Microsoft appears to be making good use of the blogging phenomenon with its MSDN blog dedicated to the engineering of Windows 7.
Having launched less then two months ago, the blog now features 15 in-depth articles that provide an intriguing look at the development of an operating system aimed at such a diverse set of users.
The team of regular bloggers consists of two of Windows 7's senior engineering managers; Jon DeVaan and Steven Sinofsky. The pair had previously stated that they hope the blog will "open a two-way discussion on how Windows 7 is made", and that already appears to be the case.
In a recent post by Chaitanya Sareen - senior program manager on the Core User Experience team - a selection of the community-expressed UI improvements have been acknowledged. Chaitanya states the following items are some that are frequently voiced by readers:
- Many of you agree that the Notification Area needs to be more manageable and customisable.
- We received several comments about rearranging taskbar buttons. This speaks to the need for a predictable place where taskbar buttons appear as well as your desire for more control over the taskbar.
- There were comments that talked about Quick Launch being valuable, but that it could stand to be an even better launching surface (e.g. larger by default or more room).
- Thumbnails are valuable to many of you, but their size doesn’t always help you find the window you are looking for. There is interest in a better identification method of windows that consistently provided the right amount of information.
- Better scaling of supported windows was discussed. This includes optimising the taskbar for more windows and spanning multiple displays.
It isn't ground breaking by any means, but we feel this form of user feedback could prove to be invaluable to the Windows 7 team. Though we'd expect the above items to already feature on the Windows 7 to-do list, it's good to see Microsoft actively discussing the progress of its forthcoming OS.
In its first month-and-a-half of operation, the Engineering Windows 7 blog has already proven to be far more interesting than the somewhat mundane Windows Vista Blog.
If you're interested in software engineering, head on over to the Windows 7 blog - we think you'll find it an interesting read.
