| Andre's profileTeching It Easy: Windows...PhotosBlogLists |  Tools  Help |
|
September 27 Where are my Ultimate Extras and DreamScene Content Pack 4?A couple days ago I saw post over at NeoWin.net informing users that new Ultimate Extras updates for Windows Vista Ultimate customers were released 'silently' through Windows Update. Unfortunately I was at work, and I wouldn't be back home until the weekend. But here I am, checking Windows Update and the only thing I see is a few optional updates for Windows. I am not sure if its only showing for US customers since my local is set to English (Jamaica).
Tinker, new in Ultimate Extras One of the the highlights of the new update is the inclusion of a new game called Tinker, the game revolves around a robot who has somehow lost his way in a confusing world and needs to find his way back home with the help of you of course. The last time a new game was included in Ultimate Extras was back in early 2007 when Microsoft released 'Texas Hold'Em Poker'.
New Ultimate Extras, hello where are you? Resources: Microsoft releases new Ultimate Extras - Microsoft Tinker More Windows 7 screenshotsWindows 7 build continues to make its way across the web and more countries. The German Enthusiast web site Winfuture.de post a huge gallery of additional Windows 7 screenshots, based on the Enterprise SKU. The screenshots also confirm that Windows Media Player is now at version 12. Check out the rest here
Windows Media Player 12.0
Interestingly, WMP 12 looks a lot like Internet Explorer 8, the light bluish color theme to the alignment of toolbar buttons. I love the focus on consistency that was somehow lost along the way in Vista. Resources: Windows 7 Preview Teching It Easy
Windows 7 – Where is Windows Meeting Space?I have been perusing those Persons covering Windows Vista have also said some not so nice things about Windows Meeting Space, here’s a quote from Preston Galla over at Computer World: Windows Meeting Center Then again, Microsoft could have just disabled the feature in Windows 7 or is planning more advanced features everyday users can take advantage of, since its more focused on groups in an organization today. I personally have some recommendations for it where social networking is concerned. The approach to getting everybody up and running now in Meeting Space is cumbersome, not seamless and dynamic enough. I wish it would just integrate with existing Microsoft technologies such as Windows Mail, Office Outlook and Live Messenger more flawlessly. Inviting somebody needs to be more convenient, a contact pane with quick access to my Address Book and Instant Messaging list so I can send a invite with a pre-ready message would have been nice.
Windows Meeting Space on Vista I think Microsoft should make Windows Meeting Space into a social networking tool that targets not just businesses, but consumers. It clearly needs to be revamped. Make it a way for users to extend their personal computing experience with family, friends and colleagues. For example, you aggregate, data from a number of online sources such as Twitter, Facebook, Windows Live Space, Pictures, Music, Videos, Flickr and Office files. Have common scenarios setup, home work, business projects, travel with sub categories and makes it full functionality available to all editions of Windows 7 with support for video conferencing. Right now, Windows Meeting Space is limited to the premium Windows Vista SKUs. Hopefully the Windows Team has some surprises in store, hey, maybe it has become one of those Live Apps you will have download. Technorati tags: Windows 7, Vista, Windows Meeting Space, Features, Preston Galla, Computer World, Ad Hoc, Social Networking, Windows Live, All Programs, Microsoft, PDC, Windows Features September 24 New Windows 7 Sessions added - New Feature Desktop TaskbarLong Zheng has discovered some new sessions that have been added to the Windows 7 category on the PDC Sessions Website one of these of interest is Windows 7 Desktop Taskbar.
Quote:
"Windows 7: Integrate with the Windows 7 Desktop Taskbar
Could this be Desktop Taskbar? Windows Vista did not present totally radical new features to the desktop except for the addition of the Windows Sidebar which were tiny applications called Gadgets, which gives users quick access to information whether its an RSS Feed or jotting down a note. With 7, it looks like old favorites such as the Taskbar will be getting major improvements. I am not sure, but the mockup screenshot above done by Tjeerd Hoek could be a possible guess as to where the Taskbar is heading. Especially with Multi-Touch being adding, the current layout of the Taskbar today in Windows just won't do for multi-touch experiences. Unveiling of Windows 7 - Attendees to receive pre-beta buildsFrom PDC Blog
Well, this should be great news for those attending this years Microsoft Public Developer Conference 2008 in October. Microsoft has confirmed that a pre-beta build of Windows 7 will be demonstrated and handed out to attendees. I assume this will be on the 160 GB special edition Western Digital hard disk attendees will be getting. Regardless of what we know so far about Windows 7, it looks like this will indeed be an enticing upgrade to look forward to as there will be a whole lot more to talk about come October and November. I wonder if Office 14 will be part of the package?
