Microsoft and Intel held a joint press conference to tout their collaboration over Windows 7, which will take advantage of Intel processor features such as multicore capability. Both companies suggested that Intel technology would make PCs running Windows 7 more efficient with regard to battery life, as well as faster in processes such as booting up. Both Intel and Microsoft have considerable interest in Windows 7 being a success when it rolls out on Oct. 22.
Microsoft joined with Intel in a Sept. 1 press conference to claim that Windows 7 will offer better processor performance and battery life than Windows Vista. Both companies have a deeply vested interest in the new operating system, due for release on Oct. 22, being a substantial hit among businesses and consumers alike.
The entire conference was keyed to demonstrate how the collaboration between Microsoft and Intel will result in a speedier Windows 7, with the operating system taking advantage of processing features such as Intel’s multicore capability.
During the presentation in San Francisco, representatives from both companies did a side-by-side comparison of two identically configured ThinkPad T400 notebooks running Windows Vista and Windows 7, with the machine equipped with the newer operating system experiencing 20 percent longer battery life. This boost in efficiency, Microsoft claims, is due to “timer coalescing,” which increases the average processor idle period in order to save energy.
Executives from both companies, though, were quick to caution that individual device configuration would ultimately decide the degree of performance improvement.
“We’re achieving a very significant amount of battery savings,” Microsoft principal program manager Ruston Panabaker said during the event, while declining to attach a hard number to Windows 7’s overall efficiency over Windows Vista.
The executives also demonstrated a Windows 7-equipped PC, equipped with a solid-state drive, booting up within 11 seconds. Again, however, the specifications of the individual Intel-equipped PC will ultimately govern features such as boot time.
The show of solidarity by Intel and Microsoft comes at a pivotal moment for both companies. A Windows-driven tech refresh on the part of SMBs (small- to medium-sized businesses) and the enterprise would directly benefit Intel, which is perhaps why the company has spent the summer touting Windows 7 as far superior to Windows Vista. In July, Intel Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Sean Maloney predicted that Windows 7 would spread “faster” through the enterprise than Vista, and that the operating system boasted improved security, power management and “compatibility mode.”
“We think it makes overwhelming sense if you have a 3-year-old PC to replace the thing, for security violations, virus, power consumption, etc., etc., etc.,” Maloney told the Intel Technology Summit on July 29. “Windows 7 is one big positive.”
The comments also represented something of a sea change in the relationship between Intel and Microsoft’s operating systems. In 2008, Intel famous refused to internally deploy Vista, a decision that resulted in a public-relations fiasco for Microsoft, which was already wrestling with negative public perception about the operating system.
At the time of the Intel Technology Summit, and Intel spokesperson confirmed to eWEEK that the company was already in the process of adopting Windows 7 for its own internal use.
Despite generally positive buzz surrounding the operating system, Microsoft’s biggest obstacle to rapid adoption of Windows 7 may be the lingering economic recession. Although Redmond has been pushing a series of price cuts and retailer promotions designed to put copies of the operating system in as many hands as possible following the Oct. 22 launch, a 1,000 company survey published by ScriptLogic over the summer showed that some 60 percent of businesses will likely not upgrade to Windows 7 immediately upon release, with many citing “a lack of time and resources” as the major contributing factor.
However, that same survey showed that nearly 40 percent would have Windows 7 integrated and running within their IT infrastructure by the end of 2010. Widespread adoption of the operating system would help Microsoft reverse a downward trend in revenues, which dipped 17 percent year-over-year in the fourth financial quarter of 2009.
