Posts Tagged ‘Windows 7’

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Just a short ‘n sweet update here for those of you interested developers. From the Microsoft Download Center: “The Windows 7 Training Kit for Developers includes presentations, hands-on labs, and demos designed to help you learn how to build applications that are compatible with and shine on Windows 7.” The training kit is noted to utilize key Windows 7 features, such as:

* Taskbar
* Libraries
* Multi-Touch
* Sensors and Location
* Ribbon
* Trigger Start Services
* Instrumentation and ETW
* Application Compatibility

And Application Compatibility topics such as:

* Version Checking
* UAC Data Redirection
* Session 0 Isolation
* Installer Detection
* User Interface Privilege Isolation
* High DPI

Source: Windows 7 Training Kit For Developers Website

-Stephen
http://msftkitchen.com

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Before getting into the finer points of my opinion, let me just say that I absolutely love Windows 7… and not just because I’m a Microsoft enthusiast/evangelist, either. Windows 7 is what I wish Windows Vista had been; the perfect step up from Windows XP. Vista had the potential and the technology, but we all know that when the driver issues were ironed out, it had (and still has) the bad name to contend with. I was sent a review copy of Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 which I did indeed install and make my main OS. For the most part, I had nothing but good things to say about it when I reviewed it but I just never got past a couple of issues. Windows 7 has corrected those issues in spades… well, all but one:

The inability to get the OS to retain folder views the way you want them.

Seriously, Microsoft… wtf is going on with that? Vista, Vista SP1, Vista SP2, and now, Windows 7. If you’re not going to fix it, then remove the, “Apply to All Folders” button from within Folder Options. I’m no expert coder or anything… far from it, actually, and while I understand that there are certain issues that may be unfixable within any given state of, “final” code, is this really something that can’t be fixed? Do none of you internally get annoyed with this issue? Do you need to see this as being an annoyance only through results of billions spent on R&D? I don’t know, maybe I’m just being petty here, but if an OS is going to be changed in drastic ways to make its usage as productive as humanly possible, having to change folder views seemingly more times than not is rather regressive of such efforts, no? Am I the only one out there who experiences this with the frequency that I do? I seem to get a little more annoyed each time it happens… and if you think reading this paragraph was repetitive and slightly annoying, man, let me tell you about this little bug in Windows 7 I hate where Folder Views aren’t remembered… lol.

Now, with that said, I love everything else about Windows 7. It’s fast, sleek, doesn’t feel clunky and weighed down like Vista does, gives you options for more control with UAC without having to run command line scripts to totally disable it, and my absolute favoritist, favorite, faaavorite functionality… the new taskbar. Naturally, there are mixed opinions about it but I absolutely love it. It was *very* easy for me to not just get used to, but fall in love with (unlike the ribbon bar, which I *STILL* have to spend time searching for functionality I want to utilize in *every* application that uses it). Check out the following screenshot of my desktop (click it for a full-sized version):

Now, if that happened to be my taskbar on XP or Vista, my OCD would be kickin’ in to close a bunch of stuff out… but it’s not the XP or Vista taskbar. It’s Windows 7′s and all that stuff is pinned there, just waiting for my use and here’s the great thing (for those of you who aren’t familiar with exactly how 7′s taskbar is different): When you click on an item that’s pinned to the taskbar, whatever loads, utilizes the very same space in the taskbar, so it’s not like quick launch where you have some things like IE and Show Desktop right next to the Start button, then you click on something like IE and it loads the application in a completely separate place on the taskbar as has been traditionally done pre-Windows 7. For instance, in the screenshot above, see how I have IE and Firefox beside one another? If I click one of those, you’ll see it go active. That’s it! If you want to actually see which web pages you have open, you simply hover over the pinned task and a thumbnail preview pops up. Nice and clean, keeping your desktop clean of shortcuts (anything I would normally have on my desktop as a shortcut, I pin to the taskbar) AND your taskbar by managing your space as efficiently as possible.

