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Getting Legacy ATI Mobility Drivers working on Windows 8 x64

Robert McLaws — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 10:16:00 GMT

I'm going to keep this one short and sweet. Windows 8 throws up a ton of new hurdles around getting old drivers to work, especially video card drivers. On top of that, some of the tools used to help make these drivers work on WIndows 7 and earlier have been broken for a while. So here's how I got the ATI Legacy Graphics Drivers working on my ATI Mobility X1600 on my Acer Ferrari 5000.

Download the ATI Legacy drivers (x64 | x86). Install them, going all the way until they fail.
Download the ATI MobilityModder and install it. When it is finished, copy this patch to "C:\Program Files (x86)\MobilityDotNET".
Run the MobilityModder from the Start Menu, then select "C:\ATI\Support\10-02_legacy_vista32-64_dd_ccc" as your location, and let the Modder do its thing.
Open an elevated Command Prompt and type the following commands:
1. bcdedit /set {current} testsigning on
2. bcdedit /set {current} nointegritychecks true
Close the elevated prompt.
Click the Start Menu and type "gpedit.msc" and hit enter.
Nagivate to "User Configuration (2nd node) | Administrative Templates | System | Driver Installation | Code signing for device drivers"
Enable the policy and set it to "Disabled".
Restart your machine.
When it comes back up, navigate to "C:\ATI\Support\10-02_legacy_vista32-64_dd_ccc\Packages\Drivers\Display\LH6A_INF\CH_95951.inf"" right-click it, and select "Install". You will get the familiar red dialog warning you about installing unsigned drivers. Throw caution to the wind and continue.
Move your mouse to the bottom right corner of your primary monitor, and right-click. Select "Device Manager" from the menu.
Expand the "Display adapters" section. You should see "Windows Basic Display Adapter". Right-click it and select "Update driver software".
Click select "Browse my computer for driver software" and then "Let me pick from a from a list...".
Lo and behold, your driver should already be there, along with the "Basic Display Adapter" option. Select it.
Marvel as it installs.
Enjoy your native laptop resolution and secondary monitor, profit, etc.

HTH. Thanks to a post by Lars Michelson for the help in finding the MobilityModder patch.

My Predictions for This Week’s PDC 2011… Oops, I mean Build

Robert McLaws — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 04:19:00 GMT

So Build is happening this week, and unfortunately once again I’ll be sitting on the sidelines while all my peeps are having a blast (have a few drinks for me, guys!) But I thought I’d kick off the week with a few of MY expectations for what will be announced in Microsoft-land this week.

Laying the Cards on the Table
In the past, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was quoted as saying that Windows 8 was a “bet the company” proposition. Well, the better part of 80k employees have been laying the foundation for this day since the moment Steven Sinofsky took over as the head Windows geek… and now they are going to officially show their hand. I have really high overall expectations, and I genuinely think Microsoft is going to blow everyone away. I don’t think many people outside of Microsoft truly understand exactly how the world is about to change… but Apple and Google have officially awoken the sleeping giant.

Some like to say that Microsoft is evolutionary while Apple is revolutionary. Well, I believe that this time around, Microsoft will present a number of individual evolutions that together will easily fall into the realm of revolutionary. And this revolution will vault them well past Apple for the first time in many years.

I should note that these predictions are not in order of importance or likelihood of happening: I believe the first 5 are definitely going to happen. Instead, they are laid out in a logical progression, with the latter building on top of the former.

Prediction #1: All Your UI Belong to XML
That’s right, I said XML. I didn’t want to lead with this one, but it turns out that everything relates to this fact in some way. From here on out, Microsoft is going to have two ways to build UI-facing applications: If you require compatibility across multiple ecosystems (Microsoft, Android, iOS), use HTML 5. If you require compatibility across the Windows ecosystem (Windows, Windows Phone, and Xbox), use XAML. That XAML will run on WPF (.NET Full), Silverlight (.NET Lite), or C++ (Windows Immersive) and will allow you to use a single UI markup language driven by whatever programming language you are most comfortable with.

HTML5 Everywhere, XAML on Windows

No longer will you be forced to rely on a designer to kick out the C code necessary to construct a UI, nor will you have to rely on MFC controls. The same XAML that makes Silverlight and WPF apps beautiful will be able to add the same simplicity for developers who want the speed of native code instead of the .NET Framework.

You can actually use XAML with C++ today, through Silverlight for Windows Embedded. Because that technology already exists, it’s not that much of a stretch to take it to the rest of the Windows Ecosystem. I believe the Native XAML platform is codenamed “Jupiter”, and my co-worker Bill Reiss, who is a Silverlight MVP, goes over this in a bit more detail on his new blog, XamlNative.com.

BTW, this idea is given even more weight by some of the banners up at Build: (via @danwahlin)

Prediction #2: One Codebase to Rule Them All
I don’t think Microsoft has been prattling on about the three screens for no reason. Windows, Windows Embedded, Windows Embedded Compact, and the Xbox all diverged from each other a long time ago Windows CE evolved from somewhere between the Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 codebases, while Windows Embedded started as a componentized version of Windows XP, and has evolved since then to Windows Embedded 7 Standard, which came out last year.

The non-consumer versions all had the capability of running on ARM, but separate teams were responsible for that code. There was no way to get that code into mainline Windows until the MinWin effort to refactor the Windows Kernel into clean layers (think OS-level N-Tier development). With Windows 8, I believe that effort will be finished. That’s why Windows 8 will run on ARM, and why the .NET Framework 4.5 will also have an ARM compiler and JIT interpreter. (As an aside, I believe that any .NET code that was compiled to “AnyCPU” will run on ARM without recompiling… but that is an educated guess).

Anyway, with Windows 8, it won’t just be the same marketing name on everything. I believe all flavors of Windows, including Windows Phone 8 and the Xbox 360, will be running on the exact same code. Just as .NET lets you use Compilation Directives to target different environments, all of the Windows code will be streamlined behind the scenes, and certain things will be added or excluded whether you are on ARM on the PC vs. ARM on the phone.

Among other things, the big implication here is that the phone platform will have the same security and stability as the Windows desktop does. This may elicit snickers from some people, but in this day in age, Windows is the most securely-developed and tested OS currently available.

Prediction #3: One Marketplace to Rule Them All
Each of the 3 screens will run Silverlight after October, when the Xbox Live Dashboard Update goes into beta. And each one of these screens will have an App Store to match.

Right now, Microsoft online store strategy is a disjointed mess. The Windows Phone Marketplace is fraught with technical glitches and design flaws that make it difficult to use as a developer. Simple changes to the description text require your whole app to be recertified, even if you didn’t upload new binaries. The Microsoft Store has its own e-commerce solution. And up until a month or so ago, Xbox Live Marketplace and the Games for Windows Live Marketplace were two separate systems.

But Microsoft still has a year before Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 are released, so they have plenty of time to complete their re-alignment. These systems will need to go from serving 50M+ users, to potentially serving 1B+. That is an *enormous* deal, and potentially the world’s largest software undertaking. Can you think of any other service that currently has one billion unique users, or 1/6th of the planet’s population?

Making the online retail experience have a seamless back-end between the 3 screens and a cloud is very important, and that leads me to my next prediction.

Prediction #4: Write Once, Install Everywhere (in the Windows Ecosystem)
Long Zheng has already uncovered the APPX installation model, and how it affects Windows 8. It is very similar to the current Windows Phone 7 model currently defined in WMAppManifest.xml. Makes sense, sine the new file is called AppXManifest.xml. According to WinRumors.com, the packages will be XAP files (which Silverlight already uses, which is basically a ZIP file using conventions similar to the Microsoft Office Open XML package definition).

Now, it makes sense that this will be the way you build Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 apps, and there has been plenty of speculation to that end. But I believe that the Xbox 360 will also support this format… meaning it is conceivable that the same app will run, unchanged, on all three screens of the Microsoft ecosystem.

This eats into the core of Apple’s distribution model. Developers write for iOS because they have reach… But what if you could write one app, and instantly be on 1B PCs, 60M TVs, and 3M phones? That changes the game pretty significantly. To my knowledge, you can’t currently have the same native app run on both iOS and OSX. How do you like THEM apples?

