Archive for July, 2009
Windows 7 : How Microsoft won the world with Vista
Jul 31st
Few days ago Microsoft announced that Windows 7 has gone RTM & select beta testers; TechNet & MSDN subscribers will get it as soon as August 6th. Apple few months ago in WWDC said Windows 7 is just same old technology as Windows Vista which is bad but even though Snow Leopard is same old technology as Leopard like what Microsoft did, its good…. well, here is the thing Apple, Microsoft played a gamble with Windows Vista & now they have won it.
Windows XP was using Windows NT technology when it was released but to move Windows in 21st century & to make a good foundation for future version of Windows, Microsoft needed a new technology, new architecture for Windows while still maintaining backward compatibility with Windows XP era application. Microsoft played a gamble with Windows Vista due to which they released many new technologies, architecture etc. which did break backward compatibility but it in a way paved the path for Windows 7.
If it was Windows 7 with which MS was releasing new technologies then Windows 7 would have had the fate like that of Vista. With Vista Microsoft gave us developers new API like WPF, WCF, WWF, DirectX 10, X-Audio etc. which wasn’t liked much when Vista released as the low end hardware at that time was not capable enough to run Vista, it was Windows XP centric.
64bit Computing & Hardware
Microsoft increased awareness about 64bit computing with Vista 64bit edition, people also started upgrading to more than 3 GB RAM for which 64bit computing is required & today after 3 years, all CPUs in the market are 64bit capable, they can run 64bit version of Windows which brings more stability, more RAM support & ability to do more work at ones. This just increases the efficiency of our current hardware. All the hardware purchased in the last 2 years need no upgrade to run Windows 7. It is highly optimized form of Vista & Microsoft won the gamble that today most of the PCs in the world have more than enough power to run Windows 7 without any upgrade which is essential considering the current economic crisis all over the world.
DirectX 10 & GPGPU
Microsoft re-created a large part of DirectX with DirectX 10 & released WDDM Driver model which bought much more stability even to the third party drivers which are the biggest reason of Windows BSODs. Microsoft also gave developers the ability to use the graphics card to use as a GPGPU which can assist CPU in tasks because a GPU is also like a big CPU but only for graphics. This wasn’t possible with DirectX 9 so the large re-write & no compatibility with Windows XP did make some people mad at Microsoft but Microsoft wasn’t thinking about short term gains, they had long term gains in mind. Now 3 years later, today, GPGPU is a common term. AMD & nVidia have their support in the form of CUDA & Stream API. Almost all new games use DirectX 10 which also makes them easy to port to XBOX 360, doubling the market reach. Again, a gamble MS played by not providing support for Windows XP but it won the gamble today with Windows 7 as now even onboard graphics support DirectX 10 hence GPGPU capability & enhanced stability.
Hardware Industry
With Vista & Aero, Microsoft forced GPU manufacturers to support DirectX 9 at the bare minimum in there onboard graphics too. Now, nVidia & ATI are the big dogs in GPU industry but enterprise & casual users don’t usually buy separate graphics card, they rely on onboard video which was arcane in form of Intel Extreme Graphics. For the first time in years, Intel started providing Intel GMA 950 with full DirectX 9 support, which had sufficient power to run Windows Vista & Aero but wasn’t enough to play games though this isn’t what Microsoft was aiming. If you are an avid gamer, you will sure buy a separate graphics card but if you are a casual user then Onboard graphics will also suffice. nVidia & then ATI (now AMD) also started giving powerful onboard graphics & 3 years later, today, even the low-end onboard graphics found in motherboards is enough to run full 1080p HD Videos, Aero & even casual gaming.
HD Audio
With X-Audio, Microsoft broke the monopoly of Creative & it’s EAX from the Sound Industry. Now HD Audio which was created in alliance with Intel & Microsoft rules the consumer PC industry & only some high end users & audiophiles buy Creative’s Sound cards as Onboard HD Audio provides better Value for money, features & stability instead of Creative. There is no point in buying another sound card when the onboard APU is enough to provide 32bit, multi-channel audio while Creative X-Fi is still 24bit. Since X-Audio is all in software, it can do wonders. Never doubt the power of software :-p
New API
Microsoft introduced WPF for Application development instead of GDI+. WPF is all C# managed code based due to which there are low memory leaks, large audience as .Net CLR is also available as open source & it is also supported on Linux with Mono, etc. When Vista came the 3rd party developers had a choice, either support the arcane Windows XP model of software development or slowly switch to C# & WPF. Many of the companies did this & after 3 years, a large market is there with .net based application for Windows Vista. Not only the 3rd party developers got certification for Vista, but they were also exposed to new technologies only available to Vista. They used the technology & 3 years later… many applications are using the new technologies provided by Vista so when Windows 7 is coming, the devs don’t have to do anything much. Their application is already Windows 7 compatible since a long time. Microsoft made developers update their code for Vista, it gave them 3 years to do it & with Windows 7, everything is already ready at launch.
