Windows 8 - Next Wave of Growth and New Challenges for Microsoft Chrome OS among them

>> Thursday, December 31, 2009



Moving onward after the successful delivery of Windows 7, Microsoft is concerned not only with putting together the lines of code that will finish up as Windows 8, but also with the evolution of the Windows brand. While the company continues to be largely sister on Windows 7’s successor, and for lovely reason since Windows 7 GA was three months ago, various inside sources have confirmed, albeit unofficially, that Windows 8 planning is already in full swing. However, beyond, future capabilities, features and default components, the application giant is also tending to the evolution of its branding strategy that has Windows at the core.

Earlier this month, Microsoft was looking for the Senior Director of Windows Brand Strategy, a “role [that] will focus on the ‘trifecta’ of Windows brands for the consumer audience (i.e. Windows 7, Windows Live and Windows phone) - providing thought leadership on the query of how the company can evolve and optimize the Windows brand experience in the years to come with Windows 8 and beyond. However, this role will also partner closely with leaders and colleagues on the commercial audience pivot to refine and evolve the holistic brand strategy for Windows Client, Windows Server, Windows Azure and Windows Embedded,” according to Microsoft.

The Windows brand strategy will move forward along with the operating technique itself, and it will fall onto Microsoft to make sure that marketing is tailored to consumers, that public relations are strengthened, and to manage events, web presence and relationships in a manner that will benefit the product.

“The Brand Strategy team (Central Marketing Group) works closely with the company’s business group leaders, marketers and engineers to set and manage Microsoft’s brand portfolio strategy, identity, and architecture. The group also tracks and measures brand health of the Microsoft master brand and key sub brands,” the company noted.

As Windows 8 will start to take contour and Microsoft will enter what the company is thinking about the next wave of growth, it will be CMG’s efforts that will be responsible for attracting new customers, and making marketing campaigns increasingly efficient. According to the application giant, the Senior Director, Windows Brand Strategy will work on Windows brand architecture, strategy, naming, identity, and brand health measurement.

“The Windows brand is the flagship of Microsoft’s brand portfolio. Synonymous with Microsoft for much of its history, the Windows brand has amazingly strong global brand equity. Over 1 billion people use Windows application on their PC every day, and 500 million people use Windows Live services on the world wide web or mobile phone. While the equity is strong, the Windows brand is facing new challenges from the changing marketplace and competitive pressures. Google, with its Android and Chrome operating systems, poses a whole new set of challenges in addition to the traditional competition from Apple,” the company said.

What is interesting is that Microsoft mentions Apple and Google Chrome OS, but ignores Linux. And fact is that even ahead of Windows 7’s GA, Windows XP managed to win the netbook war against Linux, and grab the vast majority of the market. Meanwhile, Mac sales continue to push up the market share of Mac OS X, although Apple’s OS did trip a tiny after Windows 7 was launched.

Linux continues to hold approximately 1% of the OS market, according to Net Applications, but apparently Microsoft is more concerned with newcomer Google Chrome OS, which will only be available to customers preinstalled on new netbooks at the finish of 2010. Still, Chrome OS will have not only the Google financial power behind it, but and a brand that consumers largely applaud and are quick to embrace because of the search engine that has become virtually synonymous with the Net.

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Windows 8 and Windows 7 SP1 Preparations alongside Windows 7 Development

>> Tuesday, December 29, 2009



“Efforts lead to an unprecedented state of servicing readiness for Windows. Windows 7 Service Pack technologies, processes & builds were ready over a year before release compared to Vista & previous OSes which did not reach that state of servicing readiness & quality for months after release. Planning servicing quality goals, metrics, processes, & tools & technologies for Windows 8,” reads an excerpt from Badruddin’s CV.

Unlike the work done for Vista & earlier releases of Windows. Microsoft started preparing for the next releases of the Windows client as the latest iteration of the operating method was still in development. The Redmond-based company already debuted work to ensure the servicing readiness for Windows 7 Service Pack 1 & started planning for Windows 8, the successor of Windows 7. The information comes from the profile of Ahmed Badruddin, a Microsoft Program Design Engineer in Check II since September 2008 until present day. Badruddin was four of the people that labored to define & execute the testing strategy associated with improving Windows 7 Service Pack experience quality. (by MSFTKitchen)

Users that were walking Windows Vista RTM at the start of 2008 surely recall the glitches that Microsoft hit with the deployment of Service Pack 1. The Redmond-based company ended up postponing the delivery of Vista SP1 until it managed to release updates designed to get Vista RTM operating systems ready for the implementation of SP1. It appears that the program giant is looking to keep away from similar hassles with the release of Windows 7 SP1 & beyond, with Windows 8.

This is why Badruddin, along with additional Microsoft employees “spearheaded initiatives & projects to drive up the quality of Windows 7 (Microsoft’s next operating method) Service Pack experience. Collaborated with teams across Windows organization to mitigate risks to Windows 7 Service Pack 1.”

Back in the first half of June 2009, Windows 7 Build 7227 was leaked in the wild. Build 7227 was unlike any other pre-release Windows 7 development milestone, as a version check revealed that it already featured SP1. I speculated at the time that Windows 7 Build 7227 with SP1 was nothing over the result of Microsoft testing serviceability for the first major upgrade of the OS, & it looks like I was right.