Prediction #5: Virtually Compatible
I’ve been on Microsoft’s case for quite some time about virtualization. At PDC 2005, during a dinner with the members of Team 99, Chris Anderson, Mike Kolitz (who later joined the Hyper-V team) and I got into a heated debate about leveraging virtualization to allow Windows to shed its’ compatibility kruft and pave a clean path forward. Microsoft had recently purchased the assets of Connectix, and Virtual PC was a wonderful opportunity to make that a reality. At the time, Chris said that the whole of Windows was legacy code, and that it was going to be too big an effort to be possible.

Fast forward several years. I was at CES 2008, and Windows 7 was on the horizon. I was speaking privately with a senior level Microsoft employee about the ever-deepening reach of virtualization in the Windows Client. I went on and on about how much I loved Hyper-V, and how it should be integrated into Desktop systems to enable the same kind of backwards-compatibility scenarios. With multicore system flourishing, it shouldn’t be difficult to have another version of Windows running in the background. In response, he went on to talk about how Hyper-V would not be in Windows 7, but that it would make it into “Windows 8”. Since this part has thus far proven accurate, I have no reason to believe what I am about to relay is not.

He spoke about a compatibility scenario that was quite interesting. He talked about using similar techniques as the .NET Framework to create a “Sandbox” for applications, where the app could request any version of a DLL that has shipped with Windows, and that the OS would be able to load it up and execute it within the context of that application alone. When I told Rafael Rivera about this conversation, he said it sounded a lot like ‘Project Drawbridge’. The way it was described in Mary Jo Foley’s article, it didn’t sound like it was terribly far along… but I think it’s actually closer than they made it seem.

If this is true and in Windows 8 (which is possible, based on the conversation I had with this VP) this would be truly revolutionary for not just Windows, but the entire OS space. Microsoft’s competitive advantage is in its dedication to compatibility. What if, instead of shipping a bloated OS with tons of code that exists for no other reason that to maintain compatibility with old software, Microsoft instead shipped an OS that was able to grab the right OS-level DLLs from a secure web service (or Windows Update, whatever), on the fly? What if your app that only ran in XP could run as a native Windows 8 app, but using Windows XP DLLs? That would be truly incredible.

Prediction #6: Visual Studio 2012 CTP with .NET 4.5 & HTML5 Support
It has been a while since we’ve gotten new bits for Visual Studio, so I fully expect to be running the latest VS2012 bits before the end of the week. Those bits will have support for .NET 4.5, new Azure programming models, Silverlight 5, new Immersive controls, and debug support for XAML Bindings in WPF, and lots of other goodies. I want MS to put out so many bits that I go over my Comcast bandwidth cap for the month. *fingers crossed*

Now for the less certain predictions. These are things that I think will happen given the climate, but I don’t have much information to go on.

Prediction #7: Time to Screw With the SKUs
Ok, this part isn’t going to be announced at BUILD. Another VP at Microsoft once told me (I’m paraphrasing), “The SKU system has been made into a science. After 30 years of selling Windows, we know how to do it. And whatever you do, you never screw with the SKUs.”

Well, I think that is about to change. The evolution of the Windows Kernel over the last 6 years (thanks to the MinWin refactoring project) will finally allow for something that critics have been complaining about for AGES: Windows 8 will ship with a single SKU. Tearing the kernel apart and reorganizing it has finally allowed for systems to be truly separate. Having a single, built-in marketplace will allow Microsoft to offer functionality to exactly the people that want it.

The threads for this evolution have been there since Vista, with the componentization of the SKUs themselves, leading through to the ability to purchase in-place SKU upgrades in Windows 7. With the recent announcement that Windows Media Center, a staple of the Windows ecosystem since they released a Media Center SKU (XP Media Center Edition, was NOT going to ship in the Windows 8 Developer Preview… it only makes sense to me that Windows is being slimmed down to a single SKU with a number of add-ons.

Think about it… say you only want to be able to join a domain and run Media Center… should you have to pay $289 for a full version of Windows Ultimate, when you pay $99 for Windows, $29.99 for the Domain Connectivity Pack, and $29.99 for the Media Center Pack? Of course not. I’d be more than willing to pay for only the features I use.

Prediction #8: Mango will be released, Apollo will be demoed.
The rumor mill is heating up that Mango will go live on the 15th. You’ve got a bunch of developers in one place, so why not drop the final Windows Phone 7.1 SDK bits, and open the floodgates of Mango to the world. And while they are at it, they just might demo builds of Windows Phone 8 that are known to be floating around internally. I think if they are going to demo “Write Once Install Anywhere”, a phone demo would be killer.

Prediction #9: TV Everywhere
With Microsoft finally letting loose the existence of Mediaroom clients for Media Center, Silverlight, and Windows Phone… I have a feeling that Live TV without a tuner on your Xbox is only the beginning.

Prediction #10: I Will Be Begging Pathetically to Buy a BUILD Tablet
This one is pretty self explanatory. Anyone wanting to unload their BUILD hardware (tablet, laptop, whatever) for some cash should message me on Twitter. If it’s a tablet, I want one, and am willing to pay for it.

Ceton InfiniTV4 CableCard Tuner

dougknox — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 21:31:19 GMT

Ok, I finally had some extra cash, and the fact that the Ceton InfiniTV 4 tuner dropped $100 in price, so I went ahead and ordered one. I’ve been using 4 ATI Digital Cable tuners for a while now, and had very few problems, but I figured if I could cut my monthly cable bill a bit, I might as well. Now, there’s good news, bad news and really good news. First the bad news. Of my four Comcast CableCARDS, two were M-Stream cards. Ok, I figured this was great. Take one of my existing...(read more)

Microsoft Launches “Building Windows 8” Blog

Robert McLaws — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 19:25:30 GMT

Microsoft had a lot of success with the “Engineering Windows 7” blog, run by Steven Sinofsky and featuring guest posts by various members of the Windows Team. Their communication really added to the dialog around the product, and I think it was a great feedback channel for the final product.

The BUILD conference is a month away (unfortunately, I won’t be attending) but Microsoft is starting to ramp up their communication and PR. Today, Sinofsky launched the Building Windows 8 blog on MSDN, promising to build on the lessons of the E7 blog to further improve the “B8” blog.

I believe that Windows 8 is going to live up to the “bet the company” line Ballmer said last year, in ways that we pundits don’t yet understand. The next few months will be very exciting, as the impact of work that began immediately after Windows Vista will finally be revealed.

Hyper-V 3.0 Confirmed for Windows 8 Client

Robert McLaws — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 05:24:11 GMT

A moment has come that I am very excited about. I have been taking a part the latest Windows 8 leaked build (7989), which is the first time an X64 build has leaked. In looking at the Windows Features item in the Control Panel, I came across something new.

Apparently it’s been in there for quite a while, but between the focus on Consumer features, and the lack of X64 builds leaking out, it’s the first time we’ve seen it. In perusing through the various screens, I’m able to confirm over a dozen new features for Hyper-V 3.0 They are:

Storage
- Virtual Fibre Channel Adapter
- Storage Resource Pools
- New .VHDX virtual hard drive format (Up to 16TB + power failure resiliency)
Memory/Processor Enhancements
- Support for more than 4 cores! (My machine has 12 cores)
- NUMA - Memory per Node, Cores per Node, Nodes per Processor Socket
Networking Enhancements

Hardware Acceleration (Virtual Machine Queue & IPsec Offload)
Bandwidth Management
DHCP Guard
Router Guard
Monitor Port
Virtual Switch Extensions
Network Resource Pools

This is a huge step forward for Windows 8. I believe it will have a huge impact on a wide array of usage scenarios, the least of which is the potential for self-contained App-V / Windows XP Mode support. Not to mention better Windows Phone 7/7.5/8 Emulator support. But more on that in my next post. In the meantime, I’ll be switching my VMs over to using Win8 as my Hyper-V host, while I wait for someone to unlock the Immersive UI in this build. Enjoy!

20 Years of PDC Keynotes Online

Robert McLaws — Sat, 21 May 2011 06:17:59 GMT

When I heard earlier today that Microsoft had put all of the Microsoft PDC keynotes online, I was very excited. But I have to admit, it was for selfish reasons. Because I would finally get to tell one of my favorite experiences. Apologies for the self-indulgent post… but then again, aren’t all my posts that way? I figured since the Rapture is coming in a few hours, I could indulge myself in a memory or two.