Internet Explorer
Microsoft was lacking behind in terms of web technology support with Internet Explorer & they are also facing a silly lawsuit by E.C. & Opera. Well, Microsoft just listened to the customers & made IE 8 with much better support for current CSS & HTML technologies & a multi-process engine which later on even Google Chrome copied, followed by Firefox. If you hate a product due to lack of features, you won’t use it. But if all the flaws are fixed & it does what you want it to do the way you want it to do… will you still not use it or will you still act like a Firefox or Safari Fan boy. Internet Explorer 9 is going to be completely new HTML engine based with full support for HTML 5 if HTML 5 gets standardized before IE 9 is released but judging by the situation today, IE 8 will be able to hold for a long time as HTML 5 is not coming anytime soon. Though I myself wish it comes quickly.
Windows Live Services
Microsoft also changed their application bundling model with Windows 7. Windows 7 no longer comes with Windows Mail or Calendar, cos it doesn’t need to as Microsoft already develops them in form of Windows Live. Now, if a user doesn’t want to use Windows Mail, it’s not there at all. He can very well use Thunderbird or something else or install Windows Live Essential pack to get all those apps he might be missing. Now, no one can sue Microsoft by saying it is a Monopoly & since Windows Mail is inbuilt, no one uses XYZ E-Mail client. Consumers have a choice, either use whatever you want… or if you are unaware.. There is a link in Welcome center of Windows 7 informing them about Windows Live services.
Security
All those people who say Windows get virus, well… it’s been 3 years I am using my PC without any antivirus suite & there is no problem so far. I don’t even use Windows defender, but then again… not everyone is a power user so for them, Microsoft is releasing “Codename Morrow”, a free anti-virus suite from Microsoft which will sure come under Windows Live brand when released. Like I said previously, if you hate a product due to lack of features then you won’t use it. But if all the flaws are fixed & it does what you want it to do the way you want it to do… will you still not use it or will you still act like a Fan boy.
Microsoft also faced some stiff completion, Lies & Lawsuits but one thing I like about Steve Ballmer’s administration is that now Microsoft is listening to what people are saying. If it wasn’t for this, Windows 7 wouldn’t get this much overhaul in performance, UI & UX.
One of the biggest reason of Apple users making fun of Windows users is that Apple has a better UI. Well, guess what…. the Superbar One ups the Dock in every way. Windows navigation with Superbar is so better than even Apple copied Dock expose from Window’s Aero Peak. Apple even copied GPGPU in form of OpenCL but no one will blame them… it’s just cool hating Microsoft even if you don’t have a reason to hate.
In my workplace we use Windows, Mac & Linux. All the people who use the OS know how to use it so they are comfortable with it, we have no reason to hate the other OS cos we know at the end of the day, whatever gets your work done is the best thing.
Mojave experiment proved that many people hated Vista, didn’t like it just cos someone told them this. How can you hate something when you have never tried it? Sure with Vista Microsoft gave a new UI for explorer etc. but 3 years later, that UI is common & people using Windows 7 won’t be feeling new. They have been using & working on similar environment since 3 years. That Vista’s UI is now old & generic.
Windows 7 is what Windows Vista should have been but it’s a wrong saying. If it wasn’t for Windows Vista & its success/failure… Windows 7 would not exist in such a successful form as it is today.
ImageExpo : Sharing screen of Symbian OS
Jul 15th
I use my Nokia N79 for almost all possible tasks one can think of. Be it watching movies, listening to music or even keeping track of my expanses & schedule. Since I don’t have internet at home right now in New Delhi, my only source of keeping an eye on the reel life is either Internet from Office or GPRS.
For chatting, I use Nimbuzz now instead of Slick. Slick is also good, but to send a message I have to press the “0” Key 3 times as the default enter key for some reason doesn’t work. Besides, the web backend based Nimbuzz allows me to send & receive files from my Mobile phone to other users over Google Talk or Yahoo!. But chatting on a Mobile phone is not the best experience due to a small keyboard instead of a full fledged keyboard of a Computer. Due to this I was looking for something which show the screen of my Nokia N79 on my PC so that I can control the phone from my PC, this way I can chat using the PC keyboard which is quite fast to type on compared to the Mobile phone’s keypad.
