Microsoft Windows Vista Vs Windows Xp

Microsoft to Increasingly Open up on Office 14 and Windows 7

There is a time for translucency, and there is also a time for transparency.

The under promise and overachieve policy set in place at Microsoft for the Windows and Office projects by Steven Sinofsky, Senior Vice President, Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group has impacted both Windows 7 and Office 14. Microsoft is essentially ensuring that by promising nothing at all, Windows 7 will not be a repeat of Longhorn-Vista, but while, for the next iteration of Windows the silence is an item of novelty, for the Office platform, gagged details are nothing more than a tradition. Still, slowly, the company prepares to increasingly open up on both Office 14 and Windows 7.

"You'll see a range of announcements over the next six months about the directions we're taking with Microsoft Office," promised Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer at the Worldwide Partner Conference 2008, on July 10. Office 14 is the next version of the Office productivity suite and the successor of the Office 2007 System.

Microsoft has pointed out that the Office 2007 was nothing short of a success but failed to reveal any figures related to sales or adoption. Still, the company is getting ready to catalyze the transformation of the Ribbon/Fluent UI of Office 2007 into a standard for the graphical user interface for applications tailored to the Windows 7 client.

"We need to make it click to run. We don't need to make it less full-featured, and less functional, and less capable, but we have to drive it down this path. And it will remain the center of people's productive side of people's lives. So the investment in training, and work that you're putting into products like Windows Vista, and Office 2007 move forward," Microsoft's CEO added.

Earlier this year, Microsoft gave a small taste of the touch computing capabilities of Windows 7. But the company is preparing much more at its Professional Developer Conference 2008 at the end of October in Los Angeles. Microsoft will discuss graphics advances, energy consumption optimizations, web services in native code, touch computing and much more.

source: news.softpedia.com

 

Vista and Office 2007 Are Joined at the Hip, but They Can Be Decoupled

The joint releases of Windows Vista and the Office 2007 System in November 2006 and January 2007, designed to be a repeat of Windows 95 and Office 95, have had an inherent result on consumer perception.

The simultaneous release of the latest versions of Microsoft's flagship products indicated that the Redmond company had joined Windows Vista and Office 2007 at the hip. And, in fact, Microsoft has been little shy about marketing the intimate connection between its main cash cows, as the company's perspective over the Windows digital lifestyle reveals.

However, while moving onward to new releases of Windows and Office, some customers are indeed choosing the productivity suite and leaving Vista be. It is the case of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation. SABIC upgraded over 18,000 computers to Microsoft Office Professional 2007, but ignored Windows Vista completely, even following the introduction of Service Pack 1.

"Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) [deployed] Office 2007 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 to their 18,000 employees. What is interesting to me about this case study is the implied de-coupling of Vista and Office 2007. Some customers inextricably link the two, while others more aggressively deploy Office 2007, and handle the OS deployment when they refresh the desktop/laptop," revealed a member of the Microsoft Chemical Team.

SABIC obviously missed Microsoft's new marketing campaign debuted with the occasion of the company's Worldwide Partner Conference 2008 last week, and designed to build consumer perception that Windows Vista is ready for mass deployments. While gearing up to prove that indeed Vista SP1 is worth an investment, and promising that as an investment customers will reek benefits until Windows 7, Microsoft deals with yet another company which said pass to Vista, although not to Office 2007.

"We already had strategic investments in Microsoft technologies as well as a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement for low-cost volume licensing of software. So the new desktop software was the most cost-effective choice because it could protect our existing investments, and also easily integrate with other existing technologies," explained Fahad Al-Ghamdi, IT End User Services Manager for SABIC.

source: news.softpedia.com

 

What Does It Take to Get a PC With XP?

Our reporter tried to buy a computer with Windows XP preinstalled on it from the United States' nine biggest PC makers. His findings: You can get one, but be prepared to fib.

I won't waste time rehashing the argument over whether Windows Vista is any good. The fact remains that lots of people prefer Windows XP, and they'll go to great lengths to get it.

The problem: Windows XP "officially" went off the market on June 30, 2008, and computer vendors aren't supposed to sell new machines configured with any version of Windows except Vista.

Fortunately for XP enthusiasts and Vista vetoers, the PC marketplace still has a loophole or two in it. In response to pressure from customers, Microsoft has made some concessions for people who really want XP, offering a lifeline for users willing and able to wade through the company's convoluted downgrading program. The upshot is that virtually every copy of Vista Business or Vista Ultimate Edition is sold with a license for XP, which a computer manufacturer can exercise to install XP Professional on any Vista Business or Vista Ultimate PC.

But just because a manufacturer can install XP doesn't mean that it will. And just because its official policy permits it to sell XP machines doesn't mean that its employees understand that policy.

To find out how difficult it is to get a new XP machine these days, I asked the nine largest PC vendors in the United States--Dell, HP, Gateway, Toshiba, Acer, Fujitsu, Lenovo, Sony, and Asus--about the specifics of their downgrade policies. Then, to see how closely the official story synced up with the reality in the marketplace, I called sales representatives for each company and asked them whether I could purchase a new laptop equipped with XP from them.

The verdict? Downgrade policies are all over the map, and more than a few rank-and-file sales reps have a sketchy understanding of those policies. Some notebook PC sellers make getting XP preinstalled on a new laptop a snap; others don't offer it under any circumstance. As a rule of thumb, your odds of finding a machine with XP and a sales rep who knows how to configure a machine with that OS are far greater if you call the business sales line instead of the consumer sales line. (Be prepared to fib and say you're planning to buy 25 computers during the next 12 months.) Getting XP via online purchase can be tricky, too.

