Tag: Windows

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Taking Windows 7 for a Spin

windows_7_ultimate_installer

I had my first look at the next version of Windows – Windows 7 – at Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles back in October, a week after I joined the company. By the powers vested in me as a Developer Evangelist with Microsoft, I got my paws on an installer for a recent beta edition and a spare machine – a Dell Latitude D830 with a 2GHz Core Duo processor and 4GB RAM — on which to take the new operating system for a test run.

The installation of the Windows 7 beta went considerably better than my experience installing the Windows Vista beta back in 2006: this time, it worked.

setup_is_preparing_windows

Over the next little while, I’m going to spend some time – perhaps a day a week – doing actual daily work on the Windows 7 machine in order to really experience it. It’ll also give me a chance to try out some “developing for Windows 7” example code. I’ll post my observations here on Global Nerdy – at least as much as the non-disclosure rules allow.

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“The Onion” Compares Apple’s OS X “Snow Leopard” Against Windows 7

…and hilarity ensues:

snow_leopard_vs_windows_7

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“Windows 7”, Eh?

Purported Windows 7 screenshot
Purported Windows 7 screenshot, taken from MegaLeecher.net.

More will be revealed at the upcoming PDC (Professional Developers Conference) and WinHEC (Windows Hardware Engineering Conference), but for now, we know the name of the next version of Windows: Windows 7. The only other hint that Mike Nash drops in his post on the Vista team blog is that the goal for this version is to:

“stay firmly rooted in our aspirations for Windows Vista, while evolving and refining the substantial investments in platform technology in Windows Vista into the next generation of Windows.”

which I interpret as: “It’ll be the Vista we should’ve made.” For their sake, I hope so.

As for the name, it may not be as aspirational or inspirational as “Vista”, but it’s probably a good idea for Microsoft to adopt an “under-promise and over-deliver” strategy.

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Evans Data Survey: Less Than 1 in 10 Developers Writing Apps for Vista

c|net cites an Evans Data report: “A recent report from Evans Data shows fewer than one in 10 software developers writing applications for Windows Vista this year. Eight percent. This is perhaps made even worse by the corresponding data that shows 49 percent of developers writing applications for Windows XP.” Here’s VentureBeat’s take on this report.

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Eric Sink on Windows XP and Listening to Customers

Eric Sink on Windows XP and Listening to Customers: “My overall posture toward Microsoft is still friendly. I still use Windows every day…I’ve used Vista, and while I didn’t find it to be a compelling “must-have” upgrade, I rather liked it. But none of this means that I’m going to give my blanket agreement to every decision Microsoft makes. In this case, I object to Microsoft’s plan, not because Vista is so awful, but rather, because ignoring customers is so wrong.”

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After a Month in Vista, This Pretty Much Sums Up My Feelings About Operating Systems

When I moved to my current position as Nerd Wrangler at b5media, I arrived to discover that the computer waiting for me was a Toshiba P200, a 17″ beast of a laptop that I’ve named “The Coffee Table”. This is the first time in about 5 years that I’ve worked with Windows as my primary operating system, and after a month in Vista, my feelings about operating systems are pretty much summarized by the picture below:

\"I\'m a Mac. I\'m UNIX. I\'m Vista.\"

More on my experiences in a later post.

[Image courtesy of Miss Fipi Lele.]

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When “We Remove Vista” Becomes a Selling Point

Here’s a sign displayed in the window of A&D Computer in Milford, New Hampshire:

Sign in a Seattle computer store window: “We remove Vista / We install XP”

Here’s the relevant excerpt from Todd Bishop’s Microsoft Blog:

Shop manager Aaron Kaplan said they were prompted to put it up because so many people were having problems with Windows Vista, including compatibility issues with older software and trouble adjusting to the interface.

“A lot of people didn’t like using Vista, and a lot of the manufacturers forced people to go up to Vista,” he said.

What was the demand for the service? “We had a lot of people coming in and asking about it,” Kaplan said. “Of all the signs we put up there the last two years, at least, we probably got the most response out of that one. A lot of people coming in.”

Kaplan said they’ve since replaced it with a different message, but they’re thinking about putting the Vista removal message back up.