Microsoft showed off new Windows 7 innovations at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference this week. The focus was how the upcoming version of Microsoft’s flagship product will make it easier for hardware partners to create new experiences for Windows PC customers.
Windows senior vice presidents Steven Sinofsky and Jon DeVaan rallied hardware partners, encouraging them to begin testing their current products and building new products on the application programming interface (API).
“We’ve done a great deal of work in Windows 7 to enable new scenarios with our hardware partners, and we are excited by the partner innovation we have shown today,” said DeVaan, who heads Microsoft’s Windows Core Operating System Division. “Windows 7 presents tremendous opportunities for hardware developers. This innovation will enable our hardware partners to provide customers with even greater choice in rich computing experiences.”
Hardware-Friendly Features
Among the new Windows 7 features Microsoft demonstrated are technologies that aim to optimize how customers interact with Windows PCs, manage devices, access broadband, and use wireless.
For example, in efforts to make it easier for customers to interact with all their devices on a Windows PC, Microsoft has created a new feature dubbed Devices and Printers. It offers a single place for customers to interact with devices, browse files, or manage settings. Devices can be connected to the PC using USB, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, with setup wizards.
Device Stage is another new feature, designed to help Windows 7 customers take advantage of advanced device features. For example, Device Stage provides information on the status of mobile phones, portable media players, cameras and printers connected to a Windows 7 PC and runs common tasks in a single window customized by the device manufacturer.
Windows 7 also promises to deliver a simpler and more reliable way to connect to the Internet using wireless modems. The process is similar…