Quote:
"Be one of the first to get a look at Windows 7. Steven Sinofsky, Senior Vice President, Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group, will keynote on Tuesday, October 28.
At this year’s PDC, keynote attendees will be among the first to receive the pre-beta build of Windows 7. Additionally, attendees will have the opportunity to attend 21 different sessions that drill down into the details of developing for Windows 7."
Read the entire post here September 23 Future Windows Live Applications to become optional apps for Windows 7From News.com
Its official, those applications that came with Windows Vista such as Photo Gallery, Movie Maker and Windows Mail will now become optional downloads when Windows 7 is released. This is a good move I believe that will save the Company a lot of hassle from both its customers, competitors and partners. New opportunities will arise by giving the consumer the choice whether they want those features or not, but with improvements I see so far in Windows Live Wave 3, it shouldn't be so hard to get people to download what will be "free" applications that you would normally buy. Here is a quote from the article on CNET:
Quote:
"Microsoft has decided that Windows 7 won't include built-in programs for e-mail, photo editing, and movie making, as was done with Windows Vista, CNET News.com has learned. The software maker included Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Mail, and Windows Movie Maker as part of Vista, but later chose to offer separate downloadable Windows Live programs that essentially replaced those components with versions that could connect to online services from Microsoft and others." Read the entire article here, Mary Jo Foley also has her take on the changes here Brian Hall from Microsoft goes on to say, this will also make new releases of Windows come to market much faster providing less complexity for Microsoft's own developers. It seems this approach to providing so many built in multi-media and productivity tools in Windows was either clogging innovation and slowing down the pace at which Microsoft can deliver updates compared its competitors, not necessarily for the OS, but for applications themselves. With this new approach, new updates of the existing applications will be released much faster and Microsoft can focus on improving the core OS experience. September 21 Windows 7 M3 Photo Gallery
I just posted a Gallery of Windows 7 M3 screenshots, to view them click the Gallery of Pictures below.
Windows 7 Gallery – Click the above image to view. September 20 The Early Previews of Windows 7 ContinuesThis looks like the weekend for Windows 7 and the screenshots are out there to prove it. The first blog to present us with screenshots of Windows 7 M1 build earlier this year, THINKNEXT updates us with new AERO enabled previews showing the improved bundled applications in Windows 7 WordPad and Paint. I personally want to share my thoughts based on the screenshots I have seen so far. Windows 7 looks a whole lot If you look at the All Programs listing in Windows 7, you will now see a limited or cut down set of programs, some programs still exist like Windows DVD Maker. 7 does incorporate a few new Visual Changes Of course, Microsoft is updating the interface, and this early glimpse gives us an idea of what Microsoft is thinking. Its about cleaing up and streamlining what we have now in Vista. The first notable change I see is the glossiness of menus like Start Menu, and the Explorer windows, which evoke a more polished look and feel. Its not significantly different, but is attractive, but I hope it will be able to tone down, since its a bit too shine in my opinion and might turn out distracting for many users. Bundled applications like Calculator, WordPad and Paint have been extremely updated. UAC now with Aero – ding! Calculator User Account Control has been aerozied and seems to not black out the screen to get the users attention, as can be seen on the THINKNEXT websites, since you cannot take a ALT-PRT SC of it today in Vista. Nice, but something like that should be provided as improved functionality through a service pack. It seems Microsoft is continuing the trend of multiple SKU's for 7, since the version tested was Windows 7 Ultimate, I have my personal disagreements with this, some say they want a Windows with all the features, some just want two SKU's. I have posted my thoughts on this over at Channel9, you can read it here. New Office Fluent Inspired bundled Windows 7 applications Continuing on the bundled app changes, WordPad is now Word 2007 Lite, since it now features the Office Fluent interface which first debuted in Office 2007. Its nice, a more efficient and just a darn needed update since they have remained the same since Windows 95, of course there isn't any new functionality since everything that is in Paint on Vista has just been rearranged into two tabs, the same can be said for WordPad. As Long Zheng over at istartedsomething.com said, Office Fluent for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access 2007 was needed, since the commands in the interface had become too much and too unwieldy with the traditional Standard and Formatting toolbar approach. To some its gonna look like overkill. But I still admire the change. Windows 7 Explorer window - Computer Windows Explorer has gotten its share of small improvements which are not that significant, User folders such as Documents, Pictures, Music and Videos are now listed under what is known as Libraries, I don't know why, but some in the Windows Enthusiast Community have suggested that this might be a return of Virtual Folders which first appeared in the Windows Vista BETA 1 release and disappeared later during the betas because it was considered too much to learn for end users. I personally