WOW, three days go really fast and what an experience this has been for me. Coming to my first launch event will leave a lasting impression on me, and I just would like to thank all the people who help to make it possible. Terri Stratton (tabletpc.net), Nick White (Windows Vista Team Blog) and Robert Stein (ActiveWin) for making this trip a reality and smooth one. I appreciate all your hardwork and time to get me to witness a product I have been testing since July 29th 2005 go out to the masses. The social experience has been amazing, like I said earlier, getting to meet the people behind the blogs and websites I read everyday was very surreal and humbling. It was really nice to finally meet Stephen Bink and fiance, Sandro, Michael, Brandon, Ryan and Mary Jo, thank you for your great friendships and warm hospitality, all of you ROCK!

New York is such a high intensity, fast place, the people here are warm and friendly and its just so big in everyway. From the many sky scrappers to the delicious food, this place knows how to treat a traveler really great. This is a place everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime, and I hope I get the opportunity to come back here again. If I left anybody, thank you. :)

With much respect,
Andre

This morning the ActiveWin Team (Bob and I) stopped at the local Best Buy in New York City to witness Steve Ballmer (Microsoft CEO) along with a young lady from Arizona relay her experiences with Windows Vista. The press were there to cover the event, after demoing Vista to the crowd, the CEO discussed his excitement over this major release of Windows. It was refreshing to see Steve Ballmer in person, he is full of pepp, excitement and gets the crowd going with his strong tone of voice and passion for the Company. He also rallied the employees at Best Buy which was a sight to see, it was such a great time. Unfortunately though, I did not get to meet Ballmer, (because I walked away to pick up a few items), Bob was lucky enough to meet Steve, congratulate him and take a picture together (I envy Bob)!

Steve Ballmer getting personal demo of Vista, Best Buy army of employee's and Best Buy CEO.

After Steve left the crowd of consumers started chowing down on the available copies of both Office 2007 and Windows Vista. There were two iMac desktops that looked really, really out of place. The Best Buy folks should have used Boot Camp and install Vista on them. Nick White (Windows Vista Team Blog) sold the first copy of the product (I think), a signature upgrade edition from Bill Gates to a Best Buy employee. I saw the desktop Ballmer and that little girl used to demo Vista and its just awesome, its a Gateway HD display with integrated speakers.

Copies of Windows Vista and Office 2007 on shelves.

So, I just installed the latest Windows Update and Ultimate Extras. One of the Extras that a lot of game fans will have fun with is Texas Hold 'Em Poker game. According to the games Help system:

Quote:
"Hold 'Em is a blend of psychology, skill, and chance that puts you in a contest against other players, each trying to get the best hand and take home all the chips.

Each player is dealt a set of cards called a hand, and then each player wagers chips on who has the best hand. All those wagered chips are called the pot. By getting a better combination of cards in your hand than anyone else at the table, you win the pot. When one player has all the chips at the table, that player wins the tournament."

Its an interesting game, I need to study before I start playing it. Its only available to customers of the Ultimate edition Vista, if you want to extend your Windows Experience beyond the box, application and device driver updates, Ultimate should be on your list. Another Extra included is the Bitlocker Encryption feature, Bitlocker encrypts the entire system drive, including the Windows system files necessary for startup and logon. You can log on and work with your files normally, but BitLocker can help block hackers from accessing the system files they rely on to discover your password, or access your hard disk by removing it from your computer and installing it in a different computer. BitLocker can only help protect files that are stored on the drive that Windows is installed on. 

Hold Em' Poker for Windows Vista Ultimate

Quote
"The Windows BitLocker™ Drive Preparation Tool, which configures your hard drive so that you can use the BitLocker Drive Encryption feature of Windows Vista, and Secure Online Key Backup, a utility that stores a backup copy of your BitLocker recovery password and Encrypting File System (EFS) recovery certificates in your digital locker, a secure Microsoft website"

There is no sign of Windows DreamScene yet, it was previewed yesterday at the Windows Vista Launch Event. DreamScene which basically uses a looped video to turn your desktop into a live action animated background. Other add-on's include Hold ‘Em Poker game and Bitlocker/EFS Enhancements. I saw it really, really close up yesterday, and you can't even tell its been looped. My favorite so far are the waterfalls and grass blowing in the wind while the sun sets. You can even pause the effect and turn it into a static wallpaper. Its very innovative and adds a lot of life to the Windows Desktop. This is something I see a lot of consumers going nuts over. There is one DreamScene I find a little eerie, a racoon looking at you all day.

