TechPortal

Microsoft overnight blessed the latest build of Windows 7 for ‘release to manufacture’, reaching a milestone in its efforts to push the memory of Vista far behind.

Yesterday we outlined Microsoft’s timetable for distributing the finalised ‘gold code edition of Windows 7 and observed that the OS was therefore due to reach RTM status sometime within the next two weeks.

As it turns out, Microsoft hit that milestone overnight. CEO Steve Ballmer announced at the company’s staff-only Microsoft Global Exchange sales conference in Atlanta, Georgia that Windows 7 was, at last, ready to roll. Windows exec Steven Sinofsky decreed that the fresh-baked release candidate 7600.16385 was “signed off … and declared as RTM”.

It’s been a long journey since the first external release of Windows 7’s Milestone 1 build 6519 in January 2008, but nowhere near the arduous five year trek of Vista.

Nor has the road been anywhere near as rough. With exceptional focus and under Steven Sinofky’s exceptional stewardship, the next-gen Windows has enjoyed widespread praise with almost no stumbles.

So what happens now? A set of DVDs containing the 32-bit and 64-vit RTM builds of Windows 7, along with scads of supplementary tools and gumpf, is being distributed to the PC builders of the world.

Most will receive their prized FedEx parcel by Friday, US time, so that they can begin the process of turning the raw code into their own bespoke versions of the OS with branding, customised help screens, vendor-specific software and assorted crapware.

The next official date of note in the Windows 7 distribution calendar is August 6th, when the code will be posted for download on Microsoft’s members-only MSDN, TechNet and Microsoft Connect online services. Unless it lands on the BitTorrent networks sometime in the coming fortnight (and we’re taking bets that it will).

Source : APCMag.com

There are a few Ion machines available like the Japanese DosPara machine. Well this week, we get one more Ion-wielding netbook to check out from a company named Point of View. That brand isn’t exactly a household name, but the rig has the right stuff crammed inside and some bright colors on the outside.

The machine is called the Mobii Ion 230 and inside its bright exterior hides an Intel Atom 230 CPU with the Ion platform handling the HD video capabilities. The little machine has a 10.2-inch screen with a 1024 x 600 resolution and LED backlighting. The Ion platform supports 1080p video and offers NVIDIA tech like CUDA and PurevideoHD.

The little rig has an HDMI out as well so you can enjoy that 1080p goodness on your big screen in the living room. Other features include 1GB of RAM and a 160GB HDD. The risk no optical drive considering the rig is a netbook, but it does offer a memory card reader and a standard 6-cell battery. The battery has enough oomph to run the netbook for up to four hours per charge.

The netbook will come in shockingly bright colors including black, red, and lime and should ship within the next few weeks. The big downside is that the standard OS will be Linux, hopefully a Windows option will be available as well. Availability is expected in the next few weeks at about €349 ($AUD606).

Source : APCMag.com

While the consumer market seems keen on jumping on the Windows 7 bandwagon, the people with the big money are sticking to XP.

We’ve covered how Windows 7 is making all the right noises when it comes to the typical home user, but where Microsoft earns its big money, in the IT departments of companies and corporations around the world, it seems to have run into a rather big stumbling block.

Research by TechRepublic reveals that most IT departments are quite happy with Windows XP and have little or no plans to upgrade to Windows Vista, in the few months it has left to live, yet alone Windows 7. Impressively,  from over 12,000 respondents, the research reveals that 96% of them are still using XP. 43% of them have no plans to upgrade while 45% will upgrade to Windows 7 eventually. Eventually means “only when they absolutely have to” according to 52% of respondents.

Unfortunately, only 6% of them are seriously planning to switch to Linux or OS X, so the revolution certainly won’t be happening this time around. Which suggests that, for all the hope and hype, both Mac and Linux seriously failed to move in the for kill when Windows was at its weakest in the Vista era. The inquest into how that happened really should be worth turning up for.

Naturally, a lot of these figures could be reflecting the current state of the global economy. As soon as the cash starts flowing into the IT budget once again, there could be a splurge on upgrades. But, the real deal seems to be that Microsoft finally got Windows XP in the right place (by Service Pack 2) and most corporate users are happy there and have no need to move on. Perhaps when Windows 7 reaches SP2 status, in around 3013, the computing heartland of industry will be able to move on.

Source : APCMag.com

Some “casually” left text in a post-release candidate beta of Windows 7 suggest a family pack is on the way.

In part of the end-user agreement in a recently leaked beta, a keen-eyed tester has noticed mention of a “Family Pack” version of Windows 7. The concept will be familiar to Apple users who have had such a thing for around seven years now, allowing users in the same household to install the same copy of the OS, to keep all their machines in sync.

