|
Editor's note:
This is the first story in "Seven behind
Windows 7," a series featuring Microsoft
employees who helped build Windows 7.
REDMOND,
Wash. – October 21, 2009 – Yves
Neyrand says stage fright is real.
 |
|
Yves Neyrand, the
director of test for the
Windows Developer
Experience team, helped
create Windows 7’s new
multitouch
functionality. |
Click for high-res
version
|
|
The director of
test for Windows Developer Experience
says that's what he and his team have
been feeling in the days before Windows
7 launches on Oct. 22.
Neyrand grew up
in France, graduated from college with a
degree in math and physics, taught math
in the Congo for two years, then worked
in the oil fields of the Middle East for
three years as a field engineer, where
he processed and analyzed geophysical
data. "This is where I developed my
passion for computers," he said.
He came to the
United States in 1987 and worked as an
independent computer consultant before
joining Microsoft as a contractor in
1995. Neyrand worked on a number of
Windows 7 features, including the new
Windows ribbon (an Office-like feature
for Windows applications), new
accessibility features for users with
disabilities, and Windows Touch – a key
feature in the new operating system.
On the eve of
Windows 7’s launch, PressPass spoke with
Neyrand about the new features in
Windows 7.
PressPass: What is multitouch, and what
can people do with it?
Neyrand: Multitouch
(Windows Touch) is both a feature and a
platform that developers can use to
enable multitouch capabilities in their
applications. In the Vista timeframe,
the Tablet team actually shipped single
touch, where you could basically use
your finger as a mouse to click buttons
or pull up menus and things like that.
Now the market has changed, and it was
important for us to follow what hardware
was doing and provide multitouch
capabilities in Windows 7. Multitouch in
Windows Touch is a whole new world
compared to single touch because you can
do things that are of course single
touch, but you can also include a new
mode of interacting with your computer
that is based on gestures. Typical
examples of that are being able to zoom
in to a picture, site, or page; or
rotating things; or doing power taps
with two fingers that let you define a
whole new bunch of interactions you can
have with your computer. It actually
lets you, with your fingers, control
things that would take either several
clicks of the mouse or several clicks on
the keyboard and do it in a more
intuitive manner.
PressPass: Are you looking
forward to seeing your feature out in
the world with the launch? How do you
think people will react to it?
Neyrand: Of course!
Multitouch is one of the most
talked-about new features in Windows 7,
and we are super-excited for it to hit
the market. All the feedback from the
early adopters has been very positive,
and we can't wait to see what developers
are going to do with it. Now, of course,
in the last few days before launch we're
like a singer before a big premiere.
Stage fright is real!
 |
|
Neyrand demonstrates
Windows 7’s multitouch
feature by zooming in on
and rotating a photo
with his fingers. |
Click for high-res
version
|
|
PressPass: What was the biggest hurdle
you faced working on multitouch?
Neyrand: Testing touch
was challenging for several reasons. To
start with, the user perception of the
correct touch behavior is subjective,
making it hard to define reliable
metrics. It is also difficult to fully
dissociate the different layers of the
touch technology stack, such as drivers,
middle layers, top-level applications,
as they all co-depend on each other to
define the overall experience. There
were also only a few multitouch-enabled
devices for us to work with during the
development process, and last but not
least, deeply rooted hardware
dependencies make automation fairly
difficult. This presented us with a good
set of challenges, but in the end the
team delivered and I believe did a great
job.
PressPass: How did you get customer
input about multitouch, and did this
feedback change its design or
development?
Neyrand: We worked very
closely with OEMs and hardware
manufacturers of multitouch devices,
since as I mentioned, the overall touch
experience is very tied to hardware. We
also worked closely with users and focus
groups both within and outside
Microsoft, including of course software
developers. This feedback allowed us to
better target not only the default "out
of the box" touch experience, but also
the API set which developers can use to
leverage multitouch in their Windows
applications.
PressPass: What's the thing you're
proudest of in Windows 7?
Neyrand:
Shipping pretty much exactly on the ship
date we had set for ourselves early in
the product cycle and with the best
final test results I have seen in all my
releases of Windows. Both can be
attributed to our ability to "plan the
work, and work the plan" and certainly
validated all our efforts in that
respect.
PressPass: Was teamwork important to
this project and your feature, and how
so?
Neyrand: Teamwork is
everything – not only teamwork, but also
cross-team work. Touch is a feature that
spans many organizational boundaries,
across many technologies. Yet in the
end, the only thing that matters is the
quality of the user experience. Good
teamwork is more than critical: It is
essential.
PressPass:
What was the most important thing you
learned while working on Windows 7?
Neyrand: Plan the work,
then work the plan. The single most
important improvement to the Windows
process was how we scoped and planned
each and every milestone as a full
engineering release across disciplines.
This allowed us to control feature
completion and quality in a way we could
not achieve before while facilitating
cross-team interactions and
dependencies.
PressPass: What was a typical day like
working on Windows 7?
Neyrand: There was no
such thing as a typical day working on
Windows 7. That's what made it so
exciting and so interesting. Every day
brought its new set of challenges. I
guess if anything, that was your typical
expectation for the day.
PressPass: What do you need to do your
best work?
Neyrand: I drink a lot
of green tea and like munching on
almonds when I get stressed.
PressPass: What's next for you at
Microsoft?
Neyrand: Working on the
next version of Windows.
PressPass
What do you do when you're not working?
Neyrand: I am married
and have two young daughters, ages 3
and 5, who are my heart and soul. I
enjoy music, traveling, movies, spending
time with friends, good food and
wine—being French, that's a must. I like
to play squash, and I am an avid scuba
diver. |
