Posts tagged Technology
Using Windows 7: The GX way
Jan 2nd
As some of you know, When Windows Vista was released, I wrote an article Using Windows Vista: The MVP way which was praised by many & was even selected to be printed in Digit Magazine. Now, Windows 7 is released & I have been using it for some time so its kind of update to the original post, just in a different manner for Windows 7.
When Vista was released, till Service Pack 1 it was plagued by many problem specially the now in-famous File copy bug but after Service Pack 1 & then SP2 this all changed. Vista is not a slow snail now & is infect a fast cheetah. Windows 7 is all what Windows Vista was not, even in my usage I can say that Windows 7 is Vista fixed. One thing I can say is that in Windows 7, feature 1, 2, 3 & 4 work fine.
Now, no operating system is good by default. You have to make it work the way you want it to work. With Linux we get all customisations we can imagine of but this usually in a complex manner. Linux does gives lots of possibilities & they are slowly but surely gaining momentum. Mac OS X by default is made to discourage customisation. All Mac should look same as El Jobso wants, you cannot run a Mac your way, you can run it the way Apple wants you to use it.
Windows is a hybrid here. It lets you mould your OS the way you want, & also makes it not so tough to customize it. In my experience you can customize Windows about 90% to make it look & work like something completely different.
In the leadership of Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft started to listen what customers wanted from Windows instead of making what Microsoft wants. Microsoft has recently started the Ad campaign with catch phrase “I am a PC & Windows 7 was my idea”. Its actually true, Windows 7 is a the idea of a user, its his OS running on his PC so shouldn’t it run the way the user wants… well, Windows 7 does that fine.
The way I use Windows 7 is to use as much default application as possible as neither they bloat the system nor they create confusion. I customised my installation of Windows 7 the following way which includes some of the applications I use & the way I configured the PC.
Note : In case you are installing Windows 7 on a Netbook or something with a CD Drive, then you can use Windows 7 USB – DVD Download Tool
User Interface Customisation
The first thing I do after installing Windows is to customize the look & feel the way I want. he default UI & UX of Windows 7 is already good due to which you don’t require much customization but still I changed some themes, sound pack etc. This is how my typical Windows 7 desktop looks like.
The visual style I am using is called Soft7. I like dark coloured themes on my OS so this with a custom Window Glass colour of black does the trick. To change the default Visual Style on Windows you need a patched uxtheme.dll which was the usual case with Windows XP & Vista but thanks to the efforts of the guys at uxstyle.com, you no longer have to do this. Just download the application & after installation it will run in the background letting you install custom unsigned themes with ease. In case you don’t like it, just disable or uninstall it.
If you still like to patch the uxtheme.dll in Windows 7, you can download Universal uxtheme patcher from here.
To add something to any application as a jumplist item, just drag it to the apps icon in taskbar.
Browser
I use Firefox as my primary browser on Windows 7 due to the sheer level of customisation it provides with extensions. IE 8 is good, but Firefox is faster for me although it is indeed a big memory hog.
Mozilla is changing the way Firefox looks & behaves for Windows 7 with Firefox 4 but you can get most of it right now too using an amazing theme called Strata40 from SpewBoy. Now this is one reason to stick to Firefox despite of its shortcomings as a software. This is how my Firefox 3.6 beta 1 looks like, because this is the first version of Firefox which provides support for Aero Peak. Firefox 3.7 beta supports jumplists too but right now its not stable for my use at least.
Entertainment
Windows Media player in Vista was actually better then the one in Windows 7 as far as UI is concerned. The previous glass themed Media Player looked way better then the current all blue version. Microsoft did something wrong here as it even changed the ability to change colour of WMP12.
Applications
In the year 2009, no one is using Operating systems anymore, we use applications. When you open your system, you start using the applications you use & not the OS due to which OS is completely transparent. This is why no matter what OS you use, Whether it is Linux or Mac OS or Windows, everything works fine for you if you know how to use it properly.