There were some language Windows Language packs available in Windows Update today Packs. For multi-lingual homes or small businesses this should be very handy.

Windows Vista Ultimate Extras Website

I think this is one of the great improvements to Windows Vista that will put a smile on many faces. Windows Update in Windows Vista includes the option of postponing updates up to 4 hours. Its great highlight of some of the many small improvements in the new OS. The days of automatically restarting your PC and nagging your are over! Hallelujah!

Speaking of updates Microsoft is beginning to provide Ultimate Extras for Windows Vista Ultimate customers, these include Hold 'Em Poker and Bitlocker Encryption. No sign of DreamScene yet which is looks really cool when you see it in person.

Brandon Leblanc of MSTechToday, talks about his experience at yesterdays Windows Vista launch event, and it sure was an experience, a cold one at first. ;)

Read the entire blog entry at The Hive WOW blog here

Other community member's also talk about their experiences:

Just because your PC does not have a DVD drive means you cannot upgrade to Windows Vista. Included in the product box is a small pamphlet that tells you how to obtain CD's with the Vista code from Microsoft:

Quote:
"It's easy to obtain the media you need for your recent Windws Vista operating system licence purchase.

If you have received a "format error" message when trying to install your new copy of Windows Vista, this likely indicates that your PC's drive cannot read the supplied DVDs and that CD's are required instead.

If you need CDs, simply visit www.windowsvista.com/1033/ordermedia for information on how t obtain this software.

I think this is pretty cool, basically, a lot of system's won't be left behind. I have seen some powerful systems that can run Vista just fine, but are limited by the fact that they are using CD drives. But, there are still limits to this, since certain DVD based functionality available in Vista will not be available to the user which possibly limits the full potential of the software. I still would recommend installing a DVD drive just for the easy installation it provides, disk swapping is such a chore.

Learn more here

 
Office 2007 and Windows Vista Packaging

ActiveWin.com got a hold of both the Windows Vista and Office 2007 packaging, show pictures of the disk, back and front. I got to hold the package for the first time and I must say its very tamper proof and took a little effort to open, especially after opening it then closing it, then trying to open it back. The box is much smaller in comparison to past traditional square boxes and comes in a hard plastic frame. The box includes two Windows Vista disk, one with x86 and the other with x64 instruction code. A nice color manual and Welcome pamphlet with quick instructions and information on getting Vista on CD's for systems without DVD drives is included. These are boxes you will find very, very hard to throw away, I definitely like them.

Check out more pictures here

Wow, what a day! The Windows Vista Launch Event took place this evening with lots of individuals from the mainstream press from across the globe who came to see Microsoft with the help of a Windows Vista Family launch product's global availability. The event brought Microsoft employees to New York to help celebrate the launch and talk one and one with person's about the features of the new OS. It was fun to see both Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer on stage, who talked about the new rich visuals, stronger security, entertainment and focus on ease of use. Steve Ballmer joined Bill in celebrating the OS's launching, looking back at the past 10 years and the impact Windows has had on computing.

Some scenes from the Launch event along with Vista supported hardware

The launch event was not only about the OS, Office 2007 also shared the spotlight, a Microsoft employee gave a presentation on both products showing the new tools for enhancing photographs and creating stunning documents in Word 2007. Prior to Gates arrival on stage, a band played drums using laundry buckets, very innovative and captivating and another band played after singing "What a Wonderful World" as the opening song, but they nearly left me deaf. Segments of the show were too loud and could have been scrapped or toned down.

Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, Windows Vista Family, MS Employee demoing Vista and launching the OS world wide.

