RSSThe Windows 7 launch: The cultural event of the entire afternoon
By Carmi Levy | Published October 19, 2009, 5:17 PM
Have you reserved your copy of Windows 7 yet? Did you book off work? Get a babysitter for the kids? Stock up on Red Bull and Doritos?...No? If you're one of the dozens who pine for midnight door-crasher sales at the electronics big box store and Rolling Stones-themed launch events, you may want to make alternate plans.
For anyone who doesn't live in a cave in Afghanistan (and even for a few folks who do), this week could be the most exciting one in an age as Microsoft launches its newest -- and possibly company-saving -- operating system, Windows 7, on Thursday. But 14 years after it redefined the rock-star launch party with Windows 95, and nearly four years after having invested a half-billion dollars selling us Vista, this time around, Microsoft is taking a lower-key approach.
Don't start me up
The company isn't saying how much it plans to invest in marketing its new OS, but the message around the October 22 launch event itself suggests the days of Jay Leno hawking the OS to the tune of "Start Me Up" are firmly history. This Thursday, expect Steve Ballmer to deliver an uncharacteristically subdued message at the launch event -- no tossed chairs or spontaneous onstage cheers. The good times, for Microsoft and for us, ended a while ago.
As much as we all pine for the days when a new operating system from Microsoft was a cultural event, the new reality is that hardly anything changes when a new OS is released. Given the back seat that operating systems in general now take with respect to other, sexier elements of the technology that increasingly defines our work and home lives, Win7 could be an absolute yawn.
When Apple's Mac OS X Snow Leopard replaced Leopard earlier this year, the underpinnings of the Mac universe remained largely as they had existed before. Likewise, don't expect Windows 7 to rewrite the history books. Your PC works just fine today, and it'll work just as fine on the 22nd and beyond, no matter what OS you run. Whatever comes next from any given vendor will forevermore be merely an evolutionary increment just beyond currently available offerings.
There's a reason an Apple iPhone-themed event often jumps into mainstream media, while an updated Mac OS stays firmly on the tech pages. Mobility is as sexy today as the desktop OS was 15 years ago, and each new release is, for now anyway, a quantum bump over the suddenly dowdy stuff we're carrying around in our pockets. But even this won't last forever: Hang around long enough and something will come along eventually to relegate mobile hardware and operating systems to a similar place. It's how tech works, and just as individual products have a limited shelf life, so, too, do entire categories.
Ah, what memories...
Too good for their own good
In so many ways, Microsoft and its mainstream consumer and enterprise OS competitors have done too good a job creating the ultimate in commoditized software. The modern OS is so ruthlessly capable of everything we demand of it, that choosing between them is largely a matter of personal taste. While the flame wars between Mac and Windows fans will continue until long after computers have morphed into tiny networked processors that are implanted into our heads at birth, it's a safe bet that you can get pretty much anything done on one that you can get done on the other.
Not every technological road is as drivable, of course. While some users may find certain functions easier on a given platform, the bad old days of locking yourself out of entire classes of software and functionality because you chose one OS over the other are pretty much over. We will, of course, save discussions on gaming for Macs for another day. Whatever apps you run, no matter what OS you choose, the borders that used to define your playground have long since been torn down. OS choice no longer defines how free you are to move data and workflow between machines or networks.
Where we're all headed: Up
Indeed, moving data around is an increasingly quaint notion thanks to the rise of the cloud. While Microsoft's recent unfortunate Sidekick data lost-and-found incident (whether or not you take Microsoft's word for it that the incident took place "below" the cloud somewhere) may have cast some well-deserved shadows on the cloud movement, the trend is unavoidable. You can resist entrusting your data to a Web-based service until you're blue in the face, but it's hard to ignore reality, and as Microsoft shifts its attention to its online offerings -- Azure's coming next month -- because, frankly, it has to, the locally-focused OS will gradually fade from its longstanding frontline role.
It's a bit of a tough pill to swallow, especially for those of us who remember the Windows 95 launch. It was as close to mainstream mania as Microsoft will ever get, and it marked the desktop operating system's coming out party after over a decade of living on mostly beige boxes in mostly corporate environments. As much as earlier versions of Windows had driven consumer adoption of PCs, it was Windows 95 that punched the OS into the average consumer's mind and convinced us all that PCs didn't just get work done. Windows 95 also made PCs fun, not to mention attainable and usable for the legions of folks who never got DOS and were still struggling to understand GUIs on the decidedly lame GUI of Windows 3.1.
