A Windows to Help You Forget

“In just two weeks, on Oct. 22, Microsoft’s long operating-system nightmare will be over. The company will release Windows 7, a faster and much better operating system than the little-loved Windows Vista, which did a lot to harm both the company’s reputation, and the productivity and blood pressure of its users.” Read the full review on All Things Digital

Gizmodo previews Windows 7

Could Windows 7 accomplish everything that’s expected of it? Probably not, but it makes a damn good attempt. We’ve tested the gold master, the final version going out on October 22. Upgrade without trepidation, people. With excitement, even.

Windows 7 is not quite a “Vista service pack.” It does share a lot of the core tech, and was clearly designed to fix nearly every bad thing anyone said about Vista. Which ironically puts the demon that it was trying to exorcise at its heart. What that means is that Windows 7 is what Vista should have been in the public eye—a solid OS with plenty of modern eye candy that mostly succeeds in taking Windows usability into the 21st century—but it doesn’t daringly innovate or push boundaries or smash down walls or whatever verb meets solid object metaphor you want to use, because it had a specific set of obligations to meet, courtesy of its forebear.

That said, if you’re coming from Windows XP, Windows 7 will totally feel like a revelation from the glossy future. If you’re coming from Vista, you’ll definitely go “Hey, this is much better!” Read the full article on Gizmodo.Com

Cross Q&A: Is Windows 7 Good for Gamers?

Jason Cross knows his tech. A former editor at ExtremeTech.com who also contributed to Computer Games Magazine, Cross has been covering the gaming and tech scenes for 13 years.

Cross is certainly a good geek to explain Windows 7, the Microsoft OS that comes out Oct. 22. Like all new OSes, Windows 7 confuses me. My PC is 3 years old, and while I’ve upgraded it to help it run current games at nice resolutions, I’m still not sure if my machine is up to running Microsoft’s new OS. I doubt that I’m the only one with questions.

So I asked Cross about some of my questions about Windows 7… Read the full article at BitMob.Com

Why Windows 7 Will Be Worth The Upgrade: No Comparison to Vista

Windows 7 will be out on October 22. According to what I’ve been reading, it’s slated to be a pretty good operating system. A much better version than Vista and better than XP.

Jon Prange, Sr. Enterprise Architect for Interphase Systems, a leading management and technology consulting organization writes that there were several challenges that were presented with Windows Vista that limited the operating system’s adoption rate and fostered some poor feedback that quickly proliferated. Read the full article on SmallBizTechnology.Com

Survey: Many businesses plan to skip Windows 7

Although plenty of businesses skipped Windows Vista, a significant number of corporations have no plans to quickly move to Windows 7, according to a new survey. The survey, which received feedback from 1,000 IT administrators, found that nearly 60 percent have no current plan to adopt Windows 7. The survey, conducted by Quest Software’s ScriptLogic unit, received the 1,000 responses from 20,000 surveys it distributed. Read the full article on CNet.Com

Release date announced for Vista’s replacement.

Microsoft announced that Windows 7 would be “generally available” on October 22, according to a Dow Jones news report. UPDATED with confirmation by Microsoft.

Bill Veghte, SVP of the Windows business, is quoted as saying: “We feel confident that we will deliver Windows 7 with our partners on Oct. 22.” Does this mean it appears in retail PCs before it appears in boxes, or will it all hit together on the same day? Regardless, it’s a pretty nice early date, definitely good for the Christmas PC-buying season, assuming there is a Christmas this year. Read the full story on Gizmondo.Com

VistaSucks.WordPress.Com to review… Windows 7 RC

You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone more skeptical of Windows than I. So tune in shortly as I review Windows 7 RC.

Now. for the record… I’m going into this with an open mind. I despise Windows Vista, loathe XP, and have become an Apple Fanboy since Vista’s release. In all honesty though I’d like to see Microsoft do something right. I would love for Windows 7 to succeed where XP and Vista failed. I’d love for Microsoft to give me faith in Windows PCs again. I’ve heard good things floating around the net lately about Win 7. Enough good things that I’m curious to have myself a look for myself.

Here’s what will follow shortly. I will be installing the 64-bit version of Windows 7 on the same machine that I had previously attempted to install & use the 64-bit version of Windows Vista Ultimate on when it was first released. What fairer test could there be? Aside from a minor video card upgrade there have been zero changes to the system since November 2006. The PC has been sitting in storage since I got my first Mac in 2007.

