Microsoft Talk

windows 7

“Looking forward, we can confidently say that no matter how netbook PC hardware evolves, we’re gearing up to ensure that Windows 7 will run great on them,” Brandon LeBlanc, a Windows communication manager, wrote in Friday blog post.

“We’ve been testing Windows 7 on netbook PCs since before Windows 7 was feature complete, and our plan is to enable these small notebook PCs to run any edition of Windows 7,” he wrote.

A beta version of Windows 7 was released in January.

LeBlanc’s comments were part of a “year in review” blog about Windows netbooks. He shot down suggestions that netbooks will hurt Microsoft, and touted the company’s gains over Linux-based netbooks.

“Initially, some in the industry viewed low-cost netbook PCs as a new challenge for Microsoft and an opportunity for Linux to make inroads in the consumer market. Some believed consumers wouldn’t want or need their netbook PC to be a full-featured PC,” he wrote. “In fact, the exact opposite turned out to be true – a number of analysts and researchers following the space see ample evidence indicating customers really DO want netbook PCs to work like their larger brethren – and that the way the vast majority of consumers make that happen is by buying a netbook PC with Windows.”

He pointed to NPD data that said Windows-based netbooks have gone from 10 percent of units sales in the first half of 2008 to 96 percent as of February 2009. LeBlanc also said that return rates for Linux-based netbooks were four times as higher than Windows, according to vendor data.

windows 7

1. Windows 7 should not be positioned in relation to Windows Vista, which is nonexistent in most businesses. Windows 7 needs to be related back to Windows XP, to which I think it is the legitimate successor.

2. I don’t see Windows 7 as Vista SP2 or Vista Lite or anything like this. Windows 7 looks like a new OS to me and deserves to be treated as such. (Readers: Give Windows 7 a chance, OK?)

3. Windows 7 needs to run just fine on hardware the runs Windows XP just fine today. My sense, playing with Windows 7, is this is possible. Vista grabbed an early reputation as a resource hog. Windows 7 must avoid this.

4. Because Windows 7 cannot upgrade an existing Windows XP installation, Microsoft needs to provide easy transition tools. A copy of Windows 7 and a flash drive or small stack of DVDs needs to move all my data and my applications and my settings to the new OS. This may mean Microsoft needs to send an applications disc with Windows 7.

5. Just for emphasis: If I have to reinstall my applications, Windows 7 will not be a welcome upgrade.

6. If Microsoft does not or cannot accomplish the previous items, then it should not promote Windows 7 as an upgrade and offer it on new hardware only. This will avoid one of the major factors in Vista’s failure: It’s inability to run well on what people already owned.

7. Fortunately, the Windows 7 user experience is not wildly different from XP the way Vista is. This will make it easier for companies (or households) to have a mix of Windows XP and Windows 7.

8. I like what I have seen of Windows 7, but have yet to hear Microsoft offer a good reason besides “a wide range of improvements” for me to upgrade. If it comes only on new hardware, that’s fine. And, yes, some people will then decide they like the new OS and upgrade older machines as a result. But, if Microsoft hopes to sell an upgrade it needs to look at how Apple sells its upgrades.

9. Speaking of which: Apple sells features and applications that are included with the OS as major upgrade benefits. If Microsoft included more significant applications with the OS, maybe it could make them as important as the iApps are to Apple customers. Apple manages to charge its best customers up to $300-a-year for upgrades of some sort.

10. I think we have solved the problem of linking Windows 7 too closely to the release of Office 14 now that the timing between two seems clearly offset. Delays, economic or technical, should not bring the two releases back together. At least, not until its clear from seeing the software that one won’t drag down the other.

Vista

Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 is reportedly being released to testers, and updates to Windows 7 beta are slated for next week.

Although Microsoft is being relatively mum on the subject, a variety of Web sites are reporting that a release candidate build of Service Pack 2 for Vista and Server 2008 has been released to Microsoft Connect testers. The build, according to the sites, is 6002.16670.090130.

‘More to Share’ Soon

Ars Technica, for instance, has reported that SP2 is available to testers through Windows Update, adding that Microsoft — as it usually does — is recommending that regular users wait until the final release to download it.

SP2 adds a variety of improvements. In terms of hardware, for instance, there is integration of the Feature Pack for Wireless, with support for the most recent Bluetooth, version 2.1, and the Windows Connect Now Wi-Fi configuration. Wi-Fi performance after waking from sleep mode is improved, as are RSS feeds and the ability to record data onto Blu-ray discs.

In operating-system enhancements, Search 4.0 is updated to improve indexing, relevance, and finding or previewing documents, e-mail, music files and photos. SP2 also offers improved content protection for TV in the Windows Media Center.

