BingTweets Goes down with a 404 Error on day of MicroHoo and Twitter homepage change

UPDATE: BingTweets just came back up around 3:30 PM EST. Wonder what happened?



Today was the day of the long awaited Microsoft-Yahoo deal materializing. It was also the day of Twitter's homepage change into a more search based page.

The headlines have already been made: Twitter goes Google, MicroHoo is a Done Deal, etc

But suddenly, BingTweets stopped working.

BingTweets was one of Microsoft's latest attempts to get an advantage over the search competition known as Google, by adding real time searching to Bing, albeit on another website: www.BingTweets.com

But what happened? This joint venture between Microsoft and Federated Media apparently no longer exists. Or at least, that's the error you'll get if you go to BingTweets.com

It was working fine only a few hours ago, so what happened?

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How Microsoft Forced Apple to Admit Their Fault

It was but a few months ago that Microsoft began their counterattack upon Apple with new advertisements. Though Apple reveled then at the thought of their provocation causing such a powerful reaction, one consisting of multiple advertisement campaigns that sought to lure viewers into using Windows and Microsoft products, they may perhaps regret it now.

Why? It's simple.

There once was a series of ads by Microsoft called I'm a PC. There were those that liked it, and those that hated it. But there definitely was one ad that stuck out to Apple.

Laptop Hunter.
This was an ad featuring somebody picking between Mac and PCs, and who decided to buy a PC for about $700, since she thought the PC offered more value for her money compared to the Mac that cost $2000.

Some people claim that this ad really did show the problem with Macs in general, and that it was very effective. Well it seems that it was quite effective after all, because Apple had a serious reaction to it.

Recently we've been hearing about how Apple lawyers sent Microsoft a cease and desist letter telling them that their ad was no longer true and that they cannot continue their false advertising.
Folks over at Microsoft jumped with joy that Apple had finally gotten enough of Microsoft's ads, thus showing they were effective, but after a while, Microsoft complied and changed up the ads.

But why did they do this? I see lots and lots of people out there commenting or posting that Microsoft was forced to change the ad, and that Apple won because Microsoft was too scared to continue and that they knew it was false advertising.
But wait, the whole reason this happened was because Apple lowered their prices.

Apple lowered their prices.

It seems that Apple has admitted that they were wrong about how people would still pay up for expensive computers Apple sells, and so lowered their prices. But another thing it tells us is that it was mostly the Microsoft ad at work, because right after they lowered prices, they go screaming to Microsoft to change the ad.

It seems more than likely that Apple got forced to lower their prices, and then ad became false because the prices got lowered, and that's why Apple sent the cease and desist letter.

Though many people want to claim that Microsoft submitted to Apple's demands, it's more like Apple was forced to do something they did not want to do in order to stop the super effective Microsoft ad.

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iPhone 3G S to be free in the UK, not so elsewhere

The 32 GB iPhone 3G S that will be released very soon will actually be provided for free to UK customers, except the monthly rate is quite high.
In fact, to get this deal, one will have to pay the operator O2 £73.41 (US$120) per month. With cheaper contracts, the phone costs up to £274.23.

In the U.S., the phones will cost $199 and $299 with a contract. In France, the cheapest contract is €39 per month but requires a two-year commitment.

But is the "free" iPhone actually worth it? If you just compare that with France's cheapest contract, it's obvious that the monthly rate is pretty much half (accounting for currency exchange). Extending two years, that could amount to much more savings than simply the free iPhone. For 24 months, if you save a mere $20 (you can actually save more...), then you save a cumulative $480. Now seeing as the price is actually about half, after accounting for the currency rates, I think it's reasonable to think you can save over $50 a month, which means you could be saving thousands with a cheaper contract.

Really, if you don't need all the stuff in the contract, just pay the money for the iPhone. It's not worth wasting thousands just to say you got a "free" iPhone that really cost you much more.

Did I mention that the iPhone OS 3 will be coming out in New York at about 1 PM today?

