Yesterday Microsoft announced the technical preview of Office Web Apps. A suite of Microsoft's popular desktop programs Word, Excel and PowerPoint that are now built into the web browser allowing users rich fidelity of documents anywhere, anytime, any device. Microsoft Office Web Apps will be delivered as part of the next generation of Office products and services (Office 2010). With this announcement, its also official that Office Web Apps are now a part of the Windows Live which I am excited about. Yesterday evening, I had a chance to check out these applications and so far I am very impressed with what I have experienced. Let me get this out of the way right now, Office Word Web kicks Google Docs to the curb. From performance to the richness of viewing documents. Microsoft has a hit on their hands here and I can't wait to see more functionality added to the service over the next few months. Microsoft Office Web Apps support the following web browsers: Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Apples Safari.

Setup & Access

End User License Agreement

To use Office Web Apps, you will need to have a Windows Live ID (Hotmail, Live, MSN) account with access to Windows Live Skydrive. Once you have your account setup, simply go to a folder containing Office documents such as Word, Excel or PowerPoint or upload some files to your Skydrive (http://skydrive.live.com). When you open a folder with Office files in it, you will see a banner for the first time announcing a request to "Join our preview program to create, edit, view, and share Office documents online!" Once you click this link, you will be asked to accept a EULA which is currently a Technical Preview (Beta).

Selecting your Office document to view or edit

After setting up the service, select a document from your library, which will display a gallery of options, such as View, Edit, Download, Delete, Move etc. Right now, you are limited to viewing Documents, no editing which will be coming soon. My interest is primarily to see if the formatting is preserved in the web browser. After clicking View, your document will be loaded and that's it!

How does it look?

A table rendered beautifully in Microsoft Word Web App

Well, its just like viewing in Microsoft Word on the desktop. Boring I know and that's a good thing. You will notice that you are limited with you can do for now, but documents are rendered just like you would have them in Microsoft Word 2007, the same fonts, paragraphs and even tables are displayed correctly. 

Functionality available in Office Web Word app now are limited to viewing, searching the document, printing and scan through documents quickly. The interface maintains some similarity with the desktop versions in particular Office 2010. If you are limited on screen real estate, you can click the pop out button (located in the upper left hand corner of the screen), which will display your document in a separate window minus the web browsers file menu and toolbars. Alternatively, you can gain more real estate in either Firefox or Internet Explorer by hitting the F11 key on your keyboard. Performance is quite good, I was able to load 1.7 MB Word Document in under a minute, considering its 29 pages of text and, complex table and numerous images.

Office Web Apps are limited for the time being, but more functionality is expected soon!

Suggestions and Conclusion

Right now, as much as I love the Windows Live wave branding, I think it takes away a lot of real estate, this is not a problem on high resolution monitors. But for me, I would like to see more of my document, so possibly making the banner that reveals the path to your document in the Skydrive much thinner in height would be nice. Just like the desktop version of Microsoft Office apps, I would prefer if the file name is displayed in the title bar "Microsoft Office Web App (Technical Preview) - File Name" to maintain some consistency in look and feel. These are minor suggestions anyway, but I like what I see and it should open up a new world of productivity for users. For instance, I am working on the "ActiveWin: Windows 7 Ultimate Review" which is 67 pages of content, the most frustrating part is being told I have to make a few changes here and there. This means, I need to load up Microsoft Word, make the change then upload it back to my Skydrive Collaboration folder. With Office Word App, I don't need to do this anymore, I can make changes or the person with whom I am sharing/collaborating with on the document can do this if necessary from within web browser with no need to download or re-upload. If you need to make more complex changes, you can always download the file back into Office Word on the desktop and apply changes. Its clear benefits like that I see Office Web Apps making a huge impact.

Resources

A look at the new Office 2010
The Microsoft Office 2010 IT Blog
Microsoft Web Apps: Microsoft Office goes to the web 

Microsoft has created a successful franchise that is Office, a suite of applications that pioneered cohesive experiences allowing end users to be productive by using a uniformed approach to working with information across a variety of familiar applications. 2007’s successful Office 2007 infused the platform with new momentum by further innovating with new ways of using Office applications more effectively through the new Office Fluent UI that exposed tools that were once hidden under drop down menus. With Office 2010, it’s about building on those benefits by exposing more applications in the Office family to Office Fluent. In addition to that Office 2010 improves the core experiences that initially made the platform so popular.

Pre-liminary Requirement:

Operating System: Windows XP SP2 or higher: Pentium 1.0 GHz, or higher RAM: 512 MBs or above HD: Varies depending on installation choices, Resolution: 1024 x 600 or higher.

Test System:

Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Release Candidate, Intel Core 2 Quad 2.5 GHz, 2 GBs of ECC RAM, nVidia Quadro FX 1700.

Microsoft Office 2010 Upgrade Path warning

Setup

Microsoft for the first time is supporting a full 64 bit release of Office. The advantages users can expect include the ability to address more than 4 GBs of memory, more robustness and performance across the suite. It’s also a model of the future where the industry is expected to go, 64 bit is the future and Office is embracing it with full force. What I discovered though is that Microsoft Office 2010 64 bit will require a clean install, which means, there is no upgrade path from 32 bit Office. If you want to install 64 bit Office on a PC that already has a 32 bit version of Office, you will have to uninstall it then re-run setup, otherwise, choose Office 2010 32-bit. Right now, Office 2010 Technical Preview setup program looks identical to Office 2007, as the suite approaches beta 2 and the final release; I am sure distinctive branding will come into play. After selecting a custom setup option, I noticed that Groove has now been renamed SharePoint Workspace, what’s also new is the addition of SharePoint Workspace and OneNote to the Professional Plus SKU, which makes me wonder if Microsoft is eliminating the Enterprise SKU under their volume licensing programs.

Installing Office 2010

Office 2010 is big, requiring at least 2.5 GBs of disk space. This is quite amazing when I think back to when Office 95 full install used about 88 MBs of disk space. There are reasons of course for this, more features and applications have been incorporated into the Office family and suites, so it’s a given. With today’s enormous storage devices ranging in hundreds of gigabytes and terabytes, Office 2010 is more than welcome on most systems today. Office 2010 installed in less than 9 minutes. It’s something I have noticed with the Office 2007 release that the suite takes longer to install than past versions. I remember installing versions 2003, 2002 and 2000 in less than 4 minutes. I hope that’s one of the improvements the Office Team applies to this release because installing is excruciatingly long in my opinion.

Microsoft Office Word 2010 - Stunning

First Experiences

User experience is abounding in this release and you will notice it when you launch an Office 2010 application for the first time. Some of the Office 2010 application splash screens animate, but it goes by so fast you just might miss it. I see immediate performance in that area already, so kudos to the Office Team there. Word 2010, which is the first application I launched (of course it would be), you are presented with a gorgeous, graphically rich UI that implements strong use of the Aero Glass transparency effects with the Gallery Tabs area displaying faint semi-transparent background of your desktop or non-active windows. Is this important, nope, but it really looks good and I like the focus on aesthetics. Office has always carried its own pizzazz by presenting a new look with each release since Office XP. The Office Button introduced in version 2007 is now gone, thank goodness, featuring a more stylish, yet conservative tabbed appearance with a distinct colour representing each respective Office application, the File menu in 2010 is significantly enhanced. Featuring an information centre, the Office 2010 File menu is more detailed about your Office files. Immediately users can glance at topics such as Permissions, distribution methods, versioning, property information and improved life cycle management facilities. In addition to these, users can find common functions such as Save, Save As, Open, Close, recently accessed files which unfortunately were not preserved from my Office 2007 install. The New menu is greatly enhanced; a gallery of templates can be accessed much faster instead of the cumbersome Office 2007 New Template window which got in the way. Here is a tip Office Team, implement a collapsible panel for the Template Galleries.

The new Office 2010 File Menu showing Backstage Preview

Printing is also more accessible, built right into the Office File menu; you can quickly choose a Printer and different printing options along with a quick print preview (called Backstage) of your document before sending to the Printer. Sharing is also more simplified, with different Galleries detailing options for each task. The more I use Office 2010; I am saying to myself, this is not a minor update after all. The interface is well organized especially where the Office file menu is concerned, it’s too bad the application Options dialog was not incorporated into the File menu itself; this would have been a great way to reduce the mouse clicks and just naturally integrate with the Office 2010 experience.

Office Fluent or Ribbon in 2010 is more manageable, one of the first things I noticed was a chevron for minimizing the Fluent much faster instead of using the Quick Access Toolbar menu; alternatively, you can use the CTRL + F1 keyboard command. The Office 2010 UI is much flatter in appearance similar to productivity applications in Windows 7 that have embraced the ribbon. The Insert menu features a new Screenshot tool that allows you to quickly insert screen captures on the fly. This is a convenient option for technical authors who might be writing long manuals about features in a program and would like to quickly insert shots on the fly.

The Word 2010 Contextual menu adds some subtle improvements such as an improved Styles Gallery and richer Paste Special Options menu with real time preview of text before it is pasted. Word 2010 also adds a cool effect when hovering over the paste option, the context menu will automatically become transparent while you preview the different paste formatting available.

Excel 2010

Using Office Excel 2010's new Sparklines feature

I tried my hardest to look for new features in Excel 2010 apart from the improved Office Fluent UI. Most of the notable changes were subtle, with a few re-arranging of some icons and features. For example, the ‘Existing connections’ source dialog from under the ‘Data’ tab > ‘Get External Data’ gallery in Excel 2007, has been renamed ‘Slicer’, and is now located under the ‘Insert’ tab. The Charts gallery features smaller pictorial representations of the different types of charts that can be created. A new Gallery under the Insert menu has been added called ‘Sparklines. Sparklines are tiny graphs that can fit in a single cell of a spreadsheet. Apart from some additional miniaturization, there is not much else to see.

PowerPoint

Not much was found, except for additional consolidation of toolbar buttons, such as the new ‘Record Slide Show’ button for recording narration of your slideshow. Version 2010 adds the ability to record your presentation as video. You can optionally, on the fly choose to have audio narrations and laser pointer gestures played during a slide show, along with the option to display media controls when you move your mouse pointer over audio or video clips.

You can record your slide-shows as videos using Office PowerPoint 2010

The Review menu features expanded options with a new Compare and OneNote gallery. You can compare and combine another presentation with your current presentation. Along with this, are traditional reviewing tools for multiple persons working on the same presentation such as Accept, Reject and completing a review. If you have OneNote installed, PowerPoint will install an add-in that takes notes about your presentation in OneNote. Links are automatically created in OneNote that can be used to get back to the presentation, or press this button to find any notes already created in OneNote about this presentation.

Access

Access 2010 was a tough exploration, because I just could not find anything significantly new. What I did see were improvements to Table fields that feature more distinctive variegation that made it easier to read fields with lots of information. Galleries have been rearranged and consolidated, Font Gallery and Rich Text has been combined into Text Formatting and moved to the extreme right of the Home tab.