Here's how each manufacturer's formal policy--and informal reality--shakes out.

source: pcworld.com

 

Next-Generation Windows 7 User Experience

With Windows 7 Milestone 1 released in December 2007, Microsoft managed to give a taste of the user experience that is coming with the successor of Windows Vista.

At the same time, since Windows M1 was virtually identical with its predecessor in terms of the graphical user interface, the UX was also similar. But make no mistake about it; as part of the development process of Windows 7, Microsoft is also building the next-generation user experience for Windows. Starting with the graphical user interface, an aspect confirmed officially by Julie Larson-Green, Corporate Vice President, Windows Experience Program Management at the end of May, when she admitted that work was being done on the Win7 GUI but refused to give out any details.

However, crumbs from the Windows 7 UX feast do fall through Microsoft's fingers. The company is in fact looking for the right people to take the Windows user experience to the next level. For example, the Windows Experience Core User Experience team is hiring.

"We own the high-level features that users interact with daily, such as the desktop, taskbar, start menu, app switching, control panels, gadgets, media experiences, etc. etc. We *are* the face of Windows, and our charter is improving the everyday experiences for millions of customers. We’re looking for highly skilled engineers who are passionate about building and shipping the next-generation user experience for Windows," reads an excerpt from a Software Development Engineer in Test job for Windows.

But at the same time, the Redmond giant is looking for User Experience researchers and designers. In this regard, Microsoft places a great deal of emphasis on the intimate connection between future releases of Windows client and the Windows Live cloud platform. "Microsoft is looking for a design innovator," the company indicated in a job posting for User Experience Designer, the goal being to synchronize the Windows and Windows Live user experiences not only at product level but also as brands, from interaction to visual design.

"Someone who thinks strategically about brands and can invent, drive, and inspire great visual and interaction design to influence the course of the world’s most used software product - Windows, and its new suite of integrated online services, Windows Live. You’ll be working with the world’s best developers, visual and interaction designers, UX researchers, and brand managers, all dedicated to revolutionizing software design. You need to be somebody that loves software, thinks deeply about brands, is hands-on with technology, focuses on the customer, and absolutely exudes a passion for great design," Microsoft added.

There is no telling now where Microsoft is going with the user experience and the design of the graphical user interface in Windows 7. Sill, one good piece of news for Windows users is that Julie Larson-Green is on the job. She is after all responsible for the design innovations included into the Office 2007 System, namely the Ribbon/Fluent graphical user interface.

According to the company, the "Windows and Windows Live UX Research team, a partner with other product development disciplines, we ensure that Windows, Windows Live, and Internet Explorer ship successful and outstanding user experiences to hundreds of millions of customers. Big challenges and success at a world-wide scale are achievable."

source: news.softpedia.com

 

First hints of Microsoft’s fight back ads appear

If this is going to be the overall message of Microsoft’s much-vaunted new $300 million ad campaign, it might be money well spent.

According to the folks at LiveSide, the first ads in the new campaign were previewed at Microsoft’s employees-only Global Exchange conference last week to rave reviews. As Tim Anderson astutely noted the other day, “Vista is now actually better than its reputation. That’s a marketing issue.” Microsoft’s biggest challenge is to get would-be customers to set aside whatever preconceptions they have and listen to its pitch for Vista. Aligning its most vocal Vista critics with the Flat Earth Society is a clever way to get people’s attention.

But the bigger job, that of actually changing people’s minds, will be easier said than done. Apple has largely defined Vista’s public image so far with its devastating “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” ads. Responding directly to those ads is a losing tactic. Largely thanks to John Hodgman, the humor bar is set extraordinarily high. Any kind of response ad would legitimize the claims in those Apple ads and run the significant risk of being seen as lame and uncool.

And there’s no sign that anyone in Redmond is going to go down that road. Instead, clicking the link on the “World is flat” add leads to a page headlined, “Windows Vista: Look how far we’ve come.” The copy beneath leads off with a sheepish admission:

When Windows Vista debuted in January 2007, we declared it the best operating system we had ever made. “Windows Vista is beautiful,” The New York Times raved. It’s humbling that millions of you agree.

But we know a few of you were disappointed by your early encounter. Printers didn’t work. Games felt sluggish. You told us—loudly at times—that the latest Windows wasn’t always living up to your high expectations for a Microsoft product.

source: blogs.zdnet.com

 

Windows XP style for Vista - joke or what?

You may be stuck with Vista, but with a few tweaks and tricks you can make it look and feel just like its predecessor.

Your new PC came with Vista. Maybe your office deployed Vista. Or, perhaps, you got caught up in the early hype and bought Vista. Whatever the case, now you're stuck with it. Wish you could turn back the clock and restore your beloved Windows XP? Unless your name is Marty McFly, you're outta luck.

But all is not lost: You can give Vista an extreme interface makeover, tweaking it to resemble XP. Just because you're stuck with Vista doesn't mean you have to look at it all day.

Strictly speaking, you still have a few ways to get your hands on XP if these makeover tips don't satisfy your thirst for the older version of Windows. While supplies last, you can find boxes of XP on some retail shelves. And some system manufacturers offer XP downgrades with the purchase of a Vista Business or Ultimate license.