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iPhone OS 3 released at iTunes Store mistake, Real release later today

The iPhone OS 3 firmware was accidentally released yesterday in the iTunes Store, ahead of schedule. Or rather, the page was updated, but all the buyers got was a 0.4KB file.




(Click for better/larger image)

The error was detected yesterday and fixed, so that users attempting to go to that page are redirected. Unfortunately, many people have already purchased the "OS 3" and so Apple are probably trying to get back to the customers who paid by mistake.

Also, the real iPhone OS 3 firmware will be released today at around 1PM in New York (Eastern). You can stop pressing F5 now and wait 'til then for the firmware.

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iPhone 3GS at WWDC 09 will destroy Palm Pre, competitors

Today was the much anticipated WWDC of 2009 hosted by Apple, and their keynote was the longest one yet, clocking in at over 2 hours.
They announced a great many things, but one of the biggest announcements was the release of a new iPhone, just as rumored.



It was only this weekend that the Palm Pre started to sell, and now there's a new iPhone. I'm sure Palm can't be happy about that. This new iPhone is called the iPhone 3GS, and the S stands for Speed, and it really is quite fast. It also comes out with the announcement of the new iPhone OS 3 (If you want to see images + details on that, just scroll down).


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The new 3GS doesn't actually look all that much different from the old ones, but what's really changed is on the inside. Of course, speed is very much emphasized here, and Apple claims that it is more than 2 times faster for most tasks as compared with the iPhone 2.
There are two new available storage sizes, 16 GB for $199, and $32 GB for $299, with contracts of course.
Along with this are upgrade options to the iPhone 3G S, but still require some more time before they are available, due to AT&T's restrictions on it.
Tethering and MMS was also announced, and AT&T has said that they are going to be adding these features soon, with MMS coming later this summer.
More features include voice control as well as a new video camera. It offers autofocus, auto balance, 30 FPS and more. This is definitely a good hardware upgrade.

The release date for the iPhone 3G S has been set to June 19th, where it'll be available in the US. Then it'll be released in a total of 80 countries in the world in the following weeks.
The old 8 GB iPhone will be on sale for $99 after this.


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Before the release of this iPhone, they also announced their newest iPhone OS 3, which builds on much of the previous OS, and introduces lots of new features. Examples are shown in the following picture.




Also check out these cool new features.





There was also a much wanted feature introducing Find My iPhone which allows you to track your iPhone, send a message to it in case somebody finds it, and even in the worse case scenario, delete all the data on it.






Also, you can now buy movies and TV shows on your iPhone.



This new iPhone OS 3 will be available for free for all existing iPhone customers.

Though Palm had a pretty good start this weekend, they'll be facing tough competition from increasingly more sophisticated iPhones, and it looks as though the Palm Pre at this point probably isn't revolutionary enough to make people to switch, especially as iPhone buyers are usually loyal to Apple.
Overall, WWDC delivered on quite a bit, but without Steve Jobs there, it didn't seem like it was enough. Let's hope Steve Jobs can get well soon with lots of more exciting things to come.

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Bing overtakes Yahoo as new No.2 with 16% market share,new Bing-a-thon Campaign

According to recent statistics offered by StatCounter, Bing appears to have skyrocketed in market share to an incredible 16% in the US on Thursday June 4th, 2009.
This was just the day after Bing was officially released in the US along with a new TV commercial so it seems that it's really the hype that got Bing to this level. However, this kind of hype is exactly what Microsoft wants to achieve with Bing, and especially if they can keep this up with more advertising and other ways of generating hype.

It was on Thursday, the announcement of Bing that their old search engine Live Search also saw a spike up to 12%, but that was most likely because everyone wanted to try out Bing but didn't know where to go, so they wound up heading to the old Live Search.

If you head to GlobalStats Statcounter, you can see the latest daily statistics for the top search engines. The spike may be related to their ad campaign, but it may also have come as a result of the hype surrounding Bing. However, be careful when assessing that the "race is over", which I've noticed on multiple blogs/news sites. It is far from over yet, and if Microsoft cannot keep their customers coming back every time to Bing, then they'll just go to their old habits. We don't know yet whether Bing will true have the ability to intrigue customers and make them love it.

