My Windows 7 Launch Party kit is finally here! As you may recall, I was selected to host one of these Windows 7 Launch Parties. I’m so lucky. Oh, man, look at all this stuff. Streamers, balloons, party bags, playing cards, a puzzle, and a poster!!! Microsoft sure knows how to throw a party. Add some jello shots and a beer bong, and this party should be crazy. Oh, and the fact that I now have a full, legal copy of Windows 7 Ultimate 32- and 64-bit makes me smile too. → Read More
Ah, late October – a time when a young man’s fancy turns to love, the autumn gingerly steps aside to make way for winter, and, this year, the beginning of at least a year’s worth of non-stop free tech support you’ll have to provide to any of your friends and family that decide to buy a new computer with Windows 7 on it.
The biggest question: How do I get all my dumb photos, tax returns, and Miley Cyrus MP3s onto my new computer? Your new answer: Buy this $40 cable and leave me alone. → Read More
It was only two weeks ago that the Windows 7 Launch Party video cut a burning swath across the internet, leaving only scorched sensibilities and a feeling that you’d lost something fundamental never to be regained. We lied to ourselves then that it couldn’t be more than a blip on the radar, a PR pitch gone awry and furtively uploaded, unfit for human consumption as it was — a tainted morsel of the promotional meat grinder. And to be honest, I was ready to let it lie. But it wasn’t just a morsel. Little did we know, the Windows 7 launch sausage factory would be squeezing gristle into our inboxes regularly — and now they’ve gone and sent us party favors. → Read More
I was on a panel a few weeks ago with Rob Enderle a few weeks back and he was asked by an international journalist what he expected in terms of financial news in the next few months. He made a very interesting point that, being an Apple fanboy, I ignored at the time. He said that Windows 7 would drive a whole new wave of hardware buying and inflate (in a good way) IT spending. I filed this tidbit away next to my thoughts of maybe one day buying a Zune, but then I cracked open the HP Envy 13 and thought back on my own recent experience with Windows 7— and what he’s saying makes sense. A few calls later and I found that a number of IT guys I know are genuinely excited about installing Windows 7 in their shops, guys for whom Vista didn’t even register. We’re about see an IT renaissance, and it will be driven by Microsoft. → Read More
What if the desktop on your computer was just like your actual desktop? That’s the core idea behind BumpTop, a really nice looking graphical overlay for Windows-based operating systems. But as cool as BumpTop looked, you still had to use your mouse and keyboard to manipulate it. As I made clear yesterday, I want those to die. So good news for me today: BumpTop is adding multi-touch support. And the result is awesome.
When we think of multi-touch right now, most of us think of the iPhone. But really, with such a small screen, there are only so many gestures you can do. Multi-touch BumpTop greatly expands that roster, and includes several gestures that it claims to have patents for. Basically, they have gestures that use all of you fingers, and both hands, and even the side of hands. You can “lasso” things, “shove” them, “scrunch” them, and “crop” them. → Read More
Fancy yourself a system builder, do you? As long as you’re willing to do a clean install of Windows 7, you can grab a full OEM version for cheaper than the same retail upgrade version. Newegg has rolled out its selection of Windows 7 OEM packages (there are preorder discounts available until October 20th), so let’s take a look at what’s available. → Read More
What happens when your Windows 7 party gets a little crazy? People start talking about things like “boot sectors,” “man-on-man DIMM insertion,” and “[beep].”