As impressive a product as Windows 7 seems to be, it doesn't move the bar over Vista and XP as much as Windows 95 did over 3.1 and even DOS. Even if it did, we'd all be fogging the windows at the Verizon store, begging for some in-hand time with a new Droid-powered device. Which explains why I've already booked my time off from work, called the babysitter and stocked the fridge and pantry with enough munchies to feed an entire block party. We're still celebrating the introduction of new technology, except it no longer sits exclusively on a desk.
Carmi Levy is a Canadian-based independent technology analyst and journalist still trying to live down his past life leading help desks and managing projects for large financial services organizations. He comments extensively in a wide range of media, and works closely with clients to help them leverage technology and social media tools and processes to drive their business.
Well lets see tested 7 loads of probs tried 7 ,no chance, try fedora or ubutu, or any other linex base , and you will find it better than this xp pro is the best they have ever made so all you lemings enjoy jumping over the cliff for 7
Score: -3
|so you have a couple of margaritas as you write. it would sounds pretty much that you are having a party and our invitation is in the mail.
unfortunately, i have to disagree with you in part. W7 does not provide everything we demand. It is the other way around. It demands the consumer to adapt to new standards.
And one standard that consumers are relunctant to be forced into doing is to buy new equipment and dump XP and everything else they have invested.
And for those that did buy Vista, many of us will wait for W8 so that we can get some time and value from our investment in Vista.
Score: -5
|Wait for W8, you are kidding, right? While Vista with a little patching works good. It never felt like the finished product Windows 7 felt in the beta stage. I have Windows 7 on all my pc's and i must say it works fantastic. No it's not a major change over vista in how we do anything. But it works, it's a solid OS.
If you still use XP upgrading is apperently not a issue for you. There will always be people(like my mom), who just want a pc to do there email on and junk. so they could care less about the OS.
You databaseben are out of touch with the point.
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|i don't think i'm out of touch. i've been in computers since before bill gates was in his garage conceptualizing msdos.
however the fact remains, that the production and release of new o.s.'s by microsoft is meant to bring change.
while most can say the world changes every day, sometimes for the better perhaps for the worst,
people will stick with what works for them.
xp and office07 works well on not so new equipment and accommodates the changing world and
vista works well on newer equipment and accommodates us as well.
so financially speaking there is no point in buying w7 by xp or vista users, unless they have money to through away.
keeping in mind that microsoft releases o.s.'s with the intention that the systems are functional and productive.
so is w7 a new standard? it is for microsoft and new computers
but not for the rest of us who are set up and functional with what we have.
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|@DatabaseBen: Bill Gates, Garage, MS-DOS? Nuh uh. Tim Paterson, Seattle, 86-DOS, Seattle Software Products.
It seems to me that Bill Gates was in a dorm room creating a BASIC interpreter that led to his fame. He didn't spent a lot of time in a garage. Tim Paterson created 86-DOS as a near mirror image of CP/M-80 that would run on 8086/8088 CPUs. After Microsoft signed a deal with IBM, they had to find an operating system and 86-DOS was the easiest.
So, are you out of touch?
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|Personally I am looking forward to the release of Windows 7 in just a few days. Unlike many my Vista experience has been a good one. I've not had a lot of major issues. After using Win7RC, I'm excited to get it on Thursday.
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|For those that are so inclined, here is a link to an ebook tech download on how to install or deploy windows 7:
http://www.microsoft.com...6030&displayLang=en
For those of us that like to tinker and discover things on our own, have fun:)
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|*laughing*
Sorry, Carmi, but this is retarded.
"Software release parties" are the exception. They are not common; never have been.
There was this *one*...way back in the day.. It was big; People got carried away by the hype. So what? Now if it doesn't happen every new release you're going to assume failure?
How cute...
Do you feel the same way every time you don't win the lottery?
Score: 6
|O/S parties are not the central issue here. We may be headed for a paradigm change that makes Windows, OS X, Linux and all other heavy duty desktop O/S offerings increasingly irrelevant going forward. It appears to me that all necessary enabling elements of technology may be converging in a way that is irresistible.
Score: 3
|Let me e'splain..
No, that would take far too long.
Let me sum up:
The author of the article used the parties (or lack thereof) as the basis for his "The OS is becoming irrelevant" stance.
