Testing Notes of Windows 7 - 64 bit Release Candidate

For those seeking unbiased independent feedback on the upcoming Windows 7, these comments are not mine but come from a tech savvy friend/colleague:

Windows 7 RC 64-bit – Notes:

- One thing I noticed right off the hop was that it went out and automatically went looking for drivers for the hardware in my laptop. It must have reported my configuration back to Microsoft and then automatically downloaded whatever it had been able to identify. I have not done much with it yet, but I can see that it is more responsive. Total memory load after initial boot (with nothing else installed on the system) is 16 % of 4094 (4 GB total RAM) or approx. 650 MB, this compares with about 900 MB on my Vista system (same platform).

- Memory footprint is now sitting at 1 GB just about all the time, surprisingly it remains quite responsive but don't even think of running this on less than a dual-core.

- There is no email client installed by default, you can go to the MS site and download live mail. They cut out a bunch of "default" applications (messenger etc. – although I don’t use it anyway).

- It now includes a screen capture tool, obviously not as full featured as SnagIt but still functional.

- The Windows side bar from Vista and any screen gadgets are not loaded at startup by default, although if you get a system from Dell or HP I imagine that they will add their own tweaks to the interface.

- They are trying to make the computer even easier to use in the future (people will not have a clue how to do anything). I suppose many people just want that to be the way their computer works (just make it work and I don't give a S**T what goes on underneath). This was clearly evidenced by the fact that it went out looking for drivers for my system without my intervention. I suppose a Mac works the same way, how many people know that Unix is sitting under the hood, not your average user anyway.

- Everything looks very like Vista. Taskbar is different and you can pin shortcuts to it. They have added a glow effect when you mouse over.

- File copying still is not as fast as XP, but improved from Vista.

- Boot time is quicker than my XP desktop and recovery from sleep is VERY quick.

- Installed 32-bit Adobe Photoshop and LightRoom - no problem.

- Installed 64-bit Java but Adobe Flash is not available in 64-bit yet, so you need to run two different browsers to get full functionality (Youtube and Java sites).

- After system boot RAM is at 837 MB and the system is usable, although there is still stuff going on in the background and if you let the system settle down for a few minutes the RAM is then at 971 MB.

- Ran a virus scan (Avira - free) on schedule, but the memory consumed by the application did not release after the scan was complete (then at 1225 MB).

- Installed Firefox – no problems.

- If you want to install the applications that MS cut from the install (mail client, messenger etc) then you have to install "Live Essentials". If you select everything this loads a HUGE suite of applications, you can be selective, but I went to see what it wanted to load with just the mail client and it was more than I wanted on the system. I think in such cases it would be better to load individual "other" applications to fill the gap (Thunderbird, Picasa etc.). Although I think it would depend on the user that I was doing this for.

- I was looking at pricing today as the download from MS is Windows 7 Ultimate version. There is no pricing announced, but Vista Ultimate was selling for $591......wow !! I could not see paying anything even close to that for an operating system and it "aint that good".....at least not $600 worth of good.

- General observation on installing software - there is a very definite pause before anything starts to happen, in fact you might even think that things had froze. The user account control is way less annoying (I guess they must have listened there also), but still pops up if there are changes going to happen to the system (like installing software). I tried installing SnagIt, but when it got to installing the printer driver the whole process got stuck consuming 50 % of the CPU and I had to kill everything and reboot to finally clear it.

- By the way I have not tweaked this installation at all and everything that was "running out of the box" is still running (like indexing, defender etc.). I decided to leave it as is and just see how it performs. So far it seems to do quite well, despite the huge amount of RAM that it is consuming. I see several comments on the web about people calling this "what Vista was supposed to be". Vista never should have shipped.

- Windows 7 is looking like a definite improvement on Vista. Today there was a flag in the notification area that wanted me to setup a backup. I decided to play along and it walked me through choosing a destination. It gives all sorts of hints and links to get more information. Once I had chosen a backup location (my FreeNAS backup server) it looked at it and said that it was visible to other users and was this okay. We proceeded and I let it go with whatever defaults it wanted to save, which included making a full disc image as well as saving all of my documents and settings. It then prompted and said to access the disc image you would have to create a rescue cd or dvd, I clicked that link and it walked me through the process of making a rescue disc.

- When you look at these things that they have thrown in, such as: screen capture, decent backup utility, screen notes etc......plus whatever I have not come across yet, it looks like maybe they are starting to get the right idea (after how many years......). I suppose I should try and find a feature list somewhere so I can take full advantage of this "test drive".

- Had a spare 2 GB high speed SD card so I decided to add that to the system and let it use it as “Ready Boost”. Things seem to be snappier, but I am not sure if that is real or imagined. My system is quick and does have good specs. (Core 2 Duo 2.1 GHZ with 4 GB RAM). I will leave it in for a few days and then remove it and see if I notice any change.