Microsoft Office Access 2010

The Create Tab features a new button under Templates gallery called ‘Application Parts’, which seems to be a combination of Table Templates buttons now consolidated into a single option. The balloon describes App Parts as providing the ability to insert or create portions of a database or an entire database application. You can create tables, forms, and reports as database parts. Save combinations and use them to form common components. You can also save an entire application. For organizations and teams that build solutions on top of Access, this sounds like a powerful solution that reduces a lot of the manual work that would be required of previous releases. Other noticeable changes include the ‘Form Wizard now displayed within the Forms gallery instead of the ‘More Forms’ pop up list. The ‘other’ gallery has added some new buttons for Visual Basic for Office applications.

External Data tabs adds some features that are new, a web service button is now available under ‘Import’ gallery. Collect Data gallery has now been consolidated into the ‘Export’ Gallery. A new gallery called ‘SharePoint Lists’ provides tighter integration with Microsoft’s SharePoint Portal software. With the release of Excel 2007, Microsoft introduced Excel Services, one of the things Access users and developers were yearning for was better integration with SharePoint too. At the last Office Developer Conference, Microsoft Chairman, Bill Gates talked about how the Office Team is working to improve Access integration on the SharePoint front:

“So the next step is to take that base of Access users and literally let them write things that connect directly up to SharePoint and so it’s server based. So it’s a logical step for Access. There’s a lot of smart people working on that, so in no sense are we leaving the Access people behind. The same way we moved Excel up to the server, now we’re moving Access up there as well. – Bill Gates

The Access Datasheet contextual tab, features some changes with expanded galleries, such as Formatting now separated from ‘Data Type & Formatting’, along with Properties, Validation and Table Logic. Some of the buttons seem to be non functional at this time. Table Design View features some new Gallery options for: Field, Record & Table Events along with a Relationships gallery.

Publisher 2010

No longer the black sheep of the family; Publisher 2010 embraces the Office Fluent user interface, along with some unique features that will make this release even easier for users in small DTP shops. The new Office 2010 File Menu is automatically presented on start-up. Featuring the programs collection of installed templates. If you want you can select a template, or click ‘Back’ to start from a new Blank Publication. Publishers traditional Task Panes have been replaced by a Thumbnail preview of pages in your publication. Personally I don’t like it and would have preferred the more productive Formatting Task Pane.

Office Publisher 2010 now embraces the Office Fluent UI and is also 64 bit capable

It’s quite interesting how all of Publisher’s numerous Drop Down menus have been consolidated into five main tabs in version 2010. These include Home, Insert, Page Design, Mailings and View. Familiar options once found in the Publisher Task Pane such as Page Options, Colour and Font Schemes along with Publication layout can all be found under Page Design within galleries, which is actually refreshing. Publisher 2010’s popular Mailing feature is identical to Word 2007, which is an example of Office 2010 going back to the fundamentals of what made Office so popular to begin with. The process of learning one application in the Office suite is carried over to the next. With Office Fluent, Publisher also adopts features such as Office Smart Gallary Shapes that will make it easier to work with.

As for that new Thumbnail Task Pane, it’s not bad, but I think it would be better if it was a Tabbed Pane while still keeping the traditional Formatting pane from previous versions of Publisher. Overall, Publisher users should be excited about this update of the application which combines the ease of use introduced by Office Fluent with Publishers hallmark simplicity when it comes to Desktop Publishing.

Outlook 2010

Outlook 2010 surprisingly takes on Office Fluent and I must say it does it well. Most of the new features in this release take advantage of Exchange Server 2010 such as the following:

A look at the new Outlook 2010 with Office Fluent showing message threads

• Built-in e-mail archive
• View Emails in Conversation thread
• Ignore Conversation, which allows users to mute an e-mail thread they are not interested in.
• MailTips - warns users before they send an e-mail if a particular recipient is out of the office and unavailable or warns users if the email is to be sent to a distribution group that is very large or includes recipients external to the company or warns if they are going to send an attachment outside their company’s firewall. MailTips will not be available on Windows Phones
• Text previews of voicemails in Outlook
• Tracks whether messages arrived with recipients

Office 2010 includes built in support for PDF publishing which was included as a part of the Office 2007 SP2 release. There are no changes to file formats except for the addition of ODF (Open Document Format) which was also included in Office 2007 SP2 and is not built in Windows 7’s WordPad word processor.

Office 2010 works great on the new Windows 7 operating system

Conclusion

Office 2010 is an improvement over version 2007, it’s not radical, but it still improves upon the fundamentals. I am glad to see more applications in the suite embrace Office Fluent UI which will further reduce the need to have an understanding of two UI paradigms when working with the suite. Of course, I have not covered everything Office 2010 such as some of those new applications that are now ‘ribbonized’ like SharePoint Workspace (formerly Groove), InfoPath, OneNote, SharePoint Designer and Project. This is an early rough preview and I need to sit down and explore the suite some more, especially the improved File menus which I find are more fun and productive to use.

Is this an upgrade every Office user should look forward to? The product is still in development, so I am not gonna call shots just yet. But for users who are still contented with Office 2003, XP or 2000, this is definitely an upgrade to look forward to. Office 2007 users who use core features of the suite and want a suite that simplifies task even more and makes working across applications smoother, this release should add even more agility to your workflow.

Another part of the Office 2010 equation is the new lineup of Web applications that will essentially take Office to the web browser making it available on any platform or computer out there. Microsoft has not provided code for us to preview just yet, but they did announce how they plan to distribute this radical change to Office. Office Web Applications will be available for free through Windows Live. It will cost customers who want a Web Applications platform hosted on their own servers. And users will also be able to buy a subscription to Web Applications through Microsoft Online Services.

Resources

Introducing Microsoft Office 2010 Technical Preview
ActiveWin.com Microsoft Office 2007 Review
ActiveWin.com Microsoft Office Publisher 2007 Review
Microsoft Office 12 Beta 1 Preview

Here is my formal review of Windows 7 Release Candidate just published on ActiveWin.com. Although the RC has been out a good while now, its still a great read that takes a hard look at some of the other deep innovations and benefits this release of Windows introduces.

What can I say? Windows 7 just keeps getting better. It’s been a long pause since January 7^th 2009, but Microsoft has finally quenched our thirst with a brand new build of the next version of the Company’s desktop operating system and not just any build either. Release Candidate signifies Microsoft is on the road to RTM. A Release Candidate build often gives a hint of a development release that could potentially become the final product. Microsoft has also confirmed that Windows 7 will be finalized in the second half of July, with General Availability expected by October 22^nd 2009. I have covered Windows 7 since the early alpha build 6801 released to attendees at the Professional Developers Conference late October 2008. I am not going to go over everything, just some technologies and components that I never got to look at in build 7000 and some of the improvements Microsoft has made since the last build and a look at some scenarios such as in-place upgrading and Anytime Upgrade.

Read the entire preview here

Related

ActiveWin.com: Microsoft Windows Live Essentials - Review

My review of Windows Live Essentials is now up on ActiveWin.  I have been using the suite for a while now, sharing my experiences with each application and service through individual post, now you can read it all in one big post. :)

With the launch of Windows 7, Microsoft has introduced some new scenarios and ways of working with your computer. Core operating system features like Windows Touch, Ink and Speech make up a really strong feature set. The new Scenic user interface in particular with its radically updated Taskbar has kept folks busy learning about its new functionality like Jump List, Aero Peek and Pinning Shortcuts to it plus more, but what about the ‘other’ Windows? Yes, the one that focuses on extending the experiences of the Windows OS to the web and personal activities such as email, photos, videos and expression.

Windows Live Essentials is more than just applications though; it’s also a seamless, streamlined set of well integrated software plus services. Microsoft is focused on delivering value beyond the box and based on my experience with the suite since September 2008, I must say, I am highly impressed! Back in January of 2007, Microsoft introduced Windows Vista, which bundled new and improved applications such as Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Mail and Windows Movie Maker. Over time Microsoft updated Photo Gallery and Mail beyond the operating system christening them as ‘Live’ applications. This created a problem of duality, triggering a possibility of confusion between similar applications already built into the OS. So, Microsoft decided from then on that certain programs would be removed from Windows and be made available exclusively through Windows Live instead.

Read the rest here

From ActiveWin.com

The ActiveWin Team is proud to present part one of our Windows Server 2008 Review. In it we take a look at some old and new technologies. Some common scenarios such as promoting Windows Server 2008 to a Domain Controller, install and configure DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol), DNS (Domain Name System) and IIS 7.0 (Internet Information Server). Windows Server 2003’s revolving theme was doing more with less; Server 2008 is about strengthening that foundation and providing new opportunities to take advantage of the latest in processing power and hot new technologies like virtualization.

Check it out here

Hey everyone, Happy New Year! Yeah its a bit late for that one, but don't worry I have not gone anywhere. I am definitely excited about the year 2008 and what has in store for us technology wise. The year 2007 was a fast pace one and we witnessed the release of major Microsoft products which resulted in numerous reviews, I just would like to take a brief look back what we covered:

Software Reviews

• Microsoft Windows Vista (32 & 64-bit)
• Microsoft Office 2007
• Windows Internet Explorer 7

Hardware Reviews

• Acer Ferrari 5000 x64 Laptop (Windows Vista)
• Logitech MX Revolution
• Microsoft Wireless Entertain Desktop 7000
• Logitech QuickCam Ultra Vision
• Gateway ML3109 Notebook Review

and there are many more you can find in the ActiveWin Reviews Section

There are many products in the pipeline I am looking forward to review such as Windows Internet Explorer 8 and Windows Server 2008!

Disclaimer: This is a Microsoft asset-tagged item that Microsoft Corporation provided ActiveWin and Teching It Easy for review under no obligation and that it is expected to be returned at the end of the review period.

We conclude our Certified for Windows Vista Devices Review with the Logitech QuickCam Ultra Vision.

Features:

· True 1.3 megapixel sensor with RightLight 2 Technology

· Live video: up to 640 x 480 pixels

· Still image capture: True 1280 x 960; Up to 4 Megapixel *(software enhanced)

· Built-in microphone with RightSound Technology

· Up to 30 frames per second live video with recommended system

· USB 2.0 high-speed certified 6 ft. USB cable

· 2-year limited hardware warranty

· Adjustable base fits any monitor or notebook

· Fixed focus

Applications for Windows(R):

· Logitech QuickCam (easily capture, save, and email your web camera’s pictures and videos)

· Logitech Video Effects avatar and face accessory software

· HP Photosmart Essential Software (web download required)

· Skype with free, full screen video calling

· Windows Live Messenger with free full screen video calling

· Yahoo Messenger with free video calling

· Video enabled AOL Instant Messenger Service

For years video web cams have been available to anyone who needed such functionality, even in pre-broadband times. I was always interested in getting one, but certain factors always got the best of me. I either don’t have appropriate hardware, too complicated to setup, no one to chat with and lack lustre software. But it’s 2007 and the more you interact with people online, the more you want to go beyond basic text based chatting. This is especially true if you have close family and friends who are far away and you would like to see them every now and then. With the pervasiveness of broadband Internet, the user experience has also been greatly enhanced, for that you get better video calls in addition to more attractive functionality that goes beyond video based chat sessions.

