28 Oct 08 Microsoft previews Windows 7 client OS
Microsoft today touted the five themes of the upcoming Windows 7 client OS and made a pre-release version of the software available for developers at the company's Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in Los Angeles. A full, API-complete beta release that developers can begin using for app development is planned for early 2009, said Debby Fry Wilson, senior director of Windows product management at Microsoft. General release is planned for early 2010.
Microsoft's five key themes for Windows 7 are:
[ Will the new Microsoft OS be better than Vista? Join the Windows 7 conversation in Randall C. Kennedy's Windows Sentinel blog. | See Tom Yager's first look at Windows 7. ]
Mobile computing. This includes improvements in energy efficiency, security, and the ability to move in and out of networks.
Services design. The OS will focus on core capabilities and take out client applications focused on communications and user experience. Instead, these services will be offered (likely for a fee) on the Windows Live cloud service for those who want them.
Personalization. The OS will adapt to how a user interacts with a PC and how the user wants the user interface to look and feel.
Entertainment optimization. This includes features for device management and "media experience."
Compatibility and stability. Microsoft says the revised OS will focus on application and device compatibility and ensuring that applications and devices work properly -- an apparent response to the problems with Windows Vista. "Our goal is to have any application and device that works on Vista to [be] compatible with Windows 7," Wilson said.
Other capabilities include location-aware printing, in which the OS knows whether a printer is at work or at home, and home networking capabilities. Also, Microsoft says that users will be able to access their company's intranet sites without requiring a VPN. Multitouch capabilities a la those in Apple's iPhone and new MacBooks -- as well as in Microsoft's Surface technology -- also are planned.
Tagi: home networking capabilities, experience compatibility, device compatibility, tom yager, core capabilities, iphe, microsoft previews, microsoft os, c kennedy, networks services, client os, surface technology, windows product, media experience, app develop
30 Nov 09 Chrome OS Presents and Futures
Many readers are submitting stories related to Google Chrome OS. ruphus13 points out a GigaOm opinion piece about how, if users end up rejecting its current cloud-only focus, the nacent OS may succeed as a netbook secondary operating system alongside Windows (in company with secondaries based on other Linux flavors, including Android). Engadget reviews a Chrome OS on a USB key setup that is claimed to offer eye-opening performance compared to running under virtualization. And an anonymous reader notes the 0.1 beta release of ChromeShell, which installs a "Chrome OS-like" environment that boots to the Chrome browser in ~3 seconds; users can switch to Windows later as desired.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Tagi: linux flavors, envirment, beta release, engadget, google, netbook, gigaom, futures, boots, operating system, linux
26 Aug 10 Well What Do You Know, It's a New Windows 7 Boot Screen [Get Used To This]
Each release of Windows treats us to a new boot screen. XP had its endless progress bar, and Vista added its emblem. Windows 7, though, gets a glowing Microsoft blob.
As is always the case with early software, this video could represent a concept that never makes it to manufacture. However, as Ars Technica notes, Microsoft tends not to change their boot screens much during the course of testing a news versions of Windows, and this looks a bit polished for a temporary stopgap.
If included in next month's beta release, the MS blob will likely make its way to your desktop in the end. So basically, get ready to see a lot of this thing (But not too much). [Ars—Thanks, Sicarious]
Tagi: boot screens, versis, boot screen, beta release, new boot, stopgap, progress bar, blob, mth, microsoft