Windows 7 Updates

The Windows 7 updates — up to five total — are planned to begin on Feb. 24. According to Microsoft, the updates won’t add features or fix bugs. Instead, according to a posting on the Microsoft Update Product Team blog, the updates “test the Windows 7 servicing infrastructure.”

The notice, posted Thursday by the Microsoft update team, noted that the company sometimes verifies “update scenarios during a beta, and releasing these test updates will help that when we need to release real updates,” so “the process will run smoothly.” There had been some speculation online that this batch of updates might address some security issues found in Windows 7 beta.

The updates will be offered interactively, meaning users will be notified, but they won’t be installed automatically. Instead, users will be required to go the Windows Update Control Panel and manually start the installation. But users can also right-click on the updates and select “hide update” to avoid having it show up in the available update list. The company said the updates will be “clearly titled” as tests.

Dollar Signs

Although the beta of Windows 7 released in January is getting good reviews, that may not be enough to inspire businesses to upgrade, given their tight IT budgets and the fact that many are cutting costs in any way they can.

“I think the down economy will hinder just about everything,” said David Smith, a vice president and fellow at research company Gartner.

Windows 7 is expected to be available before the end of the year, or at the very latest, early next year. Unless there is a dramatic economic rebound, all signs point to the economy still squeezing IT budgets at that time.

Tens of thousands of jobs have been cut in the last several months as cost-cutting measures at companies across all business sectors. Not only do those job cuts show that overall budgets are tight, they also mean that companies will probably have a surplus of client PCs that they can reassign to other workers, said Michael Cherry, an analyst with research firm Directions on Microsoft, in Kirkland, Washington.

I know I’m buying fewer items these days and have no plan to upgrade my Tablet’s OS or software. XP will last until it’s dying day. I could have upgraded to the new Win 7, but my tablet is too finicky as it is, so a brand new OS is just asking for trouble.

How has the economy affected your computer hardware or software purchases?

Windoes 7

Microsoft’s Windows 7 Recommendations:

For Consumers:

Windows 7 Home Premium for most customers
Windows 7 Professional for customers who want additional features and functionality useful for small business activities.
For Businesses:

Windows 7 Professional for most customers
Windows 7 Enterprise for medium-to-large business and enterprise customers that choose to license Windows through Software Assurance.

Windows 7 Versions:
Windows 7 Starter

Broad app and device compatibility with up to 3 concurrent applications
Safe, reliable, and supported
Ability to join a Home Group
Improved taskbar and JumpLists

Windows 7 Home Basic (in Emerging Markets only)

Starter features
Unlimited applications
Live Thumbnail Previews & enhanced visual experience
Advanced networking support (ad-hoc wireless networks and internet connection sharing)
Mobility Center

Windows 7 Home Premium

Home Basic features
Unlimited applications
Aero Glass & advanced windows navigation
Easy networking & sharing across all your PCs & devices
Improved media format support, enhancements to Windows Media Center and media streaming, including Play To
Multi-touch and improved handwriting recognition

Windows 7 Professional

Professional features
Unlimited applications
Ability to join a managed network with Domain Join
Protect data with advanced network backup and Encrypting File System
Print to the right printer at home or work with Location Aware Printing

Windows 7 Enterprise & Ultimate

Professional & Consumer
Unlimited applications
BitLocker data protection on internal and external drives
DirectAccess provides seamless connectivity to your corporate network. (requires Windows Server 2008 R2)
Decrease time branch office workers wait to open file across the network with BranchCache. (requires Windows Server 2008 R2)
Prevent unauthorized software from running with AppLocker

NOTE 1: Ultimate includes all Enterprise and all Home Premium features, including multi-language packs.

NOTE 2: Windows 7 Enterprise is available only through Microsoft Volume Licensing

NOTE 3: While there will be an “upgrade path” for Windows XP users; there will not be an upgrade proceedure. A clean-install will need to be run.

NOTE 4: There will not be a special version for Netbooks. (None was needed)

Windows 7

Independent hardware and software vendors, original equipment and device manufacturers, and developers will be able to ensure their products are compatible and use the features of Microsoft’s new software.

Mike Nash, corporate vice president of Windows product management, said Microsoft is engaging Windows 7 partners differently from the past. Previously, for example, Microsoft typically shared ideas that were final. Sometimes, he admitted, things would shift and make it difficult for partners to plan when they should begin developing products.