However, if you're not interested in scouring the earth for one of the last remaining boxes of Windows XP, or if you don't feel like jumping through hoops to buy a version of Vista that comes with an XP license, the following tricks will go a long way toward making you feel more at home in Vista.


Turn Off Aero Glass
Sure, Vista's much-ballyhooed Aero Glass environment makes the OS look pretty, but at what cost? To XP die-hards, the translucent windows amount to little more than system-slowing eye candy. To make your machine look and feel more like XP, and to improve its performance in the process, you'll have to break through the Glass.

Start by right-clicking any empty area of the Desktop, and then clicking Personalize in the context menu. Next, click the Window Color and Appearance option. Clear the Enable Transparency check box and click OK. Presto: solid, XP-like windows and a zippier PC.


Roll Back the Theme
Don't like Vista's fancy-schmancy colors, buttons, and fonts? You can easily switch back to a more XP-esque theme. Head to the same Window Color and Appearance option as in the last step, and click the link marked Open classic appearance properties for more color options. In the 'Color scheme' box, choose Windows Standard, and then click OK. Wait a minute while Vista undergoes its XP transformation. When it's done, you'll see a familiar-looking Start menu, taskbar, and so on.

source: pcworld.com

 

How Microsoft spends its money online

Microsoft's online spending plans will be a central topic today at the company's annual meeting with financial analysts, as detailed in this post yesterday.

But how has the company's Online Services Business been spending its money so far? With the meeting about to begin, here are a few charts I've put together, breaking down expenses and results in the division, derived from Microsoft's earnings reports.

Microsoft has been spending more and more on its online initiatives, but that spending isn't yet evident in the key search market.

source: blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com

 

Microsoft looks to Mojave to revive Vistas image

After months of searching for ways to defend its oft-maligned Windows operating system, Microsoft may just have found its best weapon: Vista's skeptics.

Spurred by an e-mail from someone deep in the marketing ranks, Microsoft last week traveled to San Francisco, rounding up Windows XP users who had negative impressions of Vista. The subjects were put on video, asked about their Vista impressions, and then shown a "new" operating system, code-named Mojave. More than 90 percent gave positive feedback on what they saw. Then they were told that "Mojave" was actually Windows Vista.

"Oh wow," said one user, eliciting exactly the exclamation that Microsoft had hoped to garner when it first released the operating system more than 18 months ago. Instead, the operating system got mixed reviews and criticisms for its lack of compatibility and other headaches.

To be sure, the focus groups didn't have to install Vista or hook it up to their existing home network. Still, the emotional appeal of the "everyman" trying Vista and liking it clearly packs an emotional punch, something the company has desperately needed. Microsoft is still trying to figure out just how it will use the Mojave footage in its marketing, though it will clearly have a place.

The Mojave project is likely to be just one of many efforts designed to resuscitate Vista's image as well as lend strength to the Windows platform among stepped-up competition from Apple and Google. In an interview Wednesday, Windows unit business chief Bill Veghte told CNET News that he wants to see his unit try new things to get the message across.

"We have a huge perception opportunity," he said, offering a glass half-full assessment of things. "We are going to try a bunch of stuff."

The image improvement effort, known internally as FTP, has many components. Well-publicized are the hundreds of millions that Microsoft plans to spend on a broad campaign buttressed by edgy ads from Crispin Porter and Bogusky. But Veghte wants the company pushing on multiple marketing fronts.

With small businesses, for example, Microsoft earlier this month launched the "Assurance" campaign. In that effort, Microsoft is offering free Vista-related technical support, a move that will add millions of dollars to Microsoft's telephone support costs. The point, Veghte said, is that businesses want to see Microsoft standing behind its product.

Veghte is convinced, like others at Microsoft, that despite early technical challenges, Vista's problems are primarily ones of perception.

Much of that perception, Microsoft belatedly acknowledges, stems from Apple's successful and unchallenged anti-Vista campaign. But, after stewing over the ads on many of his morning runs, Veghte decided that it was time to strike back, even without a new version of Windows to tout. Apple, he said, has "crossed a line" from fact into fiction.

source: news.cnet.com

 

Microsoft: Windows 7 on track

Windows unit head Bill Veghte said on Thursday that Windows 7 development remains on track.

The company has officially said it would ship by January 2010, but top executives have also said from time to time that it would be done by the end of 2009.

"The product is tracking very, very well," Veghte said. "We are committed and looking good, relative to our commitment--(shipping Windows 7) three years from general availability of Windows Vista."

Microsoft has released few details on the product, largely assuring customers that it would be making big architectural changes and that it will have a new multitouch user interface.

Most of Veghte's talk, as expected, was on Windows Vista and how Microsoft sees a large perception gap. Veghte showed the Mojave Project, first detailed here, in which users predisposed against Vista reacted favorably when shown Vista when it was presented under the guise of being a new version of Windows, code-named Mojave.

Even outside focus groups, Veghte said that not only are customers buying the operating system, but more are liking it, pointing to recent internal figures showing that 89 percent of users said they were "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the product. Some 83 percent said they would recommend Vista to a friend or family member, Veghte said.

He also demoed Internet Explorer 8, which he said would be released in final form later this year. An early beta was shown off at the Mix '08 trade show in the spring.

Update: In the closing Q and A session, CEO Steve Ballmer was asked what Windows 7 would look like, but declined to offer any new details saying to do so would be a "no-win" situation.

