The four different compatibility labels that Microsoft designed for Windows Vista were a pain. They created confusion to such an extent that they lead to an ongoing class-action lawsuit against the company. Microsoft has taken a hint and it will only have one (1) such label for Windows 7.

Microsoft partners who wish to be labeled as compatible with Windows Vista’s descendent will only have to complete one certification program, said the company on Wednesday. Consumers will subsequently need to look for just a single sticker on their hardware or software.

This move does away with the four stickers; two that currently certify PCs either running on Windows Vista in full, or being compatible with the program on a “basic” level, and the “certified for Windows Vista” and “works with Windows vista” stickers for software and devices.

It is however too early to tell what the appearance of the final Windows 7 compatibility sticker would be, said Gary Schare, director of Microsoft hardware ecosystem product management, at the Microsoft Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC)

According to Schare, there will be stickers for the different types of machines running Windows 7 such as PCs, touch-screen devices and media centers.

Schare also said that the four Windows Vista stickers have “helped spur innovation” but made the logo rather unclear and testing and certification confusing and expensive for hardware and software partners.

To address these issues, Schare said “"We want to simplify the program to let the consumer know what they are looking for and for the partner to know what they have to do.”

Microsoft has also gotten into some more serious trouble due to the logo program. The company had designed two “Windows Vista Premium Ready” and “Windows Vista Premium Capable” logos before the products launch, and these ultimately lead to an ongoing class-action lawsuit started by consumers who are claiming Microsoft deceived them with advertising and claims about what exactly Windows Vista “capable” means.

These changes coincide with the company making a call to arms for hardware engineers to start developing for Windows 7, itself preceded by a software developers’ rally at the PDC.

Microsoft executives claimed at WinHEC that Windows 7 has implemented tweaks that will improve power consumption, performance and footprint, which will improve the new OS’s suitability to netbook-type small laptops. Windows 7 is also reported to work right out of the box with a large selection of PC hardware, unlike Vista.

To demonstrate this, Microsoft ran Windows 7 on an Asus EEE S101 with 1GB RAM, a 16 GB solid-state drive, and dual-ATOM core processors. Schare used the system to point out Windows 7 improvements in sequential accessing, as on an SSD, as opposed to HDD random access. It’s unknown if Windows 7 will ship with both technologies or if there will be separate releases.

Schare claimed an 11-15% increase in battery life, as well as 1-2% less CPU downtime, over Vista where these were two particularly bothersome issues.

Microsoft was note yet prepared to give precise metrics as they point out Windows 7 is still in pre-beta stage.