Windows 7: What does ‘feature complete’ mean?

[z3r010]

Windows 7: What does ‘feature complete’ mean?

Last fall, when Microsoft officially took the wraps off Milestone 3 of Windows 7, company execs told testers that a true, feature-complete Windows 7 release wouldn’t hit until Beta 1.

Now that Beta 1 — which the Windows team built on December 12, 2008 — has started leaking on torrents and is poised to make its public debut at the Consumer Electronics show, it’s time to revisit that “feature-complete” promise.
Many individuals who’ve downloaded Build 6.1.7000.0.081212-1400 have noted that the Beta 1 build is solid but also somewhat boring. It seems to offer little beyond the Milestone 3 build, they’ve said.

That’s not too surprising, given the Windows team’s post-Vista mission of making Windows 7 the operating system that Vista should have been. It needs to be smaller, tighter and faster. If it also includes some eye candy, like Ribbon menus and touch-screen support, great. But from all accounts, it isn’t supposed to be a radical departure from Vista (even though the Redmondians are continuing to tag it as a “major” new release).​

Read more:- http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1781​

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

From the last paragraph in the article.

What do others out there who’ve mysteriously gotten their hands on the Beta 1 build think of it so far?

All she has to do is come to Se7en Forums and ask us!......Here we are Mary-Jo!









Later Ted

 

[NormCameron]

From the last paragraph in the article.



All she has to do is come to Se7en Forums and ask us!......Here we are Mary-Jo!

Later Ted

How do you know where they got them from Ted, are you psykik or something?

Norm

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

How do you know where they got them from Ted, are you psykik or something?

Norm

.
.....









Later Ted

 

[garysgold]

I'd bet there are more people watching this place than you suspect.

Gary

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

I'd bet there are more people watching this place than you suspect.

Of course; we're the only game in town!












Later Ted

 

[johngalt]

It's not only a matter of that - we have a large conglomeration of folks who are not only using it but can provide good, detailed information on what works, what doesn't, workarounds and even flat-out failures in the OS. Dave's and my tweaks for improving the WEI score (and performance) as well as The numerous tutorials already here, *plus* the willingness of all of us to help a fellow out when in need, all point to the fact that we are delving into the OS hardcore - it's not just a scenario where we install and then surf the net all day - we install multiple apps, verify which apps are working correctly, which need some tweaking, which do not work at all, and the types of hardware being used to test is a lot larger than most people realize - not all of us are trying thins on brand spanking new machines - though my primary machine is a beast, I also have W7 now running on the same machine I beta tested and then installed my first final RTM copy of Vista on.

This one repository of users and troubleshooters alone is a vast source of knowledge for M$ - I cannot in honesty say we're the *only* game in town - but we're rapidly approaching a status that shows that we *are* ahead of the curve and will continue to keep pushing the envelope in order to learn this OS and its nuances and such well ahead of other places and other users.

 

[Joe]

It's not only a matter of that - we have a large conglomeration of folks who are not only using it but can provide good, detailed information on what works, what doesn't, workarounds and even flat-out failures in the OS. Dave's and my tweaks for improving the WEI score (and performance) as well as The numerous tutorials already here, *plus* the willingness of all of us to help a fellow out when in need, all point to the fact that we are delving into the OS hardcore - it's not just a scenario where we install and then surf the net all day - we install multiple apps, verify which apps are working correctly, which need some tweaking, which do not work at all, and the types of hardware being used to test is a lot larger than most people realize - not all of us are trying thins on brand spanking new machines - though my primary machine is a beast, I also have W7 now running on the same machine I beta tested and then installed my first final RTM copy of Vista on.

This one repository of users and troubleshooters alone is a vast source of knowledge for M$ - I cannot in honesty say we're the *only* game in town - but we're rapidly approaching a status that shows that we *are* ahead of the curve and will continue to keep pushing the envelope in order to learn this OS and its nuances and such well ahead of other places and other users.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Worthy of a quoted post (at least )

 

[johngalt]

Thanks m8t!