Setup:

Installation was pretty much uneventful, but suffered from too many wizard pages; something I have noticed when installing Logitech products in particular, this case was a four step process. But, I just wish Logitech had toned down on the configuration processes. I want an experience similar to connecting a Keyboard or Mouse or at least strive to be. Before connecting the QuickCam Ultra Vision I ran setup from the provided Installation Disk. I chose a typical installation which provided me with the essential software to work with Windows Vista. In addition to Vista, the QuickCam also supports Windows 2000 and XP. At the end of the initial phase of the installation, I was asked to Insert the QuickCam’s USB connector. Next up was a dry test run which detected the Camera and displayed a preview video. The first problem I noticed immediately was jerky video, because the table on which I was reviewing from was a bit shaky so, a video/image stabilizer would have come in handy. After this last step, setup was complete from what I could tell.

No it wasn’t, next was configuration, which I consider to be a part of the installation. The Logitech Audio Tuning Wizard began, this part focused on tuning the devices audio settings for optimal use. After eight pages, I was ready to now use the QuickCam Ultra Vision. Not so fast, one last hurdle popped up, a dialog appeared asking if I would like to enable RightLight Technology which adjusts the web cams lighting in different environments, whether dark or bright.

Usage: QuickCam Quick Capture

After installing and configuring, the QuickCam Quick Capture application started which is a similar application to Apple Inc. Photo Booth software. The software provides a number of nifty features such as taking a photo and recording video. Captured video and photos are immediately stored in the Gallery which you can easily minimize for convenience or open pictures in your default photo application. Other handy options include emailing, printing and deleting. The Logitech QuickCam floating toolbar list links to other features such as an Avatar gallery you can use to replace your face in a video with an animated character. I had some problems calibrating my face to work with the provided Avatar, but it should be fun for kids who like to do that sort of thing.

Privacy Shade

Replaces your background with a stock photo, such as an image of the beach so you can fool your colleagues or some other nature based background. There are numerous images to choose from and you can add your own with little effort. I never got this one working properly either, but then again, I really didn’t care that much. It’s something do with the lighting in my room or the calibration of my head I guess.

Web Cam Settings

Provided are a plethora of options for adjusting the QuickCam’s settings, some of these included are Pan and Tilt, Zoom, Fast Tracking, and various lighting adjustments. Other tools include Volume and Speaker, Lighting effects using the RightLight Technology for fixing poor lighting environments, Exposure, Gain, AntiFlicker, Image Orientation and Camera Selector. Application Preferences allows you to select your default video calling application, I chose Windows Live Messenger since the majority of my friends and family use that, but you can also use Yahoo! or AOL AIM if those are installed on your system. Other options include default email client which is strangely enough set to CorelCENTRAL Mail, but provides other popular choices such as Windows Live Mail, Office Outlook, Windows Mail and Yahoo! Mail. You can also set storage options for captured images or video.

Video Calling Applications

The Logitech QuickCam Ultra Vision supports a wide variety of services, I previously mentioned AOL, Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger, along with these, users can also use Skype, and Logitech’s own VideoCall which you have to download separately. If you want to do more with Video, tools for Blogging, Sharing and Podcasting are also available such as Google’s YouTube, Grouper and Logitech’s Mobile Video. A very nice feature I noticed while going through the Video based tools option, the Quick Cam provides access to tools you can already take advantage of that are installed on your system. For instance, video Editing Tools HP Photosmart Essential is provided as an option to download, but you can readily use the Windows Moviemaker application that comes built into Windows Vista. Video Snap which you can use to capture footage of an item you plan to sell on eBay so in addition to the bland still photograph you are accustomed to seeing in eBay listings, you can add a video to provide some pizzazz.

Design and Technologies

The QuickCam Ultra Vision has a unique design that’s considerably modern and functional. I used the Ultra Vision with a notebook; it was mounted on the laptops display panel, but almost seemed unstable. It just did not feel secure; the advertised “Flexible clip” did not conform to the laptops ridge although the packaging says it works with any monitor. If you are unsure about placing it on top of your monitor, you can also place it on a desk and align the camera lens to see your face.

Apart from being a traditional web cam, you can take up to 4.0 Mega pixel resolution photos; the default is set to 320 x 240 which is appropriate for emailing. If you want to achieve more high quality output you can click the Select Image Size list box which provides a number of sizes such as 960 x 720 (Hi-Definition video) and up to 2304 x 1728 for photos. I still didn’t find the results for the 4 MP photos that impressive, the colour was a bit shabby and washed out, in comparison to my Canon A520 digital camera which produces crystal clear photos with richer colours. Both sides of the camera have buttons for taking photos and video, the middle of the camera has a built in microphone along with the Activity Light button.

Windows Live Messenger

Working with Instant Messaging

The next logical step was to test it out over Instant Messenger. To start using Live Messenger for Video and Audio, a setup wizard was launched when I clicked the Start or Stop a video call button on the contacts conversation window. After adjusting my hardware, the video session began. There was nothing spectacular about it, but I notice the video quality was not that riveting, but was fluid and acceptable. That was pretty much it to be honest with you. There were no issues throughout the chat session. I notice that the recipients viewing quality was not that picture quality although I was receiving a much clearer picture from the other end.

Conclusion

The Logitech QuickCam Ultra Vision is nice, just the ability to see the person on the other end is a great treat, especially if it’s someone you have not seen in ages. Although the video capabilities were not impressive, I feel it was more a result of my connection which is kind of slow by DSL standards. But going beyond just video chat sessions, I was pleased with the web cams range of capabilities. The QuickCam software provides nifty features such as the ability to record video so you can easily setup a Podcast and post a video to your blog or on popular services such as YouTube or MSN Soapbox. The tight integration with the Windows Vista operating system gives you choices to experiment and utilize existing technologies built into the OS such as Windows Photo Gallery and Windows Movie Maker. Although I do not consider supporting specific Instant Messaging services a feature any typical web cam should be able to do that, its nice to know it confidently supports the various services available. If you are interested in purchasing a web cam, this is definitely a recommended choice to look at.

In the Box:

· Logitech QuickCam Ultra Vision

· Installation CD

· Installation Guide

Ratings:

· Installation: 79 %

· Ease of Use: 86%

· Features: 86%

· Design: 95%

· Options: 95%

· Help & Documentation: 85%

· Price: 90%

Price $129

Check out the Logitech QuickCam Ultra Vision Gallery Here

Certified for Windows Vista

Windows Vista Logo Program: http://www.windowsvista.com/lookforthelogo

Logitech:

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CRID=2204,CONTENTID=11804

System Requirements:

· Windows 2000, Windows XP Pentium 4 1.4 Ghz or AMD Athlon 1.6GHz processor (Pentium 4 2.4 GHz recommended) 128 MB RAM (256 recommended).

· Windows Vista – Pentium 4 2.4 GHz (2.8 GHz recommended), 512 MB of RAM (1 GB recommended)

· 200 MB hard disk space

· CD-ROM drive

· 16-Bit color display adapter

· OS Compatible Sound Card and Spears

· 1.1 or 2.0 USB port

Recommended system requirements are needed to use Logitech RightSound or RightLight 2 technology features.

Monday I borrowed a friends Gateway laptop they purchased this past summer in the US for school this fall. I was interested in giving it a test to see how well it runs and what’s included. The target audience is of course right, this is for a student in high school or someone who has basic needs, word processing, email, Internet and music. In fact the owner of this laptop seems to be in the middle of their School Based Assessment assignment for Information Technology which tests a student’s knowledge in three areas: Word Processing, Spreadsheet and Database Management System. I am going to be honest; I was not totally impressed by this system. Let’s check out the specs and find out why I am not in love:

Gateway ML3901 Notebook

Specifications:

Intel Celeron M Processor 520 1.6 GHz

80 GB PATA hard drive (5400 RPM) (3.6 GBs for Recovery)

512 of DDR2 667 MHz (1 x 512) memory upgradable to 2 GB

ATI Radeon Xpress 200M Graphics (64 MB)

14.1-inch Widescreen Ultra bright TFT

24x CDRW/DVD Optical drive

4-in-1 Digital Media Reader

Integrated 802.11g Wireless LAN

Software:

Windows Vista Home Basic x86 Edition

Office Home and Student Edition 2007 60-day Trial

Learn more at the following links:

http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/2007/Apache/1014550R/1014550Rsp2.shtml

http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/2007/Apache/1014550R/1014550Rnv.shtml

Again, basic needs, but the first blunder is the performance, running Windows Vista Home Basic is excruciatingly groggy, the boot up did not take long, but reaching the desktop was a disappointing hurdle. The laptops graphics support AERO Standard which is a watered down version of the AERO Glass theme available in premium Vista SKU’s. But, it only downgraded the experience so I just reverted to the more performance friendly AERO Basic which provides a certain level of the Vista user experience. Still I had to do some tweaks to get more performance; I turned off some of the visual effects for instance from under the System Properties applet to achieve a more responsive system. Even then, there was still a bit of grogginess going on but remained acceptable throughout my usage. The system is certified Windows Vista Basic, but I don’t understand how Gateway could seriously ship a system with 512 MBs of RAM! 1 GB is the minimum to get by without feeling insulted when using this OS. I can’t believe that we are in 2007 and OEMs like these are making such bloopers. The Windows Sidebar which I have also noticed on other systems that slow or powerful takes an unusually long time to appear on screen (four Gadgets loaded, Clock, Slideshow, Weather and Notes). I still must give the system credit though, once it was fully booted, applications in addition to Windows Explorer windows opened responsively, but then it would not have if I didn’t make those necessary tweaks and I still experience the hints of performance frustrations when launching things like contextual menus.

Windows Vista Home Basic x86

Everyday Task

I did a bunch of common task you would expect a system like this to do, launch Word, typed a few docs, played music, and checked email. The ML3109 does not give off a lot of heat and makes working with it from your lap a welcome. It’s a striking contrast to the Acer Ferrari 5000 I recently reviewed which is not lap friendly or battery friendly at all. I was able to get approximately 3 hours out of the ML3109 without it feeling like 3 minutes, kudos to the energy efficient Intel Celeron M. I am still worried about performance in particular when it comes to running Vista, which ends up getting a bad name as groggy or not optimized and could ultimately result in the user dissatisfied, choosing to format the system and down grade to Windows XP. It has happened and I can tell you from my own experiences, my sister-in-law purchased a Dell Inspiron this March and was disgusted by Vista so much that she immediately asked me to format the system and load XP. Another thing that worries me is that over time, how will this system keep up? I don’t see any benefits from the said to be always running Defragment tool and the possibility of a future Service Pack 1 might not bring any changes.

