Windows 7 is Vista but Vista isn’t Windows 7

It’s just around the corner, Microsoft’s next latest and greatest operating system will be coming to a new PC near you. Windows 7 is claimed to be everything that Vista wasn’t. A fast booting, sleek operating system which is as reliable as XP came to be.Yeah. So far all that is to be seen are a few minor interface changes but no real under the hood modifications have been spotted, yet. Thinkknext has some spy screenshots of the new interface and here’s a short rundown of what appears to be in store.

Windows 7 will take us back to the simplified Start Menu of yesteryear but items can be added to it if you so desire.

The calculator that has been around basically since Windows 95, if not the early 3.1 days has finally gotten a facelift. It’s about time. Having to use the ugly calculator in Vista can be such a drag sometimes. Some of us don’t keep a desktop calculator around, I’m just saying.

User account control has gotten a leash. It is now the unobtrusive system that we were promised in Windows Vista. Hey, Microsoft how about releasing some of these updates for Vista instead of forcing the masses to pay for yet another upgrade.

The “Ribbon” menu system that is part of Office 2007 is now part of Windows Paint and Wordpad. With a bit of luck, it will become part of Expolerer as well which needs a change.

“Libraries” has replaced documents, there are some new Control Panel settings and the themes and resolution properties have been changed for the better. That’s pretty much it. While it is largely Vista, some minor changes make it Windows 7. Mind you, I’m not saying this is worth a $400 price tag but when Windows 7 starts shipping with new computers get it instead of Vista.

Windows 7 could be hitting retail shelves at any point from the beginning of 2009 to late 2010 or early 2011.

Source : Vista knowledge

Secret Windows 7 screens leaked

Despite Microsoft’s efforts to keep Windows 7 information secret and safe within a close circle of partners and testers until its good and ready, another round of screenshots has found its way to the web.Over the weekend, the ThinkNext.net blog posted a variety of screenshots purportedly from the latest batch of beta code, Windows 7 M3 Build 6780. Unfortunately, the page is now deader than disco. Someone claiming to be a Microsoft suit emailed the author and dropped enough litigious worIt ds of advice to encourage a hasty retreat.

But all is not lost, curious readers. Windows7news.com is presently hosting the images. You may catch them there before they’re gone.

The images include a Windows 7 welcome screen, start menu, administration windows, and updated applications like Windows Media Player, and – YES! – MS Paint and Calculator!

All signs point to things looking pretty Aero-y. That is to say, Microsoft appears to be sticking with the same semi-transparent glass-effect graphic interface used in Windows Vista. You may also know this as the option in Appearance Settings you had to disable because it makes your laptop run like crap. The build does appear to be using the Office 2007 Ribbon interface in Wordpad and Paint. That’s a change at least.

Keep in mind the code is still deep in beta country so nobody is promising you Aero. In fact, Microsoft is doing its best to promise you next to nothing this early into the process, having learned a harsh lesson with Vista.

Back before the ponderously maligned OS made it’s debut, Microsoft made a fine mess out of previewing thrills, chills, and a laundry list of features – along with a thousand elephants that didn’t make the cut when Vista hit retail shelves. Customers couldn’t help but compare the OS against their artificially enhanced expectations – adding to the grief that made Vista the Tito Jackson of Windows releases (Windows ME is Marlon Jackson, by the way).

We haven’t yet received official word whether it was Microsoft that sent the take-down request. We’ll update when the datum rolls around.

Microsoft is Scoring Big With Gates, Seinfeld Comeback Ad

A few weeks ago, I lambasted Microsoft for an awful advertising campaign for Windows Vista called The Mojave Experiment. The Mojave Experiment demoed a “new” version of Windows dubbed Mojave to a group of off-the-street test subjects. The big revelation was that Mojave wasn’t a new version of Windows but really today’s Windows Vista.
The campaign failed because it started off by reaffirming that there was a negative connotation around Vista and Microsoft and trying to make the customer feel ignorant for thinking that way. Kind of like when you are really eating the Pizza Hut pasta at the fancy Italian joint.

Microsoft is back with a new $300 million ad campaign that stars Jerry Seinfeld and a semiretired Bill Gates. Microsoft lobbed $10 million of that budget to Seinfeld to appear in the ads, and after seeing the first two spots, I think the campaign is brilliant.

The first ad follows Seinfeld and Gates discount shopping at the Shoe Circus. The second ad is a continuation of “Bill & Jerry’s Excellent Adventure” as they live with a family to try to connect with “real people.”

Microsoft never has had a good ad campaign per se. The closest to interesting and engaging was the 1995 “Start Me Up” campaign, but while Apple has been bashing Windows for years with its Mac versus PC spots, Microsoft has offered up “People Powered” and “Your Potential. Our Passion.” Not exactly memorable.