You see, PDC 2003 was my first Microsoft conference. It was also time when those terrible fires in LA happened, that cancelled many flights out (including mine). It had been a crazy couple days trying to figure out how to get there, but I ended up having to take a bus overnight from Phoenix to LA. It was a long night, and I didn’t get any sleep the entire bus ride.

It turns out, I ended up being an hour late. I was really disappointed at not being able to see Bill Gates speak in person. Corny, I know… he’s something of a hero of mine. Bite me. Anyway, I had WAAAAY overpacked, and ended up rolling into the middle of Allchin’s keynote with my HUGE suitcase. Who happens to be standing there but Robert Scoble. So we grab a seat, I’m excited but exhausted, and not 5 minutes later, this slide comes up. I didn’t have enough time to get my camera out, so I couldn’t catch a picture of the new Longhorn-focused website I had just launched on Jim Allchin’s slide deck.

But now I can.

Had I been any more tired, I probably would have stood up and yelled “That’s my site!” But I kept it together. Later, Scoble told me that Gates, Ballmer, and Allchin were backstage checking out LonghornBlogs.com, and reading what people were saying about the conference (this was WAAAY before Twitter). I wish I could have seen that.

At any rate. If you get a chance, you should take a look at the PDC 2003 and 2005 videos. Pretty interesting contrasts of what was going on at Microsoft before and after MSBlaster. That is, if you’re still here tomorrow.

My Take on the Microsoft–Skype Deal

Robert McLaws — Tue, 10 May 2011 16:41:11 GMT

The pundits are all weighing in on the deal announced today to buy Skype for $8.5B, so I thought I’d resurrect my blog for a few minutes and offer my opinion as well. I think it is a great deal for both Skype users and Microsoft customers, but before I get into that, you should read Peter Bright’s take over at ArsTechnica, as it provides a great counterpoint.

Fixing The Bugs
Skype as a software product is horrible. There isn’t a day that goes by where my Skype client doesn’t crash in the middle of a call. I get dropouts constantly. And it doesn’t work very well on consumer routers when both users are inside the same network. Microsoft is the one company I can trust to change all of that.

Microsoft has spent the better part of the last decade building the best software development facilities on the planet. The Secure Development Lifecycle has helped Windows 7 have the fewest vulnerabilities of any version of Windows. Their automated testing facilities have thousands of virtual machines in different configurations, ready to beat the crap out of whatever is thrown at them. There is no doubt in my mind that Microsoft has the tools necessary to make Skype orders of magnitude more reliable.

An Effective Peer-To-Peer Protocol
While the implementation is sometimes less than reliable, Skype does have an extremely effective peer-to-peer protocol. Microsoft has tried several times to emulate that protocol, with little success. Windows has a protocol built in, but I don’t use any applications that actually make use of it.

Access to the BitTorrent-esque protocol could improve Azure services, for example, by providing a mechanism improving data transfers inside the Azure infrastructure. For example… it takes anywhere from 15-45 minutes to deploy an Azure application. Azure could leverage the transfer protocol to speed up replicating VM instances across physical machines, both inside and between Azure datacenters. It could also help replicate Azure CDN data between nodes more quickly. Both of which could significantly speed up deployment times.

On the other hand, Microsoft may decide that Windows Peer-to-Peer is a better protocol, and move Skype to that instead. It would have the benefit of being already documented, which could pacify the EU and open source folk. It remains to be seen. Either approach would have a positive effect on end users.

Improving Skype Service Reliability
Speaking of peer-to-peer and Azure, the recent Skype outage should still be fresh in everyone’s mind. The cause was a bug in the way Supernodes communicated with each other. Skype’s solution to the problem was to host their own Supernodes, called “Mega-Supernodes”, that would always be available.

By moving those nodes to Windows Azure, and hosting a cluster inside each Azure datacenter, Microsoft can easily and inexpensively improve the reliability of the Skype infrastructure. Node goes down? Replicate a new one. Plus, it gives Microsoft a great marketing tool (“Windows Azure improves Skype reliability by 40%!"), and a few more places (like the Skype client) to plaster a “Powered by Windows Azure” logo. Might be a powerful marketing tool to see an Azure logo on the startup screen of an app running on a Mac.

Improving Skype Video Quality
Nobody does video streaming better that Microsoft. Period. For anyone that thinks Adobe is better… try watching a video on YouTube without it stuttering. Good luck. IIS Smooth Streaming is the best in the business, and there could be opportunity to bolster Skype’s video quality by leveraging that code, and/or Silverlight, to dramatically improve the video call experience.

You Are the Weakest Lync. Goodbye.
One of the first things I heard from Twitter is that buying Skype doesn’t fit in with the strategy of improving Lync Server and Lync Online sales, as they have a lot of overlapping features. That is exactly why it makes so much sense. For starters, adding Skype support to the Lync client only bolsters its adoption. The ability to connect Lync-ified internal communications with external audio and video conferencing is HUGE. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used SkypeOut to dial into a LiveMeeting conference call. With Skype in my Lync, that should no longer cost me money.

Also, if you’re a company looking to switch from Comcast Business Telephone to Lync, you still have to subscribe to a SIP provider if you want to take external phone calls, which complicates the Lync server setup process.

$8.5B just bought Microsoft a huge network of physical machines that connect Skype to the PSTN. That gives Microsoft an “in” to be able to provide that service to customer out-of-the-box, without violating their partner agreements with SIP providers. This is how Microsoft started offering Hosted Exchange as a service, by purchasing a Hosted Exchange provider to beef up their internal infrastructure. That means Lync Server could have a better out-of-the-box experience that doesn’t require signing up for other outside services. Plus it gives Microsoft another PSTN provider for Lync Online’s audio conferencing and phone connectivity.

Increasing Windows Phone 7 Adoption
Whether or not Windows Phone 7 is successful is a hot topic of debate among pundits, especially since Microsoft (or any of their partners, for that matter) haven’t released any solid numbers about sell-through to end users. Some carriers (I’m looking at you, Verizon) have given WP7 the cold shoulder thus far, alienating some of their customers (like me).

Purchasing Skype means that now carriers have no choice but to deal with Microsoft, because Skype is on practically every phone out there. “Hey [insert carrier name here], want us to improve Skype protocol efficiency on your network? We won’t do it unless you’re selling at least one WP7 device.” Some anti-trust, Android lovers may bristle at that… but ultimately it’s good for consumers, who need an effective counterweight against bully carriers. (We all know Google got too caught up in money to fight THAT fight).

Microsoft Everywhere
If you think about it, the Skype acquisition fits in perfectly with Microsoft’s “Three screens and the Cloud” strategy. Skype is on millions of devices, sold by thousands of retailers, and manufactured by dozens of companies. Every one of those devices has one of the three screens Microsoft wants to dominate. Plus, it means that Microsoft doesn’t have to wait for Skype to get a Round Tuit for integration with existing Microsoft products like Kinect, in-game chat on Xbox Live, and Windows Phone 7. They can ensure that those devices have first-class support, which will only be good for consumers.

And don’t forget that Skype has millions of paying customers, many of which run on non-Microsoft ecosystems. Those customers will look great on Microsoft’s bottom line, and provide new opportunities to expand their exposure to the Microsoft brand in other ways. Would be a great thing to be able to say “Microsoft has software running on over a billion PC and post-PC devices. How many do you have again, Apple?”

Making Life Harder for Google (and Smacking Apple in the FaceTime)
At the end of the day, this has as much to do with the purchase as anything else. Skype is on the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, as well as Apple TVs. Skype is on the Google TV. Now Google and Apple both will have to deal with Microsoft directly on these platforms, which in turn with give Microsoft a great competitive advantage. Microsoft now owns one of the only solid ways for Apple users to video chat with non-Apple users. Nothing like a little forced coop-etition to stick it to your enemies. How about them apples?

Screw Shareholder Value
Look, Microsoft’s stock hasn’t moved in ages. The reason is not because Microsoft isn’t making outstanding products, because they are. It’s because the tech press (with a few notable exceptions) spends their time falling all over themselves to win the affections of Google and Apple, which in turn means that the general public doesn’t get exposed to positive articles about Microsoft. So if the market isn’t going to pay attention anyways, why not make bold, risky bets to better the brand? Complain all you want about failed acquisitions, but Microsoft has a better track record of integrating acquired companies than Google and Yahoo have. Google and Yahoo have bought and killed more companies than Genghis Khan killed actual people.