Now, in that screenshot above, I’ve set my icons in the taskbar to be small. For one, it feels like it takes just a little bit less real estate on my desktop and I’m able to pin more items to it. If I happen to fill that row up, I just drag the taskbar upwards and I’m ready to fill another row. Excellent stuff! Oh, and moving the, “Show Desktop” functionality to the far right-hand side of the taskbar handles two things:

1 – Gives you the ability to just pull the mouse to that corner thoughtlessly. No need to *look* to make sure you’re pushing the Show Desktop button instead of something else in the former Quick Launch toolbar.

2 – Completely nixes the need for the Quick Launch toolbar. By default, the only item in the Quick Launch toolbar that didn’t actually launch anything was the Show Desktop button. Move that, and every bit of the functionality of the Quick Launch (I just accidentally typed, “Quick Lunch” there, lol) is prime to be integrated with the taskbar in just the way Microsoft did it.

Oh, and I like the taskbar, by the way. Just in case I didn’t mention that.

Something else I dug was the speed with which Windows 7 installed. Even from DVD, it installed quite fast! Seemingly much faster than any of the pre-RTM builds I installed, but that could very well be subjective to my observations on any given day I installed a build of Windows 7. All of my drivers installed fine without complaint or fault (I can’t say the same about Vista), and everything I’ve installed thus far just works. That’s it, it just. works. Exactly like I want.

Actually, there *is* one thing that doesn’t work for me that also didn’t work on Vista that I have to figure out: FarCry *will not* run without immense amounts of trial and error. I can get it to run up to a certain game patch level, but even then, there’s a point in the game that loads incorrectly such that you have to start over… only to get back to that point and be met with the same issue. It seems like a map issue and everything else could be drivers. I’ve tried placing the older DX dlls the game looks for in all the necessary places, but no dice. If/when I figure it out, I’m going to place a guide on how I got it to work so that others with the same issue may find success.

So… aside from FarCry not working and the:

IMMENSELY-ANNOYING FOLDER VIEWS GARBAGE YOU WON’T FIX, MICROSOFT

Windows 7 is in all ways perfect for me. I think it could very well be exactly what Microsoft needs to pull itself out of the throes of Vista… AND get XP users to finally upgrade to something else without feeling like they’re pulling teeth. Honestly, to all you XP users, let me say what Windows 7 is just as stable and just as fast as XP right out of the box… for me, at least. It’s definitely worth your time and investment to upgrade to Windows 7 if you’re still lovin’ on XP (or even if you’re using Vista; happily or not).

I hope to obtain a review copy of Windows 7 in which I will *thoroughly* review the heck out of the OS and – unlike having to do for another site with Vista – will post right here on UX Evangelist for those of you who are interested and for those who may accidentally stumble upon my site who are looking for a solid review of it. Feel free to chime in, in the comments section and let me know about your Windows 7 experiences.

-Stephen
http://msftkitchen.com

PS – I *have* experienced one BSOD in Windows 7, but I haven’t been able to reproduce it yet. So far, it seems like just a fluke but it’s worth noting that the blue, the myth, the legend continues on…

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If you’re not a Microsoft Partner, chances are, you have no idea about most of their exclusive offerings. One such offering is DOVO: Desktop Optimization using Windows Vista and Office 2007. Pulled from Microsoft’s, “DOVO For Partners” Connect site:

“DOVO leverages Microsoft tools and technologies for deploying the desktop. Based on the Microsoft Deployment Solution Accelerator, it is designed to fully capture the benefits of desktop optimization by helping reduce total cost of ownership, improve user productivity, and increase agility.”