Much like Seinfeld’s television show, the new ads really are about nothing. Unlike previous failed campaigns, these ads are designed to leave an enduring impression of the company with viewers rather than getting them off the couch and into a Best Buy to purchase a new piece of software. Windows is already

on 90 percent of the computers shipping today, so there is no real reason to try to push it to the remaining 10 percent.

Instead, Microsoft is wisely using these ads to try to repair the damaged image of Microsoft as a whole. Between the troubled Vista launch and Apple attacks, Microsoft is developing a set of engaging mini-episodes featuring one of the world’s most popular comics with the public face of Microsoft: Bill Gates.

If the advertisements resonate a positive impression of Microsoft in the viewer’s mind, the campaign can be deemed a success. More than selling extra licenses of Windows, the company needs to elminate the “have to” feeling of purchasing a PC and change it to a “want to.” Buying a new PC shouldn’t evoke the same reaction as purchasing an insurance policy.

I gauge the quality of an advertisement on whether I will stop fast forwarding through them on my TiVo. I almost always stop to watch the Mac versus PC spots, and I am now stopping to watch the Seinfeld-Microsoft ads because they aren’t the typical product- pushing garbage today’s ad agencies are selling. Much as Apple did years ago, Microsoft finally is thinking differently.

Developers to get Windows 7 pre beta next month

Microsoft will be showboating Windows Vista, mark two 7 at its forthcoming Professional Developer Conference (PDC) event next month, where developers will be able to get their mitts on a pre-beta build of the operating system.

Meanwhile, the yawnfest surrounding speculation about what the OS will (or won’t) come loaded with continues to mount in the blogosphere. Yep, MS is stripping Windows 7 down to its pants, vest and a Ribbon. So, the upcoming operating system, some early code of which has already been probed by a US anti-trust committee sniffing around Redmond to see if its latest interoperability claims come up smelling of roses or onions, will not include email, photo-editing and movie-making apps that were part of Vista.

Instead those features will be packed into Windows Live as downloadable applications. The only problem for Microsoft is in convincing world+dog to find the enthusiasm to flick Google the finger and use its products online.

Windows senior veep Steven Sinofsky will be bigging up Windows 7 at PDC2008 in Los Angeles on 28 October. Microsoft wants everyone to get incredibly excited about “the next major version of the Windows client operating system.”

Indeed over the past few months the company has mounted a strategic marketing campaign to gently steer customers away from the unloved Vista OS. It’s also started a corporate blog about Windows 7, which is perhaps the best indication that Microsoft wants to draw a line under the Vista mess.

But, as we have noted several times since rumours began swimming around the interweb that hinted at the possibility that Windows 7 could in fact be parachuted in early by Redmond, the next OS is based on the same kernel as Vista.

What does this mean in Microsoft speak?

“With Windows 7 at PDC2008 you will see advances across the full range of Windows – including the kernel, networking, hardware and devices, and user-interface,” said MS wonk Denise Begley yesterday.

“Learn more about opportunities to build on the platform’s commitment to OS fundamentals, while also enabling you to enhance your existing applications and create new applications that use the new technologies and APIs in Windows 7.”

So there you have it: expect “advances”, “enhancement” and even some new tech built into the next platform, and, given that many features in Vista will be absent, it might even come with less bloat.

Is Linux the greatest threat to Windows Vista?

There’s a bevy of journalists and users alike that are cocked and ready to fire away at Vista any chance they can get, but there’s one underlying variable that almost everyone seems to agree with. The various distributions of Linux most likely pose the greatest threat to Windows Vista overall- why you ask?

A synopsis by Renu Singh of IT Voir on the subject, pointed out the main reasons Linux has the most fuel to overtake Vista in the long run. Though it seems obvious, he points out issues regarding security, anti-virus, updating and the sheer cost saving benefits to using any kind of Linux. Since the days of only one or two operating systems has come and gone, Microsoft has some undeniable trouble on the horizon- it’s really no secret, even to them. Now that we have such a variety, it really comes down to a few simple aspects- overall cost of deployment in the long-term, and overall security during all aspects of usage.

When it comes to updating, Singh points out the fact that with Vista- it’s a matter of not only updating the OS, but also individual drivers, software, etc. “To update Adobe suite, user have to visit the Adobe web site. To update the drivers, one has to visit hardware vendors. Contrast to this, the update process of Linux is simple- the update package includes everything- the operating system, applications, support libraries, hardware drivers. All new versions are looked for and updated at one time.”

The underlying benefit of Linux is of course the price, or lack of price that is. Not only is the OS completely free-of-charge, but all software is as well. There’s a slew of Open Source software readily available and waiting, with more and more coming everyday. In addition, there’s no need for pirated software and versions of the OS like there is with Vista, it can be replicated and re-distributed as necessary.

I’m a huge Open Source advocate, so of course this all rings true with me. Maybe you have a different opinion- maybe in your eyes Mac presents the greatest threat, but I think it’s hard to deny the future dominance of Linux.