So screw it. Go for broke. Why not? The injection of a successful brand and fresh blood into the company may be just what Microsoft needs to take back some more mindshare from people too enamored with Apple’s shiny design and Google’s nefarious plans to care otherwise.

So what do you think? Did I miss the mark? Sound off in the comments .

On Expectations, PDC, Silverlight, and HTML 5

Robert McLaws — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 00:05:50 GMT

There has been a lot of commentary over the last few days about the PDC-Silverlight-HTML5 debacle, whether it is dead or not, etc. I posted to Twitter yesterday that I had an epiphany about why the strategy was what it was. But in talking to some of my colleagues in the Silverlight world, I was able to come to some different conclusions… plus over the past few days there has been a ton of great commentary.

Then today, Bob Muglia and Steve Ballmer each responded to calm down us crazy developers,. and kudos to them for quick responses, even if we did blow it way out of proportion. But I still think they missed some points. So I thought I’d still take a few moments and follow it up with some different points that haven’t exactly been addressed, that might be helpful to understand.

My observations and extrapolations about what’s going on inside DevDiv:

The “transparency vs. translucency” debate still rages on, internally (and externally). Some of us pundits like to call it the “Sinofsky Rule”. ‘Softies tell me that no official “rule” exists (I think it’s more like a guideline.) Unfortunately for us “complete-transparency-loving” bloggers, the lessons of PDCs past still affect communication decisions today. (As an aside, ‘Softies really don’t like it being called a ‘Sinofsky Rule’. I don’t know why. All great edicts have names, like the Monroe Doctrine, or the Gettysburg Address. It’s a far better name than “Shut The Hell Up, Already!” I just wish it were applied just a tiny bit differently… more on that later)
Silverlight v.Next and WPF v.Next are both in active development. Rob Relyea gave a 30-minute taped presentation on WPF Futures, where they discussed solving the major problem of WPF not playing nicely with HWNDs, and adding a SilverlightHost control to allow Silverlight content to be cleanly displayed and interacted with inside a WPF control. From what I understand, some of the features for Silverlight v.Next are already baked and ready to go.
Microsoft appears to be slowing the cadence of Silverlight releases. Microsoft shipped a Silverlight 4 preview before Silverlight 3 RTMed. This was clearly a bad idea, and Microsoft got a lot of feedback from customers to slow down. So I believe they are responding to that feedback, and allowing adoption time before the next release.
The Silverlight team has been working with the Windows Phone 7 team for a little while now. They finished Silverlight 4 well before .NET 4 was finished, as evidenced by the lack of deltas between releases. I believe this was so that they could fully focus on the work required for shipping (and evolving) the Phone runtime before it released.

Regarding PDC:

There are 3 yearly Microsoft conferences for Developers: PDC, TechEd, and MIX. This is how Microsoft sees these conferences, even if they haven’t explicitly stated that in the past:
- PDC – .NET & Windows Client Futures
- TechEd – .NET & Windows Client Today
- MIX – Web Today & Future
The model for the web is changing. The change from server + client to cloud + devices makes it more difficult to tailor these types of conferences to specific audiences. So the dissonance between this and previous PDCs can be chalked up to trying to figure out what that means.
PDC is all about getting “bits”. Customers don’t like Microsoft talking about things unless they can get bits into their hands by the time the conference is over. I personally miss getting DVDs and hard drives with buttloads of bits for my own crazy experimentation.
Given that structure, Silverlight would typically be discussed at MIX, not PDC. However, up until a couple weeks ago, there were Silverlight presentations on the docket for PDC10.
(Interesting Side Note) Having PDC on the Microsoft campus this year was not about saving Microsoft money, it was about saving customers’ money. From what I have heard, PDC10 cost the same as any other PDC, when you factor in the live streaming infrastructure, and the local events. Doing it this way was about not forcing companies to buy plane tickets and hotel rooms to get info on what is coming down the pipe.

What’s happening with HTML5:

HTML is the most ubiquitous technological “platform” ever deployed. I use the term platform loosely because HTML is just markup… but the point is, it’s *everywhere*. So you can’t avoid it, I can’t avoid it… and neither can Microsoft.
Standards-based innovation is cyclical. Organizations come together to standardize a particular platform, in this case HTML. It gains adoption, but invariably has shortcomings. So the market innovates to fill those gaps, which is why Silverlight and Flash exist in the first place. Then standards come in behind to evolve the “platform”, and the tools that used to fill the gaps have to follow suit. HTML5 marks the part of the cycle where the standard is trying to catch up. And that is OK.
IE9 is Microsoft’s first answer to the HTML5 standards process. And it’s a very good answer. HTML5 is going to be a part of the future, and the bits are available now, so THAT is why Microsoft chose to focus on it at PDC.
HTML5 (+ JavaScript + CSS3) still need tools. (I’m burnt by the lack of quality JavaScript tools on a daily basis.) This means that Microsoft is going to have to shift some resources to get those tools created. Yes, that means you can probably expect to see the focus return back to ASP.NET, IIS, etc. Visual Studio and Blend are the toolboxes for those tools, and I would personally expect to see more information at next year’s MIX conference in Vegas.

What all of this means for Silverlight:

Silverlight inside the browser is not going away just because HTML5 comes along. It will still work, and you can still target it.
Hardware replacement cycles are going to limit HTML5’s exposure in the enterprise. IE9 won’t run on XP, so Silverlight is still the best way to get great apps to those users.
At this part of the cycle, Microsoft is putting more energy into innovating Silverlight on Windows Phone than it is on the Desktop. And that’s fine with me, because the Phone runtime, while awesome, still needs a lot of work. For example, we need to get true parity with Silverlight 4, instead of the V3 & V4 hybrid we currently have.
NONE of this means that Silverlight is dead. Microsoft still understands the value of cross-platform Silverlight, and how combining that with Novell’s Mono offerings allow you to get .NET just about anywhere you want it. Jeremiah Morrill said it best on Twitter: “I'm glad my family isn't like software developers. They would of declared me dead because I didn't show up at the last thanksgiving.”
My belief: Don’t count on conversion tools from Microsoft. Microsoft is all about the “right tool for the job”. In Microsoft’s view, if you’re already using Silverlight, then why change it? If you’re not getting the benefits you need from Silverlight, you should be moving to WPF, not the other direction. That doesn’t mean that someone else couldn’t try… but why?

Kudos to Microsoft for getting out in front of it quickly, but I think it really could have been avoided though. I find it hard to believe that no one over there pointed out that people are going to be asking about Silverlight at PDC. Even when it was taken off the docket, it shouldn’t have been replaced with a vacuum.

As one of the guys that is typically pushing for particular technologies to be adopted within companies, here are some things Microsoft should keep in mind, to make my job easier in the future:

Previous communication strategies and release cycles set expectations. Putting out Silverlight v4 bits before the Silverlight v3 RTM set expectations that we would have seen Silverlight v5 bits by now. And the fact that you shared feature sets so early in the cycle with SL3 and SL4 set an expectation that we’d be getting some this time around as well. You guys need to be aware of that when you are planning.
Front-line developers are often the ones that help determine whether or not a company adopts a particular technology. But decision-makers hear bad PR and use it to put the kibosh on technology plans. By allowing Mary Jo to do what she does best, without being prepared for it and having a communication plan for Silverlight at PDC ahead of time, you might have set new Silverlight adoption back quite a bit.
Talking to customers individually is not the same as a blog post. It’s great that you reach out to customers big and small, but you need to arm the customers driving future adoption with the information they need to fight their battles internally.
You guys MUST start making the distinction between talking about specific features, and talking about general strategies. You can change direction and change focus, and give people details on what that means and how that affects their planning, without promising specific features or delivery dates. It’s OK to say something like “We’re going to be shifting the focus of our next release to the Phone, but we we’re not far enough into release planning to know what our target date is yet.” I think you guys went too far back towards secrecy after PDC 2003, and inching back towards being a little more transparent wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
Too secret = too late to change things. The old Microsoft way of doing things made developers feel like by the tie you talked about something, it was too “baked” to change it”. We’re always afraid that you guys are going to drop a technology, and not tell us until you’re 5 months onto the new thing, with no hope of getting it back.
When in doubt, ask. That’s what you guys have MVPs for. When I was an MVP, I honored my NDAs, no matter what anyone thinks.

