What Has Changed Since Windows Vista?
You might have already upgraded your Windows application to Windows Vista, or perhaps you might be happy with what Windows XP gives you. Either way, we understand that you might be hesitant to possibly having to handle some breaking changes in the operating system.
As a developer, all you really want is to be able to build applications that meet certain requirements, while maintaining application compatibility so that the application doesn't break on the new operating system. At the same time, you want to provide end users with a work environment they understand and feel comfortable navigating.
Helping you to do this is one of the core tenets the development team at Microsoft followed when building Windows 7. Although Windows 7 is built on the foundation laid with Windows Vista, the operating system fundamentals have been improved and a rock-solid infrastructure has been created that enables you to provide compelling user experiences.
Hundreds of changes have been made to the underlying infrastructure in Windows 7. And, it's important to note that these are not breaking changes. These are changes were made to the operating system to improve its performance and reliability. Windows 7 has a much smaller disk footprint than Windows Vista, it consumes significantly less memory, it consumes less CPU resources when idle, it performs less I/O activity, and-above all-the system consumes less power. At the same time, Windows 7 is much more responsive to user input and delivers better performance. There are no disturbances in the user interface, and user interactions with the system-whether it is handling input or showing the Start menu or taskbar-are immediate.
Windows 7 loads faster than ever, and it can scale up to 256 processors. This might sound like a large number, but keep in mind that Windows 7 needs to be in service for the next 5 to 8 years, and it's more than likely that we'll see such multicore desktop systems at some time during that period. Changes were made to the internal threading dispatchers, removing locks from critical resources to enable much faster context switching. All of that (and much more) was done while minimizing breaking changes and keeping a focus on stability, reliability, and performance. And most importantly, you will not be disturbed with changes that force you to spend time and money on nonfunctional features.
Microsoft also understands that for you to be a successful Windows developer, the operating system needs to support your efforts and include built-in tools and technologies that will help boost your productivity. Windows 7 ships with a large number of development tools and frameworks to assist with your development efforts and increase ease of deployment. Technologies such as .NET 3.5 Service Pack 1 (SP1), Windows PowerShell 2, MSI 5.0, Native Web Services API, and a new Ribbon Framework are just some examples of Windows 7 builtin technologies.
This is your opportunity to create new and exciting user experiences using all the great features that Windows 7 has to offer developers.