Microsoft Windows 7 is the latest internal name and a rebrand of Windows vienna which is the successor of Windows Vista. Microsoft promised the software would be ready in three years time and the same delay that took Windows Vista five years to launch would no longer happen in Windows 7. Microsoft said they have made the necessary organizational changes to ensure the software is delivered in three years.
I am not sure whether reorganization would help deliver the operating system in time especially when the product is customized and tweaked to closely meet the changing demands of the IT landscape. In a feature intensive product like Windows, the need to incorporate technology demands and changes is necessary and sometimes the boundary to when the team should stop changing the requirements depends a lot on gut feel and vision.
Microsoft needs to change their approach and strategy during product launches wherein they initially deliver a baseline set of features and slowly send the additional features through quarterly builds. At the same time, consumers should also pay in installments depending on the number of builds expected for the operating system. Microsoft hinted that they might go with a subscription model in Windows 7 which could work well with incremental builds.
Windows Vista hit the market 6 months ago and contrary to so many pathetic whiners, I have enjoyed and used Windows Vista to its full extent. I am looking forward to Windows 7.
Windows 7 may not make it on time on a full feature set; but it would not be like the delays we have experienced in Windows Vista, I hope.