- Could not install Zonealarm Security Suite – not ready for Windows 7 yet.

- Regular virus scan just started and the system is now consuming approx. 1750 MB RAM. Max RAM consumed during this process was as high as 1975 MB – ouch !! Scan completed and it failed to release the RAM again – now sitting at 1941 MB – obviously a reboot will fix that, but that is not right. Seeing as other applications do not do this it has to be the Avira anti-virus that is causing this.

- I did have one unidentified item in Device Manager, this is now resolved (but not by me). I have to assume that one of the updates from MS fixed this.

- Not all of the themes are enabled but can be added. There are different themes for different countries (US, Cdn, South Africa, Aus, UK) – I like the Cdn. theme.

The New Search Engine: Bing

Microsoft has introduced a new search engine called "Bing". They've released some interesting and often funny promotional videos with its launch:

Windows 7 Launch Date Announced

Though Windows 7 has been available in Beta for some time now, the official launch date was announced today: Thursday, October 22nd, 2009.

Everyone I've spoken to really loves this product. Not only is it reported to be up to 40% faster than Vista and XP, it has a slick new interface. I've often heard it said that "Win 7 is what Vista should have been".

Here's the official home page of Windows 7.

Windows 7 Attempt on Old Hardware

I have an ancient laptop (circa 2001) onto which I wanted to see if Windows 7 would run. It installed fine but unfortunately there were no drivers for either the video card or the network card I have. So I couldn't get it working beyond this. Back to XP.

But for any newer hardware I get, I'll be using Win7 pretty darn quick!

Some Cool New Things from Microsoft

I was fortunate to have been able to spend the past two evenings attending seminars put on by Microsoft here in Vancouver. Much of it was quite technical but here are two things that any computer user could benefit from and might not be aware of:

Internet Explorer 8
A new version of their browser is now available and it's absolutely terrific! You can download it for free here. For the time being my default browser will remain Firefox 3.0 but I use Internet Explorer a lot in my professional work so it's always nice to get Microsoft's latest & greatest! And if it proves to be as good as it seems, I may switch my default back to IE for the first time in about 3 years.

SkyDrive
One of the biggest things in computing these days is the concept of "Cloud Computing". There are many definitions for this term but in general terms it means that your data is stored on one or more servers, somewhere on the globe, and instantly available to you from anywhere, as long as you have an Internet connection, be it wireless or wired. Also, with increasing regularity, many software applications will also similarly reside in the "cloud".

From the user's perspective this means that your data - your calendar info, your contacts, your photos, your music, your home movies, your documents, etc. - will be available anytime, anywhere, pretty much equally well from your desktop computer or your handheld mobile device.

From the software developer's perspective the biggest advantage is scalability. So if a developer creates a new social networking site that quickly becomes very popular, it's much easier to handle all the new users (ie. be scalable) than traditional approaches have permitted.

SkyDrive is one of the initial such offerings from Microsoft. In a nutshell, it provides you 25GB of space for free, which you can access from any device you have that has a browser.

One particularly nice feature of SkyDrive is its slideshow feature. Here it is, displaying two photos of mine. One really neat thing, which I've never seen before in any slideshow application is that it analyzes the colours of each photo and changes the background accordingly. Notice the difference in the two screenshots and then look at each photo to see why that background was chosen. Very, very cool!

Greetings from the Emerald City!

I drove down to Seattle yesterday and surprisingly fast: 2.5 hours door to door! Believe it or not, I was not speeding. The wait at the border was only 2 minutes and the interview the same. Traffic was extremely light almost all of the way down. The peculiar thing was that there was a solid wall of fog on either side of the road most everywhere except for Bellingham.

Since arriving, I have:

• Enjoyed a delicious, authentic dinner of Mexican cuisine.
• Walked "Big Dog" (aka Rufus) twice.
• Had lunch on the Microsoft campus and strolled all around it.
• Gone to Fry's Electronics twice.
• Shopped at Trader Joe's once ... so far!
• Barely thought about work at all!!

Microsoft's Photosynth

Microsoft Research has built an amazing piece of technology that takes in a vast array of photos, taken at every angle, and combines it all together into a single 3D model. Take a look at what was done with it at today's inauguration. If you're not sure what to do, just click on the play button in the upper right corner.

LCD Touch Screen

I've tried a screen like this out before at the Microsoft Museum and it is VERY COOL!

More here.

The Ad That Everyone's Talking About

Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld:
Endlessly amusing!

Seattle Visit: Day 5

Some days are meant for endless activities, others are meant for rest. On this day we opted for the latter. We both woke up late and drove down to a local strip mall to get a pizza.