The search is finally over. I found the perfect application for this purpose, Digia ImageExpo. Its a Java based software which installs with its own Java runtime in your PC. After the desktop counterpart’s installation you need to install the companion software on your Phone running Symbian OS 9.2 or later or Symbian UIQ OS. I installed the SIS file on my Nokia N79 & tried to connect over USB cable as well as Bluetooth, it connected fine & in an instant & I was able to see the screen of my Phone on my PC.
As seen in the screenshot, I can click on the virtual keypad which will click the button on the phone too doing some action as associated. The biggest benefit for me with ImageExpo is while chatting. Now I don’t have to rely on phone’s keypad for chatting anymore. It also maps the keys of your phone to keyboard like the F3 keys becomes the Symbian menu key, Backspace becomes Clear key etc.
This is how I use ImageExpo, in what I call “Work mode” as the rest of the real estate is not required much while working. If your phone has an accelerometer & the display rotates while rotating the phone, then the screen on ImageExpo also rotates.
This is one application which I recommend to anyone who needs to share there phone’s screen.
Office 2010 : Breath of fresh air… again
Jul 14th
Microsoft recently released Office 2010 Technical Preview on Microsoft Connect. I downloaded My copy right away. The 32bit version weighs around 530 MB.
M.S Office is the de-facto standard when it comes to Office Productivity suits out there. OpenOffice.org does provides a good competition but Microsoft just one upped them again with the new UI in Office 2010. Working in Office 2007 & 2010 is so easy now, that OpenOffice looks like an arcane antique compared to it.
The Technical Preview contains most of the application usually available in regular Office suits but I only installed Excel, Word & Powerpoint as these are the only application I use in M.S. Office anyway. Neowin has already done a good review of Office 2010 technical preview so I won’t go into many of the details as those are something people will be able to read on various websites anyway.
So, why another version of Office? Wasn’t Office 2007 good enough? How much can Microsoft enhance an already mature product like Office which hardly has any features lacking that I can think of so why another Office? The answer is simple, The new Office Web & a user experience catered to Windows 7.
Since the day I used Office 2007, its hard for me to work on Office 2003 or OpenOffice. I just can’t keep searching for options under all those menus. Microsoft Office already has so many features, just that these features were not visible to most people due to which they though M.S office is boring. The ribbon UI did a good thing that it now shows all the things that you will need right in front of your eyes. It made working on Office even more easier, something even Apple iWork & OpenOffice are not able to provide yet. Apple iWork is still good as it is only available to those using a Mac.
I downloaded some DOC files available in Connect, reading a document is so much better in Word now, which is something I miss in other Office Suites. You can minimize the ribbon at will. But the best feature that I like is the security feature which were already three in old version of office, just that now they are in your face due to the new Back Stage feature of Office 2010 which makes everything much clear. You can set permission etc to Office documents like who can edit it, or even if editing is allowed. The color scheme used in Office 2010 is also more soothing to the eyes.
Whether Microsoft admits it or not, but for a casual user, office person etc the changes are mostly in the UI & ease of use only. Office Web is good but since I haven’t used it much right now, I won’t comment on it. However, Office 2010 provides native integration with Office Live. It even supports saving in PDF format without any 3rd party plugin. It would be better if Microsoft provides native access to Live Mesh so that we can share documents directly on the cloud & share with whoever we want.
Since my work in SlideShare includes creating occasional slides & presentation, Powerpoint 2007 is a necessity while Office 2010 just makes my work better & simpler. Finding things, creating styles, arrows… links etc is quite easy.
Now the million dollar question, should you switch to Office 2010? The following scenario come to my mind….
1) You are an Individual Student who occasionally needs to edit a Presentation or Document. You don’t have any Office suite installed & don’t want to go for pirated software. Since you needs are occassional only even I don’t recommend paying $150 for Office Student & teacher edition as there is no point paying so much money for something you only use once in a while. You best bet is to use OpenOffice or similar office suite from other vendors.
2) You are a student & can Pirate Office 2010, well… then I can’t do much to stop you from using it.
3) You are a business using Office 2003, just upgrade. Office 2010 will bring huge time saving to your enterprise
4) You are a business using office 2007, stick to what you got. The feature set isn’t much different from Office 2007 so better stick to that only.
5) You are a business buying Office suite for the first time. If it is only basic work, where individuals work on Excel Sheets on there workstation then stick to OpenOffice, if you require collaboration then buy Office 2010. It collaborative feature & intigration with SharePoint Server is unmatched by all rivals.
Other then the UI refinement, there isn’t much that I will be missing in Office 2010 over Office 2007 myself.