Windows Live Essential
Windows 7 comes without any Mail client or chatting application unlike Vista which used to come with Windows Mail & Windows Live messenger. This is actually good as this way Microsoft is giving users an option to either install Windows Live Essential suite or whatever else they like. The OS is less bloated now. My primary mail client is Windows Live Mail desktop & I use Windows Live Writer for my blogging needs. I don’t use Windows Live messenger though as Digsby does the work fine for me. You can download other apps included if you like Windows Live photo gallery or Movie Maker too.
Picture & Image Editing
For managing pictures & editing photographs I use ACDSee Pro 3. Its has been my favourite picture manager & editor for years as it does all I need from pictures taken from my digicam or Nokia N79 just fine. Photoshop isn’t required for these basic tasks now. ACDSee even supports uploading directly to Flickr. The dark black theme matches the way I like an app to look like too.
Although for home users, even this is not required. They will be happy with Windows Live Picture Viewer which now supports integration with image sharing services.
Media Playback & management
For all my Media needs, I use Windows Media player as now it even supports playing mp4 files automatically. Though I still install Windows7 Codec Pack by Shark 007 to play any & all media files I can find.
WMP12 also syncs with my Nokia N79 by default so I don’t even need any PC suite software to transfer music. When copying a video or Audio file, WMP12 automatically converts the file in suitable format so that my Nokia N79 can play the video or Audio just fine.
When I am watching a movie or just want to listen to music while lying on my couch, I use Windows Media Centre 7 which I can control using my Nokia N79 & Vectir. No need to even buy a Media centre remote. In case you still want buy a proper Media Centre remote then you can either buy a Hauppage or LeadTek WinFast T.V Tuner card or Remote 300 from Genius Peripherals which is now becoming a known brand in Indian Market.
It received some facelift in the new version which is welcome. It supports integration with SkyTV, netflix which I wish was available in India too.
Communication
For communicating with friends, I no longer use multiple chat clients such as Yahoo Messenger or Google talk, instead just one client to rule them all, Digsby. It provides integration with Yahoo, Google talk, Windows Live, Facebook & twitter. It even notifies me of any new Email on supported networks. In case a friend of mine is offline, I can even Email him from Digsby itself.
To make Digsby look native to Windows 7, it now includes a theme called Windows 7 by default but its for the buddy list only. To make the message window look native to Windows 7, you can use a theme called 7 for Digsby. It doesn’t support aero peak yet which is a very required feature considering just one button shown in taskbar for many chat windows by default. A fix is to use tabbed window for conversations
The de-facto document sharing format out there. I prefer to use original Acrobat Reader 9 to read PDFs & Bullzip PDF printer to print whatever I want as a PDF file.
For my Nokia N79
Although I don’t use it much, for syncing my E-Mail or SMS or contact lists with Windows 7’s inbuilt contact feature or Outlook, I use Nokia Ovi Suite. Its a completely new suite from Nokia replacing there old Nokia PC Suite. It now supports integration with Nokia Maps, Nokia Music store etc & you can also sync your phone with Outlook using Ovi Suite. I did a small review few months back when Ovi suite was in beta. Since its made in Qt, it will soon be available for Mac & Linux too.
![3674488800_9ce14f52f3[1]](http://gxsaurav.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/3674488800_9ce14f52f31.jpg "3674488800_9ce14f52f3[1]")
Too bad Device Stage isn’t supporting Nokia N79 as Nokia has not released any update for Device stage yet.
I also use ImageExpo in case I need to show the screen of my Nokia N79 on my PC or have to give presentation etc. You can read its small review I did sometime back. Keep in mind this requires Java runtime to be installed.
Widgets
I was and I am still using Yahoo! Widgets as I am just too used to it. The inbuilt gadgets are good but don’t have some gadgets that I need so I use Yahoo widgets.
One thing to notice is that Windows 7 comes with an inbuilt sticky notes application but its not a gadget which is what I wanted.
Download Management
For torrents, nothing beats µTorrent on Windows. Its a very tiny torrent client which starts & stays in the notification area & you don’t even need to see it. I don’t minimize it to notification area though as I just minimize it to the taskbar. Support for jumplists to pause & stop or resume downloads is requested though.
