With less fanfare and celebration than with Vista, Microsoft
released the Window 7 operating system in late October. This replaces the
operating system that 90% of the world uses today. Just for the record, I am a
Mac user at home, Windows XP for work…I am BOTH a Mac and PC. One offers a
superior environment for creative work; the other offers a robust platform for
our business applications. While it may seem like only yesterday Microsoft
released Vista and slightly less than yesterday when we began bashing it, the
release of another version of Windows is big and with it comes game-changing
features. Being that this is an IT
Learning blog, let’s explore how Windows 7 changes the learning landscape.
First, let’s highlight content and the content streams
available to us - the learning professionals, as well as our customers - the IT
learners. One content bundle that Microsoft has released is a set of small
streams called Learning Snacks (http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/training/format-learning-snacks.aspx).
These are short,
interactive presentations about popular business and technical topics around
Windows 7 and other products. While not revolutionary in itself, what changes
the landscape is the use of the Microsoft Silverlight technology to deliver it.
This tight interface allows for various media and demonstrations to be recorded
and displayed. This is a technology that our community of IT learning
professionals need awareness of as it gives Adobe Flash a run for its money.
Silverlight will see an increase in functionality with Windows 7 as XP and to
an extent Vista could not fully utilize all the features Silverlight offers.
Microsoft is relying on Windows 7 to get its groove back and
will rely on its vast network of desktop users to spread the word. The news is
good for Windows 7 so far, and Microsoft needs it as Windows represents a
significant source of their revenue. For us, the IT learning professionals, forming
communities around how to get the most out of the operating system for our
needs will be essential. My hope is that we can gather our collective intelligence
on what are some of the best uses of Windows 7 and how they can be applied
specifically for the training industry.
Blogs will help get the conversation going, but what more is
needed? How do we influence the conventions, conferences, seminars and series
to consider developing an operating system where the needs of the training
industry are incorporated into it? And how do we provide that feedback BACK to
the developers so Windows 8 is even better for our users.
So where do we turn in order to get started? As usual
Microsoft has released along with the Windows 7 product, a comprehensive series
of books, e-learning and certifications geared mainly towards our end users.
What differs with Windows 7 is that the
built-in virtualization tools inside both the desktop operating system (Windows
7) working in conjunction with a recently released improved back end server
product (Windows Server 2008 R2) allows for those books, e-learning and certification
preparation materials to be more realistic. Certification also has matured. Gone
are the days of the “Pick A, B, C, D or all of the above” type questions.
Expect to be tested on real-live environments and expect the preparation
materials to be virtual machines running a fully simulated operating system to
learn on. Virtualization will change the certification industry and hence it
will change the training one as well.
Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell expects
Windows 7 to be a "gradual" advance and take place over a couple of
years. But my belief is that the PC community will embrace Windows 7 rapidly. I
see no reason why the IT learning professionals should not be one of the first
to take a look at what it has to offer for us.
Challenge yourself to check out the local events in your area by either
Microsoft or a 3rd party provider. Attend a “Labfest” where for a
nominal fee you get professional help in loading it onto your PC and get
engineers to help you to figure out best practices or just buy a book, a Window
7 license and try it yourself. You will be happy to jump on board.
I look forward to your continued feedback and as
always feel free to contact me anytime at bob.austin@itlearnblog.com