Attendee's at the launch event, (L-R) Me, Leen Snoek (Windows Server MVP), Bob Stein (ActiveWin.com), Nick White (Vista Team Blog) and Ryan Hoffman (Extended64)

I got to meet some people who's blog's and websites I have been reading for years, it was nice having a short chat with Paul Thurrott, Jim Lauderback and many others from the many Microsoft technology related websites who were in attendance. After the launch, I had dinner with Mary Jo Foley of the popular Microsoft ZD NET Blog along with Sandro Villinger of WindowsTweaks.info Yes, it was an exhausting day, some attendee's had to wait outside for a long time before they got their badges to enter the building (me included) and it was freezing like it was the end of hell. Overall, it was worth the wait. It was my first time seeing Gates and Ballmer in person having them 10 to 15 feet away was kinda surreal, it was also a great pleasure to meet with many persons who write about technology everyday. This will certainly be an experience I will never for get.

New York City embracing Vista's launch.

I have a new appreciation for my home island of Jamaica, New York is wonderful in many ways, but the cold temperatures is just too overwhelming. I have like three layers of clothing on, plus a jacket and I'm cold to the bone. I was beginning to wonder if the hair on my legs have fallen off because of it, it has this silky smooth feeling, I checked, they are still there.

Nick White and Brandon Leblanc

Nick White of the Windows Vista Team Blog and Windows Vista Project Manager who I had the pleasure of meeting this morning for the first time, bought me a Moca Chocolate latte (not sure if that's the correct name) at Star Bucks, and it was a definite, help, thanks again Nick. Also, I would like to thank Brandon, for his Teen Titans mitten gloves, although, my hands were still in icicle mode, they did help keep them warm in a weird sorta way. Before that, we stopped at Best Buy to check out the latest PC's some running Vista, most of the laptops are running Vista though. I saw some really cool mobile systems from HP with built cameras running mixture of Home Premium and Ultimate 64-bit, but no box copies of Vista on the store shelves...yet.

Some pictures of the Windows Vista Tour Bus and misc. pics of NY's many sky scrappers.

I got to pick up a couple items at Best Buy, some memory for my brothers laptop, a larger SD card for my camera, (1 GB), good riddance to the lousy 16 MB's, now I can take lots and lots of pictures. :) The Windows Vista Tour Bus was parked outside on the street, so I got to take some pictures of that which was nice. So much for now, stay tuned:

Resources:
ActiveWin.com
The Wow
Windows Vista Blog
MSTechToday

Quote:

"We have just posted our 72-page, 200+ screenshot (Part 1) review of Microsoft Windows Vista, ActiveWin's largest and most in-depth review in ten years. In the review, we have broken down the information into 28 different sections, including (but not limited to): Windows Activation, Pricing, Installation, Daily Usage, Media Center, Windows Mail, DirectX 10, Gaming, Defender, IE 7, ReadyBoost, Developer Technologies, Sidebar, Windows Media Player 11, and much much more. Moreover, we have included respective screenshots where applicable. Here is an excerpt:

Windows Vista is finally here for everyone  and is soon to be made available on store shelves and pre-loaded on new PC’s. Windows Vista has been five years in the making; throughout that time we have witnessed Microsoft reschedule the release of this “major upgrade” over and over and over again. Microsoft, however, throughout that tumultuous time did manage to pick up the pieces and move forward. Microsoft has released Vista in two phases; one for Volume License Customers (businesses) launched November 2006 and another for consumers at the end of January. The ActiveWin Team has been testing the RTM release of the OS for the past couple of months now and it must be noted that the final product has shown tremendous improvements in areas such as stability and performance, which gives us the confidence to say, its definitely ready for daily usage.

Read the rest here

So, I finally made it to New York after a long 3 hour journey from Jamaica W.I. in anticipation for the launch of Microsoft's next generation operating system and desktop productivity suite, Windows Vista and Office 2007. I also got the chance to meet a few Community Influential's such as Michael of Hardware Geeks, Bob Stein of ActiveWin Networks, Terri Stratton of the tabletpc.net, Ryan Hoffman of Extended64.com and my very good friend Brandon Leblanc of MSTechToday who I chat with a lot about Windows Vista.