don't see it, but if Microsoft can find a way to improve the search experience in Windows 7, this might be their approach, since Saved Search folders today is a bit too limiting with what you can do. Parsing information and making sense of it, creating relationships between data and events would definitely give users reasons to take advantage of this once heralded feature. Windows Solutions Center Problem Reports and Solutions is now Windows Solutions Center, I guess the problem was the name, lol! It seems both Windows Update and Security center have both been consolidated into this one location, which probably is a good move and reduces the confusion in Windows of having too many locations for very similar task. I hope some of this spirit is applied to Networking Explorers in 7, we all know how there is just too much related to networking in Vista already and there needs to to be logical updates to certain areas like the TCP/IP Properties dialog becoming an Explorer similar to Display Settings is now in 7 M3. Once again, please check the channel9 post I made about improving this critical area in Windows. Microsoft is indeed listening though, because one of the screenshots on THINKNEXT proves that dialogs are really circa Windows 95 type experiences, like the Display Settings for instance is now a Explorer if I am mistaken. See screenshots below: Display Settings ‘Explorer’ not a dialog anymore, finally Going a little further and taking a look at Personalization, its definitely still a work in progress as can be seen in the screenshot on THINKNEXT, it seems that the different customization areas, wallpapers, screensavers, themes are now contextual menus that change when selected. I definitely was looking for a quicker way to customize Windows and Microsoft seems to be listening, I wanted to see collapsible panels, but looks like it do just fine, but is still kinda rough around the edges with unidentifiable blank profile icon displays over theme thumbnails. Personalization Explorer – a work in progress Windows SideBar, now free to roam The Windows Sidebar it seems is still trying to find its place in Windows, I personally like it, but rarely use it except for the RSS Gadget, but the Windows Team is following a rule from OS X by making Gadgets more like Dashboard which will roam free on the Desktop. To me, this is clutter, I personally don't always want access to my Gadgets, I would prefer to have them hidden from view and use a keyboard command to invoke them to appear or hide when I do need them. Microsoft, I need a clean Windows Desktop, I want to have control of the features to make them work the way I want to a certain degree. Windows 7 includes the latest version of Internet Explorer which is version 8, I did not bother to preview this, since its still in testing and pretty much the same as what is as what is available to the public. Windows Media Player v.Next Windows Media Player I am not sure if its version 12 at this stage, but there is definitely a difference between Media Player in Vista and 7. I am going to call it Media Player v.NEXT. This new version features radical changes to its menu structure, with some menus positioned on the left and right sides of the interface. I don’t see the significance of this, but it does look stylish, and features two thick toolbars of controls, the second one focusing on traditional features such as Organization, Sharing, Playlist and Search. The interface is much warmer and attractive I must say, player controls are not translucent anymore which give it a more conservative appearance. My friend looking at it right now says it a bit too bright and actually prefers WMP now, but its a work in progress I am trying to explain. The more I notice this update it seems to share a more iTunes like similarity. I am wondering if Microsoft is planning on integrating support for the Zune in this release instead of having a separate solution especially for persons who prefer using Media Player. Conclusion Windows 7 for now looks like a release that will give consumers confidence in the Windows platform, while also delivering on the promise of having a less bloated or more controlled experience that makes the user feel in charge. Its still early days yet and a lot of what I have said is just my opinion and does not reflect the final product or even BETA 1. I hope Microsoft will listen to users on this release though, don't go it alone without consulting us first. It doesn't look like a drastic departure feature wise from Vista, but improves upon the usability, a lot of the features I believe are more Windows Live related. Will consumers who have invested in Windows Vista today invest in this update? I don't think so in its current state, maybe if it was a free update or $29 download. Otherwise, Windows 7 is looking more like the must have upgrade for Windows XP users out there. Its still very early days and I am looking forward to hearing Microsoft's side of the story at the Professional Developers Conference 2008 and Windows Hardware Engineering Conference 2008 in October and November. If you want to know more, check out the screenshots over at THINKNEXT, you can also find a couple videos here which features a glowing start menu when hovered over. Resources September 17 Windows 7 M3 Build 6780 - Its Out There
Information about the exclusive Windows 7 M3 Build 6780 is starting to appear across the net, with a few enthusiast websites previewing basic apps like Paint and Word Pad which have received major, but welcome overhauls. Check out the screenshot here, curtesy of UX Evangelist
Windows 7 M3 Build 6780 September 13 This is just Gorgeous - iTunes 8 Visualizer
Apple really has done some great work by incorporating this third party visualizer. Stunning and just right with every response to every song I play.