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Microsoft eyeing Google, Apple with Windows 8 development

>> Sunday, December 27, 2009

As it develops Windows 8, Microsoft has come to acknowledge both Apple and Google as competitors for the hearts and minds of current and would-be Windows users.
It's been months since Windows 7's successor has entered the planning and early development stages, and already Microsoft is taking aim at its competition deep inside its headquarters. At least two of them, Apple and Google, are being scrutinized closely, according to sources within the company. Despite the strong start Windows 7 has had, and Windows' large installed base, the company realizes that there's new challenges in the changing marketplace that must be met head-on if the Windows brand is to continue to flourish.

Specifically, Microsoft is taking note of competitive pressures from Google, with its Android and Chrome operating systems, saying that the search giant "poses a whole new set of challenges." As for Apple, Microsoft noted that the company could not be forgotten, because there would still be the "the traditional competition" from Cupertino. Linux was not explicitly mentioned, though this is likely because Microsoft believes it poses a bigger threat in the business space, and sources say this particular discussion looked at the consumer-facing aspects of the Windows brand.

Microsoft is planning to switch internal focus from Windows 7 to Windows 8 at the start of its next fiscal year in July 2010, and according to a Microsoft roadmap, Windows 7's and Windows Server 2008 R2's successors are slated for release in 2012. Tidbits for Windows 8 will continue to come in till then, including more on where the branding of the operating technique will be heading.

Microsoft will focus on evolving and optimizing "the Windows brand experience," specifically the "trifecta" of Windows brands for the consumer audience (Windows 7, Windows Live, and Windows phone) in the years to come with Windows 8 and beyond, sources said. More broadly, Microsoft leaders and colleagues will be trying to refine "the holistic brand strategy" for Windows Client, Windows Server, Windows Azure, and Windows Embedded.

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Stick with Windows 7/Windows 8, No Chrome OS for You

>> Monday, December 14, 2009

 Windows
Holding your breath for the Windows killer from Google? Perhaps it will be a lovely idea to exhale, if you haven’t completed so sooner this year, when the Mountain View-based search giant unveiled Chromium OS. As increasingly Google Chrome OS details are released to the public, it is becoming increasingly clear that Google’s own breed of a Linux open source operating method is incapable of replacing Windows, and that it wasn’t designed as a substitute for Microsoft’s proprietary operating method. Approximately a year ahead of Chrome OS’ general availability date, the platform is destined to at best coexist alongside Windows; however, Windows 7 and Windows 8 after it will continue to be the operating systems of choice for consumers.

“Google Chrome OS is not a conventional operating method that you can download or buy on a disc and install. As a consumer, the way you will get Google Chrome OS is by buying a netbook that has Google Chrome OS installed by the OEM. Google Chrome OS is being developed to run on new machines that are specially optimized for increased security and performance. They are working with manufacturers to create reference hardware for Google Chrome OS. These netbooks will be available in the fourth quarter of 2010,” reads an excerpt from the Chromium Developer FAQ.

“Google Chrome OS will seamlessly auto-update so that users have the latest and greatest features and fixes. Google Chrome OS will be supported by Google and our partners, whereas Chromium OS is supported by the open source community, but they fundamentally share the same code base. Google Chrome OS also has some chilled firmware features, verified boot and easy recovery, which need corresponding hardware changes and thus also don't work in Chromium OS builds,” Google stated.

Ultimately, what separates a non-conventional OS from a fully-fledged platform is the lack of customer choice. As mentioned in the quote above, restrictions start with the actual hardware. Customers basically won’t be able to buy a new machine off the shelve, or build their own computer from scratch and slap Chrome OS on top expecting it to work seamlessly. While Chrome OS binaries can be obtained from the Chromium OS project, they won’t be coming from Google, but from third-parties, they won’t feature update functionality, and it won’t be officially supported by the Mountain View company.

But this will be the Google Chrome OS that will only start being available with new notebooks at the finish of 2010. And by the finish of 2010, Microsoft would have already delivered the first service pack for Windows 7, and be neck deep in to the development method of Windows 8, the next iteration of Windows. And while Google Chrome OS binaries are already up for grabs in the wild, including a version from Dell, Google is telling finish users that the platform is not ready for “public consumption.”

“If you are the kind of developer who likes to build an open source operating method from scratch, you can check out Chromium OS, build it and experiment with it. A quantity of sites have also posted pre-built binaries of Chromium OS. However, these downloads are not verified by Google, therefore ensure you trust the site you are downloading these from. Keep in mind that Chrome OS is not yet ready for general consumer use,” the search giant added.

However, Google clarified some issues related to hardware support. Although initially it appeared that Chrome OS and Chromium OS won’t be playing nice with traditional hard disks, this is not true. Google noted that it preferred solid state drives (SSDs) to hard disk drives (HDDs), for performance and reliability reasons, and that OEM partners would equip Chrome OS notebooks with the first. However, Chromium OS does work with conventional HDDs, but users will suffer a depreciation of performance. Moreover, additional hardware products and devices with existing open source/Linux drivers can be tailored to work with Chrome OS/Chromium OS.

