Text in Windows 7

WPF has been providing a feature that people wanted for a very long time.  Have you ever wonder why a screen with a very high resolution will give you application and text that are too small to use and read properly.  If you take a look at printed material, no matter how big the medium is or how high the dpi used for printing, a 10 point text will always appear as a 10 point text, the higher dpi will just make it appear so much smoother and nicer.  WPF set out to mimic that, thus a WPF application will always appear the same size no matter where you view it.  This is achieved by making the graphic display truly device independent.  A 10cm line will appear as a 10cm line no matter how big the screen or how high the resolution.

Windows 7 will finally bring this feature to the masses, you don’t need to run a WPF application to get this benefit for text.  And I hope that this will also be true for other elements in the Windows.  If this is true, that Vaio P will definitely be good to ship in Windows 7, since the current one under Vista shows text that are way too small to read properly (cause Sony choose to put a high resolution screen on a 8.9” screen).

Reluctance of Microsoft to make it simple

The latest information out for Windows 7 is that there are basically 3 editions for consumers to purchase, Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate.  However, the other editions are still available, Windows 7 Starter and Windows 7 Home Basic are available for OEM builder and Windows 7 Enterprise is for those Enterprise customer who wants volume licensing.  Although off the shelf consumer will only get to see 3 edition of Windows 7, when buying or using computer system, be it desktop or laptop or netbook, personal or belonging to the company, there are still 5 edition that user will see.  Thus this is definitely still confusing to the average Joe.

I would think that Microsoft should ditch all other editions and stay with only 3, Home, Professional and Ultimate.  Windows 7 Home is for home users and it will include special license that will limit some of the features, for example, Windows 7 Home found on netbook will not have Aero and some other features that are not available under the previous Home Basic.  Users who want these features can purchase a full Home license from Microsoft and these features will then unlock (as what Windows 7 upgrade will currently do).  Windows 7 Ultimate is also the edition for the Enterprise customers.  In this case there are really just 3 editions of Windows 7 and it serve the purpose of the previous 6.

Next generation Windows, officially known as Windows 7

I was just talking about the change in codename from Vienna to Windows 7 and Microsoft officially announced that the new name for the next generation Windows is going to be Windows 7.  Simplicity? Copied from Apple?  I hope they didn’t pay some expensive product consultant to come out with this name.  Personally I’m neutral to the new name, it is the OS itself that matter.  And I sure hope that the pre-beta that Microsoft is going to review is closer to the one that they are going to ship.

Windows 7

It been a while, Microsoft has changed the codename of the next generation of Windows to simply Windows 7 instead of the previous Vienna.  With the PDC 08 coming real soon and Microsoft promise of letting the attendee have the first public bit of the OS, more and more information on the OS has been released.  It will be interesting to see the new features that Windows 7 is going to offer.

Vista launch press coverage inaccuracies, corrected

With all the big hoo ha and bashing of Windows Vista on the web, a web post finally do some justice.  A point that I especially like is:

“Any “expert” that says that you should not buy Windows Vista for security should be locked up and never allowed to write ever again.

As  a developer I know for a fact that patching an inherent flaw within the software architecture does not solve the problem entirely.  This is especially true when security is concerned.  This is like when a weak point is found in a defence wall and breached, patching the hole later on does not give you a stronger wall.  The whole structure of the wall has already been weakened and thus future breach will be possible.

Problem with Volume

Microsoft took a big knife and chop away the old audio architecture in Windows XP.  With that gone, they came up with a new audio architecture from ground up, aiming to make audio in Windows Vista less affected by any sudden peak in CPU usage.  When they are at it, they also make audio easier to use by changing the perspective from devices to end points like speakers, and headphones.

All these changes should be all well and good for users of Windows Vista, however, it make the job of audio application developer so much harder.  For example, in the midst of all these changes we lost the ability to change the master volume.  At first this seems to be OK, as Windows Vista implemented per-app volume and any application that is changing the master volume through the MMSystem API, Windows Vista will route it to the per-app volume.  However, it turns out that for certain media stream, this is not working, which is especially true for MIDI.