I hope that helps some people understand more what is going on. Hopefully this will help some of my clients settle down, and get back on track with their next XAML related releases .

Your Chance to Win a Lenovo A70z

dougknox — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 23:32:36 GMT

Thanks to Terri Stratton for her post at mobilepcworld.net! Contest Coming Soon!!! Thanks to Lenovo and Ivy Worldwide , we, along with 19 other sites, are bringing you the chance to win a new Lenovo A70z. Be sure to visit all the other sites listed below for your chance to win. Each site will have a winner. Contest details will be posted on each site the day that its contest starts. Each site has its own rules and requirements, but this is a legitimate offer! Date ...(read more)

MagicJack - Not so Magical

dougknox — Tue, 25 May 2010 02:55:00 GMT

I recently decided to see if I could "cut the cord" on my home wireline and go with MagicJack. It had received pretty good reviews, been around for a while and, for the price, looked like something I should check out. Sadly, I was very disappointed. The call quality was good, when it was there. But when it wasn't, it was a bad as a bad cellular connection. And then, after one or two successful calls, it would start acting up. I'd pick up the phone, dial a number and after the first...(read more)

Windows Home Server v2 Leaked - Screenshots

Robert McLaws — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:04:00 GMT

Thanks to @maryjofoley for the heads-up this morning, I got a scoop that was bigger than Apple's "Party like it's 2005" launch of the iBezel iFrame iPad. Windows Home Server, codename "Vail" CTP4 has been leaked to teh intertubes. I have installed the bits, and I can relay with certainty what you can expect, based on my initial experiences.

Built on the RTM bits of Windows Server 2008 R2.
Will come in 2 flavors, HOMESTANDARD and HOMEPREMIUM
Requires an x64 Processor.
Requires a minimum of 160GB primary hard drive.
Server "Desktop Experience" is installed OOB (meaning Aero, Media, etc).
Built-In HomeGroup Support (unlike WS2008 R2)
WHS Console is now the "Dashboard", and has a cleaner Add-In model (all pages are now AddIns).
There will be an online catalog for add-ins hosted by Microsoft.
While there is a "Recorded TV" option in the folders, there does not presently appear to be deeper media integration. That may come in later builds.
It *appears* that WHS now backs itself up.

All this is pretty exciting, but it is readily apparent that this is still a work in progress. Many items are still marked "Not yet implemented". My installation was also a bit wonky, so here are some things you need to know.

Presently, it appears that the setup process DOES NOT like you changing the name from the default "SERVER". If you already have a WHS box with "SERVER" on your network, I would recommend you turn your existing WHS box off while testing, and then shut your test box down while running your live WHS.
After you restart a couple times, you'll be greeted with a yellow ASP.NET error screen. Hit CTRL+ALT+DEL, select Task Manager, right click on the only open application and select "Minimize". Then, right click your network connection and select "Troubleshoot". Once the connection is fixed, click on the Setup app in the taskbar, right click the error, and select Refresh. The install should then proceed properly. It will trigger another restart, and then you'll have to do this at least one more time.

Based on everything I've seen, WHS v2 will be one of the most exciting releases to come out of Microsoft in a while. I'm going to keep playing with it, and report back anything else I find. Oh yeah, and see my screenshot gallery here (see below for a couple highlights).

An Open Letter to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer

Robert McLaws — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:36:00 GMT

Dear Mr. Ballmer,

Let me start by saying that I’ve admired your company since I was 10 years old. I think what Microsoft does for the industry, and the world, is amazing. I think Windows is, and has always been, the best operating system on the market.

However, I have to take issue with your recent statement that Vista beta testers failed you. The testers did not fail you sir, your development and beta processes did. Your feedback mechanism is notorious for closing bugs entered within a matter of hours. This would normally be an amazing thing, if they were actually getting fixed; however most were closed “No Repro” without contact from the person trying to repro, or worse: “By Design, Won’t Fix” (which is like a giant slap in the face).

In addition, many beta testers sounded very public warnings that Vista wasn’t ready. In fact, my post on the matter (the year my Windows MVP wasn’t renewed, BTW) gave specific causes for alarm, along with specific, actionable options for adding another Beta to the cycle. This post garnered half a million page views (my single most-viewed piece EVER) and my opinion was echoed by many major tech heavy-hitters, including Scoble, Ed Bott, Chris Pirillo, Marc Orchant, Dwight Silverman, Paul Thurrott (though he took several potshots at me in the process) and others.

Fortunately for you, Steven Sinofsky & crew have done a fantastic job cleaning house on the engineering side. Adding internal testing to the planning mix had a drastic positive effect on the quality of the product cycle, and showed that the Windows Team truly does respect the term “Release Candidate”. The only complaint that I have about the Windows 7 Beta engineering process is that there were too few builds released to testers to validate the work that was going on.

However, many issues with the tester feedback loop still remain. The general feeling from the tester community is that Microsoft only likes us when our feedback is positive, and couldn't care less otherwise. And that drives an animosity that will not be beneficial to Windows (or Microsoft as a whole) in the long-term. My personal opinion is that Scott Guthrie still runs the best teams at Microsoft, and his community engagement methodology is one that every Microsoft team should strive to emulate.

So, with all due respect, Mr. Ballmer, before you go insinuating that beta testers didn’t do their jobs with Vista, maybe you should look into how your own people kept you insulated from the screaming we were all doing about how bad Vista was. We tried to warn you, it’s not our fault the message was not relayed to your bubble.

Sincerely,
Robert McLaws
Early Windows “Longhorn” enthusiast and satisfied Windows 7 customer

Changes Needed for Media Center in Windows 7 SP1

Robert McLaws — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:08:05 GMT

I *love* Windows Media Center. It’s my favorite part of Windows, and in Windows 7, it’s fantastic. There are a lot of improvements, and hopefully soon I’ll be able to post some of my favorite parts.

But I just spent the last 2 hours trying to fix my Windows Media Center installation at home (tried a number of different options before I ended up rolling back using Windows Home Server), so I figured now would be the best time to talk about the improvements that WMC needs by the time the next Service Pack rolls around.

Improving Reliability
The WMC database is by far the most brittle aspect of Windows Media Center. For whatever reason, Microsoft decided to use a lightweight database to power the whole system. Series recordings, configuration data… you name it. It’s all stored in a DB file in C:\Windows\ehome. If that DB file is corrupted in any way, you are completely SOL.

Such an event happened on October 2nd. I’m not the only one that experienced the issue, which means Microsoft distributed corrupted Guide data. Microsoft said the only option was to re-run the initial setup, and I’m sorry but that answer is unacceptable. It takes nearly 20 minutes to run the “Configure My TV Signal” process. I shouldn’t need to configure my tuners and blast away my Recording settings in order to clear out and re-download the Guide. But that is the only option that Microsoft puts on the table.

The Media Center needs to move the WMC database to a more robust engine that is capable of transactional rollbacks if an update fails. It also needs to store the Guide in a completely separate database file, so that Guide corruptions do not affect all of the other settings.

User Interface Changes
I run my Media Center in a headless configuration, because I don’t want those gigantic OCUR tuners on my entertainment center. The main problem with that setup is that I can’t run the aforementioned “Configure My TV Signal” wizard on an Extender. Whatever the technical reason for that decision is, accessibility trumps all. I shouldn’t have to lug a monitor into my office closet to configure my TV tuners.

And while the team is improving the UI, there needs to be an option to backup and restore your Series Subscriptions without downloading a 3rd party program. ESPECIALLY if the WMC database is so brittle. Yes, I know there are free/cheap options. We’re on like the 5th iteration of the platform at this point, it’s time to start building in better options for recovering from problems.

And finally, there needs to be a richer notification system for headless Media Centers. If the Guide won’t download, the only way to find out is to RDP into the system. While that’s not a terribly big deal, it’s not the best user experience. There should be UI for reading Media Center errors, and a queuing process for showing serious ones, for example like Windows Update restart notifications.

