With the Professional Developers Convention (PDC) going on in the United States, Windows 7 is now in the limelight more than ever before. It is after all the first time when we will get an in-depth look at the hottest operating system ever to be developed by Microsoft. Unfortunately, Microsoft has placed an “information embargo” and the people that are now knee-deep in the software cannot answer the questions we have to ask about Windows 7.

How fast will Windows 7 boot?

We do not want to know how fast the OS will run, because we expect it do be the faster than XP and Vista. We just want to know if the rumors are true and Windows 7 will have an Instant-On feature. Even if that feature will not be available, will the OS boot as slowly as other systems in the past?

How many Windows 7 versions will released?

Again, going by rumors alone we could expect 6 different versions of Windows 7, ranging from Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Enterprise. Historically speaking the number of OS versions has been on the increase (Windows 2000 had 1 version, XP had 2 versions, Vista had 4 versions).

How much will it cost?

If there will be a single Windows 7 version, will it cost an arm and a leg, or will it be reasonably priced. Assuming that there will be several versions, what will the price range be? Also, how much will Microsoft charge XP and Vista users that want to upgrade?

Will it work on my current hardware configuration?

Up to this point we have no idea what system requirements we have to meet in order to run Windows 7 on our systems (or any system at that). The only thing we know for sure is that Vista apps will run on Windows 7 (at least that is what Microsoft claimed).

Hopefully the answers to these questions, and many others that did not make it in this article, will be answered at this year's PDC in LA.