Windows 7.

[The_OG_Nelta]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/biztech....ap/index.html

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- The next version of Microsoft Windows, the software that defines the computing experience for most people, will nag users much less than its much-maligned predecessor, Vista. PC users will be able to test the new edition early next year. The world's largest software maker also is making Word, Excel and other key elements of Office -- its flagship "productivity" programs -- able to run in a Web browser. The move is meant to help confront rivals such as Google Inc. that offer free word processing and spreadsheet programs online, threatening one of Microsoft Corp.'s most precious profit centers.

The Windows and Office news came Tuesday at a Microsoft conference for software developers.

The forthcoming Windows 7 will let users choose to see fewer alerts and warnings from their computers. Rampant notifications alerting people to security risks irked many Vista users.

"We had all the best intentions of helping to secure the PC platform even more, particularly for novice PC users who needed to be protected," said Steven Sinofsky, a senior vice president in Microsoft's Windows group. But Sinofsky acknowledged that Microsoft needed to work more closely with outside companies to avoid a similar mess this time. Michael Silver, an analyst for Gartner Inc., said a smoother debut for Windows 7 is critical for Microsoft.

"The real hurdle is to get Vista's reputation behind them," he said.

Windows 7 keeps some of the significant design changes that debuted in Vista, but tosses out others.

In an interview, Julie Larson-Green, a Windows vice president, offered one small example: In Vista, Microsoft took the "add printer" feature out of the Start menu, but is restoring it in Windows 7 after users complained.

Larson-Green said some changes in Vista made sense to developers but weren't fully tested on actual PC users -- a misstep she seems committed not to repeat.

With Windows 7, Microsoft is also making subtle but useful changes to the task bar along the bottom of the screen. The designers have removed redundant buttons that launch applications. When users roll over a program's icon in the task bar, it will be easier to see how many documents are open, and switch between them.

Microsoft also showed off "jumplists," a quick way of organizing recently used files or popular program features. And it introduced a concept called "libraries," which automatically collects similar files scattered across PCs on a home network and displays them together in a single folder. That could be handy for organizing a family's digital photos stored in disparate places.

Addressing another complaint about Vista, Microsoft said Windows 7 will be faster and need less memory to run. Vista generally needs costlier hardware configurations than the older Windows XP.

Sinofsky held up a "netbook" -- a low-cost, low-power laptop that would have a hard time running Vista -- and said it's working with Windows 7.

Microsoft's early 2009 target for people to begin toying with Windows 7 is striking because the Redmond, Wash.-based company promised deadlines it couldn't keep when it was developing Vista. Microsoft is trying hard to avoid a similar debacle this time. Sinofsky said there is no date yet for the next milestone, a "release to manufacturing" version of Windows 7, but reiterated that the system is set to go on sale in early 2010.

Silver, the analyst, noted that Windows Vista rejigged complex aspects of the software's plumbing, while Windows 7 is largely a cosmetic overhaul. That might spare this launch from many of the compatibility programs that dogged Vista.

Silver was impressed by how Windows 7 handles home networking with fewer headaches than Vista or XP. A big improvement on that front could help keep customers who consider ditching Windows, swayed by Apple Inc.'s claims that such tasks are easier on a Mac.

Building on a broader strategy to meld the best elements of Web and desktop software, Microsoft also showed off lightweight versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote software that work in Web browsers and look as they normally do, but don't have to be installed on a PC.

The new programs were running "in the cloud" on the new Windows Azure system Microsoft unveiled Monday, a move aimed at helping it catch up with Google and other nimbler Web companies. Azure lets Microsoft run software and store data in its own massive data centers around the world, instead of requiring people to install programs on their own PCs.

The Office Web programs represent what Microsoft believes is a more polished take on what Google has tried. Microsoft's online Office programs let people work on a document at the same time, and make it easier to publish charts and PowerPoint presentations to blogs with few clicks.

The Web software, to be offered without charge for regular PC users, will launch with the next version of Office. No date has been set.

Silver, the analyst, said he had always expected Microsoft to build on its rudimentary Web Office tools, and noted that the company still has time to tinker, because relatively few people use Google's online documents offering today.

The peek at the new programs didn't address his biggest concern, though: whether Microsoft can promote Web versions without undercutting its very lucrative desktop software business.

Points? have none. Just want to see what other people think.

[_chuchu]

wat

[Kamiboi]

But Vista is still shitty It took me 3 days to get FFXI and Windower up on my machine.

[The_OG_Nelta]

then i guess you don't know how to use it?
People hate vista either because

A. They don't know how to work it, and over think it.
B. Their computers suck.

A summary for Window's 7.

They are going to have a large server, basically, you are going to pay them a certain amount a month, and you will get a ID/PW, and log in. Do youre things, log out. When you log out, everything goes "In the clouds" meaning, they get stored in this server. Now, the thing is, if you log in on any other computer, you can pull everything back down to that computer.

That is what was told to me.
I think its kinda stupid.

Someone please correct me if i'm wrong.

[Katlan]

looks like a way for em to cover up vista.. seems pointless to me

[Fhqwghads]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/biztech....ap/index.html

Discuss.

How about you bring up some points about the subject other than tossing a URL + "discuss". Or we could just discuss how stupid it is to do what you did.