What we do know, is that Microsoft will not let Bing go down without a fight. Like I mentioned, they planned to spend $100 million with the release of Bing on advertising in various places. Today, we found out that they've decided to step up the advertising game with another set of ads to be released on Hulu and some TV shows.
A report by the New York Times says that their new ads will be in a "Bing-a-thon" format, and will be similar to a TV show, starring aJson Sudeikis, Olivia Munn and Fred Willard.

"The key will be whether we deliver a product and connect with people emotionally in the advertising. You have to do something a little bit more surprising. It's a very tall marketing challenge and a very tall product challenge."

That was a statement from Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president for the online services division of Microsoft. These ads will be integrated with TV shows and Hulu's shows, rather than standalone commercials like before.

It will surely be a challenge for Microsoft, but the innovations on Bing have paved the way for broader features on search engines and will eventually lead to a better overall experience for the users, as competitors and especially the market leader Google will have to respond to Bing's features.
Has Microsoft really shown that Bing will become the next No.2 Search Engine? That's something we can't say for sure yet, but perhaps we'll get a better picture of the situation after about 2 weeks, when the initial hype starts wearing off, and the tech crowd stops "trying it out" and decide whether they really like Bing or not.

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Activision asserts Brutal Legend rights, sues Double Fine

EA showcased and heavily promoted their new game Brutal Legends at E3 this year. This year's E3 has been arguably one of the best E3 displays for a long time, especially with all sorts of new innovations such as Microsoft's Xbox 360 no controller Project Natal motion sensing technology.

EA and Activision both had an impressive line up of games they would be offering, but Activion Blizzard has decided to take some decisive action against the EA and Double Fine deal of publishing Brutal Legends, a game that was had a $15 million investment from Activision Blizzard.

How did this happen? Well you may already know this, but Vivendi Games merged with Activision awhile ago but apparently Activision did not include Brutal Legend in their list of projects they would inherit. Double Fine thought this meant Activision no longer wanted Brutal Games, so they went looking for another developer, namely EA. Activision has previously threatened to sue if Double Fine didn't stop the publishing of Brutal Legends, and now that threat has become a reality.

The lawsuit claims that Double Fine missed a key deadline last year, and asked for another $7 million infusion. Then it claims that Activision was not compensated for their initial $15 million investment when Double Fine went to EA. Activision says that they never gave up their rights to the game, and was still in negotiations with Double Fine, but failed to reach an agreement.
In response, Double Fine President Tim Schafer stated,

"Hey, if Activision liked it, then they should have put a ring on it," "Oh great, now Beyonce is going to sue me too."

Later, EA also commented by comparing Activision to

"a husband abandoning his family and then suing after his wife meets a better looking guy."

Should Activision be able to keep their "rights"? It only seems natural that if Activision doesn't include the game in the projects they would inherit, that they mean to give up the game. On the other hand, if they really were negotiating, then perhaps Double Fine is at fault. However, I doubt this is the case, and it's more likely that Activision didn't care much about it until Double Fine was forced to find another publisher.

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Bing Debuts, TV commercial puts Bing as Savior of economy

Though Bing was announced last week and a preview of Microsoft's new search engine came out on Monday at www.bing.com, today was the actual official release of Bing, with all of its features.
Today, the preview note below the icon Bing was removed, and now the Bing service is a full fledged search engine.

These 2 weeks, Microsoft has stirred up quite a bit of interest, in a lot of areas such as the ZuneHD, the announced release of Windows 7, the release of Silverlight 3, and also their revolutionary Xbox 360 no controller, full body motion detecting system called Project Natal, and of course the Bing search engine. However, they plan to stir up even more interest by spending $80-100 million on advertising for their new search engine, or rather, their "decision engine".

"While everyone was searching, there was bailing. While everyone was lost in the links, there was collapsing. We don't need queries and keywords if they bring back questions and confusion. From this moment on, search overload is officially over."