Apple iTunes 8.0 September 07 Windows Live Services Wave 3 - Live Side The folks over at Live Side shows us some early glimpses of the next version of Microsoft's Windows Live services, some which were once Windows Vista only applications. What I am most glad to see is the improved user experiences and integration, for instance, Windows Live Mail will finally have an integrated calendar, something I have been longing for since Microsoft introduced Windows Calendar in Vista. The interfaces have been updated with a unified look and feel that presents a seamless experience across applications like Live Messenger and Photo Gallery. My main concern is with all these applications becoming separated from Vista and available as free downloads for even XP, what is the surface value of Vista? I understand architecturally that Vista is secure from technologies like Patch Guard, ASLR and are low level differentiators. But XP remains a dominant factor here and the more consumers see the consumer features of Vista becoming available for them, then the point of upgrading to Vista becomes even more pointless. I personally wouldn't mind if Windows Live Writer was a web based service/interface that you access through the browser example: http://writer.live.com My reason for this is because I am not always at my main computer, I don't always have my laptop, which makes it impossibly to take advantage of some of the unique capabilities of Writer like text wrapping, Video integration, photos and so on. Check out the Windows Live Services 3 overviews at the following links: A picture is worth a thousand words: People Tags in Windows Live Photo Gallery Wave 3 Movie Maker to join Windows Live family with Wave 3 Wave 3 Is Coming: Mail with Windows Live Calendar synch Windows Live Messenger – more new features expected Windows Live Writer expiry prompt hints at new applications to download in the next month September 02 Upgrade Your Browser?September 01 Working with Live Spaces - Blogging the hard wayBrandon Leblanc over at his Self-Proclaimed Windows Geek blog, talks about contemplating a move back to Windows Live Spaces, Microsoft's free online journal service which I have personally have been using since December 9th 2004. I left a comment on Brandon's blog, and I thought I should turn that into a post here. Quote: It’s been a while since I’ve posted. I’ve been really busy pumping awesome content into the Windows Experience Blog. Haven’t had much time to post here. I am thinking about moving my blog back to Windows Live Spaces. Why? Simple. It gives me one less thing to worry about. I am running this blog on its own dedicated Windows Server 2008 box which I maintain. If I were to move to Windows Live Spaces, I wouldn’t have to worry about maintaining my own server. Read the rest here Well, for me personally, Live Spaces is both a curse and a savior. Back in 2004, it was so complex trying to find somewhere on the Internet to share my thoughts and opinions. Blogger was there but hard to work with, lack a certain level of simplicity and just did not look inviting in addition being hard to customize. Then MSN Spaces came along. Immediately I was hooked to its straightforward approach, yet its degree of customization and the themes just looked great. For a person like me who doesn't know a lot about managing a web site or setting up a web server or don't have the financial resources for third party hosting, Windows Live Spaces is just perfect. But at the same time, getting your word out, and attracting readers is very, very hard. Stop blogging for a week and your impressions just disappear into think air. I am trying to restart my blogging efforts again. But Spaces makes it hard to reconnect. Because of school I haven't had the time to invest as much. I am working across multiple computers, so that level of personalization I would be able to add through tools like Windows Live Writer is not there, example, tagging, adding photos, videos, wrapping text and so on. I hope the web interface form improves in the future to support something as simple as tagging because I think it helps a great deal with reaching out to your audience. The spamming tools need to be improved too, if you check out the majority of of comments on my live space, its mostly from Chinese spammers. In addition to that, the search experience is lousy, I can't give my readers the opportunity to search my Live Space in a relevant and natural way (I don't know if this is attributed to the lousy Windows Live Search). I have tried to relay my feedback to the Spaces Team, but sometimes it just falls on deaf airs it seems. I want a Live Space that I can control, that I can use as a tool to extend my voice and make an impact. A live Space where I can find readers with related interest, who actually speak English, so we can have a discussion. Also, I wouldn't mind having integration with a future type Live Groups kind of thing, where I have my own personal group that people can join and we can build a community around. That's what I want without the complexity.
