New Windows 7 sessions at PDC08

As reported by Neowin, Windows 7 is set to bedazzle at Microsoft’s PDC 2008 conference in a couple of weeks with news now that attendees will even receive a pre-beta build of Windows 7. With the fast internet access available at the event, I reckon Microsoft might as well just seed a torrent.

The event website has also been updated today with a couple new Windows 7 sessions to the agenda, of which the following caught my privy eyes:

Windows 7: New Shell User Experience APIs
Nicolas Brun
TBD

Windows 7: New APIs to Find, Visualize, and Organize
David Washington
TBD

Windows 7: New Text and Graphics APIs
Leonardo Blanco
TBD

Windows 7: Design Principles for Windows 7
Samuel Moreau
Together, we can increase customer enthusiasm, satisfaction and loyalty by designing user experiences that are both desirable and harmonious. In this session, we will introduce the Windows User Experience Principles approach to shipping software. Along the way we will share stories and lessons learned along the journey of designing the user model and experience for Windows 7, and leave you with a set of principles that you can apply as you build your applications for Windows.

Windows 7: Integrate with the Windows 7 Desktop Taskbar
Rob Jarrett
This session dives into new APIs that enable integration with the latest Windows desktop features. Learn about new extensibility methods to surface your application’s key tasks. Discover how enhancements to the taskbar, Start Menu, thumbnails and their desktop elements provide new ways for you to delight your users. This talk is a must for application developers who wan to provide the best user experience for their applications on Windows 7.

Windows 7: Welcome to the Windows 7 Desktop
Chaitanya Sareen
The Windows desktop is evolving-is your application ready to evolve also? This session sets the stage for exciting enhancements to the taskbar, Start Menu, and other desktop elements.

Windows 7: Deep Dive – What’s New with Win32’s user32 and comctl32
Raymond Chen
This talk focuses on the lowest level user interface components (user32, comctl32) that appear in almost every Windows application. You’ll learn about recent changes and enhancements in these subsystems, and talk extensively about debugging, localization, tools, testing, and shipping. We’ll also talk about how Windows 7 changes (such as High DPI) impact user interface code. Get the best tips and techniques that Microsoft development teams use to build great user experiences with these components.

But hide and seek isn’t over yet. Apparently there’s even some secret Windows 7 sessions only to be revealed after the keynote presentation, which makes scheduling extra fun for attendees I guess). However from at least what’s above, it looks like the user-interface is in for some pretty radical enhancements.

22 insightful thoughts

  1. Looking forward to hearing about all these!

    Personally, I’d rather Microsoft hosted an FTP or HTTP download, since BT seem to stomp on my bandwidth so harshly if I use Bittorrent!

  2. I think many bloggers and readers have been quick to make negative judgements based on the leaked images of the M3 Build. But I’m very sure that there’s much more to come and happen for Windows 7. It would very well be to Vista, what XP was to Me and 2000.

  3. more like Win7 is shaping up to be nothing more than Vista ME v2

    seriously the UI still looks like that same noobshit we saw in Vista. And while I can’t speak for the actual UX of what Win7 will be like.. going by what we’ve seen and the time frame.. I’d imagine it will be nothing more than a patch up job to only small things of the core UI/UX of the OS.. so you’ll still have that shit and useless looking explorer view.. etc,etc basically you’ll still be looking at a shit Vista v2 only with applications like Paint/Calculator that should really have been improved in the time it took them from XP to Vista.. yup you’ll get those extra fluff improvements this time .. really the only hope here is that more developers might help Microsoft out by fixing up the shit common areas and making better things for the NON noob enthusiasts. Otherwise it will continue to be fully customized and better XPSP3 for users for a few more years for those who aren’t swayed by the lame improvements to all the extra fluff MS bundles.. afteral there is an entire web out there with better software to try.

  4. I’d be far more impressed if they’d announce the removal of SearchIndexer.exe.

    I think I’ll go watch some paint dry.

    Can I pay someone to come take my Vista machine away?

    The next OS doesn’t have to impress me, just work consistently. PLEASE!

