Windows 7 Pro Is Microsoft betting on Media Center

One of the biggest knocks versus Windows 7 slates may be the interface. Yes, Windows 7 can handle touch. But no,Office 2010 Home And Business, it's not touch-centric.
Some OEMs have taken issues into their very own hands and produced customized touch interfaces that make Windows 7 (or Windows Embedded Compact, for those slate/tablet makers who're developing around that running method as an alternative to full Windows seven). The so-called “Connect Four” interface on the coming ExoPC slates is one example.
I;ve heard recurring rumors that Microsoft might develop its personal optional “shell” for slate makers that would make Windows seven touch-centric than touch-additive. By providing such an interface, Microsoft would avoid the lack of a consistent and standardized interface that have plagued Android and Windows Mobile developers and users.
But now I;m wondering whether Microsoft is simply going to encourage its OEM partners to use the Windows Media Center interface, or at least elements of it, to create more touch-friendly Windows slate interfaces.
Blogger Mark Wilson, who is a solution architect for an IT services company there, posted some interesting tidbits from the UK TechDays Ballmer Q&A. In response to a question about Microsoft;s planned slate strategy and the suitability of Windows 7 for the slate form factor, Ballmer responded:
“Yeah, what you’ll see over the course with the next year is us doing more and more work with our hardware partners making hardware-software optimisations with Windows 7 and with Windows seven Media Center [...] Media Center is big and,Office Professional 2010, when people say ‘hey, we could optimise more for clients’ I think what they generally mean is ‘Big Buttons’. Big Buttons that’s, I think, a codeword for Big Buttons and Media Center is Big Buttons not Little Buttons. I’m not trying to trivialise that – it’s a real issue.”
(It;s worth noting that the Media Center UI will be the precursor to the ZuneHD and Metro interface. For all these calling for Windows Phone OS 7-based slates, maybe a Windows slate with Media Center;s big buttons and type will be the next-best thing?)
Ballmer went on to say that Microsoft won;t be releasing any kind of interim version of Windows (between seven and 8) that would be optimized for slates. (That;s been another rumor/theory making the rounds.) Ballmer reiterated that Microsoft could be focusing on making “the next version of Windows” optimized for slates, among other form factors — something we know already from some Windows 8 partner slides that leaked earlier this year.
Until Windows 8 rolls out (2012?), Microsoft is going to focus on getting OEMs to work with features and functionality that;s already out there in some form, Ballmer emphasized.
“(I)t turns out that if we just optimise settings and the configuration of Windows it can be a lot more usable through touch, even on today’s systems – we’re doing that work with all the OEMs,” Ballmer said. “We’re doing work with the OEMs to make certain that they treat ink also as a first class citizen,” he added.
I;m wondering whether Microsoft is simply trying to get its partners to customize to look more like Media Center, or to actually make Media Center technologies key to the coming Windows-based slates. Remember: When Microsoft officials talk about “Windows slates,Office 2010 Serial,” sometimes they mean Windows 7 slates and sometimes they mean Windows Embedded slates.
Microsoft released to manufacturing Windows Embedded Standard seven — codenamed “Quebec” — in April 2010. Company officials have said that product is for OEMs who want to include Windows 7 features and capabilities in their TVs, set-top boxes and “other specialized devices.”
Embedded Standard is a componentized version of Windows seven. It includes Windows 7 features, ranging from support for Active Directory group policies and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), to Aero, Windows Touch,Office Professional 2010 Key, IE 8 and more. The most potentially interesting new addition to the version seven release with the Embedded Standard platform, however, was Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player 12 functionality,Windows 7 Pro, the Softies said.
Windows Embedded Compact seven — which Microsoft has still not yet released to manufacturing, but is still due to RTM in calendar 2010 — already has been seen in prototype form in some Windows slates/tablets. Microsoft and its partners showed off this summer slates operating the near-final Embedded Compact seven code.