But perhaps the largest downside of Chrome OS is related to program. “Google Chrome OS is a web-centric method, so all applications are web applications; this provides powerful and simple manageability and security. To write applications that will benefit from native code execution they recommend using NativeClient, an open source project that allows web apps to run native code securely within a browser. Of coursework Chromium OS is open source, and it is Linux. This means that as a developer you can do much anything you require, including installing any Linux application,” Google stated. Yes, if you’re a Linux developer. But are you? I know I’m not.

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Windows 8 Coming into Focus in 2010,The company mentions Win 8 in a multitude of job posts

Windows
Windows 7 was released to manufacturing on July 22nd, 2009, along with Windows Server 2008 R2, & both platforms made it to customers by October 22nd, 2009, with the client flavor of the OS being the last to reach the general availability stage. Undoubtedly, for the latest iterations of the client & server operating systems, the Redmond company will produce the first service pack come next year. There might even be a third service pack for Windows Vista, although Microsoft is keeping all details under a hermetically shut lid. But one thing is sure, as 2010 rolls in, Microsoft will shift its focus to Windows 8, the next generation of Windows.

Users are bound not to come across publicly shared details on Windows 8 from Microsoft for some time. Going out on a limb, I would say that the application giant will start unveiling the first Win8 information through official channels no sooner than the finish of 2010, or even in 2011. After all, Jon DeVaan, senior vice president, Windows Core Operating Technique Division, & Steven Sinofsky, president, Windows & Windows Live Division, kicked off the Windows 7 engineering conversation with the public in August 2008, a year & a half after Vista’s GA in January 2007.

In some way, the application giant is already offering Windows 8 tidbits to the public, albeit, all details available are insufficient to contour the company’s designs & strategy for the next iteration of Windows. As Windows 7’s successor starts coming in to focus, Microsoft is looking for additional people to join the planning & development efforts behind the Windows project. In this regard, the company has published a variety of Windows 8 related job posts, which have been “harvested” by a variety of Microsoft watchers, including MSFTKitchen.

Make no mistake about it, Sinofsky continues to helm the Windows project, & Windows 8 is bound to follow in the footsteps of its predecessor, Windows 7. Certainly, Sinofsky won't need to change what proved to be a winning strategy, thinking about the indications of Windows 7’s early commercial success, with strong sales, outpacing Vista’s by over double.

Microsoft has the Windows 8 job for you

One of the most interesting Windows 8 roles Microsoft is looking to fill is that of Sr. Manager, Partner Skills Development – Launch Lead, in the Worldwide Partner Group (WPG), Small Medium Solutions & Partners (SMS&P) Division for Microsoft Business.

Then there’s the Application Engineering: Program Management job for the Windows Division.

“Do you need to help ready the entire partner ecosystem on all the new Microsoft products & solutions? The Partner Skills Development Team is looking for a senior thought leader & skilled project/product manager to ensure the health of the partner ecosystem through the strategic evolution skills development framework (& its execution) for upcoming Microsoft product launches. For example, in Fy10, the focus will be on Windows Server R2, SQL Server R2, & Wave 14 (Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, & Exchange 2010) &, as they head in to Fy11, the focus will quickly switch to Windows 8. In this role you will lead the execution of partner skills development BOMs – by partner type for the entire partner ecosystem – on a WW basis. This role with interact with & influence individuals from across Microsoft, including individuals within the Worldwide Partner Group, Microsoft Learning, SMSGR, the product groups (BGs), Operations, & partner segment teams with SMSG,” Microsoft reveals.

“Are you ready to get closer to Microsoft’s best customers & biggest partners while staying in a highly technical role? The new Ecosystem Fundamentals team in Windows is hiring a Senior PM to work closely with OEMs driving continued increases in performance & reliability while providing tools, testing, training & telemetry. The successful candidate for this critical role will ride the Windows 7 wave of success to enabling continued improvements in to the ecosystem. This work includes Windows 8 planning, OEM gizmo & kit ownership, performance testing & analysis focused on improving the hardware/software ecosystem while working closely with OEMs, ODMs, ISVs, & IHVs in order to strengthen Windows partnerships. Now is the time to move in to a great role centered in the Windows group & focused on customer satisfaction improvements based on solid engineering,” according to the company.


“The Windows Fundamentals Reliability, Security & Privacy (ReSP) team will improve the quality of Windows 8 by driving the trustworthy computing pillars of reliability, security & privacy in the Windows operating technique. They analyze reliability information from hundreds of millions of machines, making data-driven decisions to improve the ecosystem-meaning Windows itself, other Microsoft products, & our partners such as the OEMs, ODMs, chip makers, ISVs & IHVs. They will extend this to measuring the security & privacy of the ecosystem as well. They believe Windows will transparently recover from failures & will drive scenarios to enable this. They broadly own implementing the SDL method inside Windows, & will extend the SDL concepts to reliability, & possibly other Fundamentals. They have strong technology ownership in support of this mission, including advanced detection, control & reporting components such as the client-side portions of Windows Error Reporting (WER), Application Quality Metrics (SQM), Reliability Analysis Component (RAC), & prevention & recovery technologies such as the WinRE, restart manager, fault-tolerant heap, method reflection, RADAR leak detection, & network hang recovery. They will continue to build on our world-class auto-analysis & expert debugging infrastructure which processes millions of user & kernel mode failures, as well as expanding on tools & check infrastructures such as Longhaul testing, & a Fuzz testing lab infrastructure & expertise for testing protocols across Windows,” Microsoft notes in a job post for the position of Application Engineering: Check in the Windows Division.