That was an excerpt from the new television commercial they rolled out today, along with the official release of their Bing decision engine. Their ad wants to portray Bing as the solution to the search engine market's woes. What do you think of this idea? This kind of a model has been known to have some effects on people by putting in parallel with some horrible situation of which their product or idea is a cure. But one thing's for sure, Microsoft will need more than that in order to gain serious market share on Google. However, the amount of interest shown and their dedication of large sums of money to the ad campaigns may just put a dent in that market share held by Yahoo and Google.

Check out the commercial:



The battle will be very interesting, but at least there's good competition going on.

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Xbox 360 Groundbreaking no controller motion sensor revealed at E3

Project Natal is the latest new addition to the hoard of revelations by Microsoft at this year's E3 conference.
The Xbox 360 had a lot of news with its new features coming to Xbox Live and all its new games, but this Project Natal may rock the gaming world by defining an all new way of playing.
When the Wii came out, a huge selling point was the motion sensing controller. Now Microsoft's Xbox 360 will have motion sensing capability too. What's the difference? It doesn't need a controller.

Yes, that's right, this brand new revolutionary technology is extremely precise, powerful, and designed to function without you ever touching the controller. All you need to do is move in front of the camera, and it'll detect it. Not only that, did I mention it was extremely precise? More so than the Wiimote in fact, by far.

The technology involved here is absolutely tremendous. This camera can detect sound and 3D movement. That means it has the ability to determine depth of your movements, so you can move in a real "360 degrees" and it'll actually pick up your motion being 360 degrees and not just 180 degrees on a flat plane.
Microsoft demoed this technology at the E3 conference by showing off the game Richochet, and Paint Party. The motions used in playing these was simple but highly responsive when the camera picked it up.

With this new technology, there is no longer a need to even pick up a remote or controller. The camera picks up all your movement, so there's no need to press any buttons of hold anything. This is a one of a kind, Xbox 360 no controller motion sensing technology that may very well even go beyond the Xbox in terms of use and application. With many of Microsoft's offerings in other areas, gesture controls have become increasingly prevalent.

Then came a another demo, one that was absolutely captivating. A virtual character called "Milo", created by Lionhead Studios and Fable designer Peter Molyneux, interacted live with the user in conversation and movements. From the screen, it looked towards the user, and engaged in live conversation as if it were a human being. It also accepted hand-drawn messages scanned into the game in real time and processed.
This is the kind of AI technology that we could only dream of before.


Famed Steven Spielberg also went upstage to rave about the future of gaming and the impact this technology would have. He said "people are too intimidated to pick up game controllers." He's probably right too, and that's why this technology is definitely revolutionary and will define a whole new way of playing games.

Project Natal has most assuredly racked up some points for the Xbox 360, and Microsoft even says that it will be functional for all current-gen and past versions Xbox 360s and all future generations.

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Librarian files a grand $70 lawsuit against Facebook

A Florida librarian and activist has filed a civil lawsuit against Facebook which claims that FB failed to protect its users effectively, resulting in his $70.50 damages.
Theodore Karantsalis, a week ago, filed this $70.50 lawsuit against Facebook claiming that a virus managed to compromise his account on Facebook, changed his name to John Doe, then started sending out spam.
According to Karantsalis, Facebook deleted his friends and other related objects from his account during their restoral process. He then claims that he was forced to manually re-add such data back onto his account, and suffered from a monetary loss of approximately 30 cents per friend he had, which was about 250.

Facebook, in a statement said,

"We're very interested to hear how he came up with the figure of $70.50. He's not going to get it but we promise to refund all the money he paid to use Facebook. Seriously, we're glad to know how important Facebook is to Mr. Karantsalis but his account was not disabled, is currently active, and he is using it, so I'm not sure what the problem is."

Karantsalis says that he did not fall for anying phishing scams and is takes steps to maintain his security. Apparently, he is a privacy advocate that has taken extra caution when dealing with safety, including the use of anonymous proxies. He thinks that if such an issue could happen to him, then it can very easily be happening to many other users, especially because he takes steps that many other users tend not to take in order to protect his security.