Back to everyday task, the system comes with applications the user can appreciate, some, not so spectacular. The popular Microsoft Office 2007 is included but is a trial and it’s the Home and Student Edition which lacks Office Access. An alternative suite, Microsoft Works 8.5 is included but is pretty much useless by my standards and others who depend on compatibility with Microsoft Office and its advance tools for document creation. A copy of Microsoft Money 2006 is included, which should come in handy for managing household finances. I like the look and feel of the application. Its interesting that its compatible, since I had issues running a higher Money 2006 SKU and even 2007 version on Vista earlier this year.

Additional Software

Some of the other applications that come bundled include MSN Encarta Plus, Napster, AOL, Cyber link DVD Suite, Gateway Games (which includes Bejewelled 2 Deluxe and some other lack lustre titles such as Polar Golfer, FATE amounting to a total of eleven), Google Desktop, McAfee Security Center version 7.2, Microsoft Digital Image Starter Edition 2006 (which doesn’t make much sense with Vista’s excellent built in Windows Photo Gallery application, but the added Microsoft Photo Story 3.1 makes up for it). It’s great for turning your photos into fun home movies, I used it for my cousins wedding pictures and the almost cinematic results left me highly impressed.

Display and Graphics

The ML3109 features a 14.1 inch wide screen glossy display that makes it really easy on the eyes. It’s very bright and detailed making it great for watching movies, reading text, viewing images and even enjoying screensavers surprisingly! I am typing this right now on my Dell c840 and it’s almost like night and day. Its one of the nice aspects of ML3109 notebook, but of course its not appropriate in every environment, if you are in lots of light it becomes a bit unbearable, but I rarely find myself using my notebook in broad daylight so I don’t think there is too much to worry about. The display features a max resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels with a minimum of 800 by 600. There is also support for External Displays and Projectors for those who want more screen real estate or are giving presentations. The built in ATI Radeon Xpress Series is as basic as it gets, the total Available Graphics Memory is 128 MBs with 64 MB dedicated to Video with Shared System memory totalling 64 MBs. This shared system memory stresses the precious 512 MBs bringing down the amount allocated to the Operating System and applications a meagre 456 MBs of RAM.

Keyboard

It’s kind of tacky, but does not bother me that much; I definitely would replace it in heart beat with my Dell 840c. Also, the layout of one key in particular is a drawback. The ‘Fn’ key located all the way down at the lower left hand corner results in numerous wrong hits when I’m issuing CTRL associated commands such enabling CTRL + B for bold in Microsoft Word. It’s not geared toward a Pro it seems, I had to readjust to using the right CTRL which kind of disrupts my user experience. There are quick access embedded keys for adjusting the displays brightness, for enabling Wi-Fi, Sleep and many other functions that will come in very handy when on the go.

Windows Vista Home Basic x86

This is Microsoft’s entry level consumer version of their latest desktop operating system. I noted some of the features and differences between this and the higher premium SKU’s. I am going to be honest, Vista Home Basic while satisfactory for most persons, is not enticing, it features all the common applications such as Windows Calendar, Photo Gallery, Sidebar, Media Player 11 and Movie Maker with out DVD burning support. Don’t get me wrong, when you compare Home Basic to say Ultimate, you begin to understand what I mean. In fact, if you have used either Home Premium or Ultimate, you appreciate some of the more finer elements such as richer visuals (AERO Glass is a darn good looking UI), Dreamscene (although it has been lacking of late) and Flip 3D for instance. Also, the stronger feature set such as Meeting Space for collaboration, Media Center/XBOX 360 support and Advanced Backup. Speaking of Backup, I find Vista Ultimate’s Complete PC Backup an amazing asset. It’s quick and easy and makes restoring your system to a working state a cinch. Its one of the things I would have hoped that Microsoft would have brought to all the SKUs. I think everybody’s data/computer, whether you are running Vista Ultimate or Home Basic is important. Still, the ability to backup copies of your files and folders is a welcome feature and improvement to Windows without the need for third party software, plus it’s very straightforward and simple too.

Of course, there is a case for an up sell here for the OEM to take advantage of, but for those who don’t want everything; I think more could have been added to Home Basic without Microsoft thinking that it would cannibalize sales of the other SKUs. If you do want more, the convenience is included for you through the provided Windows Anytime Upgrade link in the Control Panel. You can also acquire the Anytime Upgrade anywhere Computers and Software is sold if you believe you need to take your Vista experiences further. Overall, there were no problems with the operating system with exception of a glitch trying to network both Vista Home Basic and Ultimate in a Workgroup configuration, the Network Diagnostics was of no use, but networking with Windows XP went without a hitch.

If you want to learn more about Windows Vista, check out ActiveWin’s Windows Vista review.

Gateway Recovery Center

An awesome feature, it makes reinstalling your system and factory installed applications very easy. You can also do a Device Driver Recovery and create an Application/Driver recovery disc with a few clicks. But the lack of a separate operating disk makes me frown, that you have to do through the built in Factory System Recovery which includes a Recovery partition (3.6 GBs). Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is rumoured to include a Create an Operating System Recovery Disc feature, so that should come in handy for all the installations of OEM Vista that do not include the OS on a separate disc. This is a problem OEM’s just don’t seem to understand; people do not always want to reinstall all the junk and just want a clean system with their drivers.

Conclusion

The Gateway ML3901 although bare and basic in some areas is acceptable and appropriate for many users with ‘basic’ needs. Although, I find the amount of RAM highly unacceptable. I think a little sacrifice could have been made and even add a built in web cam, this is 2007, not 1997. The technology is there; let’s bring it down to more budget hardware without this need to make it seem like a luxury. Other features like the built in Media Card reader are nice, but I don’t even use mine. The system is slow and requires a fair amount of tweaking to get it to a point of responsiveness to make it really useable. Don’t think about hardcore gaming on the ML3109, Solitaire and Bejewelled is all the Quake a system like this needs. Hopefully future updates to this model and the Windows Vista operating system will provide a better experience. But, I still see Gateway still offering a newer model their website with a similar configuration. When will they ever learn?

Installation: N/A
Ease of Use: 80%
Features: 75%
Drivers: 80%
Design: 80%
Manual: 75%
Price: 75%

Overall: 76%

System Cost: $499, comparable version Gateway NX570 S

http://www.gateway.com

Thanks Billian for the loaner!

Check out the Gateway ML3901 Gallery here

Previous Reviews:
Logitech MX Revolution mouse
Acer Ferrari 5000
Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Desktop 7000

Further reading:

ActiveWin.com: Ferrari 5000 x64 Laptop (Windows Vista) - Review

ActiveWin.com: Microsoft Office 2007 - Review

From ActiveWin.com

"Brian has posted his review of Office Publisher 2007. Here is an excerpt:

Publisher first made it’s entry in 1991 as “Microsoft Publisher for Windows” (v1). Its debut consisted of 3 floppy disks, including clipart, totaling 4.32mb. Every other year there after, Microsoft released a new version of Publisher adding features (and size) based on feedback from home office workers and commercial printers. We are now on the 9th version of Microsoft Publisher (though technically Microsoft has given Publisher 2007 the v12 branding to be consistent with the rest of Microsoft Office), with a substantial number of improvements over the past few versions. Publisher is aimed at the home consumer as well as the small business market. Those looking for an all in one application that can produce their business brochures, letters, business cards, thank you notes, and mail merges from databases for sending out postcards will find Publisher the all in one solution. Publisher can hold your hand in designing your entire business portfolio of marketing material with thousands of combined wizards and templates. For the more ambitious, one can take full control of their designs from the ground up using Publisher. Starting with a blank page, a user can design a publication, save it as a template for future use, as well as share the design elements of that template with other custom templates to keep a consistent and more professional output."

Read the entire review here 

If you haven't read my Office 2007 review, check it out here

Disclaimer: This is a Microsoft asset-tagged item that Microsoft Corporation provided ActiveWin and Teching It Easy for review under no obligation and that it is expected to be returned at the end of the review period.

Features:

One look at Microsoft’s Wireless Entertainment Desktop 7000 and you will know this keyboard and mouse combination is all about Windows Vista. Featuring an innovative sleek design, these input devices deliver a first class experience on Microsoft’s consumer operating systems. The first time you take notice of the keyboard you will immediately admire its slim compact design, but begin to discover the differences that set it apart from traditional keyboards. I am one of those persons who love light and this keyboard wins already by making it easy to move around your living room or bedroom when using the Media Center functionality.

A significant aspect of the Wireless Entertainment Desktop 7000, is well, it’s “Wireless”, but requires some initial setup to achieve this experience. The keyboard for instance requires 4 AA alkaline batteries and 1 rechargeable battery for the mouse, all included in the package. Also included is a Mini Bluetooth Transceiver which provides the wireless signal for both devices. According to the package, the Bluetooth wireless speed is at 2.4 GHz allowing connectivity at a range of up to 30 feet.

Wireless Laser 7000 keyboard - Setup:

I tested the Wireless Laser 7000 Bluetooth keyboard on Vista Ultimate Edition; Home Premium in addition to Windows XP Media Center is also supported. You are most likely not going to use it on Vista Business or Home Basic since those editions are missing certain functionality such as Media Center which is a highlight of the keyboard integration, but I don’t see anything preventing you from doing so. Also, the lack of a dedicated numeric pad wouldn’t make it ideal for number crunchers either, although you can still access an embedded one using the Fn command. So its clear to begin with, this is a multimedia based keyboard with a target audience in mind. After opening the box, I took out the User Guide and installation CD; a green pamphlet provides a notice requiring that you install a critical update from http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/vistaupdate before proceeding with installation.

This update provides stability improvements to the USB stack under Vista x86 and x64 for Microsoft keyboard and Mice. So before connecting the Wireless Laser 7000 keyboard I used my existing corded keyboard to prepare my system. The installation from the Drivers CD which comes with Microsoft IntelliPoint and IntelliType 6.1 software was very simple. Parts during the installation require that you select the appropriate model number for the keyboard and mouse. After the installation completed, the Bluetooth wizard starts which prepares both mouse and keyboard to operate wirelessly in addition to devices such as Bluetooth based PDA’s and Printers that can be peered to function with the Bluetooth dongle.

It is important that you select the device model during setup. To see more screenshots from the installation, click HERE

Usage:

The first real world experience I tried on the keyboard was typing a document in Microsoft Word. To be honest, it takes some adjustment; the keyboard has a similar curved layout found on the Acer Ferrari 5000 laptop only with larger keys. Typing was responsive, but the large alphabetical keys resulted in numerous mistakes at first. I notice the alphabet keys are not consistent in size either, the ‘N’ and ‘B’ keys for instance are strangely the largest, I don’t know if this is based on research. The more I began using it the more I felt I had to study the keyboard to become more adjusted. The four way arrow keys are unusually slim which in some scenarios can result in accidentally hitting the wrong arrow if you are utilizing them in a particular task such as navigating through Media Center or a spreadsheet.