It was so nice out that we decided to eat some of it there. On the request of a friend back home in Vancouver, I also picked up a pound of their Pike Place Blend which isn't yet available up north.
Later in the day we took up Mike on his invite to visit Microsoft. I always do my best to get Danny exposed to possible future employment paths. Truth be told, inside a Microsoft building isn't much different than any other office building but still, it's pretty amazing to realize all the products that have come out of their offices over the past 30 years.
For dinner, Mike, Danny, & I joined our other Microsoft friend, Ahmed. He took us to a great little Indian restaurant in Redmond.

Soon after we got home, Danny fell asleep. And Mavic decided to use him as her pillow!

Bill Gates' New Direction

I just read a fascinating article in Macleans about Bill Gates. He has now given up most of his time at Microsoft and instead is going to be devoting his life toward charitable causes.

Running my own not-for-profit, I particularly admired one key section:

The foundation receives roughly 6,000 requests each year, and the founders personally evaluate applications seeking more than $40 million. "This is really the antithesis of chequebook philanthropy," Chernow says. "They're not just giving money, they're involved."

So involved, in fact, that the foundation has developed a reputation as a demanding benefactor, insisting on firm targets and conducting extensive audits to ensure objectives are not only met, but rigorously tracked and measured. To Gates this is about bringing professionalism and accountability to charity work, but it has created controversy.

One of the foundation's earliest beneficiaries was the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (known as GAVI). Gates gave $750 million over five years to vaccinate children against things like polio, measles and tuberculosis. But when the program was getting off the ground, several countries were shocked to find their applications were rejected because they failed to provide enough detail or plans for oversight. Others were surprised when GAVI auditors later showed up to review paperwork verifying exactly when and where vaccinations had taken place. Those who were sloppy with the records faced the prospect of being suspended from the program.

There were plenty who said GAVI was too stringent, but Gates made no apologies and eventually recipient nations complied.

I LOVE this! I've met way too many people in the public and charitable sectors who deem themselves to be halo-wearing saints beyond reproach. They'll take your money but don't dare ask them how the funds are spent or whether things are run in an efficient & effective manner. Be it taxes or donations, I've become convinced that many in these organizations have convinced themselves that they're doing you a favour by allowing you to feel good about giving.

It's absolutely no wonder to me why so many people in the world are still hungry and living in squalid conditions. If all governments and charities were run like businesses then there'd be a lot less problems the world over. I deeply believe that!

Microsoft's "Surface"

I got to use this extraordinary technology at Microsoft's Museum last year:
My favourite use for it was to view a map and be able to navigate it completely with your hands.

Microsoft Vista - An Update

Last week I posted a little rant about my dismal failure to get Microsoft Vista running on my new computer. An update is in order.

I've already 50% apologized to a friend at Microsoft. Let me explain . . .

As you'll recall, I had struggled to even get the Vista Installation DVD working, as it kept crashing early on. I had to replace the $30 video card I bought with a $200 one that was Vista-compatible. Once that was done, you can imagine how much my heart sunk when I still had exactly the same problem!

So then I installed Windows XP. Everything appeared to be fine with it and thus I naturally laid all the blame with Vista. But strange things soon started happening with XP too! For example, I could get the blue-screen-of-death to occur every time I tried to copy more than a few files. Let me summarize my thoughts when this happened: #*!%#!^%$!%#@$!

But as many will attest to, "stubbornness" is my middle name, so there was no way I was going to give up. I sought technical help via e-mail from the local store I had bought it from, NCIX.

Their advice was prompt but I found it odd. The tech said to "increase the voltage going to the RAM (memory)". Huh?! Why on earth should I have to tinker with such a thing on a brand new computer?! I was skeptical and frustrated and told them so. But they insisted that I try it. So I did.

First I raised the voltage to +0.4 Volts (above normal). Windows XP started but then immediately got locked into an error. It trapped it without crashing but then the error repeated endlessly. So I reduced the voltage to just +0.3 Volts. Voila, everything worked perfectly! I lowered it again to +0.2 Volts and it still worked fine, though when it went down to +0.1 Volts it started malfunctioning again.

In hindsight this actually makes sense. When you do something that requires more memory, like copying files, literally many more transistors in the RAM need to be activated, thus more power is needed. Think about plugging a string of Xmas lights into the wall. Fine. Add a second. Fine. But if you keep on adding more - 5 strings, 10 strings, 20 strings of lights - eventually so much power will be needed that the circuit breaker will be thrown and all the lights will go out. Windows was acting like that circuit breaker.

