Posts Tagged ‘windows 7’

Linux Finally Taken Seriously?

Computer World ran a story a couple of days ago that made it popular on Digg that I found very interesting. The article was “Windows 7: Microsoft’s Linux Killer?“. Has Linux finally been given the status it deserves? Normally we hear about how Linux may some day give Windows a run for its money and about Linux equivalents to Windows applications. It’s definitely nice to see an article that talks about Windows as the underdog rather than Linux.

Linux has been used on back end systems for years as the powerhouse for many organizations, but has been making its public appearance as a lighter-weight operating system. It has done very well on the new netbook-class laptops due to its lower memory consumption, though it doesn’t lack the 3d desktop effect (actually, it was first to makret). Linux was ready and waiting for the Vista compatibility and performance fiasco and Microsoft apparently is going after a faster-performing operating system to catch back up.

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Filed under Tech Trends : Comments (1) : Nov 2nd, 2008

The OS Formerly Known as Vista

I’ve always enjoyed the “I’m a Mac” commercials that Apple has been playing over the last few years. When Microsoft finally came out with an advertising campaign to counter it, Apple got much more aggressive, however. I thought with the last few that they had gone a bit too far, but then I realized that with the “V Word” ad that Apple may have hit the nail on the head. Then the last couple of ads released have been hammering Microsoft over spending tons of money on advertising rather than actually fixing Vista’s problems. They have pretty much nailed it again.

It’s hard to find news coming out about Windows Vista any more. All the (Microsoft) technology news is about Windows 7 these days, it seems. Since I’m not one of the few who have actually gotten to play with the pre-beta versions, I’m going to have to go off promised features and reviews from others. However, what advantages do we get with running Windows 7 over Windows Vista? Well, what’s been promised so far is better performance, better reliability, a new OS X-like task bar (dock?), and multi-touch.

Okay, so they’re offering better performance and better reliability. I should hope it would do better than previous versions. I haven’t noticed any other operating system ad that didn’t say that it was the fastest or more reliable than the last. The biggest performance boost that I’ve read about is that Windows 7 won’t render application windows while the window is not actually being displayed. That’s something that should have been done with the first release of Vista, now it’s a pay-for upgrade.

Windows 7 is supposed to have a new taskbar that acts like the dock in OS X, even with a feature much like Apple’s “Stacks”. This isn’t much different from the Quick Launch menu in older versions of Windows, but it has a few additional features. I’ve always hated the idea of the start menu so this is definitely a welcome feature.

The big new killer feature that Microsoft has been talking about is its new multi-touch technology. Multi-touch technology has been around for a while in several products, both Microsoft (Surface) and others (specifically the iPhone and MacBooks). Microsoft has had its Windows Tablet Edition for several years and been a leader in built-in natural input on notebooks. The multi-touch technology is expected and a rather boring development, though necessary.

So what does Windows 7 give us over Vista? From what I’ve seen so far, it’s a pay-for feature that should have been a service pack. However, Microsoft’s marketing department has made it sound like a killer new OS, just like the Apple ads are saying. During this time of recession in the economy, Microsoft has found a great way of keeping profits high: sell features that should have already been delivered in previous sales. Microsoft didn’t even deliver on features promised to paying customers of Vista Ultimate. Why should we pay for a release that should be a service pack with a new theme? I think Apple had it right. The reason Microsoft is releasing Windows 7 rather than another service pack to Vista is to get rid of the Vista name. They have to add a few features to at least give the appearance of a new OS and then over-hype it to make us believe we’re getting something better.

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Filed under Tech Trends : Comments (1) : Oct 30th, 2008

Windows 7 Name Announced

Microsoft has officially announced that the next version of its operating system originally codenamed ‘Windows 7′ will indeed be called Windows 7 once released. Microsoft has used a variety of ways to name its operating systems over the years, including version numbers. They’ve used version numbers such as Windows 3.1, years the OS was released such as Windows 98 or 2000, or other names such as ‘XP’ or ‘Vista’. They’ve even used a combination such as in Windows NT 4. Incrementing versions from NT 4 until version 7 is a bit confusing since Windows 2000 was version 5.0 and XP 5.1 or 5.2. Microsoft has stated simplicity as one of the core reasons for the decision. My personal favorite was in one of the comments on the blog entry: “Windows Vista NT” – to remind us it’s not the old Vista.