After several days of hard work, I’ve finally managed to chop up my application and make the old master volume into a brand new volume that truly affect only my own application.  But I’ve decided not to take part in Vista’s per-app volume eco-system; My argument is that since this is a feature that is being push by Microsoft, they have the responsibility to make it work for all application.

Bye Bye Hour Glass, Hello Blue Circle

Windows Vista July CTP (Build 5472) springs a surprise.  The “Busy” hourglass has been replaced by a revolving blue circle.  If you have tried out the Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3, you will be familiar with the new “Busy” or “Working in the background” animation of the mouse cursor; the “Busy” animation while a web page is loading is also using a revolving blue circle.

Seems like the Windows Vista is really getting a “wax and polish” for each version that came out after the Beta 2.  I believe that more changes will be coming our way.

Windows Vista should be delayed?

I’ve just got back from a week long vacation and stumble upon a post which doesn’t seems good for Windows Vista.  One of the beta tester and outright supporter of Windows Vista, Robert McLaws, had declared that Vista needs more time.  He finds that Windows Vista is still not stable enough to call for a Release Candidate.  Though newer interim build had solved some of the stability and performance issues of the Beta 2, newer bugs came popping out.  He recommends that Windows Vista be delayed by another 4-6 weeks, so that the whole Vista team can get their acts together to deliver a fantastic OS.

One interesting thing that he pointed out is that developers have been using too much of “by design” or “not reproducible” to close bugs report.  This is something quite common for software developers, once a bug can’t be reproduce they tend to move on quickly to another bug.  This will cause inaccuracy to any software report as potential bugs will stay hidden by the tag of “by design” or “not reproducible”.  Developers should always find time to try and reproduce any bugs that are “not reproducible”, so as not to leave any hidden “surprise” for the customers.  For my company, we will not close any bugs that are tag as “by design” or “not reproducible” automatically, developers will need to work with the testers and convince the project engineer that these bugs are really “by design” or “not reproducible”.

What? What OSR2?

I was reading some articles that mention about FAT32 disk format and this remind me of something interesting that happened when I was trying to purchase a copy of a so called “specialized” version of OS.

Time warp to the era of the Windows 95.  Windows 95 has just been released into the world not too long ago and I’ve just started work, fresh out from the U.  Later on, Microsoft decided to release a newer version of Windows 95 that is much more stable and has a particular feature that I wanted badly once I’ve heard about it.  This newer version is targeted mainly for Microsoft’s OEM customers and thus was called OEM Service Release 2, in short OSR2.  The new feature?  FAT32, support larger hard disk partition and will create smaller file fragments so that hard disk usage is dramatically reduced if you have a lot of small files on your machine.

Thus I went down to a local computer shop and asked them whether they sell a copy of Windows 95 OSR2.  “OS what?” said the salesman, “Oh you mean OS/2 is it?”, before I can even start to react, he follow up and said “Nope, we don’t carry IBM’s software product here.”, pointing to his Microsoft authorized dealer sign he continues “You mean still got people want to use other OS meh?”.  From that I know I have to rest my case, this guy has obviously never heard of an OSR2 before.  But at least he still know about the once highly regarded IBM’s OS, the OS/2.

Mac Attack!

Recently Apple released a new slew of ad campaign which target “so called” PC’s weak point.  They have a nerdy looking guy acting as a PC and a young guy dressed in jeans acting as a Mac.  So the ad start with these 2 guys standing beside each other and goes “Hi I’m a Mac”, “And I’m a PC”.  You can check out the clips from here (oh yeah, if you’re not on a Mac, you will need to install the Quicktime player, dude) .