As noted there is no dedicated numeric keypad, then again, this is not a keyboard for accountants, it’s called the Wireless “Entertainment” Desktop for a reason. The tactile feed back from the keyboard is very good, the last keyboard that I did appreciate typing on is the one included with IBM’s Aptiva desktop systems. The response was instant, it’s definitely a pleasure to type on, and the keys themselves are more like those you find on laptops. The keyboards curvature provides an almost ergonomic layout that makes it easier on wrist movement, it’s not a definite replacement for Microsoft’s Natural Keyboard, but does provide a welcome level of comfort when in long usage.

Function keys are another major difference that I immediately noticed. Instead of traditional keys, Touch Sensitive buttons are used instead along with embedded keys you can easily activate with the function “Fn” key command. The function keys are divided into four distinctive sets with a combination of modes depending on the environment. You have quick access to common explorers such as Music and Pictures along with embedded functions for quick access to Windows Live Messenger and your home page when in your web browser. When I was about to take screenshots of the Intelli software installation, I became a bit perplexed at how I would do an ALT + PRSCRN. Surprisingly it worked well although you are left feeling unsure if the command was done because of a lack of tactile feedback. Of course it adds to the style and elegance of the keyboard making it lighter and more simplified.

The Wireless Laser 7000 is very well organised, both sides feature buttons that make handling the keyboard easy and logical. On the left side are integrated mouse buttons that act as pointing devices and works in accordance with the Navigation pad on the right side which curiously can also be used as a pointing device for navigating up, down, left and right depending on the mode it is set to.

Wirelessly moving through Windows Media Center :)

Design & Technologies

The keyboard accents Vista nicely by featuring a physical Vista pearl Start Button for quickly accessing programs and launching commands. The hand rest features proximity awareness which intelligently detects your presence and wakes the keyboard when in use, great for conserving battery life. I like the two tone finish which is combination of dark grey textured finish and silver frame surrounding the keys.

The left side of the keyboard features quick access to buttons for Magnification and Windows Sidebar Gadgets. When the magnifying glass is enabled, a rectangular window appears enlarging items on screen. Player controls are also available for Media player and Media Center which make it easy to manipulate your music so you can pause, play and scan through tracks directly from the keyboard. In addition to these I also discovered buttons for Volume, Mute and Channels which comes in handy when you are operating in Media Center from your sofa or bed. A Windows Live Call Button is also available for quick access to your Live Messenger Buddy list. I like the focus on making the keyboard a part of the living room while still maintaining its traditional functionality when working in a two feet environment, the remote and touch pad capabilities left me highly impressed.

Media Center

The keyboard features an integrated Media Center Start button for quick access. Using the keyboard in Media Center is very good! Once you set the Navigation Pad to the right mode; located at the upper extreme right of the keyboard, it makes it a cinch flying through the Media Center interface. If you are in one of the Media Center locations such as Picture or Music libraries, you can easily go back to the interface home by hitting the green button. I used the Media Center and wireless capabilities at approximately eight feet away and continued browsing, listening to music and navigating without any hindrance. The Navigation Pad is really a nice addition; if you are using it in the living room you can easily enjoy your multimedia and get work done at the same time. It would have been nice if the keyboard also featured a tracking ball (found on some laptops) to provide some fluidity in movement through out the Windows environment when not in Media Center. You can do it with the Navigation Pad when set back to mouse mode, but it’s so small, and hinders the time it takes to move the pointer to a part of the user interface. I could have used the mouse too, but would defeat the purpose of having this feature integrated in the keyboard in the first place. What I find strange is you can already accomplish some of the Navigation Pads capabilities with the four way arrow keys and the Enter button, so at times I was left confused why its there in the first place.

Laser 8000 Mouse Instant Viewer

Wireless Laser 8000 Bluetooth Mouse

As I already noted, the Wireless Entertainment Desktop 7000 includes a mouse, which uses a 1,000 DPI laser sensor. Included with the Mouse is a rechargeable NiMH AA battery, a companion recharging base is also provided. In comparison to the wireless Bluetooth Ferrari 5000 mouse its very light, but not as light as the Logitech MX Revolution which I recently reviewed. It does a good job, there really are no surprising features that really set it apart, but the standard features make it very comfortable and productive to use. Don’t be mistaken though, this mouse still does feature some innovative features which I enjoyed using such as the Instant Viewer which gives you quick access to your open windows. The Laser 8000 also features four- way scrolling so you can scroll side to side, in addition to up and down. It’s not a dedicated gaming mouse, but works quite well in first-person shooter games, there is a bit of slugginess when using in fast games and in some cases this will hinder persons who have good game reflexes.

Software

The ability to customize your keyboard and mouse is also one of the great functions of this package. Both Keyboard and Mouse tie into Vista’s existing settings and adds their enhanced tools for customization. The IntelliPoint software provides straightforward options for remapping the various commands that are available, whether you are a gamer or need specific options for working in a particular program. You can also tweak the mouse speed for faster feedback when clicking. I personally chose not to alter any of the default settings. The highlight of the Laser 7000 Entertainment keyboard customization is the Favourites Hot Keys for which you can assign quick access to your most commonly used programs. As you can see in the following screenshot, I had assigned commands to the programs I most often use daily such as Microsoft Word, Media Player, Photo Gallery, Firefox and ActiveWin.com. You can also use the Favourites button above the F10 key which calls up a dialog from which you can customize on the fly or launch the desired application. I would have liked if the Laser 8000s Instant Viewer took advantage of Vista’s existing ALT +TAB application switcher instead of using its own implementation, although it’s still nice to look at, but I notice when I click the scroll wheel as advertised, it does not immediately appear.

Quirks and Glitches

The day before this review was published; my brother came over to visit and also wanted to check out the new hardware I was reviewing. I was excited to show him the many features and wow him with the wireless capabilities. It kind of happened the way I wanted it to, I launched MCE using the MCE button, but strangely enough, when I switched to navigation mode on the Navigation Pad, the Up and Down arrows did not work at all, when I switched back to the Pointing Device mode, the mouse functionality did not work either. Then I navigated to the contents of a library, and pressed the MCE Start button to go back instantly to the MCE home screen, it activated the Start Panel. A restart eventually sorted things out and my brother was overall impressed by the wireless capabilities and the keyboards sleek design. The Laser 8000 was not without its quirks either, when I went to demonstrate Instant Viewer, clicking scroll again did not instantly bring up the application, it almost felt like a lucky hit when it eventually came up.

Final Thoughts

What can I say? I love the Wireless Entertain Desktop 7000 and I am positively overwhelmed by its many features. Its tight integration with Windows Vista will leave users of the operating system very impressed and comfortable. When I look back at my Dell PS/2 keyboard, I have to wonder how am I going readjust to it after having such a great time with the Wireless Entertainment Desktop 7000 <sigh>. Although there are some misses in areas such as no numeric keypad and touch based functions might require some getting accustomed to, the Laser Desktop 7000 is a great combination when used with Media Center and the Vista OS’s various features. The Laser 8000 mouse when coupled with Vista also shines and includes really productive features that make it a treat for users. While it’s not for gamers, it’s a great value when combined with the Laser 7000 keyboard, the wireless capabilities in addition to the recharging station results in very high points. Overall, I would recommend this to any home user running Microsoft’s multimedia operating systems, whether Vista or XP Media Center, it’s great for general purpose and media center activities. I am happy to say, this package is designed to improve your user experiences in the living room for the better.

Andre

Keyboard

Mouse

In the Box:

• Recharging station 
• AC power cord 
• Bluetooth dongle 
• Microsoft IntelliPoint and IntelliType 6.1 software
• Setup guide
• One Rechargeable battery (for Laser 8000 Mouse)
• Four AA Alkaline batteries (for Laser 7000 Keyboard)

Ratings:

• Installation: 90 % 
• Ease of Use: 86%
• Features: 95%
• Design: 95%
• Options: 95%
• Help & Documentation: 85%
• Price: 90%

Overall: 95%

Price $129
Certified for Windows Vista

Check out the Microsoft Wireless Entertain Desktop 7000 Gallery HERE

Windows Vista Logo Program: http://www.windowsvista.com/lookforthelogo

Microsoft Hardware: http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/productdetails.aspx?pid=081

 Previous Reviews:
Logitech MX Revolution mouse 
Acer Ferrari 5000

Disclaimer: This is a Microsoft asset-tagged item that Microsoft Corporation provided ActiveWin and Teching It Easy for review under no obligation and that it is expected to be returned at the end of the review period.

Features:

Logitech SmartShift Technology

MX Revolution uses advanced technology to detect your current application and automatically apply the scroll mode that best fits the task at hand.

Hyper-Fast Scrolling

Fly through long documents at hyperspeed with the nearly frictionless alloy scroll wheel. Shift to precise click-to-click scrolling to navigate list, slides, and image collections.

Document Quick-Flip

Move effortlessly between documents. It’s never been easier to cut and paste between applications, compare documents, compare documents, or check e-mail.

Touch to Search

Highlight a word or phrase and press the Search button to instantly display results from your favourite search engine.

Rechargeable Cordless Laser

Rechargeable Li-ion battery, full-speed USB wireless technology, and a state-of-the-art laser engine deliver convenience and absolute precision.

System Requirements:

IBM or compatible PC

Windows Vista (requires Internet connection) or XP

USB Port

CD-ROM Drive

When I first laid eyes on this mouse, I knew I would want to spend the rest of my ergonomically correct life with it. A combination of design and aesthetics provides a first class computing experience that’s second to none. The futuristic appearance might intimidate some persons at first glance, but once you get to know this pointing device, you will be glad to hold the future in the palm of your hand (right hand preferably). I have been using generic PS/2 mice for years now, I recently transitioned to using an optical laser mouse on my main desktop system, which I consider to, be a great improvement since there is no longer a need to open the mouse and clean out the gunk that builds up over time. With the MX Revolution it’s the best of both worlds especially with it’s unique and advanced features like its deep integration with the Windows Vista operating system and contoured right-hand shape that make gripping and moving the mouse very comfortable.

The first advantage I found after using the mouse is, that its light, moving it around, pointing and clicking require little to no effort, this combination result’s in smooth wrist movement and close to no arm fatigue.

I wanted to take full advantage of the MX Revolution capabilities; so the best way to do this is to download and install the Logitech’s Set Point 4.0 software with improved Vista support, SetPoint 3.01 shipped with it, but has some Vista configuration issues. This software provides additional enhancements so you can get the most out of it. The installation was straightforward, but the wizard pages were a few too many, so I ended up spending a lot of time clicking and, clicking some more – a real pleasure with this mouse! See the following screenshots for a visual idea of what I went through:

Straightforward, but the wizard for the installation features too many pages. It’s a small trade off but nothing to get worried about, just that consolidating some pages would have been nice. Setpoint features options for assigning specific mouse commands depending on the application in use or throughout the Windows interface.