Conclusion
Windows Media Center is a fantastic platform, and Microsoft has pulled out all the stops to give it the potential to really hit the mainstream. The next update (which unlike the TV Pack 2008, needs to be available to everyone) needs to focus on improving the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor).

Xbox 360 WMC Coupled to Xbox Live: Beta Woes

Robert McLaws — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:19:00 GMT

My house is unlike many houses in America. You see, I have a Dell XPS 420 with two Digital Cable Tuners. It is the only device that is currently receiving cable signals. The two TVs in our house use Xbox 360s as Media Center Extenders, and for the most part, the experience is light-years ahead of the standard DVR. All in all, I’m very happy with the setup.

So I was rather surprised to wake up this morning unable to use WMC on my Xbox 360s. The reason? Xbox Live is down for maintenance. I find this completely unacceptable, especially in the wake of the news that other 3rd party Extenders are being taken off the market. I shouldn’t need a connection to the Internet to watch content on my local network. Any technical reason you have for it is completely fabricated and unnecessary. There is no reason why you can’t create a web service to handle the Extender authorization through the Media Center, if such a thing is required.

And while you’re at it, Microsoft, please remove the requirement that I need to be connected to Xbox Live to watch MP4/DivX/XviD content. That is extremely annoying.

UPDATE: This issue is apparently only limited to Windows 7, which makes even less sense than before. What gives?

UPDATE2: A source at Microsoft tells me it's Windows 7 beta related, and that there are "good, consumer-benefiting reasons" for the tethering. There is no workaround for Microsoft employees, and my source's family had the same lockout as today as well. It's a good thing I still had my old HP Extender.

Showing Solidarity with the Iranian People

Robert McLaws — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:16:39 GMT

I don’t usually do political posts here, but I am convinced that we are witnessing history with the popular uprising in Iran. I’ve been following reports on Twitter, and many people around the world today are wearing green in support of the legitimately-elected leader of Iran. Reddit.com changed their little alien guy to show their support, and I thought I’d make Windows-Now.com wear a little green today too.

Even if our government is not officially behind you, the people of the United States stand behind any country whose people year for and demand freedom and democracy. Fight for your country! We are all Iranian today!

-Robert McLaws, Editor
Windows-Now.com

Bing! First Impressions – Part 2

Robert McLaws — Sat, 30 May 2009 22:42:47 GMT

This is the second part of my ongoing review of Microsoft’s new “decision engine,” Bing. Read Part 1 here.

Reading the Bing Commentary
In researching my opinions on Bing News vs Google News, I caught some interesting headlines on Google News about Bing. Two of them could not have been more different.

One was from Mike Elgan of Computerworld, who painted a dystopian future about how terrible the world will be with Microsoft’s “decision engine” making all of our decisions for us. He derides the “best match” feature, even though stating a fact is something search newcomer Wolfram|Alpha does quite nicely. He also seems to think that accuracy and popularity are synonymous, but then again he probably also thinks Darth Vader said “Luke, I am your father.” Of course, this opinion was based on a video, and not actually using it, but that is beside the point.

Somewhere along the way, Mike forgot that we are all humans, capable of making our own decisions, and somehow decided that Microsoft’s plan involves actually making the decisions for all of us. You can’t blame him tho, because he assumed that Bing is wired into everyone’s cerebral cortex, and that the technological advances in Bing were centered around new computer code that could override human free will and program humans to do whatever Microsoft wanted.

Look Mike, this argument applies just as much to ComputerWorld, or Google, or any other website. If you, as a human, don’t use your reasoning skills to make your own decisions, it is a PEBCAK problem, not a Microsoft problem. But you may want to put an extra layer of tin foil around your hat, just in case.

The other comes from Barrons, and has a great money (literally) quote:

People certainly found it appealing. One fund manager I chatted with said that not only does he intend to start using the service when it launches June 3, but also that he is mulling whether to short Google. I was a little startled by that response, but you can see his point: Microsoft might be able to nibble some market share away from Google at the margin, and slow its steady march to complete domination.

It will be very interesting to see what the market does in the next few weeks in response to this new search product.

Sorry for the detour… back to the review.

News
There are too many new sites on the Internet. Microsoft is as big a culprit as anyone else, it has no fewer than four major news sites. It is clear that Bing News will replace Live Search News, but what is unclear is what will happen to My Live. Hopefully nothing major, since it is my RSS aggregator of choice.

News

Bing	Google

There are no substantial changes here. It would be neat if Microsoft combined the Powerset technology with my search history to suggest news that might be interesting to me, similar to the way Suggested Sites works with IE8. Then it might end up doing what Techmeme used to do, which was bubble up obscure posts about things going on that I might not be aware of. This is something that Google does already, though I don’t use it because I don’t like Google tracking my search history.

I will say that I like Bing News better than Google, for the exact opposite reason than for Search: there is less information on the page. Google News is designed by people who write code, so they don’t mind if their eyes are constantly bombarded by text. Bing doesn’t try to be MSNBC (or MSNBC clone Yahoo News), it just gives you a few links to what is going on, and an easy way to dive into a topic to see more. And I like that.

Images and Video
You know, it’s funny. I was going to write this whole section on how Bing expands on image and video searching by providing new features like live filtering by metadata, or mouse-over playback for videos. Then I went to Live.com to compare the old system to the new Bing… and they’re pretty much exactly the same. Because I had never liked the results from Live.com, I never really dove into the other features and gave them a shot. Maybe the improvements with Bing on the semantic side will finally give Microsoft the credit they deserve in other areas.

For me, Bing Images is the clear winner. Their filter tools make it easy to get to the image I’m looking for, and it appears that the search results filter duplicates very well. Google

But just for argument’s sake, I’ll show the side-by-sides anyway.

Image Search for “North Korea”

Bing	Google

With Video, Bing is the winner again. With their mouse-over playback, you don’t actually have to click through to YouTube to get a preview of the video. Google won’t ever do that, because they are trying to drive as much traffic as possible to YouTube. Google opted instead to “borrow” the layout from MSN Video, without borrowing any of the aspects of the design that actually made it interesting.

Video Search for “Susan Boyle”

Bing	Google

And thus ends Part 2 of my review. In Part 3, I’ll tackle Shopping and Travel.

Bing! First Impressions – Part 1

Robert McLaws — Sat, 30 May 2009 16:17:18 GMT

This is Part 1 of my review of Bing. Read Part 2 here.

When it comes to search engines, I’ve always used Google. I think their results have been unsurpassed in the last decade, which is why they are the “market leader.” I have been heavily resistant to using Microsoft-branded search engines, because their results have never gotten me what I’ve been looking for. So if you start reading this assuming that because I like Microsoft that I’m going to like Bing, that would be a false assumption.

I was fortunate enough to get a preview code from someone at Microsoft (Thanks!), and have spent the better part of the afternoon exploring its capabilities. I have to admit, I am pleasantly surprised. I am intrigued enough at the quality of the results that it may indeed change my search habits.

NOTE: I should point out that, while I have included links to Bing search results, none of them will actually work until Wednesday, June 3rd.

Not Just a Rebranding Exercise
Many experts in the field of search with write off Bing without even trying it, claiming it’s just ~~MSN Search~~ Live Search in yet another fancy new package. Those people would be wrong. While the UI may evoke many of the things you’ve come to expect from Live Search (fonts, layout, etc), it is definitely a new product. Giving it a new name also helps (once and for all) separate the Windows Live software+services (Messenger, Mesh, Photo Gallery, etc) from the Search-related offerings. No more confusion, just a cleanly-defined strategy. This is by far one of my initial favorite aspects of the new offering… it’s just too bad it took almost 2 years to make it happen.

Better Use of Space
Right off the bat, I find Bing’s design more pleasing to the eye. The color palate, use of gradients, and visual organization are very nice. It makes Google’s design amateur by comparison. It’s like comparing a website done in Silverlight to a website done in Frontpage XP. The design aesthetic makes me want to come back often, which is something Google’s engineer mindset fails to comprehend.

Search for “tallahassee”

Bing	Google

Bing’s header uses 1/3rd less space (100px for Bing vs 150px for Google) which helps fit more search results “above the fold.” It also portrays this feeling that Bing wants you to focus on the results, whereas Google wants you to focus on itself and how awesome it is. Bing also utilizes a sidebar to present you with options to pivot your search on areas of the same topic. Underneath that is a list of related searches, and below that is your search history. So there is more information put in front of you than Google, but not in a way that feels overwhelming.