  5. yeah even the features like the search are complete shit in way.. i mean even seperate applications like locate32 do a better job of giving users more control over there harddrive/partitions indexed data ..you know actual control..customization. not this microsuck approach… where its like here you noob use this.. this is what we have decided is what you need and is more than adequate… oh and we’ve implemented it in the most retarded ways 🙂 so yes no need to have bloated shit like SearchIndexer.exe running in the background.

    really there are just soo many areas of FAIL, even the things MS do right end up having something of a fail associated with it. Can they ever do something right from the start?

  6. @Andre Da Costa – Not all of us can go, y’know.

    @MSnoobcamp – Real users know what LUA is and they like it. Vista has proper LUA; XP does not.

    @Labo – If that isn’t sarcasm, I’ll take it if you ship it.

    @Any others who come here to cry about non-issues instead of real ones – Slashdot is calling for you.

  7. Very interesting! I guess they will try to move some notification stuff to the actual taskbar buttons like progress bars and indicators for new mails.

  8. I Think the major changes under the hood are done with Vista and with Win7 the major changes will be in the UI (as well as some perfomance improvements under the hood, ofcourse)

    Win7, FTW

  9. @MSnoobcamp – your Slashdot karma is dropping – you need to go back and post some more “$tupid Micro$oft” content.

    I, for one, like the direction that Microsoft is taking with Windows 7 – a little more controlled transparency, and less trust of people who just joined the betas just to get their fanboy awards or to just cause trouble by releasing pre-beta and beta content as torrents and more trust of legitimate, knowledgeable people. As I have always said with pre-beta and beta products being slammed by self-anointed “experts” – hold your crap-throwing until the product is released, or go apply for a job at Microsoft to bring your so-much-smarter intelligence to help shape future products….oh, wait – you’re not out of High School yet?

  10. @Andre Da Costa – And I’m sorry if your inclusion in my comment makes anyone thing I was directing any part of the Slashdot comment at you. I’m just sad I can’t go to PDC… unfortunately, like Long, and many others… I cannot go.

  11. With a handle of MSnoobcamp it really shows how sad the Internet has become. All of the inteligent people bailed out and now we have this mess.

    The rednecks like the above pretty much own the Internet now. Buy a computer and you are a genius all of a sudden.

    Stop buying computers!

  12. I’m pretty sure that most of the people here just form opinions from ads. They have no opinions of themselves and will look up to a series of stupid ads to brainwash them.
    Dudes, get a life and then some original opinion.
    -Windows
    Linux is for people who have no money.
    Mac is for people who have no brains.

  13. Besides all other nonsense, UI/UX normally comes very late in the beta game (XP is a good example where only the latest Beta Bits and RCs featured the Luna theme) to not give any competitor time to copy it. Look what Apple did with Longhorn features because they were known since PDC2003 – they delivered the features like indexed search and other stuff much earlier (of course because of the Longhorn reset) and then they accused MS of copying…

  14. Does anyone know if WinFS or codename Indigo will be making appearances? They were among the casualties of Vista RTM weren’t they? I run Vista and actually like it. I spend 10+ hours a day working in all parts of CS3 (mostly coding in Dw/Fx and designing in Ai) and Firefox and Vista is so much “softer” on the eyes than XP is. Doesn’t cause as much headache with its harder lines and overly cartoony look. I am looking forward to Win7.

  15. I’ve been beta testing Windows betas for many years now.. I really wish I could manage to get one of these since I am missing PDC. =(

    If I must, I will live vicariously through liveblogs.

  16. @Scott Kindorf
    I have yet to see a Microsoft product by the time it gets to beta, have any significant changes afterwords. All the snapshots you see of Windows 7 leads me to believe it is nothing but Vista warmed over. Hey I could be wrong about this, I’ll know when I get my hands on a beta. Somehow I doubt that Microsoft has learned any real lessens from Vista, their still being the Argonaut Microsoft that they were ever since the pre-beta’s of Vista. It’s still, “NO NO NO we are Microsoft we know better than you. Your just being negative.. ” I really do hope I’m wrong, about this.

  17. I’m glad that you’ll be making to the PDC this year. Come find me after the Windows Explorer talk (find, visualize, organize)…we’ll have to chat.

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