SETUP:

The mouse comes with a recharging station (dock) which you plug into your power outlet; and is used to recharge the mouse. Next is the Micro Receiver, a USB Thumb drive shaped device; which allows the mouse to be used wirelessly. The green LED lights on the upper edge of the mouse indicate if it’s fully charged and ready to be used. If it’s not, just place it back into the recharging station until it is ready. At the bottom is an on and off switch which you may use to preserve battery levels when not in use.

My favourite feature is hyper scroll which allows you to effortlessly move between applications without actually moving the mouse. SetPoint is grouped into four categories: Mouse Button Settings, Mouse Movement, Mouse Game Settings, Wheel Settings and Mouse Batteries in addition to a Tools group. The traditional old scroll wheel gets reworked for Revolution duty with two modes. The first mode is the standard ratcheting mode we are all used to. The second scroll mode is a simple change that makes a huge difference in daily use by allowing the wheel to freely spin. The normal left and right horizontal scroll is performed by moving the scroll wheel left or right.

In free-wheel mode the scroll wheel can spin for up to seven seconds according to Logitech. In my testing I saw longer spin times than that; scrolling for up to ten seconds at a time was not uncommon at all. That allows me to move through long pages scanning for specific content. I found it great to use on websites such as eBay and a great way to move through long Word documents. The fast scrolling is very easy to stop as well, simply place your finger on it and it stops on a dime.

Logitech made the MX Revolution Wireless Mouse intelligent; it can change the scroll mode on-the-fly depending on what it thinks is the correct mode for the task at hand. It does a pretty good job of it too. If you are scrolling slowly and little at a time it leaves itself in click mode, however, start scrolling faster and the wheel will automatically change to free-wheel mode.

I experienced some problems with the free-wheel mode when testing it free-wheel just would not work on all web pages. You will notice this when scrolling long pages with text entry fields. The free-wheel worked fine on the long pages in documents, but when I would mouse over the text entry field scrolling would not work, to be able to scroll through the long embedded text entry fields I would have to change to click mode by pressing the scroll wheel.

A few pages simply wouldn't scroll in free-wheel mode at all. For instance while writing a review I was trying to scroll a web page in free-wheel mode and it simply wouldn't scroll, a quick tap of the scroll wheel to change the mouse manually to click mode and I was back in business. Not nearly the hassle it sounds to be, but strange nonetheless. The normal middle click function of the scroll wheel is replaced with the ability to manually change between scroll modes.

Inside the SetPoint software:

Mouse Button:

Here you can specifically configure parts of the mouse to function the way you want it to in a particular program, whether its Microsoft Outlook or Adobe Acrobat. The great thing about the MX Rev is its pre programmed out of the box with standard motion settings that suit most users. The SetPoint software should have made it possible to assign Windows Search as the default for One-Touch-Search.

Mouse Movement:

Here you configure mouse settings for speed and acceleration of the pointer, as well as how fast you scroll and zoom. You can also specify whether you want to use a pointer trail and the Smart Move positioning feature when you open a new window or dialog. The pointer trail helps to locate the pointer on screens that are unclear or difficult to view.

Game Settings:

SetPoint enable its Game Detection settings and applies its own speed and Acceleration implementation or allows you can use Vista’s default options. Depending on the task you are carrying out, you can for example easily use the mouse for work, doing a presentation or gaming. SetPoint can automatically enable or disable mouse acceleration, and increase or decrease mouse speed when you are playing games. For instance, you can have acceleration switched on when you use most applications on your computer, so that when surfing the Internet or word processing you move quickly around the screen, but switched off when playing games to increase your accuracy and gaming effectiveness.

MX Revolutions Document Flip window

I think the best feature of the MX Revolutions is Document Quick Flip, which basically makes switching between applications as easy as 1, 2, and 3. When you click the Micro-Gear Precision wheel located at the left side of the mouse, the Document Flip window appears with a listing of all your open applications, you simply scroll and click the wheel to select an application without the need to move the mouse or use the left mouse button to click. It’s confusing at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s a great experience. And if you’re using Windows Vista, this can optionally tie-into Flip3D as well.

Back and Forward buttons are a treat, located on the left-side of the mouse they make jumping through long documents a time saver. I had the buttons programmed to function for page forward and page backwards in SetPoint 4, but the button sometimes would refuse to function. After hitting the buttons a few times, the command would take place but the occasional difficulty in getting the navigation buttons to work was strange.

Left to right: Back, Document Flip, Forward, Left Click buttons

Left to right: Right click, Left Scroll, Manual Scroll, Right Scroll button

One Touch Search

Battery Life

The MX Revolution uses an integrated Li-Ion battery that is recharged on an AC powered base station you plug into a power outlet. It responded well on a variety of surfaces, including a matte based texture surface, typical mouse pad and hard wood desk. Battery life is good, on a full charge the Set Point software indicated battery life at about 17 days. I personally use a mouse way more than what might be considered normal, roughly 10-16 hours a day on average, with a minimum of four hours a day. I got about 4 days of use out of the battery before I was greeted with the red recharge me LED. When the mouse did run down, placing it on the recharging dock for an hour did the trick, and the battery was fully recharged according to the battery level indicator on the left side of the mouse.

Final Comments

  The Logitech MX Revolution is a great general purpose mouse, features such as Document Flip and the Back and Forward buttons makes working at your computer and more welcoming experience when using productivity applications and the web. Although I didn’t do much gaming with it, the MX Revolution will be welcomed also by casual gamers who will find the MX Revolution performs well; but hardcore gamers will want more sensitivity than the MX Revolution’s 480DPI will allow for.

In the Box:

· Recharging station

· AC power cord

· USB micro dongle

· Logitech SetPoint CD (3.01)

· User's guide

· 3-year limited warranty

Price

$99

Certified for Windows Vista

Windows Vista Logo Program: http://www.windowsvista.com/lookforthelogo

Logitech: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/upp/details/US/EN,crid=2676,contentid=12134&ad=revolution_mxupp

 A great review that highlights some of the unique functionality of mobile/business/entertainment solution. This is definitely an impressive laptop from HP.

Quote

My HP tx1000 Review is online

This evening, I finally got my review of the HP tx1000 Pavilion Entertainment PC online. Check out the review and photos on the Windows Experience Blog.

Overall, it is a very nice laptop PC. However, its Tablet PC capabilities are a bit lacking. The pen and the tx1000's ability to grab my handwriting was a struggle. But when it did detect my handwriting, Windows Vista's Tablet PC features rocked the house!

Related:

Teching It Easy: Windows Vista Acer Ferrari 5000 - Review

Technorati tags: Windows Experience Blog, HP, HP tx1000, Tablet PC, Review

I was hoping to have this up on ActiveWin much earlier, but I don't know what's happening. Also, I want you to read this review before its too old. My apologies to AMD and Microsoft (Windows Vista) and especially the readers for taking so long. I will have the benchmarks up by the end of the week.

Andre

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 laptop. 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 (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.

You might wonder why it took me so long to deliver this review to you. I honestly wanted to  review this product and spending a fair amount of time with it was the best way to provide the genuine real world scenarios I was able to put it through. If you think its outdated, yeah right, that’s just your opinion. Anyway, it’s finally here, so let’s get into the nitty-gritty.

Unpacking the Ferrari 5000 is very straight-forward, just open the box and pull it out, 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 not to mention 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, 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 upgradable to 4 GB using two soDIMM modules.

ATI Mobility Radeon 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

With specs like the above you would not expect any sort of negative comments about it, and to be honest, there isn’t really much you can say that’s really bad. The laptop includes other notable features such as a built in 1.3 mega pixel web cam, which adds more functionality to mobility on the go. Although I notice that you can take pictures and record video similar to Apple’s Photo Booth, the quality of the picture and video is nothing to rave about, but what would you expect with 1.3 mega pixels. There also seems to be a minor lag or delay when using the software, the real time feeling is just not there really. The slot loading DVD is very nice, on Apples professional laptop systems such as the PowerBook and MacBook Pro, I have always been hesitant about it because you have to wonder if it scratches the disc when loading and ejecting. It’s just not the case, but after loading a DVD movie I notice the drive made quite a lot of noise compared to tray based drives on other laptop systems.

Acer OrbiCam

The Acer OrbiCam is a 1.3 megapixel CMOS camera mounted on top of the LCD panel. The camera’s 225-degree ergonomic rotation allows you to capture photos or videos up front or at the back of the LCD panel.

I definitely love the 15 inch wide screen display, which features a glossy texture that makes graphics and text much richer and crisper on screen. Watching movies is a treat since the screens aspect ratio makes it perfect for those new hi definition and letter box size movies. The screens resolution though made it difficult to read the text since its smaller, I was able to resolve this by pushing up the DPI scaling of fonts under Vista’s Personalization from 96 DPI to 120 DPI. One thing though certain text and images became a bit jaggy but was a insignificant trade off for a better experience and makes it easier on the eyes during long usage.

The 160 GB drive is just enormous for a laptop and provides ample space for storing music, pictures and home movies. Although a considerable amount of the drive space was used for the bundled software such as Vista, Office and additional software from Acer it barely scratched the surface. The system also comes with 2 GBs of RAM which is just perfect for Windows Vista and works in accordance with the fast dual core 2.0 GHz X2 64-bit processor from AMD. I have to say though after logging in, Vista x64 takes a small amount of time to load up everything, while launching programs I can still see the Notification Area loading icons about minute after the system was started up. It’s almost as if Vista it self is just not fully optimized for it. But once everything is ready, it’s good to go, programs launch in 2 to 3 seconds and Explorer windows pop open faster than toast bread from a toaster.

ATI Mobility Radeon Rage X1600 Graphics (256 MB)

I will admit, I am not a gamer, except for playing the occasional built in games that come with Windows. Some noticeable features of the X1600 include GDDR3 memory for enhanced gaming performance, and full Direct X® 9 Shader Model 3.0 support enabling richer and smooth effects throughout the Vista interface. I noticed a major difference with Windows Vista though on the Ferrari 5000, effects such as Flip 3D show more fluidity and speed, dragging windows also feel more responsive with less effort compared to my other desktop system at home running Vista x86.