[Zosi]

If you think that all criticism of Vista falls into one of those categories, you're incredibly ignorant. While I won't go so far as to say I "hate" it because hate is a strong emotional word, after using Vista for several weeks (due to comments like yours, honestly), I can safely say that I dislike the majority of the changes that they've made. If you'd like, I can list a few of them, but I don't want to turn this into a "LOL UR DUMB CUZ YOU LIKE/HATE VISTA" thread.

About the cloud stuff, basically, you've got it right, but about entirely the wrong thing. Windows Azure and the Office Live stuff are basically MS's version of Google Apps and Google Docs. It's completely separate from the OS, not as heavy or fully-featured as real Office, and will actually be *free*, not pay-per-month. Windows 7 will be a traditional OS that you buy once and use locally, there's no current plans to move the actual OS functionality online.

[Koyuki]

Looks just like vista with new colors. Yay!

[Cephius]

This article seems mostly geared towards people without much technical knowledge, because I don't consider a browser-integrated office suite a selling point. I'm surprised they didn't at least mention Windows 7's rumored support for virtual hard drives and better integration of virtualization in general.

Also, while I don't think this article was necessarily worth posting, do we really need to turn this into another "Vista sucks/Nuh uh/No u" argument? Either you like it or you don't, like everything else it's based on user experience more than anything. I truly believe there is no wrong answer there.

(Though saying how long it took you to get FFXI and Windower working on Vista makes you look dumb, not the OS)

[Zosi]

About actual Windows 7... it's better-designed than Vista, at least based on what they claim now. They toned down UAC nicely, there's some nice UI changes, a few bad ones, and some useful mechanics changes. Dumping the sidebar is a plus. Libraries sound useful, and I hope they're easy enough to support from a programming standpoint that they'll be widely used. Jumplists are good, and I'm glad that they're taking the complaints over requirements and performance seriously.

I'm also quite happy that they're finally fixing the ridiculous situation with bundled email/IM clients. Windows Messenger and Windows Mail are almost completely useless, but they were a pain in the ass to remove from Vista because they're "part of the OS". The Windows Live stuff is not only superior, but properly decoupled.

As for my own wishes... please God, change Backspace back to "Up one folder" rather than "Back in history one folder". I don't use Explorer like a web browser (it's not one!), I frequently need to go up the folder hierarchy one level, and I don't like having to either reach over to use the mouse or reach for the somewhat unnatural arrow keys. Backspace worked fine, if you *really* want to let people use it like a browser, at least add an option for XP keybinds for those of us who aren't braindead. Aside from that, please also fix Explorer's ridiculously bad ability to predict what folder template to use. My porn folder frequently gets tagged as music, my downloads folder (full of exes/zips/7zs/rars) gets flagged as photos, and my actual music folder usually gets left plain. If you can't do it right, please, just don't do it.

[Jaybar]

I hope they keep the volume controls from Vista. That was the best thing I got out of Vista; I was able to control volume levels of different programs instead of adjusting master volume only.

[isladar]

Oh god Skynet is come.

[Deftscythe]

What happened to the touch features that were going to blow us away and go so far beyond what the Iphone was doing?

[Cephius]

What happened to the touch features that were going to blow us away and go so far beyond what the Iphone was doing?

I think you're thinking of Microsoft Surface which is not an OS, and is already out. Ever see those big election maps on CNN that the guy zooms out and displays things via touch? That's surface.

(And afaik, it doesn't compete with the iPhone.. its stationary.. and not a phone.. so yeah.)

[Deftscythe]

I think you're thinking of Microsoft Surface which is not an OS, and is already out. Ever see those big election maps on CNN that the guy zooms out and displays things via touch? That's surface.

(And afaik, it doesn't compete with the iPhone.. its stationary.. and not a phone.. so yeah.)

No, I know about Surface. One early iteration of the wiki page on 7 quoted a Microsoft PR person saying that if people liked what the IPhone was doing with touchscreen technology, 7 was going to "blow their minds" or something like that. I'll see if I can find the quote.

[Cephius]

No, I know about Surface. One early iteration of the wiki page on 7 quoted a Microsoft PR person saying that if people liked what the IPhone was doing with touchscreen technology, 7 was going to "blow their minds" or something like that. I'll see if I can find the quote.

Maybe for Windows 7-based tablets or something? I haven't heard of any quotes like that, but if you could find material on it I'd be interested.

[Deftscythe]

http://blogs.msdn.com/hiltonl/archiv...e-website.aspx

This is the quote, I believe. Since this guy works on MS tablet team, I suppose it could've been misunderstood. Either he's saying 7 will work better with tablets or that touchscreen tech will be a feature of 7. Since touch tech is something I'd actually want, it's probably the former, heh.

[Zosi]

I can't find it now, but another article I read recently talked about the touch features too. I'm sure they're working on something, but there's not as much info out yet.

I'm sure they'll be keeping the volume stuff, as it's still based on Vista. They don't seem to be removing much, just changing some of the stuff that they've gotten tons of complaints about.

[SephYuyX]

I thought I jumped in to a time warp coming in to this thread. All of this info has been out for over a year.
Windows 7 was being worked on on the side of Vista, Vista was never meant to be be a true OS, 7 will be the one theyre going for to take over XP.

[The_OG_Nelta]

I just found this interesting, cause I just watched the movie Pirates of the Silicon valley, such a good movie haha