Initially Smarter
Differentiating Bing as a “Decision Engine” and not a search engine is also a very good thing. In my experience, searching with Google does not lead to definitive answers, only more searching. It doesn’t usually solve anything; it just gives you places to continue your search. Bing tries to make assumptions to add context to your queries, operating under the theory that those assumptions will yield better results. And based on my experience so far, that theory is correct.

The first assumption Bing makes is that your search is for something local. It factors my IP address into every query. Take for example, the search for “weather”, illustrated below. Bing automatically figured I wanted to know the weather for where I was (which is Washington, PA at the moment), whereas Google makes me take the extra step of putting in my zip code before I get a forecast.

Search for “weather”

Bing	Google

For many of you following me on Twitter, I ended up in the ER on Memorial Day with Appendicitis. As I mentioned above, my family and I are in PA on vacation with my in-laws, so I wasn’t quite sure which hospital to go to. It’s a good thing it wasn’t a life-threatening issue, because with Google, I would have wasted precious seconds filtering through results before I got to hospitals in my area. Not so with Bing:

Search for “hospital”

Bing	Google

You may consider that melodramatic, however it’s extremely unlikely that you’re looking for a Wikipedia definition of “hospital” if you type that term in, and Bing is smart enough to know that. To Google’s defense, they do give you a map centered on your location, but it’s not until the 4th link down, which on my Lenovo x300, is nearly below the “fold”.

Searching for something less urgent, say what you want for dinner, brings up equally impressive results. It brings up the “Best Match” first, and specifically calls it to your attention. Underneath that, a list of the top 5 closest locations to what it thinks is your location. To the left are 5 items you might be interested in (including “nutrition”, “menu”, and “commercials”.

Search for “Applebee's”

Bing	Google

The only issue I have with the option to see something like “Commercials” is that, though it appears that Microsoft is using the PowerSet technology for the blue-shaded area beneath the logo. It would be nice if the Semantic goodness would understand that clicking “Commercials” should take you to video search results, which is a far cooler… and will be covered in Part 2.

Office 2010 Technical Preview Leak Shows Windows 7 Integration

Robert McLaws — Sat, 16 May 2009 06:31:01 GMT

Microsoft passed out the Technical Preview bits to TAP partners, and like clockwork, the bits leaked out on the Internet. And like the Build Whore that I am, I went and downloaded it. There are scores of screenshots all over the net already, so there is no point in posting them here. I do, however, have a screenshot that no one else has… Outlook 2010’s Jump List menu.

Outlook 2010 Jump List in Windows 7

I’ve only been using it an hour, and this single feature has already made me vastly more productive. WTG Office team!

A Little Trip Through the Wayback Machine

Robert McLaws — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:14:51 GMT

I was doing some ego surfing this morning, when I came across a reference to my company (Interscape Technologies) in an unusual place: a PDF file. Curious, I clicked the link… and what I found totally caught me by surprise.

Apparently, two professors from the Catholic University in Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany presented a research paper at the International Federation of Scholarly Associations of Management (IFSAM) World Congress in 2006 (Track 3, Session 1). This paper used LonghornBlogs.com as a case study in how blogging is a “neopoiesis” (novel formation, instead of an emergence) for self-organizing, globally-distributed knowledge management.

The research involved is fascinating. I had no idea that someone had put that much effort into deconstructing the site. They also drew some very interesting conclusions, and even mapped out the interaction between bloggers, as depicted below:

(Click to enlarge)

I vaguely remember being contacted for the survey they mention in the 34-page paper. I had no idea what they were using it for. We weren’t really thinking about it this way at the time, but LonghornBlogs was one of the first IT-related group blogs available at the time, along with dotnetweblogs.com and geekswithblogs.net. Fellow bloggers like Robert Scoble, Rob Howard, Scott Watermasysk, Drew Marsh, Jeff Julian, and others had a big hand in making IT blogging what it is today. I’m glad to have played a small part in that.

I’m curious to see what came of this research, so if you were affiliated with this paper, please use the “Contact” link to get in touch with me.

And on that note, I’m back from my hiatus and will be starting up my coverage of Windows 7 very soon.

The Great UAC Debate of 2009 Is Over

Robert McLaws — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 04:48:41 GMT

I have been appalled at what has taken place over the last week. And now that it is over, I want to talk about it… because something needs to be done.

The utter fiasco that spilled out into the blogosphere should never have happened. In case you’ve been in Timbuktu, Long “Quixote” Zheng and Rafael Rivera found several issues with UAC that he was concerned about. AFAIK, he went through what he thought were the proper channels… but that right there is where things fell apart.

Because Long felt like he wasn’t being listened to, he blogged about it. Which is exactly what I would have done, because he was really concerned that it was a problem. Then all hell broke loose. Microsoft went into “know-it-all-pouting” mode, at first not saying anything, and then arguing the fact that it wasn’t technically a vulnerability and they weren’t going to fix it. Then they said whined about taking the emotion out of the discussion (which was only there in the first place because we were being treated like idiots who didn’t know what they were talking about). Them, they completely backpedaled, saying they were going to fix it, and quoted someone else who suggested they just change UAC to prompt before making changes to UAC settings… which is EXACTLY what Long suggested in the first place! AAGGGH it’s aggravating even thinking about it.

Microsoft may a have been pissed that the problem went through the wrong channels, but it’s their own stupid fault. Because there already is a channel where these things are supposed to go through. It’s called the Windows Featured Communities program. That’s where people who run Windows communities, like myself, Tom Warren from Neowin, Bob Stein from ActiveWin, and others, get together to talk about Windows stuff in a private forum. It’s managed by Microsoft and the Windows Communication team, yet for the last 4 years, we’ve been virtually ignored by the product team. Because they think we are the enemy, they don’t want to engage us. they’d rather segment us off, and then ignore us.

Well, that has to stop, and now. We are not the enemy. Long did not do what he did out of hatred for Microsoft. He did it because he was passionate about Windows, and did not want them to make an easily correctible mistake. That’s what the frickin beta program is for in the first place, for cryin out loud! But Microsoft’s technical beta process is a joke in some respects anyways. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve spent HOURS researching a big, documenting it the best way I know how, only to have it closed as “By Design, Won’t Fix”, without any discussion. They might as well close it with a picture of the team giving the camera the middle finger, because that’s what it feels like: “screw you and your time, we’re smarter than you”.

Had Long been in the Featured Community program like he should be, and had the Windows Division grown up and started talking to us, whether they liked everything we do or not… Long would have gone through THAT channel instead of airing dirty laundry in public, and Microsoft could have avoided all this stupid nonsense. And THAT is why I’m airing THIS dirty laundry in public. Because I’m tired of being ignored. I’m tired of being handled with kid gloves, and being babysat by PR. My counterparts and I have earned the right to have a direct line to Microsoft.

And I hope this situation illustrates exactly why the current situation cannot continue. Congratulations Microsoft on doing the right thing, and having the guts to admit you screwed up. I knew you’d get around to it eventually. Try not to be so masochistic about it next time, eh?

Windows 7: Next Stop, Release Candidate

Robert McLaws — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:13:36 GMT

Windows Chief Steven Sinofsky has taken some time to outline what happens from here to GA with Windows 7. As MJ, Paul Thurrott, and others have notes, the release did not say Windows 7 Beta 1, it was just a beta. It’s a good post, but I’ve pulled the key takeaways below:

The next milestone for the development of Windows 7 is the Release Candidate or “RC”. Historically the Release Candidate has signaled “we’re pretty close and we want people to start testing the release, especially because all the features are done.” As we have said before, with Windows 7 we chose a slightly different approach which we were clear up front about and are all now experiencing together and out in the open.

