Microsoft to Focus on Windows 8 Starting July '10

By Marcus Yam
published

Moving from 7 to 8 during 07/2010.

Windows 7 is the big news surrounding all that is Microsoft at the moment, but unlike Windows XP, today's latest version of the operating system will be succeeded within the next three years.

Ars Technica dug through all the Windows 8-related job postings for Microsoft throughout November and found positions open for Software Engineer: Test, Software Engineering: Development, Software Engineering: Project Management, and Sr. Manager, Partner Skills Development - Launch Lead.

One of the more interesting bits comes in the description for the last position, which reads:

Job Purpose/Overview: Do you want to help ready the entire partner ecosystem on all the new Microsoft products and solutions? The Partner Skills Development Team is looking for a senior thought leader and skilled project/product manager to ensure the health of the partner ecosystem through the strategic evolution skills development framework (and its execution) for upcoming Microsoft product launches. For example, in Fy10, the focus will be on Windows Server R2, SQL Server R2, and Wave 14 (Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, and Exchange 2010) and, as we head into Fy11, the focus will quickly switch to Windows 8. In this role you will lead the execution of partner skills development BOMs - by partner type for the entire partner ecosystem - on a WW basis. This role with interact with and influence individuals from across Microsoft, including individuals within the Worldwide Partner Group, Microsoft Learning, SMSGR, the product groups (BGs), Operations, and partner segment teams with SMSG. [Emphasis added.]

Microsoft's fiscal year begins in July, so fiscal year 2011 means July 2010. Given that Microsoft has revealed plans to release Windows 8 in 2012, changing focus to the next operating system two years before launch seems sensible.

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Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
33 Comments Comment from the forums
  • jhansonxi
    So is Windows 8 going to be "new" or just Vista SP3? How many people are they hiring in the USA versus overseas?
    Reply
  • 10tacle
    jhansonxiSo is Windows 8 going to be "new" or just Vista SP3? How many people are they hiring in the USA versus overseas?
    Was XP in your mind "new" or was it just Windows 2000 patched? What is your definition of "new", an entire new kernel OS built from scratch? Good luck waiting on that. I have Vista x64 and while it runs outstanding, this Holiday season I'll upgrade to Windows 7 because while not "new" it does offer improvement in some applications including games over Vista.

    Second, what difference does it make how many people they are hiring overseas for this vs. in the USA? While based in the US, Microsoft is an international company and does a lot of business overseas the last time I checked.
    Reply
  • igot1forya
    "Microsoft to Focus on Windows 8 Starting July '10..."

    ...releases Alpha July 11
    Reply
  • Regulas
    Since MS collaborated with Hollywood, RIAA the NAS and who knows who else to make Vista SP3. Windows 8 will done in super secret probation so the MS fan-boys will love it even more.
    Reply
  • ssalim
    Why aren't they working on Win7 SP2 instead?
    Reply
  • hellwig
    Hopefully I get time to upgrade my computer with the Windows 7 installs I pre-ordered before Windows 8 comes around. Its just so hard though, to dedicate a whole weekend to upgrade a computer that is still running perfectly fine under Win Xp x64.

    I think Microsoft is moving a little fast now (though they needed to axe Vista even faster than they did, they couldn't survive much more anti-vista PR). They need to do what they did with XP. They have an OS people are happy with now, and they need to maintain and improve it. If Win 8 is just SP3 (just as Win 7 is really just SP2), they will soon find people not giving a rats ass about the new Windows, especially if Microsoft keeps charging big bucks for them.

    Then again, Apple releases "new" OSs all the time, and the fanbois seem to keep buying and installing them, maybe that's what Microsoft is going for.
    Reply
  • apache_lives
    Windows Vista and 7 share the same OS core version esentially v6.x - as much as you all dont like it there related, same as 2k and XP (5.x)

    Microsoft usually makes 2 os's from the one core, so Windows 8 should have a new core.
    Reply
  • hannibal
    apache_lives is right. Vista was main release, Win7 was minor, Win8 is the next major release and two year from that there is "facelift" minor release and so on. So 4 years life cycle with one face lift in between.
    Reply
  • vaskodogama
    so it is 8, not names like vista, or XP, numbers make more sense than names in computer
    Reply
  • zerapio
    ssalimWhy aren't they working on Win7 SP2 instead?Because SP2 is free but Win8 will cost money.
    Reply