Once I knew that XP was working, I decided to try installing the 64-bit edition of Vista, all of its patches via Windows Update, and even the newly released Service Pack #1. Note: I did this installation with some inside knowledge given to me by the NCIX tech: there must be less than 3GB RAM present during initial installation; after that a special patch has to be applied. If the 4GB I have had been present then it would have crashed ... and I would have never known why. In fact, the voltage issue was perhaps a blessing in disguise because if XP had worked perfectly then I probably would have foregone installing Vista. A vivid reminder that sometimes short term disappointments are necessary for longterm happiness.

And boy am I happy! The computer has run perfectly ever since! The Vista interface is slick and absolutely beautiful. The computer is much more responsive than my old Pentium 3.

Where I think Microsoft went wrong with Vista is two-fold:

1. Implying in their marketing literature that it would work well on older computers. The fact is, it won't.
2. Not fixing the huge number of bugs that Beta-users must have brought to their attention.
   

My guess is that marketing won out over the technical group at Microsoft. This is an absolute danger for any technology company. Perhaps one day an insider will write a book about what really happened with Vista!

Dear Microsoft

Dear Microsoft,

Against the advice of all of my colleagues, I decided to install Vista on a new computer I just assembled. I spent a lot of money on it and a lot of my time to assemble it. I made sure that every single component was Vista compatible, even spending $200 on a video card instead of a $30 one that would have worked fine with XP.

Yet, I kept on getting the same blue screen of death during installation; one which provides no real information about what the problem is.

So finally I turned to your company to get some help. And on the first screen of your website I'm prompted to enter the "Product Identification Number". I entered the number found on the yellow sticker on the product box but am informed that this is not the what's required.

So I looked up on your site to find out where I should locate the "Product Identification Number". Lo and behold, it says to look on the Help - About screen of Vista.

Isn't that just brilliant!!! I can't install Vista and you demand that I enter a number that is displayed once Vista is installed. Is this some kind of elaborate psychological experiment and I'm the guinea pig?

Please send me some competent professional help. And just so there's no misunderstanding, I'm talking about the technical type, though I may soon need the psychological variety as well!!!

Geeks, Geeks, and More Geeks!

This afternoon I attended a presentation in Vancouver put on by Microsoft. It was focused on using Microsoft technologies to produce sophisticated "Web 2.0" websites. The average person out there would have been bored silly but for the thousand or so geeks (incl. yours truly) it was absolutely fantastic.



The seminar was conducted by John Bristowe from Microsoft's Calgary office. Here's a subset of the notes I took on my Pocket PC:

• Local .Net User Group: netbc.ca
• Threat Analysis and Modeling Tool
• dev.live.com including the Virtual Earth Interactive SDK
• Investigate FiddlerTool.com
• Investigate Web Development Helper (Nikhil)
• Investigate AutoCompleteExtender
• Investigate FireBug add-on for FireFox
• Investigate microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals (Debug View)
• Investigate DevTeach.com
• Investigate iis.net\downloads (web app stress testing)
• The "Drip" tool can detect JavaScript errors such as memory leaks.
• Investigate msdn.microsoft.com/practices
• Check out DotNetNuke
• Check out ImagineCup.com
• Check out strangeloop.com

The more I learned, the more I realized how much more I have to learn!

Ever paid too much for something?

eBay appears to have paid about $1.43 Billion too much for Skype. You can read more about this here and here. This is an interesting development because Skype was the hot thing a few years ago, enabling people around the world to talk for free from computer to computer. I love their service and use it most every day.

Rumour has it that Microsoft may be trying to purchase an interest in FaceBook. Something tells me that a few years from now, a similar paid-too-much story will be appearing!

Funny Mobility Website

Microsoft has created a website called "Untamed Workforce" that takes a few humorous jabs at users of mobile technology. It's made to look like it was made many, many decades ago!

Microsoft: Grrrrrr!

I have a love-hate relationship with Microsoft. Sometimes their products work just fine. But other times, it's just pure aggravation! Today, for example, I'm trying to reinstall Visual Studio 2005 and it's just not working. What should have taken 20 minutes is now taking 6+ hours. So while it's being installed on one computer, I'm posting photos on my blog with my other one.

A 3D View of the World

I've found it very fascinating to use Microsoft's 3D Live Maps website to browse the world from a birds-eye perspective. Not every place is available but many are. Here are a few snapshots I took during my "travels":




Feel free to leave a comment, taking a guess where you think these places are!

ASP.net Videos

I spent much of the day watching videos about ASP.net, Microsoft's technology for developing sophisticated websites. I'm relatively new to website development and have pretty much picked up my knowledge on-the-fly. But I learned today that there were some definite holes in my knowledge - some small, some large - regarding this very sophisticated technology.

Some might consider these videos (aka "screencasts") to be quite dry but I found them quite exciting and my mind starting racing ahead to what I could with new concepts and techniques!