Good then. Netbook manufacturers will be able to preload any version of Windows 7 onto their machines – not just Windows 7 Starter Edition. And while we found out in May that the arbitrary three-application limit had been removed from Windows 7 Starter (thereby making it virtually indistinguishable from Windows 7 Home Basic), the lack of other features like not being able to change your desktop wallpaper or use some of the cooler Aero stuff felt more than a bit underwhelming. → Read More
Guys, I’m really excited. I’m stoked that Microsoft choose me, ME, to host a Windows 7 Launch Party. That’s right, lame ol’ Burns is going to host a Windows 7 party. I just got my confirmation email saying I was a finalist and to head over to HouseParty.com ASAP. Once I filled out all the steps to create a party webpage and invite my guests, I got the email above confirming I’m the coolest person on Earth. Now all I have to do is wait for my pack of party supplies to arrive, which includes a signature edition of Windows 7 Ultimate thankyouverymuch, and watch those fabulous party instructional videos for pointers. → Read More
Gather ‘round, don’t be shy. Let’s all take a look at Windows 7 booting up in about ten seconds. How is this possible? Well, turn Aero off, strip out all the bloatware, and make sure you’re using an ultra fast solid state drive. That, and trim the BIOS start time down to a little over one second. → Read More
Microsoft is close to opening retail stores in several major cities across the planet, but in Paris they’re doing something special in anticipation of the real shops and the imminent launch of the Windows 7 operating system. Microsoft France has surprised inhabitants and visitors of the French capital with the public preparation of a genuine coffee shop / cafe situated in the heart of the city (47 Boulevard Sebastopol).
The Windows Cafe, which will only be open to the public for a couple of weeks starting October 22nd, will boast a number of Microsoft products that visitors can play around with (Xbox, mobile devices and more) but they will not be able to purchase anything there besides snacks and drinks. → Read More
If you’re thinking of upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7 later this fall, set aside some time – especially if you’ve got a lower-end machine with a bunch of applications already installed and a hard drive full of files. One of Microsoft’s own engineers clocked in a 1220-minute upgrade time on just such a machine. → Read More
Could Windows 7 really get better? The latest ad says more happy is coming. Gosh, I’m already very happy with the OS but now a little curious if that’s just a nonsense PR statement or really a true statement. I guess we’ll find out. Your thoughts? → Read More
Hey, guys. If you haven’t downloaded the Windows 7 RC yet, you better do it soon. The free offer expires on August 20, 2009 – tomorrow. Sure, it’s not free forever as this release will turn off by itself every two hours starting March 1, 2010, but it’s a hell of a lot better than Vista. I have been running it as my main OS on two systems since it was released and it’s pretty much bulletproof. → Read More
Apple has just pushed out the newest update to its OS X Leopard (10.5) operating system, with 10.5.8. This could potentially be the last Leopard update we see before Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6) is released to the public sometime in the next couple of months.
Amazon already has Snow Leopard available for pre-order, with a ship date expected sometime in September, though it warns that date is not set in stone: “Official release date has not been announced by Apple, though they have indicated this product will be released sometime in September.”
The new OS seems to be getting more buzz for its price (29.99) than its features. The emphasis with Snow Leopard is optimizing Leopard, to make OS X run smoother and faster. Remarkably, it will also have a smaller footprint than its predecessor, saving over 6 GB of hard disk space (though that does likely have a lot to do with the fact that it will only run on Intel processors). → Read More
This picture is great. And it’s just begging for some kind of caption. It was taken today at Microsoft’s MGX conference in Atlanta, where Windows President Steven Sinofsky and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer took the stage to reveal that Windows 7 was ready to be released to manufacturing. In other words, it’s done.
But what on Earth are Sinofsky and Ballmer doing in this picture snapped by Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc, and sent out to Twitter? It looks like Sinofsky might be trying to throw a baseball left-handed (assuming he’s right-handed). Or maybe he’s asking Ballmer to take his arm and skip? → Read More
Looks like Microsft may well have a hit on its hands in Windows 7. In just eight hours, Windows 7 pre-orders outpaced the total number of pre-orders for Vista on Amazon UK. Vista was available for pre-order for a full 17 weeks, so this is something of an accomplishment for Microsoft. → Read More
Microsoft has an interesting problem on the horizon in trying to persuade netbook owners to upgrade to Windows 7 when said netbook owners’ netbooks don’t have optical drives. What’s a giant software company to do? → Read More
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