Application Compatibility Testing -- International

This post continues the discussion of Compatibility testing from our test team. --Steven

In the previous blog post "Application Compatibility Testing for Windows 7" we talked about the importance of Application Compatibility and work we are doing to engineer this in Windows 7. In this post we will examine the challenge that emerges as we consider the world wide audience that Windows serves.

This blog post will cover the following areas:

• Overall International App Compatibility Strategy
• Approach to International App Compatibility
• Application Acquisition
• Testing Applications
• Measuring our Success
• What it means to “Rescue An Application”

For Windows 7 we have made significant investment in application compatibility, ensuring applications that worked on Vista, continue to work on Windows 7 and we’ve also rescued some applications that were broken in Vista to work on Windows 7 (more on that later).  As we’ve talked about, there are some applications that are OS version specific by design (utilities, firewalls, security, etc.) and those are not included in this discussion.

Approach

One of the biggest challenges in International Application Compatibility is what applications we test, the scale of testing, and what it means for us to say that an application “works”.  For Windows 7 we are testing over 1200 applications across 25 specific markets.   We have improved our coverage over Vista by adding over 300 more international applications.

We look at applications in 3 buckets.

1. Global ISV (GISV) Applications – Localized software sold by major ISVs in several international markets as well as the United States.
2. Microsoft (MS) Localized Applications – Microsoft software that has been localized for use in other markets other than the United States.
3. 3^rd Party Local Applications – Software where the user interface language is not-English and the application is sold in non-English speaking markets (for example, IchiTaro – Japanese Word Processor, Парус 8 – Russian ERP system,)

Categories 1 & 2 are pretty straightforward.  There are a known set of key applications and scenarios used around the world and we must ensure these applications function in Windows 7.  Category #3 is where there is some complexity.

The applications list we build for 3^rd Party Local Applications is built using a number of methods. First, we build on the list of applications we have used in previous versions Windows (XP/Vista, etc). If it worked on Vista, it must work on Windows 7. 

Next we work with our teams in markets around the world to rank top applications in particular markets.  It is amazing to see the diversity in application use around the world.   The application testing list is based on a combination of market data where it is available, individual knowledge of markets, culture, revenue, usage and even sometimes just “word on the street”.  The cultural knowledge in these markets is probably most critical to our success. For example, casual gaming in Korea is hugely popular and we need to ensure our Windows 7 testing accounts for this. 

Our goal in selecting applications is to test as many applications as we can that will expose the most issues across different scenarios and markets. 

These scenarios include:

• Productivity
• Memories (photo editing and sharing apps, etc.)
• Graphics
• Productivity
• Music
• Fundamentals (security, data backup, etc.)
• TV/Movies

Application Acquisition

Once we build the list of applications we need to test the next process is acquiring them.  We acquire applications in a variety of ways but many times we have to buy an application from a retail store just as any end user would.  Other methods we use to acquire applications include downloading full featured trial versions, purchasing software, and working with ISVs to acquire their applications to ensure compatibility.

Testing Applications

Testing applications means more than just installing them and making sure they launch.  Every application gets a unique test plan written for it to cover as much functionality as we can.  We write test cases to cover primary and secondary application functions – for our word processing example this would include opening a file, typing a letter, adjusting formatting, save, and print, emailing a copy to someone, etc.  These applications go through 6 or more test passes during the product cycle.

Now, we can’t test every piece of every application and we do run into some interesting challenges when we focus on a worldwide audience.  Many applications depend on location specific information (meaning if you aren’t testing the application in that location – you aren’t likely to have the information needed).  Examples include  Brazilian citizen’s CPF ID, or Brazilian personal number of identification which would be required to test something like tax preparation software. We run into similar problems with SMS applications requiring active local mobile phone accounts.

What it means to Rescue an Application

Along with the core tenet of ensuring that any application that worked on Windows Vista also work on Windows 7 we have a stretch goal to “raise the bar” and make applications work on Windows 7 that never worked on Windows Vista. For Windows 7, we have some good news early in the development cycle.   So far we have made over 30 applications that were “broken” on Vista work on Windows 7.  This means that Windows 7 will have higher application compatibility than Windows Vista.  We are continuing to push this number up.  Below is a table of the # of applications by language that we have made to work on Windows 7 but didn’t’ work on Vista.

Along with ensuring these applications work on Windows 7 we have taken an extra step for our existing Vista customers.  Of the applications outlined in the above table, 27 of the fixes we made have been back ported to Windows Vista for possible inclusion in future updates.   We really wanted to raise the bar for application compatibility and go beyond just looking at Vista as the baseline.

Takeaway

There is a lot of information here and hopefully gives you some insight into what it means for us to make the application experience (application compatibility)  on Windows 7 as high as possible for users around the world.  We started out with a goal of making sure if an application worked on Windows Vista it should work on Windows 7.  We have taken that further by bringing applications that never worked on Vista to work on Windows 7 and even future updates to Vista.

Comments

• Anonymous
  March 08, 2009
  Are rescued English language apps deliberately excluded? Can you please rescue Visual Studio .NET 2003, Office XP and dozens of Microsoft apps that fail on Vista? Can you rescue VLC and Nero 6? That would be awesome.