“The Application Experience Bug Inquiry Team, AEBit, is looking for passionate SDETs that need to make an impact on Windows 8. On the AEBit team you will get the unique opportunity to challenge & grow your debugging skills on issues that span the entire OS. You will have the opportunity to engage with application vendors, OEMs, as well as internal component teams. You will also be applying & enhancing your knowledge of technique internals. As part of the AEBit team you will be responsible for driving & ensuring compatibility in Windows by engaging with component teams, root causing application bugs, & authoring mitigations. If you are a strong SDET looking for a challenge they would like to listen to from you,” an excerpt from a Application Engineering: Check job with the Windows Division reads.

A job in Application Engineering: Development for Server & Tools Business deals with Windows 8 Server: “Windows Server is the top-selling server operating technique & is growing share in a growing market. Central to the success of Windows Server is the experience of IT Professionals managing Windows Server. For our next release, they are taking that experience to the next level by helping to make IT Professionals more effective & more productive by shipping a product they will love to use.We work closely with UX & a passionate PM & Check team to deliver world-beating user experiences for managing Windows Servers. For Windows 8 Server, they are planning, architecting & building a new UX framework around themes that are key to the success of the entire Server product line.”

Of work, Windows 8 & Windows Live will continue to be joined at the hip, as Microsoft brings the Windows client closer to the Cloud. “The Windows Live Mail team is looking for a seasoned Lead Program Manager to drive our next generation Mail client, & manage one stellar PMs. Our client has over 40M users world-wide, & serves as a key component of our Windows Live 'light up Windows' strategy. Our current release is centered on hot new consumer features & better synergies with Hotmail & Windows 7, & our future releases will likely be tightly designed to work best with new Windows 8 platform technologies. They will also work closely with the Outlook team on ways to bring Windows Live to Outlook. Mail is part of the WL Desktop Communications team, which also includes Messenger. Our team values user-centered design, technical & engineering excellence, & attention to detail.”

Microsoft is also looking to create new IIS features for Windows 8. From the job post for a Program Management position with the Server & Tools Business: “IIS team is looking for an experienced PM to join our core platform team. Your role will span across driving key features in to Windows 8 as well as owning several out-of-band modules, including web analytics that will bring business intelligence for the customers that host applications & contents on IIS. Your work will help differentiate IIS & Smooth Streaming from Apache & Flash. You ought to also be ready to work in a fast-paced environment & have a strong desire for quality, security, & performance. Your feature will be used by millions of customers.”

“The TAG team provides the foundation services & infrastructure to support a unified check & dev workflow. This team’s charter includes – developing & jogging a unified check submission & execution technique for Windows 8, Automating Check pass scheduling & execution, results analysis & automated triage, Windows code coverage services, Developing & jogging the eBVT quality gate, supporting WinSE’s Windows 7 sustained engineering check needs. This is an exciting time to join the Check Automation & Gates team & lead the next wave of foundation services & infrastructure to ensure delivery of a high quality product. With openings across the team, there’s sure to be the perfect opportunity suited to your specific passion & enthusiasm,” Microsoft mentions in a job for the Windows TAG team.

The Redmond company is additionally looking for a application engineer to influence & contribute to Windows 8 serviceability. “The WinSE UX check team needs a strong SDET to create new check automation, write robust check designs, designing check cases, debug reported issues across Windows Shell & related UX, help establish sound check engineering processes, & influence & contribute to the serviceability of Windows 8. As an SDET on this team, you’ll design, implement, & execute various types of check automation, including functional, integration & release tests. You will also have several opportunities to write check tools, & work on security bugs, & will be interacting with PM & Dev counterparts in a dev/test/pm trio, & various partner teams. In this team, you will have an opportunity to ship important updates for Windows to solve critical reliability, performance & security issues by the Windows Update mechanism. This position requires strong communication & collaboration skills, & a drive for results. Overall, this position is best suited for a strong SDET looking for an opportunity to showcase your skills & innovate.”

There’s one aspect that is already set in stone, so to speak, when it comes down to Windows 8, one that not even Microsoft can, or will dispute, for that matter. Windows 8 Server will be a major release of the Windows Server operating technique, as opposed to Windows 7 Server, which ended up as a Release 2, namely Windows Server 2008 R2. Microsoft has argued that Windows 7 is indeed a major version of the Windows client, despite having Vista at its foundation, & 6.1 versioning specific of the evolutionary, than revolutionary development model selected.