"It's going to look great; It's going to be quite compatible," he said, to some laughter. "If I wanted to start selling Windows 7 today, we'd start selling windows 7 today. Then you'd complain."

He did reiterate what has already been said, saying that Windows 7 is designed to avoid making big changes. "The design point is compatible form the get-go in large measure," he said.

source: news.cnet.com

 

Give Vista Another Chance

Rarely does a week go by that there isn't at least one story in the media about the supposed shortcomings of Windows Vista or how companies are scorning it because of incompatibilities or a perceived lack of business value.

Reading this coverage, you might get the impression that Windows Vista's predicament is unique among the various versions of Windows. A decade spent helping customers assess the savings and business value of a Windows upgrade tells me otherwise.

When Windows 2000 was released, people complained about compatibility and performance issues and said they preferred Windows 98. When Windows XP came out, people complained about complex hardware requirements. They said they didn't need to upgrade because Windows 2000 was sufficient for their needs. When I spoke at a launch-day session about the benefits of Windows XP SP2, customers complained about high-compatibility restrictions and complicated features. Sound familiar?

And yet, looking back on the reputation of Windows Vista's predecessors, you find that, while there was some challenge accompanying the transition to each one, in time every one of these operating systems proved to be a solid investment. Now, people are griping about the same things in Vista. My experiences as a user of Windows and as an adviser to my customers have taught me not to be surprised about this response, but it has also convinced me that, regardless of what you read or hear, companies need to take a closer look at Windows Vista before writing it off.

It's part of my job to work with vendors and customers to approach a decision as pragmatically and strategically as possible. If there's still doubt about the value of Windows Vista, consider the following: It has required fewer security updates than Windows XP in its first year of availability -- nine updates vs. XP's 26. And the success of Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool suggests that Windows Vista is 60% less likely to be infected by malicious software than XP SP2. From a purely anecdotal perspective, there's no question that features such as BitLocker Drive Encryption provide a pronounced improvement in the security of corporate data on a notebook. And although some people may resent it, the User Account Control can seriously curtail the frequency of malware on a company desktop.

One of my government customers recently began deploying Windows Vista, and one of the challenges he faced was that many of the users on the network simply didn't understand how to use their computers safely, which sometimes resulted in a malware infection. Deploying different vendor security products only led to costly and inconsistent measures that were difficult to upgrade. With the upgrade to Windows Vista, he is getting a much safer experience out-of-the-box without requiring additional security products. As a result, the customer expects a 30% decrease in security-related calls to the help desk.

Other benefits, such as the energy-savings feature in Windows Vista, are providing substantial savings, but for many companies the No. 1 obstacle may remain deployment of the operating system. Admittedly, there are challenges with deploying Windows Vista, just as there are with any software product. But one thing is for sure: Windows Vista deployment is not as difficult as you might surmise from all the lurid headlines.

source: pcworld.com

 

Windows 7 Server Leaked Screenshot – Between the Lines

Microsoft is hard at work building the next iterations of both the Windows client and server operating systems. But while the company has already opened up a tad about Windows 7, the successor of Windows Vista, it has managed to all but completely avoid the Windows 7 Server subject.

There has been little to no official indications from Microsoft about what will after Windows Server 2008 released to manufacturing on February 4, 2008 and launched commercially at the end of the same month. Still, while the software giant has just wrapped up migrating all its boxes to Windows Server 2008, it is already dogfooding Windows 7 Server.

Confirmation of this fact was offered by Brian Puhl, an Active Directory engineer for Microsoft’s IT department, who managed to leak a Windows 7 Server screenshot along with additional details. The fact that Microsoft is already using Windows 7 Server internally is a clear indication that the operating system has evolved well past the "planning stage." In fact, due to the synchronization between the Windows client and server releases, the Windows 7 Server build being dogfooded might very well be on par with Windows 7, which has moved past Milestone 1.

"Man, it seems like yesterday that we were dogfooding Longhorn Server. But that’s long gone, and Windows Server 2008 has RTM’d, so it’s time for a break right? Yeah, well, breaks over and there are new toys to play with already. So congratulations to the operations team, the product group, pm’s, and everyone else that has put the effort in to get us to the point where we put the first Win7 domain controller in production," Puhl stated in a blog post which was subsequently taken down, but is still accessible thanks to the Live Search cache.

Puhl also offered an insight into the details associated with the operating system being dogfooded: "Server Name: TK5-WING-DC-01; Security: Users; Registered Owner: Windows User; Registered Organization: MSIT; ProductID: 00484-082-2500885-76802; Original Install Date: Fri Jul 11 13:37:56 2008; Base Source Path:Version: 6.1; Build: 6608.winmain_win7m2.080511-1400; Current Type: Multiprocessor Free; Product Name: Windows Server (R) 2008 Enterprise; Product Options: ProductType; HAL.DLL is 6.1.6608.1 - Microsoft Corporation – 6.1:6608.1; System Up Time: 0 Days, 13 Hr, 41 Min, 29 Sec."

Judging from this information, the Windows 7 Server core is based on that of Windows Server 2008. However, as the platform evolved, the Windows 7 Server kernel is bound to get a new version, as the label is designed to refer to the next major version of the Windows server operating system. Build 6.1.6608 is also an evolution compared to 6.1.6519 which was Windows 7 M1. The biggest question however is whether Windows 7 Server will ship along with the Windows 7 client three years after the general availability of Window Vista, or if a repeat of the bundled release Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 is in the works.

source: news.softpedia.com

 

Windows Codename Mojave Is Live

Microsoft is mid-way on the road from Windows Vista to Windows 7, the next iteration of its Windows client, planned for availability no later than the end of January 2010.