• Anonymous
  March 09, 2009
  Don't most of the apps you just listed already have recently released Vista-compatible versions?

• Anonymous
  March 09, 2009
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  March 09, 2009
  @Someone "Are rescued English language apps deliberately excluded?" Note the title of the article "International". "Can you please rescue....." Making a software application compatible does not include reviving outdated software that the vendor no longer supports. :)

• Anonymous
  March 09, 2009
  Yeah I read the title but that's what I wanted to know. Does MS only do "rescuing" for international apps? Also, note than when Vista debuted in 2006, for example, Visual Studio .NET 2003 was not obsolete by any measure of Microsoft's definition and commitment to backward compatibility.

• Anonymous
  March 09, 2009
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  March 09, 2009
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  March 09, 2009
  Regarding multiple languages on a single OS install, it would be nice to set the Windows Userinterface language for each account separately, or is this already supported? This way you could have your own account in English and your wife's account in Spanish for example. I'm not sure if this is not already supported though, I haven't looked too much into the language options Windows offers.

• Anonymous
  March 09, 2009
  @Someone When Vista was released in 2006, VS .NET 2003 was stil in the Mainstream Support phase. It wnet to the Extended Support phase in October 2008. You can see the details of this at: Microsoft Support Lifecycle: http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=3040 and Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy FAQ: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy Backward compatibility is a whole different issue. Also, see the recent article here from 3/3/2009 = Application Compatibility Testing -- Overview. Regards.

• Anonymous
  March 09, 2009
  There is a very famous Quran Reader software thas working with Xp and broke with Vista annd now Win7. I have done everything to run it with Vista but it didnot. İt says control has no parent window. I wish there was a way for me to send this probbel to MS and let them fix but i did not know how.

• Anonymous
  March 09, 2009
  @hitman721, you're referring to the MUI feature of Windows? You'll only get that in Ultimate and Enterprise, fully switching languages (including all UI elements) is indeed an "Ultimate" feature. You'll get basic language switching in a Language Interface Pack (LIP) which is freely downloadable. As for the dictionary/thesaurus, you can buy a copy of Encarta 200x ($30) which includes a decent English dictionary/thesaurus with audio pronunciations. From what I've seen over the internet, there's a huge demand from users for full MUI packs for lower SKUs but MS has not yet given in. Since Office 2007, buying MUI packs has been made easier though, no need to pay for languages you'll never use.

• Anonymous
  March 10, 2009
  @yken - what is the name of the Quran Reader software?

• Anonymous
  March 10, 2009
  30 international apps tested? That's nothing to brag about. Count the amount of apps, that are available in US (probably thousands), and multiply by 100... this must be the amount of international apps available worldwide. US is just a small part of the world. I remember working in a worldwide company, where in american branch they'd develop some kind of solution in 9 months period, and they drop it out to all the rest of the world, and tell: you can implement it in the rest of the world in 3 months. C'mon, world is bigger than US.

• Anonymous
  March 10, 2009
  Actually, we tested over 1200 applications and rescued 30. These are applications that now work on Windows 7 but did not work on Windows Vista. Regards.

• Anonymous
  March 10, 2009
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  March 10, 2009
  @sdwolf We do test this card (on the list of graphics cards in a previous post).   If you could run dxdiag.exe and send me the output that would be a good step. --Steven

• Anonymous
  March 11, 2009
  Name of that Quran Reader program is Muallim 1.0

• Anonymous
  March 11, 2009
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  March 11, 2009
  I only have a hand full of applications that do not work well in Windows 7, and all of them are only utilized for the drivers that are included for my Astronomical CCD Cameras. I have been very pleased with the installations of software in this new Operating System.

@Steven Due to finacial restraints I would like one ploblem addressed and it follows the last couple of post, one of the most popular chipsets the Intel 852/855/915GM chipset are only installing the VGA drivers...I understand the problems with this chipset and wish that I could afford to use better but could you include some drivers that at least function like the Intel "pci_ven_8086&dev_3582" drivers. I love Aero but it really is not a need when sitting at a monitor taking Stellar Images...but support for a lot of compters would increase Microsofts share in the profitability of customers using Windows, and in these times of financial woe a lot of people would upgrade if the Operating system would at least support a poorly disigned chip set. I can supply drivers that work if needed. Lorne L. Reap

• Anonymous
  March 12, 2009
  I have a feature request that has nothing to do with Application Compatibility Testing. I have an internal card reader with 4 card slots that creates 4 drive letters in My computer. This is sort of annoying that they appear there when I don't need them. I think it would be great if you could create an option for removable drives to only show the drive letter in my computer if a disk is actually inserted. That way, I would get one letter if I plug in one card. That would be so great.

• Anonymous
  March 12, 2009
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  March 13, 2009
  Steven, I think you thoroghly covered a lot of what I was looking for. Thank you so much for clearing this up. I definitely appreciate the feedback. You've made my job here working a whole lot easier. Jose.

