Will Windows 7 prove deadly to Vista? (Or how many times can you kill the dead?)

Lots and lots of material clogging up the internet pipes today about Windows 7.

It follows the first public demo of the technology yesterday at the All Things Digital conference in San Diego. You can read Maggie Shiels' piece here.

Putting aside issues about the touch technology itself for one moment, the biggest question about this public demo of Windows 7 is: what harm will its promise do to sales of Vista?

I just received an interesting note about Windows 7 from the Microsoft PR team. In it, it states: "Microsoft absolutely recommends customers deploy Windows Vista today."

In other words, Microsoft are telling XP customers not to wait for Windows 7 but to grab Vista now. Despite issuing more 140 million licenses for Vista worldwide, it's seen by many as a failure.

And given that Windows 7 is supposed to be launched in 2010 that's close enough for many customers, including IT buyers in companies, simply to keep on using Windows XP and wait for Windows 7.

Microsoft itself is only too aware of this problem.

As Chris Flores writes on the Vista blog: "With Windows 7, we're trying to more carefully plan how we share information with our customers and partners."

If Microsoft reveals too much about Windows 7 it's only going to make XP customers more likely to wait, and if the firm once again over promises on what 7 will deliver, the launch itself could be as flat as the one that greeted Vista.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2008/05/will_7_prove_deadly_to_vista.html

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