This guy also happens to have a background in suing organiztions and companies. He has previously sued the city of Miami Springs for not providing sufficient access to roads, he sued Sprint and Wells Fargo due to a privacy exposure, and he also sued the U.S. Defense Department and Air Force.

This case however, doesn't seem to me that it has any real merit here. First off, the $70.50 is ridiculous in how he managed to come up with such a random figure (each friend is worth 30 cents?? And why exactly is that?). Then there's the issue of Facebook's TOS which states that they're not liable for such problems that they did not cause.
It is an interesting case, but I highly doubt it will pass and I think it'll be striked down as soon as it hits any judge.

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Windows 7 Coming This Holiday Season

Ever since the hate on Vista erupted, Microsoft has been working on their new OS called Windows 7. It was only but a few months ago that I posted some reviews on this incredibly revolutionary product. Now, we know that Windows 7 is in fact coming out this same year that the beta was released.

Microsoft Senior Vice President Bill Veghte said in an interview, "We are tracking well to a Windows 7 holiday". While suspicions existed previously that Windows 7 would be aiming for a 2009 Holiday Season launch, Microsoft had refused to confirm it, especially learning from the delays and issues with Vista.

Even since the beta version came out, bloggers and testers were screaming for Windows 7 to be released immediately as is.
With this confirmation, Veghte said that Microsoft has seen a lot of cooperation with its partners as well as good feedback from testers. It seems that they now believe Windows 7 to be almost ready for a launch, at least enough to commit to a launch in time for this holiday season.

It seems that everybody already wants to get their hands on Windows 7 now. Luckily they won't have to wait much longer.

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Top 7 Reasons OnLive Won't Kill Xbox 360, Wii

A start-up recently announced a system called OnLive monday night that aims to distribute games digitally, then host these games on their own servers so that all players could use their system without having game consoles, but merely an broadband internet connection. However, there are too many reasons for OnLive's failure that we simply cannot ignore, no matter what their demonstrations seem to show. The following is an excerpt from CNET news that summarizes the OnLive announcement.

Quote from CNET:

OnLive, which was started by WebTV founder Steve Perlman and former Eidos CEO Mike McGarvey, is aiming to launch a system--seven years in the works--that will digitally distribute first-run, AAA games from publishers like Electronic Arts, Take-Two, Ubisoft, Atari, and others, all at the same time as those titles are released into retail channels. The system is designed to allow players to stream on-demand games at the highest quality onto any Intel-based Mac or PC running XP or Vista, regardless of how powerful the computer.

While they may be dreaming of a great future where all gamers can play with consoles, without expensive systems, and without having to upgrade all the time, this dream cannot and will not ascend into reality for a number of reasons. At least not at the current time. Even though they've been working on it for 7 whole years, and their demonstration looks good, there's just no way this will become viable at least for several years. And until them, they won't be making much money. Here are 7 reasons why OnLive will not be able to kill the likes of Xbox 360, Wii, and the PS3.

7. Casual Gamers can't afford the Internet usage
First off, I'll say that it won't be hardcore gamers that will like this, and why that's so will be explained in the next point.
Now, with the current state of the USA, most people will not be able to afford the cost of using this system to stream video. They claim that a 1.5 Mbps connection will be enough for the lower quality version (which they claim to not really be lower quality), yet we also know that the bandwidth required for playing high quality games with detailed graphics is massive, so even if customers could get the streaming available at those speeds, their bandwidth can't support it. The case is different for hardcore gamers that can afford higher speeds and bandwidth, but it's unlikely that hardcore gamers will want to use this system.

6. Hardcore Gamers want their own equipment
Most serious gamers would much rather have their own equipment, games, and basically stuff that's in front of them, and not located somewhere else and isn't really theirs. They probably don't want to use some system that lets them play games, but the games aren't really fully theirs because they don't have a hard copy of it in front of them. Plus, they want their own hardware to operate their games, without having to rely on somebody else. Just take a look at the criticism of Spore to understand how gamers don't want to deal with "digital" copies of games and limited installs, etc. While OnLive might offer unlimited gaming, there's no transferability, no chance of reselling, and technically they wouldn't own their games because they'd have no hard copy of the game. What will happen if the company goes bust? They won't be able to play the games anymore then.