Windows 8 in the making

The intimate connection between Windows client & server releases, following Vista SP1 & Windows Server 2008 RTM/SP1, continued with Windows 7 & Windows Server 2008 R2, & is bound to survive with the building of Windows 8 & Windows 8 Server. But, in this context, it remains to be seen whether Windows 8 Server will drag Windows 8 along with it, & make it a new, undisputable, major version of the client, one that Microsoft won’t must defend.

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Windows 8: Microsoft Shifting Focus To Next OS In July 2010

 
Various job listings posted online this November have hinted at when Microsoft designs to shift its focus to Windows 8.

Most early adopters of Microsoft's latest offering, Windows 7, are still getting settled in to the month-old OS, and discovering what the highly favored current version of Windows can do. However, it seems the guys up in Redmond are not hanging around, as this past month alone Microsoft has posted five job openings in the hopes of finding folks to work on Windows 8.

So what tidbits of Windows 8 knowledge can they glean from the vacancies listed? They already know from a recent product roadmap that Microsoft's next OS is expected to hit retail some time in 2012, and according to rumors it could pack in 128-bit support (though some have cast doubt on that possibility).

Technology site Ars Technica discovered the job listings over on Microsoft's official careers page. A number of the listings have since been edited or removed, but Ars Technica still has the original listings obtainable in full on their site.

But these fresh vacancies,



which include an assortment of positions such as testers, project management personnel, and launch leads, hint that Microsoft is planning to shift its internal focus to Windows 8 as they "head in to Fy11". The fiscal year for 2011 begins in July of 2010, which gives Microsoft two years to perfect Windows 8 before it is expected 2012 debut.

Follow GeekTech and Chris Brandrick on Twitter.

What would you like to see in Windows 8? Let us know in the comments!

This story was updated on Dec. 3 to clarify what was mentioned in the Windows product roadmap .

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Windows 8 in development, Google’s Translation of Windows 8 Mention on Microsoft China

Google’s Translation of Windows 8 Mention on Microsoft China

To support a large number of program & hardware is a feature of Windows, but also with other operating systems is two major difference. In the solution of problems of cross-age sense of Windows7 hardware ecosystem compatibility issue, Microsoft China R & D Group's hardware innovation center stage in the beginning of the project suffered an embarrassing.

With these questions in that they found the country's largest IT equipment, the computer stores the Pacific Ocean, through the co-operation with them to analyze sales information stores inside the peripheral, has made the authority of the hardware market information. By looking at sales information, they found that the market with Windows-related hardware products was over 28,000 species, only the access to this two, in the Chinese market on over 640 kinds. However, on further analysis, they found that although hundreds of thousands of products in each section, but occupy 80% of pre-sales Ranking the number of products is limited. For example, there is a Although there's 253 kinds of the scanner, but the sales of the top 28 kinds of products has already covered 80% of the market. Therefore, only check the 28 kinds of products, they can cover the user's Bacheng scanner.

As China's wide variety of hardware products. Therefore, received the mandate, the team on how to select products tested produced a confused, they tentatively put forward two hundred mainstream peripheral pre-test program. At this time, Windows vice president, a series of questions put to them ---- these first 200 peripheral mean? 20% of the market, 60%? Or 80%? Importance there? For these problems, they can not answer, only Momobizai, embarrassed to go home.

Completed these words, he also added in the hope of the Chinese team to check range to cover the Jiucheng market. Of work, through a complete hardware sales information, hardware innovation center engineers quickly calculated to cover the scope of this new check.

After that, they started a list of the equipment of targeted testing. When the team has revised the plan & the preliminary check results with the vice president in charge of re-sharing, he became very happy, & told the Chinese team, he's thought about this issue for years, & our measures for this problem provides the most nice solution simultaneously, he praised that "you have the best peripherals on the planet list!"

Thanks to "the list of the best peripheral", Windows 7 have a high degree of compatibility of the hardware ecosystem. In Windows the occasion of the upcoming next-generation process, Windows 8 planning meeting is also Microsoft's headquarters. At the meeting, their peripheral testing strategy is also over 3,000 people demonstrated in full before the Windows team. Now, they start to deepen the market information analysis to quarterly changes, & testing to identify major trends & changes, & with headquarters in real-time sharing. Through this approach will soon become the world's largest PC market in China's hardware & ecological information, it will further affect the evolution of the next generation of Windows, but also affected the whole world.

Source: Microsoft China

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Microsoft to switch internal focus to Windows 8 in July 2010

 
The first job posting is from November 3, 2009 & is looking for somebody to fill the Application Engineering: Check job section by working on critical updates that will be delivered through Windows Update for Windows 8:

Seven more job postings were posted last month that mention Windows 8. From them, they can glean a few small tidibits about Windows 7's successor.
With another month gone (boy that two flew by), it is time to take a look at what Microsoft Careers, a great source for scraps on future Microsoft products, had to say about Windows 8 over the last 30 days or so. This month they saw two job postings regarding the successor to both Windows 7 & Windows Server 2008 R2, each two offering a small glimpse in to what Microsoft is thinking about. Before they go through them in chronological order, they ought to note that a quantity of them have already been removed & others have been slightly reworded, so what you see below is the original unedited versions Microsoft first posted & which they saved until now.

