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Computerworld - For most of Microsoft Corp.'s history, it designed software the same way Detroit built cars during its midcentury heyday. Adding features was like building a bigger engine and longer tail fins. What could be finer? It may not be entirely coincidence that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer grew up in the Detroit area, the son of a Ford Motor Co. manager.

But influenced by the success of rival Apple Inc.'s minimalist ethic as well as customer revolt over this "supersize me" ethos, Microsoft has started to come around to the idea that less may be more.

The primary innovation of Microsoft Office 2007 was introducing a radically overhauled interface called the "Ribbon" that successfully achieved two seemingly contradictory goals: Making Office less cluttered while exposing more of its deep well of features.

The Ribbon has mostly garnered rave reviews,, and the productivity software suite has been a smash success.

Started two years before Office 2007 (though released at the same time), Windows Vista was honed to Microsoft's traditional design specification. As the operating system hit more delays, Microsoft tacked on more features, like a student turning in an extra-long paper hoping to make up for its lateness.

While some customers appreciated Microsoft's effort, the majority have fixated on Vista's bloat, which caused sluggish performance on all but cutting-edge hardware, and its mediocre polish, ranging from malfunctioning printers to intrusive pop-up messages.

Windows 7 will be Microsoft's first try at introducing a new client operating system in which it applies the new math of addition through subtraction.

To be sure, Windows 7 will add new features, including touch-screen capability. But nearly all of its improvements are refinements of Vista features, such as the security-oriented User Account Control (UAC) or taking away features and moving them to the Web.

While XP and Vista were different under the hood, Windows 7 and Vista are virtually identical.

"Of course, we are doing refinements, but is it the same kernel in Windows 7 as in Vista? Yes," said Mike Nash, corporate vice president of Windows product management, in an interview at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference. "Windows 7 may seem more evolutionary than Vista, but that is what customers are looking for."

Nash promised that Microsoft will resist the temptation to go back to its old ways. The final version of Windows 7 to be released in early 2010 won't have any additional features in comparison with the beta version given away to PDC attendees this week, he said.

"This is a feature-complete version of Windows 7," Nash said. "We are not adding features, just fixing bugs and edge conditions."