The machine is a single core Athlon FX-57 based PC with 2GB of RAM, SLI Nvidia 7900′s, and a 74GB 10,000RPM Raptor

If Windows 7 is really the OS that Vista should’ve been, it should run exceptionally well on this system which was fairly high end in 2006.

We shall see.  Stay tuned.

Enterprises Chucking Windows Choose Macintosh

“…Windows Vista dissatisfaction and concerns about Windows 7 compatibility and deployment costs have some enterprises looking at alternatives, according to the research. The economy is a factor, too, but more to the benefit of Linux than either Mac OS X or Windows. The number of businesses considering “an alternative to adopting Windows Vista or Windows 7″ is 50 percent, up from 42 percent in 2008, according to the report.” Read the full article on Apple Watch.

A Windows Guru spends two weeks with a Mac

“…I’ve been on the front lines of the Mac-PC war for as long as I can remember. My first work computer was an IBM PC with an 8088 CPU. I liked it so much I forked out the money to buy my own machine: an IBM PC XT clone running an 8086 chip, and bulging with 640KB of RAM and a whopping 20MB hard disk.

Since then, I’ve written dozens of books and hundreds or thousands of articles, columns and blogs about PCs and Windows. Along the way, I’ve earned the unending enmity of plenty of Mac folks.” Read the full article on ComputerWorld.Com

Comic – Masochist

Why Microsoft Should Give Windows 7 Away

Gizmodo.Com writes: “Windows 7 is shaping up to be an awesome OS. It’s everything people wanted Vista to be and more. Which is exactly why Microsoft should give it away-or offer it dirt cheap-to Vista users.

Windows 7 is the solution to Microsoft’s Vista problem, which is really a nasty hydra of a problem. Let’s not pretend that this isn’t the case. There are three major heads to the beast: Consumer perception of Vista as an abysmal failure and a crappy OS (hence, Mojave); the use of XP instead of Vista in increasingly popular netbooks; and the critical lack of Vista interest from the business community.” Read the full article on Gizmodo.Com

Even in Test Form, Windows 7 Leaves Vista in the Dust

Some good news for a change on the Windows front. More and more people have got their hands on the pre-release version of Vista’s succesor and the initial reactions are pretty positive. Walt Mossberg chimes in with his opinion:  “…I won’t be doing a full, detailed review of Windows 7 until it is released in final form, but here’s a preview of some of the main features of this new operating system and some of my initial impressions.

In general, I have found Windows 7 a pleasure to use. There are a few drawbacks, but my preliminary verdict on Windows 7 is positive.

Even in beta form, with some features incomplete or imperfect, Windows 7 is, in my view, much better than Vista, whose sluggishness, annoying nag screens, and incompatibilities have caused many users to shun it.” Read the full review on All Things Digital

Vietnamese Government won’t be using Windows 7

“…by June 30, 2009, 100% of clients of IT divisions of government agencies must be installed with open source software; 100% of staffs at these IT divisions must be trained in the use of these software products and at least 50% use them proficiently.

IT divisions at government agencies comprise the IT departments of ministries and government agencies, provincial and municipal Departments of Information and Communications.” Read the full story on Vietnamnet.Vn

PC makers to provide free Vista-to Win-7 upgrades starting July 1

In yet another indicator as to the progress of Windows 7, the Tech ARP site reported that Microsoft plans to allow PC makers to offer customers who buy Windows Vista machines as of July 1 free upgrades to Windows 7 once it ships.

It looks as if Tech ARP may have obtained internal Microsoft information on its Windows 7 Technical Guarantee program. The Web site says that Microsoft provided PC partners with a first pass draft of its Tech Guarantee documentation on December 10.

According to a December posting on the Tech ARP site, Windows Vista PCs must be purchased by end users … between July 1, 2009 through TBD (to be determined)” to qualify for the Windows 7 Tech Guarantee program. The wording notes that “OEMs may choose to offer a shorter program period within the allowed date range.” Read the full article on All About Microsoft

Microsoft Extends XP Life Again, This Time for PC Builders

Windows XP has risen from the grave so many times, it now has more in common with Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees than it does with other PC operating systems. Though its successor–Windows Vista–has been on the market for over two years and yet another Windows version, Windows 7, will ship in just months, Microsoft has again extended the time frame for consumers who wish to continue using the seven-year-old XP. This time around, the company is allowing custom PC builders–alternatively called “system builders” and “white box PC makers”–to continue ordering XP for their PCs through May 30, 2009. Read the full story on WindowsITPro.Com found via Bink.Nu

Forbes: Snow Leopard Endangers Vista

“…Vista, meanwhile, is tottering. Operating income for Microsoft’s mighty client division actually declined to $3.3 billion for the quarter ending in September from $3.4 billion during the year-ago period. Part of the problem is that businesses tend to switch to a new operating system all at once, and many are choosing to wait. General Motors (nyse: GM – news – people ) chief techie Fred Killeen has even said the auto giant may choose to skip Windows Vista and wait for Windows 7, due in 2010 or 2011.