For other downloads, I have switched to Free Download Manager. It does its work without nagging me in anyway. I do hope that it also starts to support jump lists for common tasks such as pause, resume & stop.
Code editing
I use Notepad++ for all my code editing needs. Its good for editing & writing code for HTML, C#, CSS & a lot more. What I like about it is its tabbed interface & since Aero peak is available, multi tab preview just like IE 8 or Firefox 3.6 is most likely to come soon.
Maintenance
Windows 7 does the maintenance work for you automatically, but in case you want to do it, you can use CCleaner. For even more optimisations, you can use TuneUp utilities 2009 or Tweak7 for customising parts of the OS like hiding a drive in explorer etc.
![t7-small[1]](http://gxsaurav.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/t7small1.png "t7-small[1]")
Reading Comics
If you are like me & into comics, try ComicRack. Its like a real life rack of comics where you can add a folder to watch will have all your comic books & you read what you like. What I like about ComicRack is that its really fast even for high resolution images & created using WPF.
![comicrack[1]](http://gxsaurav.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/comicrack1.jpg "comicrack[1]")
Libraries
Libraries are a new feature of Windows 7, using which you can see the content of many folders at one folder. It is the next version of Smart folders found in Vista where you can save your searches as folders & use them like any other folder.
Sync between devices & my Lenovo R61
Since I also have a Lenovo R61 laptop, I frequently have to transfer & sync files between my laptop & desktop. If its a big file like a video or many songs then I simply use a Flash drive to transfer files, but Windows 7 is also helping me to create a sync profile between the desktop & laptop due to which I can also share multiple small files automatically. I just shared a folder in both my computers with same folder name & it even works over Bluetooth personal area network.
One thing I would like to mention is Windows Live Skydrive & the new SkyDrive Explorer software. Using this I have my SkyDrive folders available through my Windows Explorer just like any other folder using which I can easily add or remove files.
CD Burning
I tried using CD Burner XP Pro & Nero 9 lite, but couldn’t find a reason to use these software at all. So now for burning I use …
1) WMP 12 for burning Audio CDs
2) Windows 7’s inbuilt Data disk burner for burning simple Data CD or DVD
3) PowerArchiver for burning ISO CD images.
There are many other pro lever applications I use but they are beyond the scope of a normal desktop user for which this post was written.
Now, Windows 7 was just released & its new but its something people are already familiar with due to Vista’s look & feel. There are many other applications available for Windows so the best way is to try few things & see what works best for you. This post was made just to get you started & as time passes, I will be updating this post.
Facebook & Twitter : The GX way
Nov 22nd
Twitter & Facebook are all the rage these days. Almost everyone I know is on it even if they are not active there. A friend of mine recently joined Facebook who is a long time Orkut user & her first question was “How do I talk to someone on Facebook? Where is the scrapbook?”. I have to say, Facebook is sometimes confusing, no wonder they released Facebook Lite recently.
When I am using Twitter or Facebook, I prefer not to go to there website to do the thing. I am a person, who prefers to navigate through the web using conventional desktop application, which is why despite of having GB of space in GMail & Windows Live Mail, I still use Outlook. Likewise, here are two applications I use for Twitter & Facebook which I liked at first try only.. & have good potential on the Windows 7 platform both made using SilverLight
Twitter = Sobees Lite
Sobees is a WPF & SilverLight based client for Twitter, Facebook & MySpace. Although only the twitter component is what I use as the Facebook part of Sobees isn’t up to the mark for me.
What I like about Sobees is that it supports integration with Windows 7 Superbar & Jumplists, lets me change the layout as I want & update my status on multiple services at once only. I can have a single column layout which is what I prefer with Tabs on top or Side or a Multi Column layout… anyway I need. This is something only DestroyTwitter gives (As far as I know).
Sobees also shows a notification in the bottom right hand side when there is a new update. I can also update my status using the jumplist too.
Being WPF based, it uses hardware acceleration to which makes scrolling through large lists easy. Most important thing due to which I like Sobees compared to any Adobe AIR based Twitter client is the ability to change the font size according to what I like. Text make up as a large part of the Twitter experience so more configuration in text is a always a better feature compared to Adobe AIR where text fonts are at a predefined size only & do not scale with change in Monitor DPI.