 The WinSE UX check team needs an strong SDET to create new check automation, write robust check designs, designing check cases, debug reported issues across Windows Shell & related UX, help establish sound check engineering processes, & influence & contribute to the serviceability of Win8. As an SDET on this team, you'll design, implement, & execute various types of check automation, including functional, integration & release tests. You will also have several opportunities to write check tools, & work on security bugs, & will be interacting with PM & Dev counterparts in a dev/test/pm trio, & various partner teams. In this team, you will have an opportunity to ship important updates for Windows to solve critical reliability, performance & security issues by the Windows Update mechanism. This position requires strong communication & collaboration skills, as well as a drive for results. Overall, this position is best suited for a strong SDET looking for an opportunity to showcase your skills & innovate.

 The WinSE UX Check team is two of the most fun teams in Windows Sustaining Engineering to work with! They release hot-fixes, security patches & Service packs for all Windows platforms on a regular basis. They help keep our customer install base humming through a significant portion of the lifecycle of the product. If the experience of shipping deliverables to millions of people on a regular basis energizes you, if you enjoy working on issues that impact those millions of our customers all the time, if you enjoy being in the glare of publicity, & if you enjoy the thrill of solving critical problems, you have come to the right place!!!

The second job posting arrived soon after, on November 4, 2009, asking for another Application Engineering: Check employee who will be doing various forms of testing internationally:

 The Windows International Check OOB (Out of Band) team is handling a variety of International check projects including Windows Small Business Server (SBS), Home Server, stand-alone out of band releases for Windows 7/Windows 8, & down-level support packages requested by different business divisions by utilizing a state-of-the art seller outsourcing model.

The third job posting arrived a week later on November 11, 2009, looking for a Application Engineering: Development employee who would help the Windows Update team prepare for Windows 8. It's since been removed, but we have saved the text:

 As a team member in this position, you will write check designs for World-Readiness- (Globalization & Localizability) as well as Localization Testing, & create & manage check tools & guidelines. You will also perform globalization code reviews as part of the OOB method using tools & globalization guidelines. In addition, you will must engage with Program Managers, Developers, International Project Managers & partner SDETs to collaborate on specification reviews, scheduling as well as budgeting & planning. Check execution will be done by seller check resources in Beijing, China, so management of remote seller resource will also be necessary.

 As part of this team, you will help shape Windows 8. Components of our code include a core agent that runs as an NT service, an API layer as well as a UI application. They talk to the update servers using web services & they have special protocols in place to deal with the gigantic scale of the process.

 This is a great time to join us. Our team owns the Windows Update Client & our code delivers application & updates to over 600 million computers. They done up work on Windows 7, & are pushing forth on Windows 8 planning & preparation. There's opportunities to work on a quantity of hard problems, including third-party application updating, updating virtual machines while they are turned off (turns out this is hard!), & delivering full applications, among others. To help us charge full steam on these fronts, they are looking for skilled & passionate application engineers.

 Windows Server is the top-selling server operating process & is growing share in a growing market. Central to the success of Windows Server is the experience of IT Professionals managing Windows Server. For our next release, they are taking that experience to the next level by helping to make IT Professionals more effective & more productive by shipping a product they will love to use.

The fourth job posting made its appearance on November 17, 2009 asking for somebody for the Application Engineering: Development job section. It specifically talked about Windows 8 Server as well as a new UX framework before being significantly reworded:

 They are looking for a Application Development Engineer experienced in UI Design to help lead, architect, write code, & deliver the next generation of Server Management experiences. In this role, you will document directly to the Development Manager, oversee & help architect the new design, & work closely with lots of other teams delivering in Windows Server. You will take on the challenge of bridging the existing with the new & have an understanding & appreciation of both user interaction design & systems application. You will also have a record of technical leadership, nice planning, & shipping world-class application.

 They work closely with UX as well as a passionate PM & Check team to deliver world-beating user experiences for managing Windows Servers. For Windows 8 Server, they are planning, architecting & building a new UX framework around themes that are key to the success of the entire Server product line.

 Are you ready to get closer to Microsoft's best customers & biggest partners while staying in a highly technical role? The new Ecosystem Fundamentals team in Windows is hiring a Senior PM to work closely with OEMs driving continued increases in performance & reliability while providing tools, testing, training & telemetry. The successful candidate for this critical role will ride the Windows 7 wave of success to enabling continued improvements in to the ecosystem. This work includes Windows 8 planning, OEM gizmo & kit ownership, performance testing & analysis focused on improving the hardware/software ecosystem while working closely with OEMs, ODMs, ISVs, & IHVs in order to strengthen Windows partnerships. Now is the time to move in to a great role centered in the Windows group & focused on customer satisfaction improvements based on solid engineering.

The fifth job posting is from a day later, on November 18, 2009, & is looking for somebody in the Application Engineering: Program Management job section who would make sure to work closely with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), Original Design Manufacturers (ODMs), Independent Application Vendors (ISVs), & Independent Hardware Vendors (IHVs) for Windows 8:

 Do you need to work in a group that you know is strategic to Microsoft's growth designs? Do you need to have impact on a global scale? Come join the Worldwide Partner Group. Partners generate over 90% of Microsoft's $40 billion in annual revenue, & at over 650,000 partners strong, Microsoft has the largest, & best, channel in the industry. Be a part of the team that is driving significant business impact by evolving the Microsoft Partner Program (MSPP) to maximize the leverage of this strategic asset.