Apple, meanwhile, is preparing to release an operating system focused on Vista user’s biggest gripes: speed and stability.” Read the Full article on Forbes.Com

Under the Hood, Windows 7 Is Vista’s Twin

“…Bottom line: So far, Windows 7 looks, behaves, and performs almost exactly like Windows Vista. And it breaks all sorts of things that used to work just fine under Vista. In other words, Microsoft’s follow-up to its most unpopular OS release since Windows Me threatens to deliver zero measurable performance benefits while introducing new and potentially crippling compatibility issues.” Read the full article at PCWorld.Com

Engadget.Com asks “Which OS do you prefer?”

Head on over and answer their poll.

First Look: Windows 7

At PDC today, Microsoft gave the first public demonstration of Windows 7. Until now, the company has been uncharacteristically secretive about its new OS; over the past few months, Microsoft has let on that the taskbar will undergo a number of changes, and that many bundled applications would be unbundled and shipped with Windows Live instead. There have also been occasional screenshots of some of the new applets like Calculator and Paint. Now that the covers are finally off, the scale of the new OS becomes clear. The user interface has undergone the most radical overhaul and update since the introduction of Windows 95 thirteen years ago. Read the full article and see the screenshots at ArsTechnica.Com

Revealed: What’s in Windows 7

Microsoft is bullish about Windows 7′s prospects, claiming the company “has never been in such great shape prior to a release of Windows”.

However, it admits that Vista caused both customers and OEMS too much pain, but promised that they would now reap the benefits in Windows 7. “The ecosystem wasn’t ready for the release of Windows Vista,” said Windows senior vice president, Steve Sinofksy.

“The driver compatibility wasn’t there, the application compatibility wasn’t there. UAC [user account control] was so famous, I thought it might surpass Clippy,” he joked. Read the full article on PCPro.Co.Uk

Microsoft renames it’s Vista Blog to the Windows Blog

“…we just re-launched our blog today as The Windows Blog sporting an all-new look and feel reflecting Windows in a broader sense instead of a single Windows release. We figured it was time to give our blog a good facelift (it’s looked the same since we originally launched in October of 2006) – especially as we start talking about Windows 7, Windows Live, and many other interesting Windows topics. Our old design focused strictly on Windows Vista. Our new design is no longer tied to a specific Windows release allowing us to talk about a wider range of topics.” Visit the new site here.

Vista’s Succesor gets a Name

“…now is a good time to announce that we’ve decided to officially call the next version of Windows, “Windows 7.”

While I know there have been a few cases at Microsoft when the codename of a product was used for the final release, I am pretty sure that this is a first for Windows. You might wonder about the decision.

The decision to use the name Windows 7 is about simplicity. Over the years, we have taken different approaches to naming Windows. We’ve used version numbers like Windows 3.11, or dates like Windows 98, or “aspirational” monikers like Windows XP or Windows Vista. And since we do not ship new versions of Windows every year, using a date did not make sense. Likewise, coming up with an all-new “aspirational” name does not do justice to what we are trying to achieve, which 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.

Simply put, this is the seventh release of Windows, so therefore “Windows 7″ just makes sense.” Read the full post on the Windows Vista Blog

Maine To Skip Vista, Go Directly To Windows 7

In a troubling sign for Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)’s key Windows franchise, businesses and government agencies continue to snub the latest version of the operating system, Vista, despite the fact that it’s been on the market for almost two years and has been significantly upgraded via a full service pack meant to solve a range of performance issues.

The ongoing shunning of Vista is even more surprising given that its predecessor — Windows XP — is, for the most part, no longer even on the market.

The latest organization likely to forgo Vista? The state of Maine. Read the full story on InformationWeek.Com

The top five reasons why Windows Vista failed

The public reputation of Windows Vista is in shambles, as Microsoft itself tacitly acknowledged in its Mojave ad campaign.