We've never had parties for OS releases. Such releases have never been more than a side-note in history. Windows 95 was the *only* exception to this. Using the "lack" of something that happened only once as the basis for a trend (We're not having parties anymore...so the OS must be irrelevant) is absurd.
Regardless of his opinion, it is based, at least the way it is written in this article on flawed reasoning.
Note: Neither my original comment, nor this one has stated any opinions regarding the relevance of the OS. I am merely arguing the absurdity of basing such an opinion on one instance of over-hyped consumer mania.
Score: 5
|@PC_Tool: Can't you see the people doing high fives to congratulate themselves as they finish installing and boot Windows 7? I'm sure they were crazy happy over Win95 like that.
Having installed WinNT 4.x several times, I was so happy that it worked after the crazy installation process. Remember that it was smoother to install networking after the main installation?
I don't understand the fanaticism over operating systems but it should keep psychiatrists busy for generations.
Score: 0
|Heh...
Bousozoku: I remember the living hell that was NT3/4 service packs. Network would stop working, most of the drivers would have to be reloaded, gawd....what a nightmare.
That, above anything else was my biggest fear of the merger between the two code-bases (9x/NT). I didn't want to see the consumer OS fall into that same nightmare.
Score: 0
|Typical Carmi, as usual, he is way off the mark again. I think it is funny to read his BIO. He should say he is an "independent technology analyst for Apple". Almost every article he writes is so biased against Microsoft and anything Microsoft makes. Sounds like another Apple fanboy who just doesn't get it. I noticed most of comments below are from more of the Apple fanboys or people who just don't know much about computers.
The biggest problem is that we have these so-called journalist like Carmi, who write stupid articles about things they don't know anything about. It causes a bunch of negative articles about one product or another. Heck, we get it with the H1N1. We don't need this people. You need to think for yourselves. Use your head. Give Windows 7 a try and see if you like it. Don't take what this idiot or other idiots write about it for the gospel. You might like it or you might not. But after you try it, then you have the right to form a true opinion.
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|@yountjm lol van wilder!
good article btw
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|of coarse not windows 95 was the first revolutionary OS. if it wasn't for win95 we still be working with dos or still trying to figure out how to use Unix
i don't get whats the big deal anyway. maybe because i liked Vista unlike the rest of the sheep that started hating Vista because some loser on the internet wrote a negative opinion about it.
i can see the feedback now. "i bought windows 7 to upgrade from windows XP but found it doesn't work with my Pentium 3 800mhz pc with 256MB of ram and 5GB hard drive".
Score: 1
|Vista 7, pay for the same buggy, bloated, insecure, software again. Trust us, this time it works. ROFL
Score: -10
|and ya know what fatty? It actually does just work!
So when is Apple gonna fix that "wonderful" bug in OSX regarding the guest account, eh?
Score: 4
|Wait...didn't you pay for the OS X upgrade? The one that "just works" by deleting all user information?
Score: 4
|back to junior high ?... i have both and they are both great... get over it.
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|fixed @ http://www.appleinsider....beta_to_developers.html
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|They need to hire Van Wilder: Party Liaison.
Score: 3
|You mean the critical security holes in Vista 7 _before_ it is even released? LOL
http://www.neowin.net/ne...in-windows-7-on-tuesday
LOL. this thing is toast once it gets out in public where hackers can make mince meat out of it.
Score: -3
|Glad I've been running 7 for the last month.....
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|And the wait is over, get a Mac today @ http://store.apple.com/
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|Windows 7 WILL NOT have anything close to the partys that 95 did. But in all honesty if Win7 does nothing else it will erase Vista from our memories into Windows ME realm which is what MS is really hoping for. They figured dumb down the fanaticism, hold tight, and pray the users will warmly accept their latest incarnation.
Score: -1
|While Windows 7 isn't going to have the success of the Win95 midnight launches, it's a whole lot more stable, even if it was really broken, and that's the real success.
Not only will people using operating systems as old or older than WinXP be happier, but for the many who have fought with Vista (I'm one), there will be bliss.
Lately, I'm not seeing midnight launches of anything, so I wouldn't be surprised if quiet adoption of Windows 7 works better than a trojan horse left outside the city's gate.
Score: 6
|since sp1 I have not had a single problem on my pentium vista box. I feel bad for the legions of people that cry over vista.. really is it that bad? geeze
Score: 4
|It's not horrible, but it is as painful as WinXP was *before* SP1. I can plug in a device one week and it finds the hardware, loads the device driver I give it, and everything works. The next week, it finds (same) new hardware again and disables it, although it says that the hardware is ready.