Pictures from Time Square

For Microsoft and Consumers, tomorrow is a momentous occasion after five years of planning and development, we have finally seen what started out as Longhorn come to fruition. The hard work, persistence, passion and dedication of the many developer teams at Microsoft have not gone in vain. New innovations to how we interact with our computers, gaining positive experiences will make Vista the best operating system to date. I have been testing Windows Vista RTM for over the past two months now as a member of the ActiveWin Team and I am truly 100% behind my saying its ready for the taking. Go get your copy tomorrow. :)

Resources:
Windows Vista
Windows Vista Launch Day Event

I just checked the Dell website and discovered that they are now selling PC's preloaded with Windows Vista:

Quote:

Imagine living a secure, digital life to the fullest - accessing many of the latest technologies from virtually anywhere in your home¹. Select Dell PCs with Microsoft's new Windows Vista^TM  Operating System can give you that lifestyle in a more exciting and secure way than ever before.
Depending on your system's configurations, Windows Vista can provide:

• Great features  like Windows Media Center help you manage video, audio and TV all from your Dell PC with a tuner
• New security options  such as Parental Controls and integrated Anti-Spyware help protect your family when accessing your personal data or information from the Internet
• New tools  such as integrated search help enable you to get work done fast. Windows Vista^TM  can allow you to easily organize and find your photos, videos, music and documents
• The cool interface  of Windows Aero² designed to make your computer experience dynamic and fun

Learn more here

This week I stopped by the Post Office to get the mail and was told I had a parcel here waiting for me. Hmm, I wondered what it could be, the lady then gave me a slip to sign, which required I pay JA $476 dollars about $10 US. The lady went to get the package which came in a very big box which put a big smile on face. After all the red tape, I went home right away to see what I gotten.

It was just what I wanted, a new Laptop bag made just perfect for the Acer Ferrari 5000. The bag uses a vertical layout instead of the traditional square shape and features many compartments for storing additional items. Included with the package were two USB hubs for connecting to broadband network and additional USB devices.

I just would like to say thank you to the folks at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) for this wonderful gift. Now I can work smarter and carry the Ferrari 5000 in style. ;) 

Sorry for the long blog break, been really, really busy. Anyway, I upgraded my brother's Dell Inspiron 640m laptop yesterday to Windows Vista Business Editon from XP Home Edition. The upgrade itself was a very smooth process, surprisingly, topping out at an hour and a half to complete the upgrade from XP.

System Specs:

Dell Inspiron 640m
Intel Core Duo 1.6 GHz T2300 (32-Bit)
512 MBs of RAM
Not sure about the graphics, but its onboard with about 128 MBs alloted for video RAM.

The laptop was purchased in June of 2006 and is certified Vista capable . Unfortunately, the amount of installed RAM has held the system back greatly, making it a major underperformer. I think Dell made a major mistake by labeling this laptop Vista Capable, since its very slow to boot and operate after upgrading to Vista. I have done a lot since upgrading, configuring and removing certain unncessary startup items, uninstalling unneeded applications, but there is no significant change in performance to call it fully usable. Surprisingly, it supports Windows AERO Glass, but adds to the burden of performance. Just to give my brother the full experience of Vista, I enabled it anyway, but even with AERO Basic, its still a groggy system. Vista was right though to suggest AERO Basic as the default theme, but its just awful and my brother agrees. I disabled some of the visual effects of Glass such as Window animations to make it feel less molasses like. 

Dell Inspiron 640m running Windows Vista Business RTM

RAM is the biggest concern, Dell should have by default configure the system with 1GB instead of 512. The system itself is a bit awkward because of the location of the extra empty slot to install additional memory. In this case its under the keyboard which requires a lot of work to pull down the entire system to install. Instead, I will just sacrifice the existing 512 MB located at the bottom of the system since I am just not up for pulling down my brothers precious one and only laptop. Overall, I think the upgrade was very smooth, but the Vista upgrade advisor could do a better job of informing the user of what the user can achieve out of the Vista experience based the systems specs. I hope more drivers are available for components like Sonics and BVRP software since they are poping up every freaking time I boot the system about not compatible and will be disabled. Impressed I was though to see a clean Device Manager which was a great sigh of relief. Other noticeable things, it got a WEI rating of 2.9, oh man! If it was 3.0, the laptop would have gotten all of the Visual Slide Themes.