Here are some additional information I extracted from the AMD webpage about it:

High Definition Experience in Notebook Performance
With ATI’s groundbreaking Mobility™ Radeon™ X1600, discover a new world of high-definition visual entertainment on your ‘performance thin’ notebook PC. The Mobility™ Radeon™ X1600 is one of the most powerful mobile GPUs offered by ATI, featuring ultra high performance PCI Express graphics powered by a radically new and efficient 3D architecture. Experience DVD movies, internet video and digital photography, enhanced with ATI’s revolutionary new Avivo™ video and display technology, and transform your notebook into a home theater-quality mobile entertainment system. Mobility Radeon X1600 is the optimum solution for high resolution widescreen panel notebooks

High Performance Mobile Graphics
Step up to high-definition graphics for movie-quality effects with any OpenGL® and DirectX® 9 game title. Experience lifelike 3D characters and scenes with full Shader Model 3.0 support, and enjoy adaptive anti-aliasing and high dynamic range (HDR) rendering for enhanced realism and eye-popping effects. Mobility™ Radeon™ X1600’s 90-nanometer process GPU and advanced 3D processing architecture deliver supercharged performance, through its unique ultra-threaded operation and ATI’s new Ring-Bus memory controller with up to a 128-bit memory interface. The x16-lane PCI Express bus interface drives data through 12 pixel shader pipelines and 5 vertex processors, and the most texture-rich images and games benefit from lightning-fast GDDR3 memory.

High Quality Mobile Entertainment
Enjoy high-definition video entertainment with ATI’s revolutionary new Avivo™ technology. Avivo™ redefines the Ultimate Visual Experience™ for today’s PCs, delivering the most vibrant colors, ultra sharp images, and the smoothest HD video playback ever offered by ATI. Connect your notebook with your home entertainment devices and enjoy high image quality from the embedded Consumer Electronics class TV encoder. Drive the latest external displays at the highest resolutions with the new 10-bit display controller providing incomparable image quality. With advanced 3D comb filtering and high quality video playback, Mobility™ Radeon™ X1600 delivers video quality that enables your notebook to deliver superior entertainment experience.

Longer-Lasting Battery Life
Go longer with ATI’s PowerPlay™ 6.0 technology, maximizing battery life for an extended on-the-move visual experience. Deliver a video-rich multimedia presentation, play the hottest game at the highest settings, or enjoy extended battery life when watching your favorite movie. Mobility™ Radeon™ X1600’s power management technology monitors user demands and machine capabilities to maximize battery life. Mobility™ Radeon™ X1600 handles today’s graphics-intensive 3D games and HD content with plenty of power for the applications of tomorrow.

The laptops speakers are situated at the front of the drive which makes the sound echo towards the listener, this result’s in higher quality output and clarity when listening to music or dialogue in movies. Also on the front are various jacks for plugging in external speakers, Microphones, headsets and devices such as a CD player or Walkman. You can also find an IEEE1394 (Firewire) port and a 5-in-1 card reader. On each side are two USB 2.0 ports which make it very convenient to plug additional devices such as a USB thumb drive and external drive. On my Dell c840 I always had to stretch to the back to plug in a device, and in the process close down the lid or sometimes move the laptop just to plug it in properly. The included Ferrari Bluetooth mouse was easily added through the My Bluetooth Devices applet wizard. Initially I had to insert the batteries then plug it in and charge it first before it was detected. Still, the mouse feels a bit heavy almost on the brick side. Another thing, I notice there are some issues with the mouse waking from sleep when Vista resumes from hibernation regardless Bluetooth is still on, I have to use the laptops touchpad to log in and get the Bluetooth mouse active again. The Ferrari’s touch pad itself feels a bit sticky, I don’t know if it’s as a result of being new, but fingers don’t feel a smoothness I experience on other laptop touchpad’s.

The Ferrari overall design is just aesthetically pleasing and is a pleasure to carry around especially for its size, moving from the living room to the veranda with it is not a chore. On the laptops lid is the Ferrari trademarked logo (prancing horse) in all its glory, with both sides of the laptop featuring red accents that compliments the Ferrari’s popular colour. I loved the fact that it was not drowned in the colour red, since walking in public with such a laptop would bring too much attention, which is not a bad thing but becomes a target for unscrupulous individuals, subtle but awesomely sleek.

Windows Vista Ultimate x64

As previously noted, the laptop comes preloaded with the latest version of Windows, 64-bit platform too. Vista has been in development for the past four to five years, it features vast improvements to the desktop including a graphically rich interface called Windows AERO, Instant Search capabilities, enhanced Security, Multimedia, 64-bit computing, improved deployment and tighter integration with the Web through new features such as Sidebar Gadgets and Really Simple Syndication (RSS). Windows Vista also include new under the hood features such as Windows Presentation and Communication Foundations and the .NET Framework 3 for creating powerful, connected and secure applications.

Impressive is what best describes this laptop since the market seems to be mostly flooded with under powered mobile systems. The reason why I say this is based on experiences of my own, I have been running Vista x64 on a Generic AMD system with 512 MBs of RAM, 128 MBs of video graphics and the performance is just horrible. From installation, to booting to reaching the desktop is really a lackluster adventure. As I have noted in my ActiveWin Windows Vista RTM review, to really run Vista x64 at an acceptable and desirable rate means you should have the appropriate hardware and that’s what this system offers. Although, I still feel a pinch of grogginess its nothing that compares to my other systems and makes using the OS each day a great experience. It’s possible that the grogginess is attributed to Windows Vista’s new indexing engine, so I might see the performance improve and stabilize over time once all files are indexed.

Windows Dreamscene

Since the RTM release of Vista, Microsoft has gone beyond the box to provide additional feature functionality to licensed customers of the Ultimate Edition. Dreamscene which is a looped based desktop background using either nature based or abstract scenes. While still a preview Dreamscene does have some small glitches I have been experiencing since I installed it. For instance, when playing audio I notice some small glitches like skips in the song and feedback, the song will give an echo like feed back. I can confirm the audio glitches on another system running Vista also, so it’s definitely not a hardware issue. Dreamscene can use either the .dream or MPEG format, which means so you can create your own recurring moments. It’s a nice addition to the user experience and adds some pizzazz to the desktop for persons who find stationary desktop pictures boring.

Bitlocker Drive Encryption

Used to encrypt the OS volume, Bitlocker requires a cryptographic hardware chip based on the Trusted Platform 1.2 or later module. Unfortunately, this is not supported by the Ferrari. Trusted Platform Module facilitates the secure generation of cryptographic keys, the abilities to limit the use of keys (to either signing / verification or encryption / decryption). Fortunately, systems that do not support TPM can use a USB thumb drive that contains a start up key into the computer to be able to boot the protected OS. Note that this mode requires that the BIOS on the protected machine support the reading of USB devices in the pre-OS environment. Bitlocker to me is more of a feature for persons working in organizations that are concerned about employees travelling with sensitive systems on laptops and for those who simply suffer from a bit of paranoia.

Read the entire ActiveWin Windows Vista review here

Keyboard

The keyboard features an almost ergonomic layout which conforms to your hands natural adjustment when typing. But I still need to get accustomed to the layout out of the keys since they are arranged differently and are much smaller in comparison to those on my Dell c840. Also available are quick access button’s to Acer’s support site, e-mail and the web.

Graphics is no question here; I notice the system displays the Vista Slide Show themes effortlessly when I ran it from the Pictures folder or Photo Gallery. Before this was possible though I had to re-run the Windows Experience Index assessment tool to get a better rating it was 2.8 initially, but was upgraded to 4.8 after re-running WEI. All devices work just fine under Windows Vista x64, well, the built in devices that came with the system do, the built in Wi-Fi works very well too, I was in the New York City for the Vista Launch Event and I was able to hop on to different wireless networks with great ease. The new Connect To window makes it easy to choose different types of network connections. Features include, signal strength and security (WEP/WPA). Vista x64 seems to have some issues with the VOIP PCI card software but was easily resolved by repairing the installation. (Thanks to Ryan Hoffman of Extended64 for the tip).

Battery Life

Not pleasing, this thing eats battery power like its going out of style. I recently downloaded a Vista Battery Gadget and its hard not to notice how quickly the percentage goes down. There are a combination of things that are causing battery life to be so horrible, this includes Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, I try to turn them off when they are not needed. But it doesn’t make any significant improvement, so the likely other suspect’s has to be the graphics and processor in the system. The AMD Turion X2 64-Bit 2.0 GHz processor runs very hot and some of that energy also eats battery power, so I have to be honest and say, it’s definitely not an energy efficient system and takes away from most of its mobility capabilities. I have seen better battery life on my brother’s Dell 640m with Intel Core Duo processors. Somehow this has brought me to the conclusion that the AMD Turion itself is not a definite mobile processor, but more likely one based on AMD’s desktop product forced into a laptop system.

Vista x64 itself is remarkably more secure than its x86 counterpart offering advances to the Windows Kernel such as Kernel Patch Protection which basically provides a protective shield around the Windows Kernel that prevents certain individuals from simply patching it, whether it’s to optimize third party applications or for unknown malicious purposes. Kernel patching was not something consented by Microsoft in the first place, in which case, they saw the 64-bit release of Vista as an opportunity to start a clean slate and educate both developers and users about the negatives of doing this in the first place. But this has affected certain Security vendors such as MacAfee (which is still unsatisfied) and Symantec, which have since worked out an agreement with Microsoft to get controlled access to the Windows Kernel. Unlike Windows Vista x64, Vista x86’s kernel remains patchable. So for persons who want a really, really, secure and powerful version of Windows, Vista definitely has something to offer with its 64-bit release. In conjunction with other security enhancements and additions such IE 7’s ActiveX Opt-In, Phishing Filter, Protected Mode and components such as User Account Control and Windows Defender, Vista aims to lessen the concentration on Security required of previous versions of Windows.

Antivirus is still important regardless of all these security improvements, and the Ferrari includes eTrust Antivirus 64-bit version 7.2.192 which works flawlessly with Vista x64, its one of the first things I updated after the Security Center notification area icon indicated it was out of date. Now my Security Center is all green and pretty which is a good sign that you are fully protected.

To learn more about Windows Vista, check out ActiveWin’s RTM Review here

Office 2007 Enterprise

This new version is Microsoft’s most radical departure in years, interface wise and offers new features and familiar tools that are sure to have users mesmerized and perplexed at times. Microsoft has made a concerted effort to ensure that documents are better looking. The toolbar approach has now been replaced in core Office apps with what is now known as Office Fluent, a collection of Tabs and Groups that make up the interface, consisting of features once hidden under drop down menus and dialogs. Office 2007 is all about taking it to a whole new level in terms of interaction with the core applications and new ways of managing files created with the suite. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and the Outlook 2007 New Item window all feature the Office Fluent user interface. This change promises to deliver on that dream of making access to the tools you use the most in your Office applications not just easier, but with more relevance to the entire user experience and task at hand.

The Office Fluent is a bold new look that is both familiar and overwhelming at first. Gone are drop down menus such as Edit, View, now replaced by Tabs called Home, Insert, Page Layout, References, Mailings, Review and View and others respective to the application tool set. There is actually one drop down menu left, it’s the good old File menu, but even that has had a major overhaul represented by a pearl like Office logo. The Office Fluent in the core applications is a bold step forward, but its necessary, 1,500 commands and a plethora of toolbars have pushed the antiquated interface to the limit and it’s just a matter of time until the Office team makes the Office Fluent standard across the entire modules in the Office System. Still, after using Office 2007 from Beta 1 to the RTM, I find it sometimes a bit complex finding a command at times, I have to go to the Office website and use the where was that feature tutorial to find it in the new version.