The sixth job posting arrived on November 20, 2009, requesting a Sr. Manager, Partner Skills Development - Launch Lead who is to change business focus from Windows 7 to Windows 8 in fiscal year 2011. Microsoft's fiscal year starts in July, which is only four months away. According to Microsoft's roadmaps, the release of Windows 8 is scheduled for release in 2012. Here's the body of the job posting:

Finally, the last job posting of the month arrived on November 24, 2009, requesting somebody for the Application Engineering: Check job section who wants to work on improving reliability, security, & privacy in Windows 8:

 Job Purpose/Overview: Do you need to help ready the entire partner ecosystem on all the new Microsoft products & solutions? The Partner Skills Development Team is looking for a senior thought leader & skilled project/product manager to ensure the health of the partner ecosystem through the strategic evolution skills development framework (& its execution) for upcoming Microsoft product launches. For example, in Fy10, the focus will be on Windows Server R2, SQL Server R2, & Wave 14 (Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, & Exchange 2010) &, as they head in to Fy11, the focus will quickly switch to Windows 8. In this role you will lead the execution of partner skills development BOMs - by partner type for the entire partner ecosystem - on a WW basis. This role with interact with & influence individuals from across Microsoft, including individuals within the Worldwide Partner Group, Microsoft Learning, SMSGR, the product groups (BGs), Operations, & partner segment teams with SMSG.

 Do you need to be on the cutting edge of detecting the latest security threats in the wild? Are you passionate about improving customers' perception of Windows reliability & performance? Do you need to help our ISVs better understand how they can make their application more secure & reliable? If so, the Detection, Control, & Measurement (DCM) team is for you! The DCM team is dedicated to improving the reliability, security, performance & privacy of Windows by helping to "Detect" inbox issues, "Control" failures, & "Measure" issues & relaying that information back to Microsoft so action can be taken. A quantity of the core technologies in this team include Windows Error Reporting clients (WER aka Watson/Kernel Crash), Reliability Analysis Component (RAC), Perftrack, & SQM.

 The Windows Fundamentals Reliability, Security & Privacy (ReSP) team will improve the quality of Windows 8 by driving the trustworthy computing pillars of reliability, security & privacy in the Windows operating process. They analyze reliability information from hundreds of millions of machines, making data-driven decisions to improve the ecosystem-meaning Windows itself, other Microsoft products, & our partners such as the OEMs, ODMs, chip makers, ISVs & IHVs. They will extend this to measuring the security & privacy of the ecosystem as well. They believe Windows will transparently recover from failures & will drive scenarios to enable this. They broadly own implementing the SDL method inside Windows, & will extend the SDL concepts to reliability, & possibly other Fundamentals. They have strong technology ownership in support of this mission, including advanced detection, control & reporting components such as the client-side portions of Windows Error Reporting (WER), Application Quality Metrics (SQM), Reliability Analysis Component (RAC), & prevention & recovery technologies such as the WinRE, restart manager, fault-tolerant heap, method reflection, RADAR leak detection, & network hang recovery. They will continue to build on our world-class auto-analysis & expert debugging infrastructure which processes millions of user & kernel mode failures, as well as expanding on tools & check infrastructures such as Longhaul testing, as well as a Fuzz testing lab infrastructure & expertise for testing protocols across Windows.

In the first week of October 2009, they rounded up every minor detail that bloggers had posted on Windows 8, & then at the finish of October 2009, they posted about the remaining job postings related to Windows 8 that Microsoft made. Now we are caught up again with the job postings made in November 2009, & we'll be keeping an eye on anything that gets posted in December 2009.

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Windows 8 2012 ,Windows 8: More Roadmaps

Well, on this day of PDC 2009, since I won’t listen to anything about Windows 8, I took it on myself to see what I could scrounge up. It looks like a bit more is being announced to partners where Windows 8 Server is concerned… well, in the context of a roadmap, at least. The information all says the same thing I’ve been reporting by other roadmaps: Windows 8 being released around a timeframe of 2012. Perhaps the whole, “end-of-the-world” thing in 2012 has something to do with Windows 8. Or not. lol. Either way, here are the additions to my ginormous
 roadmap collection
Windows 8


Windows 8
 
Windows 8

 
Although that second roadmap doesn’t have anything listed for a name, it’s two times again the same elderly song: Windows 8 ~2012.:
 


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Windows 8, and So It Begins Revolutionary vs. evolutionary

 Windows
Back in early 2007, after Windows Vista shipped to customers worldwide, Microsoft shifted its focus on what was at the time referred to as Windows codename Vienna, & which ended up as Windows 7. The company delivered a taste of early designs, noting that it was aiming for a release ahead of 2009, but nothing more after that. In fact, it wasn’t until August 2008 that Sinofsky started sharing crumbs from the development method of Windows 7, at a time when the operating method was between the Milestone 2 & Milestone 3 development stages.