Sobees is currently in Alpha phase & yet provides amazing Twitter experience, final version should be available soon with support for DirectWrite & Direct2D.
Facebook = Fishbowl
I found about FishBowl through a tweet of fellow MVP Manan Kakkar. Its a desktop client for Facebook released by UXlabs@Microsoft. Another awesome app made with SilverLight & features optimised to Windows 7. I always wanted to use a desktop client for everything & Fishbowl does that for me & Facebook.
From what it seems, Fishbowl is using DirectWrite for the text.
Scrolling through the lists in Fishbowl is better then Sobees, so I guess Direct2D isn’t enabled in Sobees yet. But since Fishbowl is able to scroll through long lists easily, I am sure other apps can do it too.
Do check out these apps, they are worth using specially if you are on Windows 7
My newest toy : Samsung R517
Nov 15th
I bought my Desktop PC from Lucknow to Delhi as I am more avid fan of a desktop then laptop, so now I needed a computer for my home in Lucknow, something my dad & sisters can easily use.
Few days ago, I went to Nehru Place to buy a laptop with my friend, he was eying netbooks which all had Intel Atom CPU & were available for Rs 20,000 approx. However, he wanted to run Windows 7 on it & doubted the power of Intel Atom with Intel GMA 500 onboard graphics which is default on all the Netbooks out there. He wasn’t wrong, Intel Atom doesn’t have sufficient power to give a good Windows 7 experience.
Then we saw something which we really like & found totally worth them money. We found Samsung R517 Laptop for just Rs 25,000 which comes with FreeDOS. The reason it is available for this cost is due to the exclusion of an Operating system which reduces the cost. I bought this laptop for my family today.
By looking at the laptop, you can easily confuse it with Lenovo ThinkPad R series laptops. Even I was confused when I saw it for the first time. Samsung has tried to go with a no-frills, no-jazzy look with this laptop. Its a simple, plain laptop which has enough potential & power as primary laptop for my family who uses a computer ones in a while only & there tasks constitutes of browsing, Microsoft Office, chatting, watching movies, music etc but the most important thing to note here is that they don’t use the computer everyday. There, it opens ones or twice a week only.
Keeping this in mind, I decided to buy this laptop for my home too as I did not want to spend a lot of money & wanted something which can support Windows 7 Home premium easily & can be used for the next 3 years without even touching.
The laptop configuration is as follows :
Intel Pentium dual core T4200 running at 2 GHz with 800 MHz FSB
15.6” glossy screen with a resolution of 1376X768px
2 GB DDR2 800 MHz RAM
250 GB 5400 RPM Samsung SATA2 Hard disk
Intel GMA X4500 onboard graphics
Realtek 5.1 channel HD audio with SRS
.3 MP Webcam which is sufficient enough for Video chats
rest as usual, like Wi-Fi, etc. One thing to note that there is no Onboard Bluetooth. I wonder why Samsung decided to exclude it. I bought a generic Bluetooth dongle with it for Rs 150. The display as you see is glossy, something we designers do not prefer but for home use its good, videos look awesome on it, specially HD Videos. The laptop was handling 1080p video just fine
For full configuration, check Samsung’s Product page for R517
The right hand side of laptop has only the DVD writer while the left hand side contains 3 USB Port, one Wired LAN port, Micro SD card reader, Audio & Mic ports & one VGA Port to attach external monitor.
Like I said, simple yet effective package. There isn’t what people won’t need & it is sufficient for most people as far as hardware peripherals are concerned.
I decided to install Windows 7 home premium & decided not to install pirated software as long as not required. I was surprised to see that we can make a fully working Windows system without paying anything for the software. Here is what I used :
1) Browser : Internet Explorer 8 is given in Windows 7 by default but I decided to install Google Chrome official version with extensions like Adsweep, flashblock & smoothscroll just because it is faster then IE 8 overall. Also, Chrome integrated with Windows even better then Firefox. Firefox would have been too alien for them as IE 8 or Google Chrome are good enough out of the box while Firefox needs a lot of extensions to make it work good.