It appears Microsoft will limit the pack to three machines, which isn’t bad – the main family desktop and mummy’s and daddy’s laptops is an obvious permutation – but somewhat down on Apple’s limit of five. Clearly Apple users have big families, or just rows and rows of Macs, carefully polished by a daddy who doesn’t get out much.

According to the Ars Technica story, the text in the Home Premium edition EULA says:

“b. Family Pack. If you are a “Qualified Family Pack User,” you may install one copy of the software marked as “Family Pack” on three computers in your household for use by people who reside there. Those computers are the “licensed computers” and are subject to these license terms. If you do not know whether you are a Qualified Family Pack User, visit go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?Linkid=141399 or contact the Microsoft affiliate serving your country.”

The link is not yet live, but that’s a pretty firm confirmation of what a lot of users had been hoping. Microsoft isn’t saying anything, yet, but will probably be waiting a week or two to let the pricing announcements sink in. Plus, it will want to get the Fourth of July holidays out of the way, when Americans have other things on their minds. Ultimate moral of this story, you really can’t keep a secret in the tech world any more.

Source : APCMag.com

Tech blogger Michael Arrington’s CrunchPad nears completion and launch with an event late this month or in early August.

One technology blog in the U.S. is moving from the world of telling readers about new gadgets into the world of telling the users about gadgets to actually making and selling gadgets to users. Michael Arrington form TechCrunch has been talking for a while now about the CrunchPad that he has been working to bring to market.

The New York Times reports that Arrington is set to bring the CrunchPad from the realm of vaporware to reality. Arrington has reportedly now incorporated a new company called CrunchPad and has said that the company will hold an event at the end of July or in early August where the device will presumably be launched.

The most recent photos of the nearly finalized design are very slick. The device looks much like a larger iPhone. The CrunchPad is said to be a mere 16mm thick, and have a screen that is at least 12-inches in size and flush with the aluminum case. The CrunchPad will also come in different colors and run an Intel Atom processor.

Strangely, the device will reportedly have no storage built-in and there is no word on if the device will offer a memory card slot for storing digital content. No keyboard will be offered with the device, which will instead use an onscreen keyboard like the iPhone. Unlike the iPhone, the CrunchPad will support Flash says Arrington. The price for the finished device is promised to be under $US300 ($AUD381).

Source : APCMag.com

Sony announces Vaio W and isn’t afraid to call it a netbook.

Sony has more Vaio models that you can shake a stick at, but no “official” netbooks on its books until now. Most of us would consider the Vaio P a netbook, but Sony refuses to see the reality of what the Vaio P actually is.

Today Sony has announced its first official netbook model called the Vaio W. If you were hoping for a snazzy design and some interesting features to set the upscale priced Vaio W apart from its peers, you will be disappointed. The only feature that is any different from the other masses of 10.1-inch netbooks on the market is the dubya’s 1366 x 768 screen resolution.

I’m not sure exactly what good a 720p HD resolution will do you on a netbook that judging from the hardware specs probably won’t stream HD content well. Other than the screen resolution, the remainder of the specifications for the netbook are common.

The Vaio W gets a 1.6GHz Atom processor, Windows XP Home, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB HDD, Wi-Fi, and a media streaming software pack called Vaio Media Plus. According to reports, the price tag for the netbook is going to be about $US629 ($AUD799 — but expect it to cost much more when it officially hits Australia). That is at least twice what the machine is worth in my opinion. Sony has another big bag of fail on its hands to go along with the Vaio P me thinks.

Source : APCMag.com

ClearType has long been a feature of Windows and evolved over the various OSes since Millennium — find out what has changed in the Windows 7 version.

Microsoft’s Engineering Windows 7 blog has just been updated with a detailed look at one of the unsung developments in the desktop experience. ClearType has slowly been improved and the blog covers a bit of the history, development and research that has gone into delivering what you see on the Windows 7 desktop.

It also explains how to alter the rendering settings in Windows 7 and how to turn it off if you prefer your fonts to be all jagged and industrial looking. There is also details of the ClearType tuner that is part of the Windows Control Panel, allowing you to beat the desktop fonts into the shape you desire. For example, “Because there are differences in monitor characteristics and differences between readers’ eyes, there are font rendering options that can only be optimized by a reader looking at text on their monitor. The ClearType Tuner uses various samples of ClearType, presented in the form of an eye-test, to make fine grained adjustments to the ClearType algorithms. Each wizard page tunes a parameter such as monitor gamma (relationship between voltage and brightness), your sensitivity to color artifacts, and your preference for letter heaviness.”

Some of the research that they have undertaken is oddly interesting too, did you know that word recognition is improved 17%, reading speed is improved 5% and eye tiredness is reduced. So next time you realise you’ve read an entire document without blinking, raise a glass to ClearType, new and improved in Windows 7.

Source : APCMag.com