REDMOND, Wa. – In an effort to ensure the smooth launch of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft has unveiled an Ecosystem Readiness Program to its partner community.

Through the program, partners will have access to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 beta builds, along with updates to the Windows Driver, Logo and Development kits, technical documents and application testing labs through Microsoft Connect.

“One of the things that broke badly with Vista was the ecosystem. Partners simply lost faith that Microsoft would deliver the product and much that should have been ready at launch wasn’t,” said Rob Enderle, Principal Analyst at the Enderle Group. “This program is to assure this doesn’t happen again and that all parts of the Windows third-party support structure are ready to go when Windows 7, which is in the process of going from Beta to Release Candidates, arrives around mid-year.”

Enderle noted that while partners have always been well informed and the server side, at least for much of this decade, has executed near flawlessly. “However,” he added, “with Windows after Windows 2000 Microsoft has had major issues hitting promised dates and this has caused a massive amount of distrust and unnecessary rework.”

“Part of the goal for this new program is to rebuild trust with these partners and demonstrate the product is near ready so they can be at launch. If it works, the partners should be more comfortable relying on Microsoft’s promises and be more prepared at launch.”

According to Mike Nash, Corporate Vice President, Windows Product Management, Microsoft plans to engage Windows 7 partners differently from past editions of Windows by involving them earlier in the process.

“When we’ve discussed new versions of Windows in the past, we typically shared ideas as if they were final. Sometimes things would shift, which could make it difficult for partners to plan when they should begin developing products,” Nash explained.

“We’ve learned a tremendous amount from these experiences,” Nash continued. “In response we changed our approach to Windows 7, engaging with our partners early and planning with them in a more systematic way. We had the opportunity not only to watch how our partners were using and developing for Windows, but also to get their input on what was important to them.”

The Windows 7 beta will have the same application programming interface (API) set that partners will see in the final release, meaning they can start investing and testing immediately.

The Device Stage feature of Windows 7 provides an opportunity for partners to help their customers get more out of consumer electronics devices like digital cameras and smart phones. As well, Windows 7’s built-in multi-touch feature provides software developers with manipulation APIs for stretching, rotating or moving objects, allowing partners to build from this and create innovative and natural ways for customers to interact with Windows PCs.

Nash outlined addition partner opportunities with Windows Server 2008 R2, calling it a “significant improvement” over Windows Server 2008 in key applications including LiveMigration with Hyper-V, Windows PowerShell 2.0, multi-core and many-cores, new NUMA support, Web Services APIs, and .NET and ASP.NET on Server Core.

Two additional selling points for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 are BranchCache, a technology that lets companies with branch offices turn the local server into a cache so that files can be accessed more quickly, and Direct Access, which provides a better alternative to virtual private network (VPN) by putting more control in the IT manager’s hands and employing multi-factor security to better secure the result.

For both BranchCache and Direct Access to work, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 need to be deployed together. “Partners can capitalize by showcasing their own capabilities with regard to implementing these technologies to achieve the performance, management, and security advantages the combined solution promises,” said Enderle.

To prepare for the general availability of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, Nash suggested that partners, in addition to downloading the betas and joining the Ecosystem Readiness Program, should also validate that their products work on Windows Vista, which will carry over to Windows 7.

Enderle said the launch of Windows 7 should be vastly better than Windows Vista’s. “They have their A marketing team on this and have analysed the Vista launch problems and worked to ensure they won’t repeat them,” Enderle said. “Microsoft recognizes they screwed up with Vista and has created a process that ensures these same mistakes won’t be made for the Windows 7 launch.”

Software partners can join the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Ecosystem Readiness Program by visiting Microsoft’s Windows Development Center, and hardware partners can go to Windows Hardware Developer Central.

This column was written by Erin Bell of ConnectIT, an IntegratedMarCompany

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