And following the release of Windows Vista Service pack 1, Microsoft is finding fertile soil to unveil Windows Codename Mojave – or the Mojave Experiment. Windows Codename Mojave was masqueraded as the next Microsoft OS and was demoed to over 100 Windows XP, Mac OS X, Windows pre-XP and Linux users. In fact, it was nothing more than Windows Vista.

"For those new to the Mojave Experiment, it's a focus group effort we initiated a few weeks ago. We interviewed and polled 120 participants in San Francisco, in hopes of better understanding everyday users' perceptions of Windows Vista and seeing whether there really is a gap between perception and reality. We wanted to see how people reacted to Windows Vista when they were not aware they were seeing Windows Vista. We recorded our discussions, and today you can see them for yourself," revealed Christopher Flores, Director Windows Communications.

Mojave is nothing more than a small part of a much larger Microsoft strategy to not only get its own version of the story out on the market but "fight back" the bad aura that is sticking to Vista even after SP1, and negative, anti-Vista publicity made by rival Apple. The official Mojave website went live on July 29, 2008, and it features the reactions of the participants in the Microsoft experiment when they find out that the demo they just witnessed is of Vista and not the next version of the Windows operating system. None of the participants had contact with Windows Vista prior to the experiment.

"We did not use some geeked out or custom built PC. We used an HP Pavilion DV2500. It had 2GB of RAM and was running an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T7500 @ 2.20GHz. The OS was a 32 bit version of Windows Vista Ultimate. Of the 120 respondents polled, on a scale of 1:10 where 10 was the highest rating, the average pre-rating for Windows Vista was 4.4. After they saw the demo, respondents rated Mojave an average of 8.5," Flores added.


Adrian Kingsley-Hughes wrote:
Microsoft has today unveiled the “Mojave Experiment.” In case you haven’t heard, this is an experiment where the company took 140 Vista skeptics (who hadn’t used Vista themselves) and showed them what they believed to be a new Microsoft operating system, code-named Mojave. After the participants delivered their opinion of the “new” OS (which was almost exclusively positive) they were then told that Mojave was in fact Vista.

Prior to being guided through the OS by trained retail salesperson the average rating for Windows Vista was 4.4 (on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is rubbish and 10 is orgasmic, or something like that). When asked about their impression of Vista one participant said “based on all the negative comments, and frustrations I’ve seen my husband having to deal with, I wouldn’t touch the thing,” while another said that “it always crashes.”

After the demo the participants rated Mojave an average of 8.5, with one actually saying “Wow” and another saying that the “The speed is incredible.” When it is revealed to the participants that Mojave is in fact Windows, the most common reply seems to be “really?” Also, at least one participant does figure out that he’s being shown Vista and not some top secret new OS.

Note: The test rig that was used was a HP Pavilion DV2500 loaded with running an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T7500 @ 2.20GHz, 2GB of RAM and 32 bit version of Windows Vista Ultimate.

Now, on the face of it it’s easy to dismiss the Mojave Experiment as little more than marketing hyperbole. After all, I’ve been to plenty of demos given by trained staff that made a product look fantastic, only to later have hands on time with that product and find out that it sucked whole lemons. That’s what trained salespeople do. Also, this seemed like a guided clicking session where people are told clearly what they should be doing or paying attention to. It’s not like these folks were given a copy of “Mojave” and told to install it, or left to their own devices while they set up a printer or configured a network. These people were watching Vista, not using it. Also, Microsoft hasn’t released unedited versions of the videos, so it’s safe to say that the best bits have been picked.

But, it is interesting how no one reduced their score on being guided through Mojave/Vista, and maybe this tells us a little about what’s wrong with Vista (or at least the impression that people have of the OS). See, these 140 participants were guided through what I assume were Vista’s highlights, and this helped boost the average rating by 4.1 points in 10 minutes. When you get your hands on Vista for the first time there’s usually no one there to guide you through the OS, showing you the new games, the photo preview feature, what the Sidebar can do, how to make DVD, how to use the Flip 3D feature, how Instant Search works, how to set up Media Center, what’s new in Administrative Tools or anything and everything else. You’re on your own. As operating systems become more complicated and have more features, it’s easy for the best features to be hidden from view, and sometimes all that’s needed is a helping had to bring those features out into the open. I can think of one ad campaign that does this, and in my opinion does it well - the ads for the Apple iPhone.

source: mojaveexperiment.com

 

Windows Codename Mojave vs Old Windows Vista

Microsoft has thrown the old Windows Vista in the same arena of public perception as a "new Windows operating system codenamed Mojave."

And surprisingly, Windows Vista won. Well, the new Windows Vista at least, now complete with Service Pack 1, not the RTM version that hit the shelves on January 30, 2008. Microsoft's latest Windows operating system is finally getting a much needed breath of fresh air, with the Redmond company focusing to generate positive publicity around the platform, in a move that is long overdue.

"94% of respondents rated Mojave higher than they initially rated Windows Vista before the demo. 0% of respondents rated Mojave lower than they initially rated Windows Vista before the demo," Microsoft revealed. In fact, that Mojave experiment was nothing more than masquerading Windows Vista as the next version of the Windows operating system.