Now, with Windows 7 out in the wild, Microsoft is planning to upgrade this offering in a new little acronym called DOWO: Desktop Optimization using Windows 7 and Office 2007. DOWO is currently planned to be launched in 2009 Q4. Even further down the road, Microsoft has a projected probability of 60% that DOWO will get an update in 2010 Q2. The difference? Office 14 in lieu of Office 2007. Here is a comparison of the two from an internal Microsoft Partner offerings roadmap:

Since DOVO and DOWO are essentially the same type of offering (with DOWO leveraging more recent technology, of course), here’s a slide about DOVO from an internal presentation with an overview that adds to the description I provided from Microsoft’s connect site:

And for what it’s worth, I just couldn’t come up with anything corny enough to make a decent pun with the word, “dojo.” Feel free to indulge in the comments section below, should you be so bored…

-Stephen
http://msftkitchen.com

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A couple of days ago, a group by the name of, “ModMyEee” created a release of Windows 7 RTM candidate build 7264 specifically for netbooks. To quote:

“The Eee7 is a special version of Windows 7 Ultimate, based on the last edition 7264, made by the group “ModMyEee”. It occupies only 1.49 GB of space on an installation USB drive and 4 GB when installed on the hard disk. It operates on any netbook and is faster than XP SP3! No major functionality has been removed; all networking capabilities remained intact, as does dardware support.”

Download via Rapidshare Links (Thanks to kevin2008 @ avaxhome):

http://rapidshare.com/files/255641842/b1u3eyes.Win.7.Netbook.Edition.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/255657253/b1u3eyes.Win.7.Netbook.Edition.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/255640985/b1u3eyes.Win.7.Netbook.Edition.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/255730736/b1u3eyes.Win.7.Netbook.Edition.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/255873844/b1u3eyes.Win.7.Netbook.Edition.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/255875765/b1u3eyes.Win.7.Netbook.Edition.part6.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/255873871/b1u3eyes.Win.7.Netbook.Edition.part7.rar

Feel free to mirror these links!

-Stephen

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

UPDATE: Apparently, I’ve jumped the gun a bit and Bill didn’t say, “morning,” but, rather, “month.” Thanks to Ilia Jerebtsov for the closer observation. So, RTM could very well be any day now but it’s not *quite* here just yet. In the mean time, there is a build of 7600 floating around out there which was recently leaked. Check your local torrent hub to find it if you haven’t already and get to downloadin’! Anyway, I’ll leave the rest of this post as-is even if simply for just having egg on my face for apparently jumping the gun.

Well, the time has finally arrived. In less than 3 years of development, Windows 7 is (almost) officially FINISHED! Yesterday morning, Bill Veghte, Senior Vice President for the Windows Business, announced that they would be releasing Windows 7 to manufacturers, but according to friends of mine with good sources, it hasn’t quite RTM’d just yet. According to WZor, though, the final build string could very likely be the following:

6.1.7600.16385.win7_rtm.090713-1255

Hats off to Microsoft for undoing the negative stigma that was created through the development of Longhorn, i.e. falling well short of market delivery time frames. Likewise, Windows 7 has many of us champing at the bit to escape any of the minor/major annoyances/inconveniences we experience in Windows Vista. For me, that major annoyance is the fact that Windows Vista doesn’t remember my folder view preferences (I can’t even begin to tell you how much that aggrivates the HELL out of me. It’s like, Microsoft peddles an interface that’s to be as productive as possible, yet when I want to see file information via the details view, I have to manually select it 7 out of 10 times. Grrr). But I digress…

With this announcement, you can expect a leak of the RTM build to follow shortly hereafter, so stay tuned! And as is always the case, it’s on to the next with, “the next” being Windows 8. If you’re interested, you can check out a few Windows 8 articles I’ve previously posted:

- Windows 8 to Contain New Networking Features
- Windows 8: Tracking Work Internally with WorkTrack
- Windows 8 and Windows 9: Various Tidbits
- Windows Server 7, 8, and 9 on a Roadmap

As you might expect, you will find unique Windows 8 content on my site whenever I get a hold of such! Having said that, don’t hold your breath as this is typically a fairly slow point in the Windows news department, with the completion of a new version and planning taking place for the next, but rest assured that I’ll be on the case to bring you the very latest when possible.

Once again, congrats, Microsoft, for wrapping up a damn fine OS!

-Stephen

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

Update: Definitely fake. Don’t worry about wasting your time reading the rest of this post. lol.