How reliable is the suite? Since version 2003 Microsoft has really stepped up to the plate when it comes to reliability, the tradition continues with the 2007 release, since BETA 2 I have had minimal trouble maintaining the suite, except for cases where it was specific to it being BETA software, majority of those issues have been resolved. Just in case something goes awry you can run the new Microsoft Office Diagnostics, which replaces Detect and Repair. Other Office tools such as Document Imaging, Scanning, Language settings, Clip Organizer and Office Picture Manager are virtually unchanged. The performance of Office 2007 is great, applications launch and close quickly especially Outlook, they don’t get stuck in memory like they use to when exited.

The suite functions flawlessly on the new Windows Vista x64, all applications except for some Server applications are still 32 bit. I was personally anticipating a 64-Bit Outlook to accompany the 64-bit release of Exchange Server 2007 which I assume would offer performance improvements lacking in current versions of the product. Grammar and Spell checking continues to be a hurdle, my Beta 1 preview was heavily criticized for its poor grammar because I depended on Word to do both my spell checking and grammar. Even in the final version the issue remains, I hope the next release focuses heavily on improvements to this area and not just Roles and Web based experiences. I also notice at times, Word will just switch from English Caribbean to English US; regardless my Local is set to Jamaica and English Caribbean in both Regional Settings in Windows and Office Language settings.

Back up and migration of Office settings remains a missing mystery, since Office XP, the Office Files Save My Settings Wizard helped users move over personalized settings and Dictionaries to later versions or additional installation’s of Office you might have on another PC, this is nowhere to be found in Office 2007, ‘bummer’.

To learn more about Office 2007, check out ActiveWin’s RTM review here

Accessories in the Box

Included is an HDMI cable, Modem cable, LCD screen cleaning cloth and a VOIP PCI card with blue tooth.

I am going to be honest here, the Ferrari 5000, while amazing, does not show off the full potential of Vista and for a laptop that cost US $5,000, I would at least expect some advanced capabilities that are unique to Vista (Ultimate in particular) such as Tablet PC and Windows Sideshow. Still, for that individual who wants a desktop replacement with the addition of mobility, the Acer is a perfect choice. Apart from those missing hits that would put this system over the top, the Acer does have its unique capabilities that adds value to the Vista experience such as the Orbi Web Cam which makes mobile video conferencing a reality, also the VOIP PCI card introduces one of today’s hottest technologies that makes PC to PC and PC to Phone calls an easy one. The performance is still something to be a bit concerned about, especially with the components, the WEI indexed rating of 4.8 has left me a bit perplexed.

Thanks again to Acer and Microsoft

So, what are you running Vista on, and what has been your performance experience?

Installation: N/A
Ease of Use: 90%
Web Cam Picture and Video Quality: 70%
Features: 85%
Drivers: 90%
Design: 89%
Manual: 80%
Price: 70%
Overall: 85%

Today, there are all kinds of threats lurking around out there on the world wide web just waiting to infect anyone's computer. Spyware has become a fact of life anymore and it takes a true Windows guru to avoid it. Luckily, there is a solution to help keep computers free of all the nasty programs out there that take over a computer and track anything and everything. Microsoft's Anti-Spyware Beta, built off of GIANT software's anti-spyware program, aids in the removal of spyware from the user's computer and even has advanced tools to help restore Internet Explorer back to normal if something takes over the browser.

Read the rest here

You may have heard of blogs (or "Web logs"), a new name for something that's existed since the dawn of the Web: Personal Web sites, updated regularly, containing any kind of information imaginable. Bloggers--i.e. those who maintain blogs--might argue, however, that blogs are different in some ways from personal Web sites. For example, many blogs are dedicated to a certain topic, like politics, technology, or a love of cats. Those blogs are generally as uninteresting as they are innumerable. What's really interesting about some blogs--and about the capabilities in Microsoft's free new blog service, MSN Spaces--is the same thing that's been interesting about the Web since its inception. Blogs provide people with a way to publish information on the Internet at little or no cost, and with little or no technical expertise. In a nutshell, blogs, like any personal Web site, are about giving power to the people.

Read the rest here

Allow me to make a confession that may surprise you. I've been a Mac fan my entire life. Back in 1987, when my house burned down after a Christmas tree mishap I'd rather not detail at the moment, I needed to replace my crispy Commodore 64 set up with a more modern system. I originally wanted an Amiga, but alas, the local Commodore dealer didn't offer financing. The local Apple dealer did, however, and after figuring out how much I wanted to spend (an exorbitant amount even by today's standards), I arrived at two choices: An Apple IIGS with a color display, 768 KB (not MB) of RAM, one 5.25-inch floppy drive, one 3.5-inch floppy drive, and an Image Writer II printer, or a black-and-white Mac Plus with 1 MB of RAM.

Read the rest here

How sacrilegiously entertaining! Just kidding, its a great review but I won't be buying a Mac, my money will be invested in a cheap Intel Celeron x64 system from Dell running Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.

Two and a half years after Microsoft and its hardware partners launched the innovative Tablet PC platform, sales have been less than spectacular. Several factors have contributed to this lack of mainstream success. First, the initial generation of Tablet PC hardware was overpriced, often far above that of equivalent notebook computers. Second, the initial generation of Tablet PC hardware was lackluster: Predating the mobile-savvy Pentium M processor and Centrino chipset, the first Tablet PCs used underpowered Pentium III processors and didn't get great battery life. Third, the first generation Tablet PCs only tackled the thin and light market: Users wanting beefier or more powerful machines were out of luck. And finally, Microsoft's hardware partners didn't exactly do a great job of promoting Tablet PCs: Only 1 million units were sold in the first two years of the devices' existence.

New, less expensive Tablet PCs that first began appearing in 2004 fixed the price issue, and you can now find Tablet PCs in the critical $1000 price range. With the second generation of Tablet PC hardware, featuring Pentium M and Centrino technologies, Microsoft's partners fixed the performance and battery life issues as well. There are also many more Tablet PC choices out there, including high performance units with high resolution screens. And it seems now that Microsoft's hardware partners are even plying more mainstream markets with new Tablet PCs aimed not at niche markets but at normal consumers and business users. A revolution, perhaps.

Read the rest here

As I noted in my Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Preview, Microsoft has been working on a version of XP for x64 hardware for almost two years now. Much has changed since Microsoft tentatively announced support for the fledgling computer platform in April 2003. First, the x64 platform has shown enormous street creds, with Intel essentially copying AMD's original design, thus assuring that x64, and not Itanium, would be the mainstream 64-bit computing platform of the future. Second, Microsoft has elevated XP x64, its desktop-oriented x64 operating system, from being a niche player to being the basis for its next mainstream OS platform.

Early versions of XP x64 weren't pretty and lacked significant functionality. But more recent releases, like the Release Candidate 1 (RC1) build the company issued last fall and the RC2 version that shipped earlier this month, show a maturity and attention to detail that was previously missing. XP x64 is still a subset, of sorts, of XP 32-bit, but the missing features in XP x64 were dropped with good reason.

For example, XP x64 includes no 16-bit subsystem, so legacy MS-DOS and 16-bit Windows applications will not run on this system. Compatibility purists may look at that omission as a problem, but I agree with Microsoft's assessment that dropping 16-bit support is a chance to rid the system of messy legacy deadwood.

Also missing are legacy networking protocols such as NetBEUI and AppleTalk. Again, the chance to clean house, so to speak, should be applauded not condemned, even if it temporarily limits the size of the potential audience for this release. These are unnecessary technologies today, and Microsoft, understandably, doesn't want to support them forever.

In short, XP x64 looks and acts like the 32-bit version of XP Pro with Service Pack 2 (SP2). Virtually everything you see in a default XP Pro system is present in XP x64, including the Security Center, with just a few exceptions. There are also occasional features in XP x64 that aren't present in XP SP2, such as a 64-bit version of Internet Explorer. On the other hand, XP x64 also includes a 32-bit version of IE 6 for compatibility reasons: All the browser add-ons IE users take for granted will not work in IE x64. And as I'll discuss momentarily, compatibility issues are, in fact, almost the only major differentiator between XP x64 and XP Pro 32-bit.

In this preview of Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, I'll focus on the Release Candidate 2 (RC2) build of this product and highlight what I feel will be the most important adoption blockers for this OS release. In my eventual review of the product, I'll provide a more traditional step-by-step overview of its many features and compare it more closely with 32-bit XP versions.

Read the rest here

Great preview and I like how Paul correlates the past with the future, its an interesting read that details the efforts of how much Microsoft is trying to make this a smooth transition for x86 Windows users to move to x64.

On February 15, 2005, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates publicly revealed during his RSA Conference 2005 keynote address that his company would denounce its previous plans and ship a separate major update to Internet Explorer (IE) before Longhorn. Until that speech, Microsoft representatives were adamant that the security enhancements they had added to the version of IE in Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2, see my review) would be it until Longhorn.

Before the Gates speech, there were indications, however, that Microsoft was reevaluating its stance on IE. First, the open source Mozilla Firefox Web browser, released in November 2004, was proving to be enormously popular with tech-savvy Web users, and its garnered over 25 million downloads in 100 days, grabbing about 5 percent of the Web browser market. Second, Microsoft began discussing the possibility that it would at least provide minor updates to IE before Longhorn. In a discussion with Gary Schare, the Director of Windows Product Management at Microsoft at the time, I was told that the company was examining whether it could add features to IE 6 in XP SP2 via its component add-on capabilities. Previously, MSN had used this functionality to good effect with its MSN Toolbar Suite (see my preview).

Then came the Gates keynote. Here's what Gates said about this major IE update, which will be called Internet Explorer 7. "What we've decided to do is a new version of Internet Explorer, this is IE 7, and it adds a new level of security," he said. "We will be able to put this into beta by early in the summer [of 2005]." Gates then noted that IE 7 would only be made available to users of XP SP2, and not to those still using earlier Windows versions like Windows 2000 or 9x. "Of course, as well, we'll include these capabilities in the next release of Windows scheduled for 2006, which is our Longhorn release."

Read the rest here

Wow, some amazing stuff to look forward to. It is also interesting to note that, there won't be an Outlook Express 7, since it has been at a stand still for years in terms of development as Paul mentioned in the article. I think of course a bulk of the security issues we continue to face occurs through e-mail and Outlook Express is gateway, so anyway to tighten security should not stop at the web browser. Other interesting information of course is tabbed browsing which is said to be coming, that should let us existing IE users sit a little taller in our chairs. I can't wait, I hope they make this a public beta.