These ads actually created a back lash from the community.  Check out this article on Slate just to see what one of these guys think.  And because of this someone actually came out with a spoof to get back at Apple.  Be sure to check out this spoof just for a good laugh.

So do you mean stupid stupid or cool stupid?

Finally, Microsoft is going to change that ugly theme

This is one benefit of releasing beta software for users to try out; Users can then feedback on what they dislike about the software.  With so many negative feedback, Microsoft is finally going to change the theme that is shown when Windows Aero^TM cannot be enable, known as the Windows Vista Basic theme.

You can see from the diagram above, the middle window is the old look for the Windows Vista Basic.  The new look (the window at the bottom) in my opinion is much better, at least now it convey a certain professionalism instead of the half-hearted effort that was done for the old look.  Though I would prefer that Microsoft enlarge the 3 top-right buttons some more, ditched the old icons for the 3 buttons and use the icons that the Aero theme is using (the difference is small, but the Aero’s icons look nicer).  This is what I feel from looking at the picture, I am sure seeing the new theme in action would give a different perspective.

Boot Camp Anyone?

No, not that type of boot camp, is the all new catch phrase in Mac world.

Boot camp is a software that is going to be in the next release of Mac OS X, Leopard, which will let Mac user boot into their *favourite* oops, sorry, should be *disgusted* OS, Microsoft Windows XP.  So Mac user can now enjoy another different world.

So if Mac OS X is so good why do Mac users need Windows XP anyway?  All needs should be taken care of by Mac OS X, isn’t it?

Gaming might be one aspect that make Mac users cling on to Windows XP.  I believe most games still run faster on Windows than Mac, this is because most game developer still base their game on Windows and just port it over to Mac.  Also a lot of games are still Windows only, developers just don’t see why they need to take care of the smaller market, time might be better spent at making the next big version of the game.

As a side note, don’t you think Apple should not charge its user for all these minor refresh of Mac OS X?  Tiger and Leopard sound to me like just mere service packs.

Windows Vista is delayed till January 2007

So its official.  It has been delayed.

Do I care?  Yes I think I do.  Its a disappointment.  After waiting for a September 2006 release, it is now a January 2007.  But I would rather get a quality software rather than a half-baked one.  So a delay really is better than Microsoft rushing the product and then users need to wait for a service pack to solve their problems.  So I hope Windows Vista will really be a good one after 2 delay.

But I think that a January 2007 date is all thanks to PC makers since businesses can still get their hands on Windows Vista in November 2006 as long as they purchase volume license.  PC makers can’t really get their act together to release their PC pre-installed with Windows Vista earlier if Microsoft release Windows Vista in November (at least they can’t meet the holiday season).

So those people who DIY their system got to wait 2 more months to a January 2007.

Windows Vista Product Lineup

Microsoft has finally make it official.

“the Microsoft^® Windows Vista product lineup will bring clarity to customers’ digital world by helping them easily accomplish everyday tasks, instantly find what they want, enjoy the latest in entertainment, improve the safety of their personal information, stay connected at home or on the go, and help ensure PCs are up-to-date, more secure and running smoothly.

There are a total of 6 versions, 2 for businesses, 3 for home users and 1 for emerging markets.  Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Enterprise are for businesses.  Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate are for home users.  Windows Vista Starter is for emerging markets.

Windows Vista Enterprise is only available for business customers participating in Microsoft’s Software Assurance program and it will contain certain features that is only available in this version.  Windows Vista Starter is only for emerging markets, giving these markets a basic and low-cost OS.  The rest of the versions will be available for retail and on new PC.

Windows Vista Home Basic and Windows Vista Starter will not contain the new user interface Windows Aero.  The Home Basic only comes with the classic look and feel of Windows and the Starter will be a much simpler OS which only available in 32 bit.  The rest of the versions will let users experience the new Windows Aero, including the now so famous Aero Glass.

Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate will also get the new Vista Media Center capabilities.  Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Enterprise on the other hand will get the all new tablet PC capabilities.