…

Of course the other work we’re doing is refining the final product based on all the real-world usage and feedback. We’ve received a lot of verbatim feedback regarding the user experience—whether that is default settings, keyboard shortcuts, or desired options to name a few things. Needless to say just working through, structuring, and “tallying” this feedback is a massive undertaking and we have folks dedicated to doing just that. At the peak we were receiving one “Send Feedback” note every 15 seconds! As we’ve talked about in this blog, we receive a lot of feedback where we must weigh the opinions we receive because we hear from all sides of an issue—that’s to be expected and really the core design challenge. We also receive feedback where we thought something was straight forward or would work fine, but in practice needed some tuning and refinement. Over the next weeks we’ll be blogging about some of these specific changes to the product. These changes are part of the process and part of the time we have scheduled between Beta and RC.

So right now, every day we are researching issues, resolving them, and making sure those resolutions did not cause regressions (in performance, behavior, compatibility, or reliability). The path to Release Candidate is all about getting the product to a known and shippable state both from an internal and external (Beta usage and partner ecosystem readiness) standpoint.

We will then provide the Release Candidate as a refresh for the Beta. We expect, based on our experience with the Beta, a broad set of folks to be pretty interested in trying it out.

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There’s one extra step which is what we call General Availability or GA. This step is really the time it takes literally to “fill the channel” with Windows PCs that are pre-loaded with Windows 7 and stock the stores (online or in-person) with software. We know many folks would like us to make the RTM software available right away for download, but this release will follow our more established pattern. GA also allows us time to complete the localization and ready Windows for a truly worldwide delivery in a relatively small window of time, a smaller window for Windows 7 than any previous release. It is worth noting that the Release Candidate will continue to function long enough so no one should worry and everyone should feel free to keep running the Release Candidate.

So to summarize briefly:

Pre-Beta – This release at the PDC introduced the developer community to Windows 7 and represents the platform complete release and disclosure of the features.

Beta – This release provided a couple of million folks the opportunity to use feature complete Windows 7 while also providing the telemetry and feedback necessary for us to validate the quality, reliability, compatibility, and experience of Windows 7. As we said, we are working with our partners across the ecosystem to make sure that testing and validation and development of Windows 7-based products begins to enter final phases as we move through the Beta.

Release Candidate (RC) – This release will be Windows 7 as we intend to ship it. We will continue to listen to feedback and telemetry with the focus on addressing only the most critical issues that arise. We will be very clear in communicating any changes that have a visible impact on the product. This release allows the whole ecosystem to reach a known state together and make sure that we are all ready together for the Release to Manufacturing. Once we get to RC, the whole ecosystem is in “dress rehearsal” mode for the next steps.

Release to Manufacturing (RTM) – This release is the final Windows 7 as we intend to make available to PC makers and for retail and volume license products.

General Availability (GA) – This is a business milestone and represents when you can buy Windows 7 pre-installed on PCs or as full packaged product.

The obvious question is that we know the Pre-Beta was October 28, 2008, and the Beta was January 7th, so when is the Release Candidate and RTM? The answer is forthcoming. We are currently evaluating the feedback and telemetry and working to develop a robust schedule that gets us the right level of quality in a predictable manner. Believe me, we know many people want to know more specifics. We’re on a good path and we’re making progress. We are taking a quality-based approach to completing the product and won’t be driven by imposed deadlines. We have internal metrics and milestones and our partners continue to get builds routinely so even when we reach RC, we are doing so together as partners. And it relies, rather significantly, on all of you testing the Beta and our partners who are helping us get to the finish line together.

There you have it. The next build you will get will probably be the RC. And for once, it will actually be a candidate for release. Sweet!

The Problem With SaaS & Cloud Services

Robert McLaws — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 00:26:26 GMT

When I heard about the iMate Momento digital picture frame, I was an instant fan. I thought it was really great how it integrated with Vista’s SideShow. Once I received one for review, I found out that the execution fell far short of expectations.

Well, today I got an email from iMate, which I am including in its entirety below:

Dear Member,
The Momento Live service will be terminated on February 25, 2009. After that date you will not have access to the Momento Live website or services. However, your Momento frame will be unaffected so you can continue to enjoy viewing your photos on your frame.

The closure of Momento Live web site means you can no longer store your photos on the Momento Live server and/or and share your photos with other Momento Live members.

Important note! Any pictures that you have stored on Momento Live server will be permanently lost after February 25, 2009. If you have any images stored on the Momento Live server, please ensure you have a copy of them stored on your PC. Any images that are hosted on Flickr, Picasa, SmugMug, or similar services will not be affected.

When currently visiting the Momento Live web site you may receive a website security warning as the SSL certificate has expired and will not be renewed. Please ignore this message. You are welcome to continue onto the website to retrieve your images.

To visit Momento Live please click here.
Any questions you have may be directed to momentosupport@imate.com

Thank you,

The Momento Support Team

This was not an altogether unexpected move, since the site hadn’t been upgraded since its launch. But the frame’s RSS capabilities were also dependent on the service, meaning those will be down too. Now, its effectiveness is limited to local connectivity… which is fine, except that a bunch of customers paid a premium for the internet connected services, and those customers are now SOL.

Just goes to show you that SaaS / Software + Services / Cloud Services are only useful if the services stay online.

Microsoft Is Pimping Windows 7 Beta Downloads on Facebook

Robert McLaws — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:03:26 GMT

I logged into my Facebook yesterday, and was greeted with this ad:

Judging by the overwhelmingly positive reviews, this is a smart move on Microsoft’s part. You would have never seen this with the Vista beta, or any other beta, for that matter. Microsoft is usually only this generous with Windows Release Candidates. Speaking of which, there is only one week left to get your hands on the Beta, so you’d better get crackin!

RROD Chronicles: Third Time Still Sucks

Robert McLaws — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:05:27 GMT

I just joined the 3rd Red Ring of Death club. The first time, I got a complete replacement. The second time, they just did a repair (though I had my console back 48 hours after I shipped it). I’m hoping this time I get a replacement with a Falcon board.

I saw this one coming, and was surprised it didn’t happen sooner. For months, my console has not been recognizing discs on their first insert, sometimes taking 5 or 6 re-inserts before working. Then a couple days ago, it froze playing Halo 3. Last night, it froze watching the Cardinals game (holy crap, they won a division title?!?! Hell just froze over) anll me d when I went to restart, my old friend returned to steal the center of my living room once again.

I was greeted with a new repair process, which would have been awesome if the system hadn’t been down for maintenance, which it neglected to tell me BEFORE I filled out my form. I have a shipping label, yet I don’t know whether they’ll ship me a box, or I have to ship it myself. Time will tell.

If you suddenly see a huge surge in my productivity over the next week or so, now you know why.

I Am Boycotting IE Mobile Until Microsoft Gets Its Act Together

Robert McLaws — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:45:38 GMT

I have very high expectations for Microsoft’s Windows Mobile announcements at CES this year. You see, I have been a fan of Windows Mobile for quite some time. but, for whatever reason, Microsoft has completely dropped the ball on their platform for mobile devices. For evidence, look no further than the Windows Mobile roadmap. First Microsoft said that Windows Mobile 7 was coming soon, and it was going to radically change the platform. We haven’t heard anything about that in a while, then Ballmer mentioned Windows Mobile 6.5, and everyone went.. .WTF? Then, Microsoft announced that IE6 Mobile was only going to be available on new devices under Windows Mobile 6.1.4.

We’ve waited something like 4 years to get a decent browser for Windows Mobile, and they’re not even going to make it a downloadable update? Screw multimedia features, i just want a better renderer, mmkay?

IMO, I think that the Samsung Omnia is the closest thing the Windows Mobile ecosystem has to an iPhone competitor… the featureset is just spectactual. But the whole UI is custom, and if you do it right, you’ll hardly seen WiMo at all. It’s a shame that the platform can’t have these features out of the box. But the most telling part is, Omnia’s default browser is… opera Mobile. I had the chance to try an Omnia out for myself the other day, and browsing is a dream… so much so, that I’m making a drastic decision.

Until the Windows Mobile team gets their act together and at the very least makes IE6 Mobile a downloadable upgrade for all existing WM6 phones, I’m switching browsers to Opera Mobile. IE has been banished from my phone. Microsoft may be content to let Mozilla and Apple kick their butt in the mobile space, but that doesn’t mean that I have to be caught in the middle. I’d like you to join me. Maybe if our voices are loud enough, maybe we can convince the Windows Mobile team to actually build something innovative… and release it before the end of the decade. I know that’s asking a lot, but I think it can be done.

Your move, Microsoft.