As Microsoft gets closer to the final version of Windows 7, Nash said, the company wants its partners to test their Windows Vista-based products to make sure they run well on Windows 7. For partners who don’t yet have Windows Vista products, Nash said this is an opportunity is to build products that target both Windows Vista and Windows 7 because the architectures have similar foundations.

Making a Smooth Transition

Because there were so many different iterations of Vista and each worked somewhat differently than the other, there were an inordinate number of complaints and dissatisfaction among customers who adopted one version of Vista, only to realize later that they needed a different version or a different product, explained Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.

Nash encouraged partners to download the code and tools for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 betas to get a sense of the products’ capabilities and identify opportunities. He also suggested partners join the ecosystem program and begin testing their applications and devices.

N-Trig

Would having a computer that you an interact with by mouse, pen and fingers be something you are interested in? Microsoft is betting you are. They just invested $24 million dollars into N-Trig, as stated below. Actually, Microsoft was one of a few companies, partnered by Aurum Ventures, Challenger Ltd., Canaan Partners, and Evergreen Venture Partners.

According to a Microsoft press release: N-trig’s DuoSense technology is included in Windows 7, enabling the new operating system’s multi-touch capabilities.

“With the introduction of multi-touch in Windows 7, integrated with N-trig’s DuoSense technology, our customers will have a new and natural way to interact with their PCs,” Ian LeGrow, group program manager for Windows Client at Microsoft, said in a statement. “By simulating the way people write and touch naturally, N-trig is helping to make it easier to navigate your PC and enable a new class of Windows experiences.”

Although my computer still isn’t powerful enough to run Windows 7 (requires at the minimum 1 g of RAM, I have 512, which is what my TC1100 came with), Windows 7 does have the capability, as stated above. That would be interesting to play with, interact with the tablet in new and different ways: moving screens around, opening programs and files with a touch of my finger.

If anyone has downloaded Windows 7, let us know how the multi-touch interface is working, maybe provide some links to pics you capture and place on the world wide web, using Microsoft’s new online programs.

sick computer

If you were one of the lucky few to download Windows 7 before Microsoft’s servers crashed, enjoy playing and tweaking and lording it over your fellow interneters.

Such was the hype for the new (and allegedly) improved Windows operating system, that, apparnantly ‘hoards’ of users clicked on the download link. This just shows how despearate people are for something other than Vista (that was constantly shoved down our collective throat).

Microsoft kept telling consumers that they just didn’t understand Vista, were too stupid to use it, had missed the point, etc. Finally, they announce a ‘new and totally innovative OS that will completely change the way we use our computers’, then the site crashes.

Apropos for Microsoft? They should have realized a new OS with such promise and hype would have more than ‘a few’ interested. What I would like to know, is why weren’t more servers available beforehand to handle the influx of downloads. Was it an oversight? Or was it to gauge the neediness or wants of consumers so they can adjust future pricepoints?

While I was not one of the lucky few to download and install the new Windows 7, the new OS does look promising. Demanding less powerful computers than its predecessor, Vista, was surely partly to blame for the system site’s failure to handle the download’s load. Some other sites have downloaded and tweaked with the new OS, and have given it rave reviews. Joseph Flatly of Engadget gave Windows 7 a pretty good review, saying “looked pretty good, outperforming Vista and XP in “real world” tasks”.

If you were one of the lucky few, let us know in the comments below.

Windows 7

After a much maligned Vista fiasco, Microsoft went back to the drawing board and created a new Operating System called Windows 7. When Windows 7 was pre-released a few weeks ago, early adopters hailed it the Vista replacement they had been looking for.

Steve Ballmer, at yesterday’s delivering of the keynote address at the International Consumer Electronics Show, stated that the new OS was ‘nearly final’ and ready for for regular PC users to “download and tinker with”.

Windows 7 is allegedly able to work with net-books and pc’s that have light processing, ram and memory power. From the early adopters, the praise is well earned. Some with said net-books and light powered pc’s state that Windows 7 is fast, easy to use and boots up more quickly than Vista, and drain battery life more slowly than Vista. Gone are the error messages, boot and driver issues. It’s nice to see Microsoft coming out with a product that has everyone buzzing…in a good way.

Steve Ballmer also talked about the new Live Search engines that Microsoft has been developing, to market and place on more notebooks, net-books and pc’s. And he announced a new version of its Ford Sync in-car technology that folds in the voice-operated directory service TellMe, which Microsoft bought in 2007.

He did note that while the economy is experiencing a recession, where people and corporations are saving more and spending less, Microsoft will continue to finance and develop more and better technology to enhance a ‘rich digital life’ for us all. He reassured that Microsoft will continue to develop faster and qucker than their rivals, I mean, technology peers (is what the article says).