Summary: Microsoft is building, testing and updating Windows in a very different way, starting with Windows Threshold. In many ways, those changes matter more than the new bits themselves.
Tomorrow, September 30, will be the day Microsoft takes the official wraps off an early build of Windows Threshold.
While some can't wait for
the new name of the next version of Windows client to be revealed, and others are anxious to hear about the first of the new features aimed at business users in particular, I'm hoping to learn about what Microsoft has done on the back end to change the way Microsoft delivers operating systems, going forward.
The unified Operating Systems Group has been working on new mechanisms for user feedback, testing new features in a way to gauge user acceptance, tracking bugs and rolling out new functionality and fixes starting with Threshold.
Up until recently, Microsoft typically has taken three to six months to roll out new "milestone" test builds of Windows. But starting with Threshold, that window is going to become closer to one month between updates.
