programme has long since disappeared from the Microsoft Connect site but I do remember what the top two suggestions, as voted for by beta testers, were.
- Virtualisation
- Family Pack Licence
And, especially if recent rumours about a three PC family licence are correct, it looks like they listened and they came through.
We all know that virtualisation has been built into Windows 7 in a big way with XP mode. This, I’m sure is just a taster for full 32-bit virtualisation for Windows 8 (I predict that’ll be it’s name as 8 it’s a lucky number in the far east and China, two important markets for Microsoft) that’ll finally see the stripping out of all the legacy code. It will also be interesting to see just how fast and reliable it will be, and how few patches will be required, after this happens. Frankly I can’t wait.
I can’t remember what the other items were on the programme, if anybody does know, why not post them here. But hat’s off to Microsoft, they do actually listen when it matters.