My brother himself is in love with Vista and doesn't seem to be that bothered by the performance, he is a big fan of Gadgets, his favorite being CPU meter and Clock. He is not so much sold on RSS it seems. He say's that the process of going to the website is just more approachable. But I can understand from his perspective since he is new to the technology but I am sure the more he uses Vista it, he will see the value. He is also impressed by Vista's Flip 3D and the semi-translucent UI which he has customized to use a blue tint from the Windows Color and Appearance settings under Personalization.

In late December 2006 Acer Inc and Windows Vista (Microsoft) delivered review units to a group of 90 bloggers from the Windows Communities requesting their thoughts on the system and the new operating system in particular. I was fortunate to be a recipient of one of these units, an Acer Ferrari 5000. Of course, I did not receive my review unit as quickly as other’s did since DHL had problems getting clearance on the machine at the AirPort because of the cost, US $5,000. Because shipments over US $3,000 in Jamaica are considered to be Business shipments, a 2% customs duty needs to be paid on such items. Of course, all of that was taken care of, but some how, the laptop still had problems getting delivered to me. Just to prove how difficult, the laptop was shipped to Jamaica on December 29^th, and had clearance problems from then on and was not cleared for delivery until today (January 15, 2007). DHL, please do a better job next time, and follow the instructions on the AirWay Bill instead of looking at the cost of the product, and tell your employee’s to mind their own business; they are hired to deliver, not to wonder why I don’t have to pay any duty.

Unpacking the Ferrari 5000 is very straight-forward, just open the box and pull it out then remove the protective Styrofoam handles. After looking at images of the laptop on the web I am surprised to note how thin and light it is in person plus attractive. I opened it, hit the power button and it booted it up, the BIOS screen displays a Formula One Ferrari racing car then begins loading the OS. It’s nice to see something different for a change instead of the standard boring OEM logo or BIOS manufacturer logo. The laptop comes pre-loaded with the new Windows Vista probably one of the first, I’ll talk more about that a little later.

System Specs:

AMD Turion X2 2.0 GHz Dual Core processor (64-Bit)

160 GB Serial ATA Drive

2 GB of DDR2 667 MHz memory

ATI Rage X1600 Graphics (256 MB)

15inch Wide Screen Display

DVD + RW Dual Layer drive (Slot loading)

Wireless Bluetooth Mouse with rechargeable batteries

Software:

Windows Vista Ultimate x64 Edition

Office 2007 Enterprise Edition

I should have the entire review up on ActiveWin.com soon so stay tuned, in the mean time, check out some early pics I took.

From Macworld

Quote:

 "The iPhone, which runs Mac OS X, has full iTunes integration and can also seamlessly sync data with a desktop, including music and videos from iTunes, contacts, calendars, photos, notes, bookmarks and email accounts.

The 11.6-millimeter thick device also sports a 2-megapixel camera, headset jack, 3.5-millimeter audio jack, SIM tray, a “sleep-wake” switch, speaker, microphone input and an iPod dock connector. The quad-band GSM + EDGE phone also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 capabilities. Jobs noted 3G capabilities will come in the future.

Three smart sensors also help control the iPhone’s behavior. A proximity sensor shuts down the display and touchscreen when the phone is held to the ear. An ambient light sensor automatically adjusts screen brightness to save power. Meanwhile, an accelerometer lets the phone know whether to display in portrait or landscape mode.

The iPhone will come in two versions, a 4GB $499 model, and an 8GB $599 model with a two-year contract. Both will be available beginning in June. Cingular will be the exclusive U.S. carrier."

Read more here

Apples iPhone

Ok, it blows every PDA, Smart Phone, MP3 Player, Portable Video Player out of the water, but the price plus agreement just sucks. I was hoping Apple was gonna be competitive in every aspect on this one. First of all, they are late to market, most persons already own a phone and mp3 or both combined. A reasonable price would have been a great incentive for users to drop their existing setup and embrace the iPhone and ultimately the "Apple Platform". Yes, the features outweigh the cost, but I just think its too darn expensive. Also, Cingular is the only supported carrier right now, so I don't expect this to hit Jamaica for the next 3 to 5 years and maybe thats a good thing. Probably by then, the price will come down and more superior models will be on market with more features such as 16 and 32 GB Flash memory models.