But what the Mojave Experiment really shows is Microsoft's failure to build a brand out of Vista. At this point in time, the characteristics that have become inherently associated with the Vista brand are too well rooted into public perception to be dislodged by any marketing campaign. Microsoft is at a juncture where it might as well throw buckets of money at marketing campaigns and run experiments labeled after all the deserts in the world, Vista will remain Vista.

The Mojave experiment is about 140 people. But not counting the 180 million users that have already made the jump to Windows Vista, the largest past of the 1 billion Windows users will not be that easy to convince, or reach for that matter.

"Of the 140 respondents polled the average pre-demo Vista score was 4.4. The average post-demo Mojave score was 8.5. Many said that they would have rated it higher, but wanted more time to play with it themselves," Microsoft added.

But the Redmond company is right to assume that public perception has impacted and hurt Windows Vista like nothing else. But at the same time, it might just be too late for Vista. But not for Windows 7, the real next version of the Windows client. Experiments like Windows Mojave could at least give Windows 7 a clean slate, because, having Windows Vista at its basis, the next Windows platform is bound to inherit its sins.

source: news.softpedia.com

 

Windows: 32-bit, 64-bit, 128-bit

The evolution of Windows in parallel with computing architectures can be mapped out in accordance to the following marks: 32-bit, 64-bit, 128-bit and even further along.

But while milestones have the potential to offer a consistent growth in terms of performance, they also come with inherent setbacks when it comes down to compatibility. According to Christopher Flores, Director Windows Communications, over the past three months Microsoft has noticed an increasing trend in the adoption of 64-bit editions of Windows Vista to outpace the 32-bit variant of the Windows operating system.

The translation is simple. The Windows client is at a juncture, a point marked by the transition from x86 to x64. And 64-bit Windows is starting to become mainstream with 32-bit versions of the platform beginning to fade into the background. This scenario is possible mainly through the new direction adopted by Original Equipment Manufacturers. While end users have failed to crowd to the new 64-bit technologies and software by themselves, OEMs are offering the necessary catalyst, by adjusting their offerings to reflect the fact that x64 is the future.

"This change begs a few questions: is the 64 bit market ready to go mainstream? Will consumers realize the benefits from larger chips and 4GB or more of memory? The answer to both of these questions is yes - but a qualified yes. Preconfigured 64-bit PCs obtained from retailers or PC manufacturers should work quite well. This is in stark contrast to the experience of many technology enthusiasts who built their 64-bit PC from scratch and may have had to scour the Web looking for drivers. So, unless you really love to tinker with your PC, we suggest you buy a pre-built 64-bit PC at retail or directly from a PC manufacturer," Flores stated.

64-bit CPUs and Windows platforms do offer enhanced performance and the possibility to go well beyond the 4 GB RAM limitation of 32-bit Windows (the high end editions of x64 Vista support up to 128 GB of system memory). But they also bring to the table incompatibility issues related mainly to drivers, but also to software.

"In the future, we expect both compatibility and performance of 64-bit PCs to continue to improve. Most hardware devices have 64-bit drivers today and most software products work unmodified because of the 32-bit emulation technology in 64-bit Windows Vista (called WOW64). But there are some gaps, especially in the long tail of the market, but we expect rapid improvement now that 64-bit PCs are getting so popular. Over time we'll see more 64-bit-optimized programs hit the market, which promise dramatic performance and experience improvements," Flores added.

Both Flores and technology Evangelist Keith Combs, pointed to the Windows Vista Compatibility Center as a resource for end users to check whether a certain application is compatible with 64-bit Windows. Alternatively, the presence of the Works with Windows Vista or Certified for Windows Vista logos is a guarantee that the hardware and software products are compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista editions. Since this is still the transition from x86 to x64, 128-bit Windows is not even on the horizon, as the 64-bit version of the Windows client is yet to actually become mainstream. Still, the soil seems fertile for 32-bit to be left behind, and Microsoft Evangelist Neil Hutson welcomed the idea.

"I think that this is great news for the industry. This gives the OS more space to breathe (in 32-bit it is always competing with Apps for Memory and processor) and will give consumers and application developer writers more opportunities to build and use a new generation applications running on the client which can use this new capability. Finally the feedback that I am getting from the external community about 64-bit Vista is really encouraging; they love it and would not go back. Let’s hope the trend continues. And no I will not be evangelizing 128bit!!!" Hutson stated.

source: news.softpedia.com

 

Windows Codename Perception

Windows Vista has embarked on a new course from Windows Codename 'Perception' to the final product labeled 'Reality.

In the past, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer dismissed claims that the latest Windows client failed as a product. And commercially, Vista has fared rather well, selling what the software giant claims to be in excess of 180 million licenses (although the company traditionally counts all the copies of the operating system shipped, including those that went to its retail and OEM partners, and not all the platforms actually acquired by consumers). But at the same time Vista has failed to rise to the expectations of the original Longhorn project, or to the standard that was Windows XP SP2.

As far as Microsoft is concerned, Vista was never THE problem. This despite the fact that Chairman Bill Gates did indicate at CES 2008, that Vista could have done with a tad more baking time before it was released. End users, hardware manufacturers and software developers are responsible, in Microsoft's view, for the problems associated with Vista, and in this regard the company's limping marketing and evangelism efforts. But never Vista.