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Filed under News : Comments (0) : Oct 14th, 2008

Ballmer On the Separation of Software and Hardware

In another part of the recent the Churchill Club event I talked about a few days ago, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer talked for a bit on mobile phones and hinted at Microsoft’s strategy on competing with Google.

Well, okay, it’s more than a hint. Microsoft is depending upon being able to license its mobile OS to cell phone manufacturers to be able to beat out competitors Nokia, RIM, and Apple (and Palm if their new Linux-based OS ever arrives) just like it did to beat out IBM, Apple, and others. Using this strategy it was able to accomplish over 90% even now, many years later. I would agree to a certain degree that allowing its OS to mobile phone makers, Microsoft could create a potentially larger market for itself, however I’m not sure that the potential gains are worth the risk.

What makes the desktop market different than the mobile phone market? It’s quite simple: standards. If you give me two different phones from two different manufacturers, chances are the key layout is different, the power cord is different, the screens have different resolutions, and so on. Give me two different PCs from different manufacturers and I don’t necessarily have the same screen resolutions, but I have standards-based peripherals (keyboards, mice), internal components, and even network connection types. Often, on top of the differences in cell phone makers we have phones that have been customized to each provider.

So what benefits do keeping the software locked into a hardware and locked into a provider give us? This too is pretty simple, support and ease of use. The iPhone has been met with a significant amount of criticism since its only available for AT&T and only on the Apple hardware (unless unlocked, of course). But, at the end of the day when I call support because my phone doesn’t work the only questions I have to answer are whether it’s a first or second generation and what size. The developers, support personnel, and end users are never met with surprises. RIM’s Blackberry devices are close, though they have a much wider variety of devices for different types of users.

Why then should Microsoft take this stance and not lock its software to a piece of hardware? For the same reasons it was successful in the PC market. It doesn’t matter if I buy an HP, Dell, Lenovo, or whatever, more than likely it has Windows on it. Sure, nowadays we can buy PCs with Linux (a good move, I think) and occasionally (questionably) OS X, but that’s more of a recent trend in the mainstream market. Having a ton of phones with Windows Mobile on them makes it much easier for Microsoft to get its product in front of end-users. As we learned from the success of Internet Explorer, it doesn’t matter what’s a better product, it’s what comes on the device “out of the box” that most users will use. This also gives them the opportunity to push more users to its search engine and advertising market which really is what it’s all about.

Any company that takes the plunge and licenses its OS on any hardware also takes a risk in compatibility issues. Both Linux vendors and Microsoft have found this out the hard way on the desktop side. Linux has been plagued for years with driver issues since very few manufacturers make drivers for Linux for their hardware. Vista was hit hard with this especially in its first year. Most of the driver issues seem to be disappearing, but Microsoft had a lot of trouble dealing with hardware vendors right away and took a beating from Apple. They apparently have learned their lesson and are hoping to not make the same mistake again on Windows 7.

From either perspective, licensing a mobile OS to a non-standardized marketplace can be a risk. Microsoft has seen some success in the past, of course, but will it eventually win out using the same tactics of its day of old like Ballmer says? It’ll be interesting to see. Microsoft has had recent failures in keeping quality drivers and hardware support in consumers hands and Apple was right on their heels with its hardware-OS bundle and benefited from Vista’s shortcomings.

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Filed under Tech Trends : Comments (1) : Sep 29th, 2008

Windows 7 Screenshots

With all the hype Microsoft has been trying to create around its products lately with its new advertising campaigns, it’s about time they showed something. Now, I’m not a Microsoft fan, but I’m anxious to see what they can produce. Microsoft has taken a lot of heat over Vista in the media and I think they’re going to step up to the plate with some UI features. Evidently in the new Windows 7, they’ve introduced the ribbon into the built-in editors like Wordpad and Paint. Now, I’m not a usability expert, but.. this seems like a complete waste of monitor real estate. I don’t want to get into the ribbon vs. no-ribbon debate of yester-year, but come on. The ribbon’s over-sized buttons saved space in Office because there were several tabs in the ribbon. We supposedly gave up some space to gain it in the long run. Unfortunately, Wordpad only has one tab. Doh! Plus, how is this going to look in a 9-inch netbook? No thanks, Microsoft. I’d like to keep and use all the valuable screen space since laptops and computing devices are, you know, getting smaller.

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Filed under News, Tech Trends : Comments (0) : Sep 19th, 2008

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