Score: 1
|Hmm... it's interesting... I wonder if every other OS release from MS now is going to be a dud? Windows 95 --> ME --> XP --> Vista --> 7 (assuming we're talking about consumer OS, so not counting the NT3.5 --> NT4.0 --> 2000 --> XP side)
Score: 1
|@mchiu:
You forgot Windows 98, which was bad enough that they re-released it as Win98SE, second edition.
Score: 0
|well, guess i'm alone in being excited about Windows 7, really can't wait for my package to arrive, i could care less about shoveling my critical data into the cloud, (which btw is the stupidest term ever ;P its hosting and syncing files across servers, nothing new just dumbed down) non-mission critical data sure
articles like this piss me off, Windows 7 is a huge step in the right direction for Microsoft as much as Carmi and others like to dismiss it, i really don't understand their motivation? i get it, you like portable devices, guess what? Windows runs on many portable devices, laptops, netbooks, tablets, UMPCs you name it
i really don't know what he expects? the OS to change, drastically? it can't, its an OS for everyone and everything and apps need to remain functioning, Microsoft can't pull off what Apple can and break every popular application like Snow Leopard did lol oh and if they did, i'm sure he would be first to complain ;)
ahem anyhow, yet another pointless rambling of an article, thanks
so Carmi, enjoy using your non desktop devices, did you write this article on your Phone? if you did *golf clap for you...
Score: 5
|"Pointless rambling"
I couldn't agree more. Is this a website about tech, or a website about marketing? I believe most of the people sign on here because of tech news. That's the kind of news that directly affects us.
There must be a website somewhere where some pundit discusses the finer points of marketing campaigns, but that's not here.
This is what we are interested in: Can we use it, support it, develop on it and for it. What kind of marketing splash a product makes or doesn't make has little interest for us. I remember reporters complaining back in 1995 about the over-hyping of Windows 95. I completely agree with the comment below about Windows 2000. It was based on a good, stable NT platform, and with XP, Microsoft finally rolled that product out to the consumer. Vista shouldn't have been the disaster that it was, but it was. I have been using Windows 7 since before April, and Thursday is a yawner for me, marketing hype, or no marketing hype.
Score: 1
|Very well said and I too am waiting for Windows 7 as I am a little more than sick of Vista and I have only had it two months. I agree with "Artfuldodga" as what he said is true. I think Carmi is just a typical whiner that does not see anything good in anything!
Score: 1
|johnrc2 "I believe most of the people sign on here because of tech news"
Wrong, we sign on to annoy folk like you.
Score: 0
|I tend to agree that Carmi's commentary can be a bit irritating, let's not forget the main issue here (if there is one to begin with): Win7 is here - Love it or lump it. Having worked with nearly every version (some made me pine for the DOS days), Win7 is what Vista should have been all along. I installed the RC1 months ago, and was pleasantly surprised that my ancient Athlon XP 512MB could run Win7 comfortably. No doubt Vista would kill that older box, or at least make it so slow, I'd have given up in disgust. I still run WinXP on most of my network, but if I had to make the leap.. I'd bypass Vista for 7 gladly.
Score: 0
|ditto
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|you dont say :)
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|I think the OS I was most excited for was Windows 2000. It was such a pleasure to work with versus both Windows 95/98 and Windows NT4. I still use a few of those boxes and it still amazes me how "clean" those systems feel compared to every modern OS.
Score: 0
|At the end of the day it really doesn't matter what Microsoft does to market it's OS. It's a stillbirth product and heres exactly why: http://bit.ly/3ysgf0
Score: -21
|Agreed. It doesn't matter much since Macs will never reach as many people :) Hope is beautiful.
Score: -3
|Ok... I'll bite...
So how does that show exactly why? Shows me that Apple did well in Q3 per its earnings call. Where does it show that it doesn't really matter what Microsoft does with its OS?
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|http://bit.ly/1rmRYZ I hope that answers your question. After all the article does come from Windows users while some are Mac users the majority of focus at this site centers around the world of Windows.
Score: -8
|It doesn't... It just shows me that Apple's MacOS can do well w/o the help of MS Windows. Doesn't show me at all: "At the end of the day it really doesn't matter what Microsoft does to market it's OS. It's a stillbirth product "
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|guys you know that am a SOB and MOFO so please forgive me
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|