Windows 7 was released to manufacturing on July 22, & hit the shelves on October 22, generating obvious questions about what’s next for Microsoft’s proprietary operating method. & the answer is simple: Windows 8. This time around, the Redmond-based company made small efforts to hide the moniker associated with the next generation of the Windows client. Not that it could, given that the codename aspect of Windows development efforts is the only transparent aspect of the otherwise translucent communication strategy set in place by Steven Sinofsky, President, Windows & Windows Live Division.

With Windows 7 wrapped up, Sinofsky was upgraded to the President position from senior vice president of the Windows & Windows Live engineering group, but as it was the case for Windows 7, Windows 8 will be developed in accordance with his vision. With Sinofsky at the helm of the Windows 8 project, Osterman could even expect the same development experience as for Windows 7.

In this regard, it is interesting to understand how early Microsoft actually started building the successor of Windows Vista. According to Larry Osterman, Microsoft Principal SDE, the Windows team was hard at work coding for Windows 7 within 4-5 months after the general availability of Vista. “In June of 2007, they started working on actual feature planning – the planning team had come up with a set of tentative features for Win7 & they started the actual design for the features – figuring out the user experience for the features, the internal implementation details, etc.,” Osterman noted.

Revolutionary vs. evolutionary

“The remarkable thing about Win7 development was that it was friction free. During the Vista development method (& in every other product I’ve worked on) development was marked by a constant stream of new issues which were a constant drain on time an energy. It felt like they moved from two crisis to another crisis,” Osterman recalled. “For Win7 it was different. I think it was some time during the second milestone that I realized that Win7 was ‘special’. The newer development method that was deployed for Win7 was clearly paying off & my life was far less stressed. In fact I don’t think I worked late or came in on weekends two times during the entire 3 years that Win7 was under development – this was a HUGE modify. Every other product I’ve ever worked on has necessary late nights & weekends (sometime it necessary all-nighters). But for Win7 it didn’t happen. In lieu they set a set of goals that were reasonable with achievable schedules & they executed on those goals & delivered the features they promised.”

When it moved forward from Windows Vista (version 6.0) & Longhorn (Windows Server 2008) to Windows 7 (v6.1) & Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft chose the path of evolution than build a revolutionary OS. Another legitimate query about Windows 8 is whether the platform will continue to evolve, or whether Microsoft is ready for a revolution in Windows, even though the memory of what revolutionary meant for Vista is still fresh for customers. While only time will tell whichever way Microsoft will take Windows 8, two thing is clear, the Redmond-based company started planning for the next generation of Windows long before Windows 7 was finalized.

In addition, the application giant is also hiring people to start coding for Windows 8. If the development method described by Osterman still applies, Microsoft will start building Windows 8 early in 2010, if not even earlier. However, as is the case with all Windows platforms, the successor of Windows 7 will must go through a planning phase, where coding is left in the background, & the priority is putting together the actual feature set for the operating method. Still, don’t expect Microsoft to start talking Windows 8 until well in to 2010, if not even 2011. After all, it took over a year since the Windows 7 coding had started for Sinofsky to share the first details on the engineering method of the project.

 in October, Microsoft mentioned Windows 8 in a number of job posts:

- “IIS team is looking for an experienced PM to join our core platform team. Your role will span across driving key features in to Windows 8 as well as owning several out-of-band modules, including web analytics that will bring business intelligence for the customers that host applications & contents on IIS. Your work will help differentiate IIS & Smooth Streaming from Apache & Flash. You ought to also be ready to work in a fast-paced environment & have a strong desire for quality, security, & performance. Your feature will be used by millions of customers,” for the position of Senior Program Manager.

- “The Windows Live Mail team is looking for a seasoned Lead Program Manager to drive our next generation Mail client, & manage five stellar PMs. Our client has over 40M users world-wide, & serves as a key component of our Windows Live “light up Windows” strategy. Our current release is centered on hot new consumer features & better synergies with Hotmail & Windows 7, & our future releases will likely be tightly designed to work best with new Windows 8 platform technologies. They will also work closely with the Outlook team on ways to bring Windows Live to Outlook,” for the position of Principal Lead Program Manager.

- “The TAG team provides the foundation services & infrastructure to support a unified check & dev workflow. This team’s charter includes - developing & jogging a unified check submission & execution method for Windows 8, Automating Check pass scheduling & execution, results analysis & automated triage, Windows code coverage services, Developing & jogging the eBVT quality gate, supporting WinSE’s Windows 7 sustained engineering check needs,” for the position of Check Lead 2.

What would you prefer Windows 8 to be? Revolutionary or evolutionary?

- “The Application Experience Bug Inquiry Team, AEBit, is looking for passionate SDETs that require to make an impact on Windows 8. On the AEBit team you will get the matchless opportunity to challenge & grow your debugging skills on issues that span the entire OS. You will have the opportunity to engage with application vendors, OEMs, as well as internal component teams. You will also be applying & enhancing your knowledge of method internals. As part of the AEBit team you will be responsible for driving & ensuring compatibility in Windows by engaging with component teams, root causing application bugs, & authoring mitigations,” for the position of Application Development Engineer in Check.

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