2) I decided to use Free Download Manager which easily integrates with both IE 8 & Chrome. It automatically takes over Chrome’s downloader using a Netscape compatible dll.
3) Chatting : Personally, I have moved to Digsby, but my sister still prefers to use individual messenger clients because they provide better features like PhotoShare of Yahoo messenger. I install what we all are used to using, latest version of Google talk, Yahoo messenger, Skype & Windows Live Messenger.
4) Office suite : Though I could have given them OpenOffice, but just because I had a license spare & my sister is more familiar with Office 2007, I gave her Office 2007 Student edition as she only needs Excel & Word.
5) E-Mail : Well, she is better off using Web mail clients considering the huge space in GBs that they allow today.
6) Windows Live Suite & applications : This is something worth noticing. With Windows 7, Microsoft has tightened the integration between Windows Live apps & Windows. Frankly speaking, everything is already given which is just a download away. I installed Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Photo Gallery & Windows Movie Maker which is enough for the way they use & manage videos & images. Considering I also have a Sony CyberShot digicam which I will be giving at home, Windows Live Photo Gallery fulfils the requirements completely. All they do is copy the image, crop out the unwanted areas & mail to whoever is concerned.
7) For image editing, I decided to stick with Paint. Usually, there isn’t much editing they will need, except for resizing, cropping etc which paint is good enough to do because with Windows 7, Microsoft made Paint a half decent editor with basic features which are usually used like resizing, cropping.
8 ) For security, I decided to stick with a properly configured Windows Firewall, Windows defender & Microsoft Security essentials antivirus. These 3 integrate beautifully in Windows 7 & they run like “Set it & forget it “. Besides, its free & sufficient enough. I also turned on UAC.
9) I am an old fan of Yahoo! Widgets, so I installed this instead of using Windows Gadgets.
10) InfraRecorder for CD Burning. Though I taught my sister to burn Data CD & DVD using Windows 7′s inbuilt Disk Burning utility but this comes in handy when burning other type of CDs like mp3 or picture CD.
11) Peazip for archiving. Its a simple & free no frills Archiving utility. Right click & select “extract” for ZIP, RAR etc or right click & select “Add to Zip”.
12) Inbuilt Microsoft Remote desktop for fixing the computer if needed over the internet between home & Delhi
13) Windows 7 codec pack by Shard007. One pack for everything.
Sticking to only the default configuration helps. Things are tightly integrated & now all they have to do, is to open the laptop & use it without worrying about anything.
Well, I don’t know all about using habits of my family, so I will be updating this post as required.
Microsoft’s debugging tools for Internet Explorer
Sep 3rd
Most of the web designer & developers are using some sort of tool like IE tester or a separate machine running IE 6 or IE 7 to check for compatibility errors with these browsers. Also, historically it’s been hard to debug for IE 6 & 7 as we do not have something like Firebug for Internet Explorer.
Some of us already know about the web developer toolbar for Internet Explorer, but today Microsoft released a new visual debugging tool for Internet Explorer called Expression Web SuperPreview for Internet Explorer (Microsoft, please hire someone to come up with short names for your product). Its like IE tester but from Microsoft, means it has the native real engine of IE 6 & IE 7 not something emulated which some people think IETester has. (Its wrong though, IETester has the same DLL as IE 6).
The difference between IETester & SuperPreview is that in IE Tester you cannot debug or see which HTML element is affected & which part of the CSS is giving problem but in SuperPreview you can see the web page in IE 6 as well as IE7/8 side by side so it is easy to know which part is getting affected & then you can easily target that element. Like in the current screenshot, I am checking the rendered HTML in IE 6 & IE 8 side by side. If there is some anomaly in IE 6 but not in IE 8 then I know which HTML element or CSS is breaking.
However, this isn’t all that we require. This indeed is a great effort from Microsoft to move the existing web pages from IE 6 to IE 8 but it would have been better if we can get the functionality of IE Developer toolbar in SuperPreview. Now, that is indeed available in expression web 3.0 but that is a paid software, what if we just want to test & see what’s broken & fix is quickly.
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.