IT departments are largely ignoring Vista. In June (18 months after Vista’s launch), Forrester Research reported that just 8.8% of enterprise PCs worldwide were running Vista. Meanwhile, Microsoft appears to have put Windows 7 on an accelerated schedule that could see it released in 2010. That will provide IT departments with all the justification they need to simply skip Vista and wait to eventually standardize on Windows 7 as the next OS for business.

So how did Vista get left holding the bag? Let’s look at the five most important reasons why Vista failed. Read the full story on Between The Lines

Windows should start over from Scratch.

Microsoft Windows has put on a lot of weight over the years. Beginning as a thin veneer for older software code, it has become an obese monolith built on an ancient frame. Adding features, plugging security holes, fixing bugs, fixing the fixes that never worked properly, all while maintaining compatibility with older software and hardware — is there anything Windows doesn’t try to do?

Painfully visible are the inherent design deficiencies of a foundation that was never intended to support such weight. Windows seems to move an inch for every time that Mac OS X or Linux laps it.

The best solution to the multiple woes of Windows is starting over. Completely. Now. Read the full article on NYTimes.Com

Intel to skip Windows Vista

Intel, the giant chip maker and longtime partner of Microsoft, has decided against upgrading the computers of its own 80,000 employees to Microsoft’s Vista operating system, a person with direct knowledge of the company’s plans said.

The person, who has been briefed on the situation but requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of Intel’s relationship with Microsoft, said the company made its decision after a lengthy analysis by its internal technology staff of the costs and potential benefits of moving to Windows Vista, which has drawn fire from many customers as a buggy, bloated program that requires costly hardware upgrades to run smoothly.

“This isn’t a matter of dissing Microsoft, but Intel information technology staff just found no compelling case for adopting Vista,” the person said. Read the full story on The New York Times.

Ballmer: Vista is ‘a work in progress’

As PC users clamor for Microsoft to continue to support Windows XP, company CEO Steve Ballmer called the Vista OS “a work in progress” at an annual Seattle event on Thursday.

“It’s a very important piece of work. We did a lot of things right and have a lot of things we need to learn from. You never want to let five years go between releases,” he said.

While Microsoft recently extended the date when the XP software will be available for low-cost PCs, it doesn’t plan to listen to some other complaints, including that Vista is too big. “Vista is bigger than XP and it’s gonna stay bigger than XP,” Ballmer said. Read the full story on MacWorld.Com

Top Analysts: Windows collapsing under its own weight; Radical change needed

Microsoft’s Windows juggernaut is collapsing as it tries to support 20 years of applications and becomes more complicated by the minute. Meanwhile, Windows has outgrown hardware and customers are pondering skipping Vista to wait for Windows 7. If Windows is going to remain relevant it will need radical changes.

That sobering outlook comes courtesy of Gartner analysts Michael Silver and Neil MacDonald. Half of a full room of IT managers and executives raised their hands when asked whether Microsoft needed to radically change its approach to Windows. Read the full story on ZDNet.Com

Bill Gates: Vista replacement “Sometime in 2009″

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates on Friday indicated that Windows 7, the next major version of Windows, could come within the next year, far ahead of the development schedule previously indicated by the software maker.

In response to a question about Windows Vista, Gates, speaking before the Inter-American Development Bank here, said: “Sometime in the next year or so we will have a new version.” Referring to Windows 7, the code name for the next full release of Windows client software, Gates said: “I’m super-enthused about what it will do in lots of ways.” Read the full story on C|Net News

Windows Core Programmer Calls it Quits

“…Short was a key member of Microsoft’s Core Operating System Division (COSD) team. COSD is charged with “the design, development and testing of the core components of the Microsoft Windows operating system: the operating system core, virtual machine technology, input/output subsystems and the core device drivers,” according to Short’s (still-existent) bio on Microsoft’s corporate Web site.COSD was created in December 2003 under former Microsoft President Jim Allchin‘s watch to ensure Windows “engineering excellence.” In forming COSD, Allchin hand-picked a team, almost all of whom were Windows client and/or server veterans with impressive and lengthy pedigrees, to focus on improving the core components of Windows. Specifically: the kernel, I/O (input/output) system; core devices; setup; and all the build properties.”

(Ironically, Jim is also the fellow who quit Microsoft the day Vista was released and had warned Gates that Vista sucked in Comparison to Apple’s OS X) Read the full story at All About Microsoft