The interesting thing to me is that if Home Basic does not contain the Windows Aero, what is the price point that it is going to launch?  If this package is of the same price as the current Windows XP, then Microsoft is really trying to collect a premium for their latest Windows Aero.  I hope this is not the case.

Microsoft is shipping 2 Beta 2 for Windows Vista

Jim Allchin, Co-president of Microsoft, has confirmed that there will be 2 release for Windows Vista Beta 2.

“We’ll produce one this quarter and one next quarter. We’re targeting each CTP at a particular audience. The one coming up this quarter will be targeted toward our corporate accounts.

From what I know, ever since the first CTP for Windows Vista (which came out during the PDC 05), every build has been tagged as Beta 2.  You can see this tag at the lower right of the desktop once you startup Windows Vista.

Why do I need Vista – take 3

In my last post, I’ve forgotten to talk about another major improvement in Windows Vista.  This is in their audio architecture.  Microsoft has always let user interact with devices in the audio environment.  For example if you go to Windows XP control panel and then find and launch Sounds and Audio Devices, you will get to choose the default playback device and the default recording device from one of the tab page.  Microsoft is going to change this in Windows Vista, users are going to interact with speakers, headphones, microphone etc., which is more natural for most people.  You will want to lower the volume of your speakers if you find that the sound coming out from your computer is way too loud and not that of the playback device.  Furthermore, you will be able to adjust the volume of system sound and leave the volume of your MP3 playback at the same level.  This will make sure that when you are listening to your favourite music on the headphones, a sudden new mail notification will not make you deaf.  Finally, the audio will also be more smooth even when there is a sudden surge in CPU usage.

Why do I need Vista – take 2

There is a comment about my previous post on Windows Vista.  I have to say that to a certain extent, I agree with the comment.  The look and feel of Windows Vista is going to be just “incrementally better”.  But the user experience is going to be substantially better, at least from the look of the current build, it has the potential to be substantially better.

For example:

1. Microsoft is going to take bulky dialog boxes (that give too much information) and simplify them to become much more task oriented.  When user need more information, they can then follow the link that is on the simpler dialog
2. Another aspect would be security, it would be much harder for spyware and virus to attack Windows Vista, and user can then feel more secure when surfing the Internet
3. The revamp of the Graphic pipeline will mean that for the first time adding a decent 3D Graphic card will make your system become much more responsive as all graphic related rendering will then be offload to the GPU

Google and Apple started to talk about having a indexed file system so as to enable a better desktop search after Microsoft announce their intention at PDC 2003.  Both Google and Apple then race to beat Microsoft by coming out with the desktop search way before Microsoft did.

Having said that, I find that the “spectacular improvement” might not come from the OS itself but by the tools that Microsoft is going to make available for developer to use.  Namely, Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Workflow Foundation.  You can take a look at this video for a glimpse of what can happen in the future.

Why do I need Windows Vista?

Manuel Clement, Designer of Microsoft’s upcoming Expression Suite (a set of tools to aid in software development), blog about why you will need Windows Vista after people keep insisting that Windows Vista is actually Windows XP SP3 and nothing more.  He gave a list of 15 things that differentiate Windows Vista from Windows XP.

My take is that people are falling into the trap of negative publicity.  After Microsoft announce that it is removing WinFS (the future storage system that will revolutionize how we interact with Computer), skeptics are putting off Windows Vista as just another service pack.  After playing around with Windows Vista December CTP for about 2 weeks, my  point of view is that Windows Vista is a substantial step forward.  Though it has its own set of problems now, it is still in beta, when it finally ships, it will be better than Windows XP.

Move aside Blackcomb, here comes Vienna!

So it has been confirmed.  That the codename for the version of Windows after Windows Vista is going to be called “Vienna”, no more “Blackcomb”.  According to a Microsoft spokesman the codename has always been selected base on locations in the world known for great “vistas“.