Well, I’ve lamented for about ten years about the lack of a clear development OS platform for software developers, testers and related folk. It seems Microsoft don’t plan on any changes in that regard with the next OS – Windows 7.
This (1) little press release – a Q&A with Windows Chief Mike Ybarra pretty much sums up the plans for Windows 7 packaging. Unfortunately it sounds all too familiar.
With all the (fairly recent) new development being put into Visual Studio Team System and the fairly blatant targeting of development tools as a nice source of revenue (yes, the changes made to MSDN a few years ago being a primary example) I don’t think it’s unfair to speculate on a version of Windows specifically made for development of software (and integration with Development Software).
Most of the recent versions of Windows (non-Server editions) fail to meet the needs of a developer to create enterprise quality software on their local operating system such as limitations placed on local IIS servers (Win XP Pro limited IIS to a maximum of one active web site) and restrictions on (4) TCP/IP connections to name just a couple.
Most notably, only Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition can run Hyper-V – the next generation of virtualization software from Microsoft.
For more information, the team site is located (2) here. In related news, the folks at Ars Technica took a stab at (3) guessing the new editions of Windows 7 late last year.
[ (1) https://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2009/feb09/02-03Win7SKU-QA.mspx ]
[ (2) http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/02/03/windows-7-editions-announced.aspx ]
[ (3) http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2008/11/how-many-editions-of-windows-7-will-there-be.ars ]
[ (4) http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/netfxnetcom/thread/bd5897ce-a434-46a0-999a-849206b5d4ac/ ]