Silverlight still does not support 64-bit IE?I was trying to view a video on Channel9, when I clicked the video I wanted to review, it requested that I install Silversight. I thought, strange, I am sure I installed Silverlight a long time ago on this system. Anyway, I went ahead and clicked install, then a error page came up, take a look:
But, then I wondered, when did my browser become 64 bit by default. I did a little investigation and discovered that, when you launch IE 7 on Vista 64-bit through the 'Run' Command using 'about:blank' it defaults to Internet Explorer 64-bit. To confirm this, I tried again, with a URL, and checked the Help About dialog and surely enough, it was 32-bit IE. But, regardless, its strange Microsoft is not up on the 64-Bit bandwagon, in critical areas as this. With this being a fresh technology, I would have hoped that 64-bit development would have been there in mind at the start. Oh, well, I am not being hampered, but it just clues me in that 64-Bit development at Microsoft might be hassle. Technorati tags: Silverlight, Browser Plugins, Internet Explorer, 64-bit, Channel9, Online Video, Web, Microsoft, Compatibility Improving Boot Performance in Windows 7The Windows 7 Team is blogging again, this time about Microsoft's efforts to improve the boot time for the next release. Michael Fortin who is one of Microsoft’s Distinguished Engineers and leads the Fundamentals feature team in the Core Operating System Group, takes the time out to discuss the challenges and the experiences the Team had testing Windows 7 on various configurations out there. Also of interest, is what the Windows Team considers to be excellent from not so excellent. Quote: For Windows 7, we have a dedicated team focused on startup performance, but in reality the effort extends across the entire Windows division and beyond. Our many hardware and software partners are working closely with us and can rightly be considered an extension to the team. Startup can be one of three experiences; boot, resume from sleep, or resume from hibernate. Although resume from sleep is the default, and often 2 to 5 seconds based on common hardware and standard software loads, this post is primarily about boot as that experience has been commented on frequently. For Windows 7, a top goal is to significantly increase the number of systems that experience very good boot times. In the lab, a very good system is one that boots in under 15 seconds. For a PC to boot fast a number of tasks need to be performed efficiently and with a high degree of parallelism.
Read the entire article here I hope when the Windows Team is testing Windows 7 on systems out there it tries to order from the budget category. My brother purchased a Dell Inspiron in March 2008 with Windows Vista Home Basic 32-bit: Specs: Out of the box it was acceptable performance, boot in about 1 minute, from BIOS to building the desktop. But as applications were added, the performance and boot time of the system degraded. Here is a sampling of the applications he has installed: - AutoCAD 2009 - His application of choice, day in day out. This app takes a long time to open and he often leaves it open. These are what he often uses. What he has resorted to doing now is just plain hibernate the system and it has worked tremendously in his favor. But, there are the times when has to install Windows Updates and restart the system for them to be installed and configured. Those now rare boot times can be excruciating. In contrast, I have a laptop Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit with the following specs: Apps: Yet, its seeing a similar boot time performance of over 1 minute or more. Loading the desktop can be the most excruciating part. What I notice on the laptop is when its fully loaded up, the applications do open fast. But the boot time is really the downer. I don't like to leave my laptop sleeping or in hibernation of long periods of time. I personally have noticed and this is based on experience with XP not Vista, it does affect your system over time, things start to get corrupted and groggy. I think hibernation is at fault for killing my Dell Inspiron 840c. What I have done is disable some of the services I know I do not need. For instance, Apples iTunes installs things like Apple Mobile Device Service and iTunes Helper Service. There are some things you can disable from Services in Admin Tools and MSCONFIG, but I personally don't see a drastic difference at all, unless I am doing something wrong. I would like a feature in Windows 7, similar to IE 7 where you reset the default settings back to its originally state. Meaning, when I buy an OEM branded computer, I can remove all the third party programs that OEM’s often include without having to reinstall the OS from scratch, this should not affect device drivers. But even virus protection software must be removed in the reset process. Let me the user; decide what I want to put on my computer. But ultimately, a lot of the issues I see with Vista's performance is mostly associated with processors and memory configurations that cannot seem to handle Vista's high requirements, yet the OEMs still push these systems out to consumers. You need to have a serious talk with your partners about doing this. Either let them continue bundling XP on those systems or don't ship them at all. Don't let your brand suffer at the cost of consumer experience because OEMs are trying to save a buck or two. |
|
|