Even when the Redmond company admitted to the existence of some issues, it downplayed the matters to just isolated scenarios, and refuted reports that they were generalized. Still, the company was a little hesitant to applaud Service Pack 1 as the universal panacea for Vista RTM, especially in terms of performance, or to praise the plethora of new compatible software and added drivers in terms of support. The Redmond company simply claimed that the evolution that had to be introduced with Windows Vista catalyzed natural, inherent glitches.

But after a year and a half since the launch of Windows Vista, Microsoft is hard at work yet again to market the operating system, even though the company seemed to have given up after the death of the Wow. This time around a simple experiment dubbed Mojave has caused quite a stir, generating both praises and criticism, with the latter ending up prevailing. But whether applauded or booed, the Windows Codename Mojave fills a marketing gap for Vista, perpetuated by Microsoft being mute on its operating system.

Windows Codename 'Perception'

Mojave is not the next version of Windows. And Mojave is not a part of the Crispin Porter and Bogusky marketing campaign for Vista designed as a response to Apple's Get a Mac ads. Mojave is nothing more than what it claims to be. A simple experiment involving some 140 barely literate and Vista prejudiced XP, OS X, and Linux users being won over by a 10 minute demonstration of the operating system.

With the Windows Codenamed Mojave experiment Microsoft makes the first step at challenging the public perception of Windows Vista. The Redmond company has continuously claimed that its latest operating system has been hurt not as much by its own faults as by the generalized perception that it brought no additional value to what XP had to offer, being in fact inferior to its predecessor. Sure, Vista is selling by the millions, but those sales come as a consequence of the operating system being preloaded on new OEM machines, which in their turn sell by the millions. The vast majority of Windows XP users indicate a great deal of reluctance in upgrading to Windows Vista, with customers in the corporate environment moving extremely slow in terms of performing migrations to the new operating system, many of them taking advantage of the downgrade rights of the platform.

"We know that software that is made for this world is made to be compatible with your whole life, whether at work or at play, on home or on the go. Free the people: That is what we do, that is what we do every day--that is the value that we create for the world today. This is what Windows will stand for. And I invite all of you (...) to participate in that journey with me, to go forward, celebrate the experience of Windows with Windows Vista today, and the vision of where Windows is going tomorrow. We need to make our collective voices heard again, starting now. Together we are going to help (...) do things that they never thought possible, because that, more than anything else, is what you, we, and Windows stand for," read selected remarks from Brad Brooks, corporate vice president, Windows Consumer Product Marketing, from his speech at the company's Worldwide Partner Conference 2008.

source: news.softpedia.com

 

Leaked Windows 7 Details: Theme Files, Gallery, Packs and Wallpaper Slideshow

While Windows 7 is still a taboo subject as far as Microsoft is concerned, with the company offering just crumbs from the feast that is Windows Vista's successor, details do manage to slip through, and the Redmond company has nobody to blame for it but itself.

In this context, the software giant has revealed via MSDN that Windows 7 will bring the evolution of the .theme file format introduced with Windows 95, and nothing short of a true survivor. The further growth of the .theme file format will be interpretable only by Windows 7, with the previous versions of Windows ignoring new aspects.

The updated Creating and Installing Theme Files documentation containing the references to Windows 7, and uncovered by Long Zheng, has been altered to remove all references to the next iteration of the Windows client. However, thanks to the Google and Live Search cache, users can still access the original resource and get an idea of what Windows 7 will bring to the table. A relevant aspect also worth noting is the fact that Microsoft constantly refers not only to Windows 7, but also to Windows 8.

As far as the Themes are concerned, the software giant indicated that for "Windows 7 and later - the icon to show in the theme gallery, either an embedded resource or a path to an .ico file. Paths are relative to the directory of the .theme file."

This, while for Desktop Appearance "you can create custom wallpaper for the desktop and specify a path to the graphics file. Additionally, this section of the .theme file can specify whether the screen saver is active. The following example shows how to do modify the desktop appearance. Windows 7 and later: If the slideshow is active, the path can be a path to a folder containing multiple images, or a colon-delimited list of image files."

In this regard, users will be able to set a slideshow as the wallpaper, this probably in addition to the DreamScene video backgrounds which are likely to be kept alive from Windows Vista Ultimate. Additionally, Microsoft has more items tucked up its sleeve, such as Theme Packs.

"Windows 7 and later - a theme pack is a .cab file that contains not only the .theme file but also the files needed to implement the theme on another computer, such as sound files and images. Users can create theme packs through the Personalization application in Control Panel," the company noted.

source: news.softpedia.com

 

The Best Windows Vista Blog Contest 2008

WinVistaClub, in association with Windows Vista Magazine, is organising a contest to recognise some of the Best Windows Vista Blogs and Websites.

If you run a blog or a website, which primarily focuses on Windows Vista you can submit your blog and participate. It could focus on Tips, Tutorials, Support, Customization, Themes, News, Views, or anything which may interest a Windows Vista user.

The Panel of Judges comprises of Steve Sinchak MVP of TweakVista.com, Steven Bink of Bink.nu, John Barnett MVP of VistaSupport.mvps.org, Kerry Brown MVP of VistaHelp.ca, Barney Tormey Global Moderator at Neowin.net James Stables of Windows Vista Magazine, Emil Protalinski of Arstechnica, Aryeh Goretsky MVP of Lockergnome.com, and myself.

The Winner of the Best Windows Vista Blog Contest 2008 will also get a Windows Vista Ultimate 32/64 bit DVD Box Pack, a Free 1 year license of ESET Smart Security Suite, a License of Magic Utilities, a License of MagicTweak, a one year subscription to the Windows Vista Magazine and a link for 3 months on the WinVistaClub HomePage.