Remember, Jobs is a good showman and magician, that guy can make dirt with earth worms look like the best thing on the planet. Certainly with it being a first generation product, glitches are to be expected. Also, the long wait before users are able to get one is another cripple. No doubt about it, its an awesome media device and takes the cellular phone into the 21st century and beyond and there is just no trade off in features. But..., I can only picture Paris, John, Madonna, Jessica, Justin and Britney using one right now. Macworld itself was kinda left hanging since there were no other announcements apart from the Apple TV and iPhone, no updates to current systems or progress on Leopard development.

A lot of persons have been asking for Antivirus software..., thats compatible with Windows Vista RTM. Here I have compiled a list of ones you can currently download and use with Vista if your running the RTM build. Other AV vendors such as Symantec, promise to have updated versions of their popular utilities ready by the consumer launch or a little bit after.

NOD32 from ESET for Windows Vista x86 and x64
Licensed users of NOD32 may download their software. If you have not purchased NOD32 you may purchase it, download a free 30-day trial, or contact an ESET representative for assistance. A valid username and password is required in order to download the software.

Windows Vista 32 & 64 Bit -
http://www.eset.com/download/balance.php?dir=/download/win/v2st/ndntenst.exe

Windows Vista 32 & 64 Bit (LAN Update Server) -
http://www.eset.com/download/balance.php?dir=/download/win/v2ad/ndntenad.exe

AVAST! 4.7.892 Home Edition for Vista x86 and x64

avast! 4 Home Edition is a full-featured antivirus package designed exclusively for home users and non-commercial use. Both of these conditions should be met! Our company offers the Home Edition free of charge, since, in our opinion, it is possible to avoid global virus spreading by efficient prevention; however, many users are not able to or do not want to pay for antivirus software. This page will show you the most important features of this program.

Registration required

http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

AVG for Windows Vista

http://www3.grisoft.com/doc/products-avg-anti-virus/lng/us/tpl/tpl01

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/avg-anti-virus-free/lng/us/tpl/v5

Microsoft Windows Live OneCare 1.5 for Windows Vista x86

http://ideas.live.com/programpage.aspx?versionId=b2456790-90e6-4d28-9219-5d7207d94d45

BETA Products:

McAfee VirusScan Enterprise-8.5i Release Candidate

http://www.mcafee.com/us/enterprise/downloads/beta/beta_mcafee/vse.html

Kaspersky Antivirus 6.0

Download here

Norton Antivirus 2007 BETA

Download here

Norton 360 Beta

Download here

Trend Micro PC Cillin Internet Security for Vista x86 and x64

Download here

Windows Live OneCare 1.5 was recently released to manufacturering, Microsoft's security and backup suite. With the second release, the company is adopting the new product box style being used by Windows Vista and Office 2007. Previous owners are automatically upgraded through an update to the latest version.

Windows Live OneCare 1.5 supports both Windows XP x86 and Vista x86.

Speaking of product packaging, Volkan Veleren sent me a glimpse of the Windows Vista OEM packaging, no suprises here. This stock photo also seems to be using a Windows XP disk instead of the new Vista style hologram DVD. Also, there is not indication if the OEM packaging includes both x86 and x64 platforms.

Windows Vista OEM Packaging.

The Windows Vista Business test-drive allows you to try (or "est-drive") the latest operating system from Microsoft without having to install ito n your PC. By simply logging onto our test-drive environment using your web-browser, you will be able to experience Windows Vista first-hand. You can explore the product on your own, or follow along with guided execises and videos.

Sign into Test Drive here

Amazon.com list a special upgrade edition of Microsoft's next version of Windows, Vista called Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade Signature Edition. There is nothing particularly special about except for Bill Gates left hand signature on the front. It will only be made available for a limited time and only as an Upgrade Package. I must say the Vista Ultimate product box is just gorgeous, lovely artwork.

Learn more here