• Anonymous
  March 13, 2009
  @oviradoi: It already exists: Organize -> Folder and search options -> View (tab) -> "Hide empty drives in the Computer folder"

• Anonymous
  March 14, 2009
  There is a program called foldit and you fold proteins for science, now running foldit under win 7 is very slow making it unplayable, but in winvista and xp it runs smooth, and ive tried the compability settings with 7 with no luck, any suggestions?  you can download the program here http://fold.it/portal/

• Anonymous
  March 15, 2009
  Hello, I used Windows 7 7057 to run a game named Fantasy Earth Zero,but it will show error message. I used capability function, but it didn't work!

• Anonymous
  March 15, 2009
  Hello,  I used Windows 7 to run a game named Fantasy Earth Zero, but it showed error message.  Then,I tried to use compatibility function,it still caan't work!

• Anonymous
  March 17, 2009
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  May 23, 2009
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  June 06, 2009
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  June 06, 2009
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  June 06, 2009
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• Anonymous
  June 17, 2009
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  June 17, 2009
  but in winvista and xp it runs smooth, and ive tried the compability settings with 7 with no luck, any suggestions?  you can download the program here

• Anonymous
  June 17, 2009
  but support for a lot of compters would increase Microsofts share in the profitability of customers using Windows, and in these times of financial woe a lot of people would upgrade if the Operating system would at least support a poorly disigned chip set.

• Anonymous
  June 17, 2009
  I can see the startup animation.  But as soon as it switches screen modes to display the login screen, my display goes into powersave.  Win7 cuts the output from whatever port my monitor is using, and forces me to disconnect it and connect to the other port on the same card, which does have output.

• Anonymous
  June 17, 2009
  There are many complexities associated with offering these globally as a Windows API and it is something we will continue to investigate.  This includes spelling within Internet Explorer.

• Anonymous
  June 23, 2009
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• Anonymous
  June 26, 2009
  Don't most of the apps you just listed already have recently released Vista-compatible versions?

• Anonymous
  June 30, 2009
  There are many complexities associated with offering these globally as a Windows API and it is something we will continue to investigate.  This includes spelling within Internet Explorer.

• Anonymous
  July 10, 2009
  I would like to see Windows 7 to be more games oriented with better processing for graphics and sound.

• Anonymous
  July 10, 2009
  I guess that if Microsoft is to introduce Windows 7 as the follower to Vista, they really need to improve performance. I have a Quad CPU proc with 8 gb of ram and I can't say that performance is so great with Vista.

• Anonymous
  July 21, 2009
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  July 21, 2009
  I had difficulties with vista regarding compatability. I hope Windows 7 will be better in this respect.

• Anonymous
  August 10, 2009
  Great article, Windows 7 as the follower to Vista, they really need to improve performance, this is informative post please keep on posting thanks!!

• Anonymous
  August 24, 2009
  I personally use windows 7 beta version, it has been working great for the past 2-3 months or so. first I hesitate to use, as windows vista for really a bad product after all. Anyway let see how it goes and let see in the next few months and new update / release from microsoft.

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  November 12, 2009
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  November 12, 2009
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• Anonymous
  November 17, 2009
  I hope windows 7 is better than the disappointing Vista

• Anonymous
  February 09, 2010
  Vista really wa a disappointment. Windows 7 is much, much better.

• Anonymous
  March 01, 2010
  I do like your challenges: one of the biggest challenges in International Application Compatibility is what applications we test, the scale of testing, and what it means for us to say that an application “works”.

• Anonymous
  March 12, 2010
  Ich hoffe, es wird als DirectX kann nicht alles sein, vor allem für alte Spiele kompatibel. Warum OpenAL? Die aktuelle FreeSpace2 Derivat, Beyond the Red Line, nutzt OpenAL. Es läuft unter XP auch, ist die Antwort und kämpfen besser.

• Anonymous
  March 15, 2010
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• Anonymous
  April 05, 2010
  I would really love to see Windows 7 or the Next version of OS coordinate with its local customization teams that know these native languages to create dictionaries, thesarus, and work hard to create a translation matrix. As someone above me already mentioned

• Anonymous
  April 27, 2010
  I am waiting before i try windows 7 as usally it start off filled with bugs and problems, when windows 8 comes out maybe ill buy 7.. maybe

• Anonymous
  April 29, 2010
  Windows 7 is much quicker than vista

• Anonymous
  May 03, 2010
  Windows 7 is really useful system. This is not Vista, W7 like very much. Windows Xp can now be replaced by W7, without any regret.

• Anonymous
  May 09, 2010
  an now be replaced by W7, without an

• Anonymous
  May 14, 2010
  . You'll get basic language switching in a Language Interface Pack (LIP) which is freely downloadable. As for the dictionary/thesaurus, you can buy a copy of Encarta 200x ($30) which includes a decent English dictionary/thesaurus with audio pronunciations

• Anonymous
  July 02, 2010
  I have many programs written for the first Windows program, and one written for MS DOS which I was able to install and run on Win XP, but I find no way to run on Windows 7. The sources no longer exist so no updates are available. Is there a Windows 7 solution?

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