It is a first-of-its-kind exercise being organized, and we all hope that you will enjoy participating as much as we would enjoy organizing it. Winning apart, it would also be a great opportunity of showcasing your website & blogs.

source: neowin.net

 

Windows 7: The Transparent Cracks in Codename Translucency

Microsoft has been tiptoeing around Windows 7 since Windows Vista hit the market back in January 2007.

Kevin Kutz, Director, Windows Client, came out back on February 13, 2007, just two weeks after Vista's general availability and stated that Microsoft was "not giving official guidance to the public yet about the next version of Windows, other than that we’re working on it. When we are ready, we will provide updates". At that time, Windows development was moving away from under the leadership of Jim Allchin, (Former) Co-President, Platforms & Services

Division, and under Steven Sinofsky, Senior Vice President, Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group.

Over 18 months later, Microsoft continues not to be ready to talk Windows 7. But transparent cracks are starting to be engineered in the official Sinofsky-branded translucency communication policy imposed for the successor of Windows Vista. The recently-launched Engineering Windows 7 initiative with the combined efforts of two senior engineering managers for the Windows 7 platform, Steven Sinofsky and Jon DeVaan, Senior Vice President, Windows Core Operating System Division is an illustrative example in this case, but not the only one. In this regard, the Windows 7 official End User License Agreement webpage has been live even before Engineering Windows 7, and continues to be accessible even though the EULA is yet to be published.

"Starting [on August 14, 2008], Steven Sinofsky (leading the Windows group), Jon DeVaan (leading Windows engineering) and the Windows Engineers are co-authors of a new blog that is specifically focusing on the coming wave of client technology in Windows 7. It is a treasure to get direct, 'from the horse’s mouth' information about what is reality and what is vapor when discussing Windows 7," revealed Joel Schoenberg, Microsoft's Windows Client Technical Specialist.


Windows Vista, or What Not to Do with Windows
As far as Sinofsky is concerned, Windows Vista is living proof of how not to manage the Windows project, including both the development and the communication aspects. First and foremost, Vista is a product associated with Microsoft's failure to live up to its initial promises on the project. Sinofsky's solution? Promise nothing at all. Revealing no details on Windows 7 ensures that the end result won't be a sure candidate for a Vista-repeat, even though the transition from one Windows client to another is stated to be evolutionary.


Dissociating Windows 7 from Windows Vista
The Engineering Windows 7 project is a move reinstating Microsoft's commitment to dissociating the next iteration of the Windows client from the version currently available. The debut of the austere E7 hotspot was not announced via the official Windows Vista mouthpiece, but via the Internet Explorer blog. And even if the core of Vista will survive, in an evolved form into Windows 7, Microsoft is taking the next major iteration of Windows as far as possible from what is available today, even after 180 million sold licenses. The most important aspect of this strategy is to control every Windows 7 detail released to the public.

In this regard, Sinofsky did touch the subject of why "Microsoft might be trying to accomplish by maintaining a little bit more control over the communication around Windows 7 (some might say that this is a significant understatement). We, as a team, definitely learned some lessons about 'disclosure' and how we can all too easily get ahead of ourselves in talking about features before our understanding of them is solid. Our intent with Windows 7 and the pre-release communication is to make sure that we have a reasonable degree of confidence in what we talk about when we do talk. Again, top of mind for us is the responsibility we feel to make sure we are not stressing priorities, churning resource allocations, or causing strategic confusion among the tens of thousands of partners and customers who care deeply and have much invested in the evolution of Windows".


"How We Are Making Windows 7," Sinofsky
Engineering Windows 7 is ultimately, from Microsoft's perspective, a medium designed to centralize discussion about how the company is building Windows 7. Still, while the Redmond giant is opening up on the next version of Windows, the fact is that each move is calculated and planned. Microsoft has already been connected with computer manufacturers, members of the software and hardware developing environment and enterprise customers. It seems that the end users are last and least on the company's priorities for feedback... But with E7, their turn has come, under the proverbial "better late than never" moment.

"Windows has all the challenges of every large scale software project - picking features, designing them, developing them, and delivering them with high quality. Windows has an added challenge of doing so for an extraordinarily diverse set of customers. As a team and as individuals on the team we continue to be humbled by this responsibility. We strongly believe that success for Windows 7 includes an open and honest, and two-way, discussion about how we balance all of these interests and deliver software on the scale of Windows," DeVaan and Sinofsky revealed via Engineering Windows 7.

Still, what is important to underline at this point in time is that Microsoft has not opened the doors on Windows 7. The project will continue to remain largely translucent, with only the set-in-stone Windows 7 details being released to the public. At the start of this month, leaked Windows 7 information got through the translucent filters and was posted on MSDN. However, the info on Windows 7 Theme Files, Gallery, Packs and Wallpaper Slideshow was removed promptly, just as it made its way to the public. It is bound that this strategy will continue... even with E7.

"Related to disclosure is the idea of how we make sure not to set expectations around the release that end up disappointing you - features that don’t make it, claims that don’t stick, or support we don’t provide. Starting from the first days of developing Windows 7, we have committed as a team to 'promise and deliver'. That’s our goal - share with you what we’re going to get done, why we’re doing it, and deliver it with high quality and on time," DeVaan and Sinofsky added.

source: news.softpedia.com