Apple reaction video to Windows7: Mac vs PC ads *LOL*

97% Recomendation for Windows 7, from Intel testers

Source:  http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/10/97-percent-of-intel-testers-recommend-windows-7.ars

Intel recently posted the results of a study titled “The Value of PC Refresh with Microsoft Windows 7″ in which it describes its experience while testing Windows 7 during the second quarter of 2009 for its own use within the company. As one would expect, Vista’s successor received much praise. 291 Intel users out of 300 said they found that Windows 7 showed improvement performance and stability over Windows XP.

Despite these positive results, Intel won’t deploy Windows 7 till the next year, according to the study: “During 2009, we plan to continue preparing for deployment by creating a Microsoft Windows 7 build and by installing the OS on systems in test labs to enable business groups to test applications and perform any necessary remediation. In the first quarter of 2010, we plan to begin deployment of Microsoft Windows 7 on new PCs with Intel vPro technology as part of our established refresh cycle. We intend to roll out the new PCs to segments of our user community based on factors including their job role and application requirements.”

The other nine users said they would not recommend the operating system to colleagues after using the beta for three months; yes, these results are based on the beta that arrived in January 2009 and which is no longer available because the RC and RTM versions have been subsequently released. “We encountered two issues during the evaluation, related to OS performance tuning and user account control,” the study states. “Both cases were due to a lack of understanding rather than the technology itself.”

Here’s the abstract of the report:

Following participation in Microsoft’s Technical Adopter Program (TAP), Intel IT found that Windows 7 running on PCs with Intel vPro technology delivers the best productivity for our employees & the best managed solution for IT. After three months of trial with over 300 users, 97 percent of our test users would recommend the new OS to peers and Intel IT sees the potential to save $11M over the next three years. Because of improved employee productivity, reduced costs, ease of deployment and enhanced security, Intel IT is rolling out Windows 7 to early adopters this year and enterprise deployments starting early 2010. Authored by John Gonzalez (OS Product Line Manager, Intel IT), this paper describes these benefits and results of Intel’s participation in the Windows 7 TAP.

In addition to the 97 percent statistic, Intel listed four other key results:

• Performance: More responsive for key tasks such as booting and launching productivity applications.
• Stability: Fewer users experienced blue screens.
• Application Readiness: No remediation required during evaluation; application readiness does not appear to be a roadblock to adoption.
• Total Cost of Ownership: Initial estimate of potential USD 11 million net present value.

Intel’s IT environment includes more than 100,000 PCs running Windows XP; about 83 percent of these are notebook PCs. Back in June 2008, we learned that the chip giant decided against upgrading its computers to Windows Vista after a lengthy analysis by its internal technology staff which found no potential benefits of upgrading to the newer operating system. The company did the same for Windows 2000 back in 2002: it simply waited a bit longer and moved to Windows XP.

In an open letter titled The New Efficiency, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer named Ford, Continental Airlines, Convergent Computing, Baker Tilly, and the city of Miami as organizations that had deployed Windows 7, in addition to Intel.

Windows 7: The Comparison Table

9 Touch Gestures in Windows 7 for Multi-touch Magic

Source: http://clubhouse.microsoft.com/public/post/659fa6d8-2d13-446e-ab80-a5a23bd4c9e9

The Touch Gestures are the basic actions you use to interact with Windows or an application using touch. If you have a touch-enabled monitor and Windows 7 installed, then virtually any program that works with Windows responds to your touch. These Gestures are built into the core of Windows, they are designed to work with all applications, even ones that were never designed with touch in mind. So Windows 7 is touch friendly throughout. Microsoft has come out, after lot of research with 9 gestures in Windows 7. Yes, there are just 9 Touch Gestures for Multi-touch. User can’t remember too many gestures easily and these 9 gestures are all natural ,whatever a user does in real world.

Let us see these 9 Touch Gestures required for Multi-touch magic in Windows 7-

Tap and Double-tap - This is the most basic touch action. This is what a click and Double click does. Works everywhere.

Panning with Inertia – This is for scrolling. Drag any part of page up or down with one or more fingers. “You’ll notice details that make this a more natural interaction: the inertia if you toss the page and the little bounce when the end of the page is reached”. This works in most applications that use standard scrollbars.

Selection /Drag –This is like mouse drag and selection. Touch and slide your finger on screen. This moves icons around the desktop, moves windows, selects text (by dragging left or right), etc. Works everywhere.

Press and Tap with second finger – This is like right click. Press on target and tap using second finger. Works everywhere.

Zoom – This is same as CTRL key + Scroll wheel. Pinch two fingers together or apart to zoom in or out on a document. Useful for photos or reading documents on a small laptop. Works in applications that support mouse wheel zooming.

Rotate - Touch two spots on a digital photo and twist to rotate it just like a real photo. Move two fingers in opposite direction or use one finger to pivot around another. Applications need to add code to support this.

Two-finger Tap – Tapping with two fingers simultaneously zooms in about the center of the gesture or restores to the default zoom – great for zooming in on hyperlinks. Applications need to add code to support this.

Press and Hold – Same as Right Click. Hold your finger on screen for a moment and release after the animation to get a right-click. This works everywhere. Same as the other Gesture of Press and Tap with Second finger.

Flicks - Flick left or right to navigate back and forward in a browser and other apps. This works in most applications that support back and forward. This is also very natural gestures when one wants to flick.

As you can see these are the 9 Touch Gestures in Windows 7 required for Multi-touch magic. Here’s the chart for the same -

And there are many Multi-touch enabled laptops which are are being launched and also some are already available in the market. You can also go just for a Touch enabled Monitor to experience this Multi-Touch magic in Windows 7. Such monitors cost about 20% more than a regular ones and will be available by end of the year. Microsoft has also created a Touch Pack with 6 different Multi-touch enabled apps which will only be installed by OEMs on Touch enabled  Laptops.

For all these to be seen in action , check this video which demos all the 9 Touch Gestures, all the applications of Touch Pack and also interviews Amish Patel –PM Windows Experience Group , who explains all about Multi-Touch in Windows 7. This is a must watch video to see the Multi-Touch Magic in action. The apps in the Touch pack are so good to interact.