A Microsoft community forum member by the name of Adr2ien has posted 2 supposed screen shots of a build 7279 with the following build string:

7279.winmain.090627-1900

To make the story of this curious build even better, in the screen shots, he’s got a Microsoft Connect window pulled up which shows this build as being available… but only to just him as no one else seems to have this build showing up for them in their Connect. Even BETTER is to acknowledge Microsoft’s reasons for placing such a build on their Connect portal, which are……….right. None.

Someone needs to let Adr2ien know how Microsoft’s back end works with Connect. Anyway, in the very slim chance that this is a real build, I’ll be glad to eat my words of it leaks. Otherwise, this post serves to hopefully denounce yet another attempt to dupe the Microsoft community. And now for the screen shots:

-Stephen

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

Caveat: Please take into account that this is an RTM candidate build which was rejected due to a showstopper bug being found. If you choose to install this build, I would highly recommend you don’t fully trust your data with it. Now with that out of the way…

I’ve been waiting for one of these RTM candidate builds to leak and finally, we have one! A forum by the name of VinylZine somehow got a hold of the ISOs for both x86 and x64 client. It’s amazing how this stuff turns up sometimes. If it wasn’t for WZor posting about it, I would’ve never found this site by its own accord. Anyway, here are torrents for each ISO along with their respective extra info:

MICROSOFT.WINDOWS.7.BUILD.7264.WIN7_RTM.X86.ENGLISH.DVD-VINYLZINE
7264.0.090622-1900_x86fre_client_en-us_Retail_Ultimate-GRMCULFRER_EN_DVD.iso
SIZE: 2,503,360,512 byte
CRC: 0B916606
MD5: 44F04E9E5762714C3D75A3C9C88DE251
SHA1: 59BA011913B00A820A1E002B9BEDEF139AE15B07

x86 Torrent Download: Click Here

MICROSOFT.WINDOWS.7.BUILD.7264.WIN7_RTM.X64.ENGLISH.DVD-VINYLZINE
7264.0.090622-1900_x64fre_client_en-us_Retail_Ultimate-GRMCULXFRER_EN_DVD.iso
SIZE: 3,226,130,432 byte
CRC: 05F87B79
MD5: 670818DB149170C652414E1F75E9390C
SHA1: C6FE386E97944511820291F515A8CBB3DDA329A6

x64 Torrent Download: Click Here

-Stephen

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

Well, today is the 26th; the day Neowin’s source told them Windows 7 would RTM. There’s still a chance that it might have, but if so, then Microsoft really cranked out some bug-fixing as WZor has posted a new RTM candidate build string:

6.1.7265.0.win7_rtm.090624-1905

I’m definitely getting impatient myself, but I’m glad to see they’re continuing to iron out the bugs. I would much rather continue to see these builds and know that I’m going to end up with a stable OS than land a build with a slew of caveats and noted upgrades I need to immediately download. Anywho…

More as it comes in…

Source: WZor

-Stephen

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

WZor has posted a new RTM candidate build string:

6.1.7264.0.win7_rtm.090622-1900

Unlike the 7264 build string I posted about the other day (which was determined to be fake), this build is the latest candidate on the road to RTM. Along with the build string, WZor posted what are supposedly team progress bug charts/logs:

If those charts are accurate, then Windows 7 appears it definitely will not RTM on the 26th as is potentially implied by the Windows 7 Upgrade site.

More as it comes in!

Source: WZor.net

-Stephen

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

A poster on the Neowin.net forum posted something fairly interesting earlier. Check it out:

As I mentioned in my RTM post a couple of days ago, we have 3 credible sites who have each received different information from their sources in regards to RTM. Neowin heard it would happen on June 26, which would fall right in line with the screen shot above. As we all know, though, plans can change overnight within the software giant, so the 26th as an RTM date – while credible at the time Neowin posted – could be outdated information at this point. It’s an interesting development either way.

The wait for RTM continues…

Reference: Windows 7 Upgrade Site

-Stephen

PS – Thanks for the link, Charon.