 

[garysgold]

It's not only a matter of that - we have a large conglomeration of folks who are not only using it but can provide good, detailed information on what works, what doesn't, workarounds and even flat-out failures in the OS. Dave's and my tweaks for improving the WEI score (and performance) as well as The numerous tutorials already here, *plus* the willingness of all of us to help a fellow out when in need, all point to the fact that we are delving into the OS hardcore - it's not just a scenario where we install and then surf the net all day - we install multiple apps, verify which apps are working correctly, which need some tweaking, which do not work at all, and the types of hardware being used to test is a lot larger than most people realize - not all of us are trying thins on brand spanking new machines - though my primary machine is a beast, I also have W7 now running on the same machine I beta tested and then installed my first final RTM copy of Vista on.

This one repository of users and troubleshooters alone is a vast source of knowledge for M$ - I cannot in honesty say we're the *only* game in town - but we're rapidly approaching a status that shows that we *are* ahead of the curve and will continue to keep pushing the envelope in order to learn this OS and its nuances and such well ahead of other places and other users.

Very true and Very well put.

Gary

 

[johngalt]

Again, Thanks !

 

[NormCameron]

Couldn't have said it better myself. Worthy of a quoted post (at least )

I agree wholeheartedly with johngalt's post and Joe's comment

Norm

 

[davehc]

Eloquently put John! Almost made me blush to feel I was part of the team. goes with it!!
On reflection , it seems a little pathetic that a rich company like MS, with their enormous international resources,seem to have to rely to a great extent, in the final assessment, on feedback from the likes of us!

 

[Joe]

Eloquently put John! Almost made me blush to feel I was part of the team. goes with it!!
On reflection , it seems a little pathetic that a rich company like MS, with their enormous international resources,seem to have to rely to a great extent, in the final assessment, on feedback from the likes of us!

And it's feedback they will get. And it will be received. There will be a calm in the programmers cubicle as he(she) realizes, "ah yes, we have the approval of the global community as witnessed at sevenforums.com"

 

[Bellerophon]

Feature Complete

In response to the topic title I think the Windows 7 Team Blog quotes a concise answer to what 'feature complete' means: -

The next phase for the development team is getting to beta. For Windows 7 this will be a feature complete beta and we expect that to be available to customers in early 2009. Feature complete means that we will not be adding any new features once we get to beta (since they are all there) but will instead focus on fixing bugs that we find in our testing and in feedback that customers give us. By being API complete now and feature complete at the beta, we will also make it easier for our ecosystem partners to builds solutions for Windows 7. Watch this blog or www.microsoft.com/windows for information about how to get the beta when it's available.

 

[garysgold]

On reflection , it seems a little pathetic that a rich company like MS, with their enormous international resources,seem to have to rely to a great extent, in the final assessment, on feedback from the likes of us!

IMHO, even if MS tested on thousands of computers, they cannot possibly test on all the possible hardware and software combinations that are around. The public beta is a way for them to have a much broader test base to find the 'quirks' in the code and have a chance to fix them before the final release.

Gary

 

[johngalt]

Not to mention the millions of different software out there....

 

[djhallucn8]

It's not only a matter of that - we have a large conglomeration of folks who are not only using it but can provide good, detailed information on what works, what doesn't, workarounds and even flat-out failures in the OS. Dave's and my tweaks for improving the WEI score (and performance) as well as The numerous tutorials already here, *plus* the willingness of all of us to help a fellow out when in need, all point to the fact that we are delving into the OS hardcore - it's not just a scenario where we install and then surf the net all day - we install multiple apps, verify which apps are working correctly, which need some tweaking, which do not work at all, and the types of hardware being used to test is a lot larger than most people realize - not all of us are trying thins on brand spanking new machines - though my primary machine is a beast, I also have W7 now running on the same machine I beta tested and then installed my first final RTM copy of Vista on.

This one repository of users and troubleshooters alone is a vast source of knowledge for M$ - I cannot in honesty say we're the *only* game in town - but we're rapidly approaching a status that shows that we *are* ahead of the curve and will continue to keep pushing the envelope in order to learn this OS and its nuances and such well ahead of other places and other users.

You sir are absolutly right, & we will all strive to make sure we help people when they need it & test this OS till the day it releases.

Mike

 

[DiamondNRG]

Not to mention the millions of different software out there....

And the billions of ways to break it...