5. Resolution Difference
They talk about Standard Definition with a speed of 1.5 Mbps, but standard definition is actually quite low when compared to PC resolutions. Most games can support HD resolutions and higher when played on PC, and gamers have gotten used to that. If 1.5 Mbps can only support 760p, then not many people will be happy about that kind of quality. Then, if gamers can spare the money for higher speeds, then they probably won't mind just buying games and getting the hardware outright. The current median download speed is about 2.3 Mbps for the US, not including dialup users. That means that to get HD, people need to download at more than 2 times faster than the national median speed.

4. Lag time on fast reaction games
With games that move with lightning fast action and require reactions of the same calibre, then there must be significant lag time for customers that are farther away from the servers. For normal FPS (First Person Shooter) games played on consoles or PC, the time difference between the button signals reaching the server and the video sent out to the systems receiving must be extremely small lest the players notice the difference. If we assume that a game can play at 60 FPS, which isn't high by most measures, then we can say that if it takes a quarter of a second for the button signals to be received by the server, and another quarter second for video to be streamed back, thats a half a second delay. At a rate of 60 FPS, with a half second delay, what you get is 30 FPS, but every 30 seconds it lags. That means that there's a delay every second, and the video will move every half second. That is really enormous lag.

3. No Internet, no Game
While most people use the Internet nowadays, the reason many people don't play exclusively on the computer and/or online games is because they just don't want to play online. Consoles are evolving to allow multiplayer gaming, but many people still play console because they may not have an internet connection, or just because they don't want to connect to the Internet. That means that many people who prefer playing solo games will not want to connect to the Internet all the time, and use up their bandwidth when they can just use their own console to play offline.

2. Multiplayer unsuitable
While it may seem easy for multiplayer to thrive with this kind of system, it really is irrational. Even if we assume that only 10,000 instances of the same game are being played at any one time, they still have hundreds of other games out there that are also being run. The biggest problem with this is that most multiplayer games have a central server to process data, with each computer creating the packets and receiving them, but here, we have one server that is doing all the work. Yes, everything is on one server, so the data doesn't have much distance to travel, but just think of 10,000 games being processed, plus the data exchanged on all of these games in various "rooms" in each game, then being transfered to the people using OnLive's system. That would require absolutely tremendous amount of processing power and ability to host perhaps more than 1,000 rooms for different players. And that's just for one game. This sounds quite ridiculous to be able to have such advanced technology at such a time. There's no way they could possibly support that kind of processing power without having extraordinary new technology, which they can't possibly have stored for 7 years without anyone knowing about it.

Now, finally, the top reason this just won't work. Perhaps this is truly the one that will say it all, all I'll just sum this one up in a sentence, then explain what I mean.

1. Run 1000+ instances of Crysis on the same computer?

I don't think much needs to be said here, but even the greatest of super-computers probably won't be able to support 1000+ instances of Crysis while having multiplayer. Even if they could, what kind of money would they need to support this vast data transfer and processing power? If you could fill up several buildings with pure servers hosting 1000+ instances of Crysis, that's still ridiculous. Plus, if you take into account the video streaming and button jamming signals, as well as how they could host this along with other games + multiplayer, and what you have is a technology that we are FAR from achieving! This is just plainly unfeasible and it won't work. Not until we get fibre-optic internet connections and/or DOCSIS 3.0 and/or the type of connection in the likes of the Large Hadron Collider Computing Grid (LCG). Obviously, we are many years away from this Internet technology, and possibly even farther away from having the processing power necessary to run everything mentioned in one server. The only way I see this could become possible, is if they use a vast cloud computing network with networking capacities of the LCG, and then combine it all together into one massive super computer that spans all of the USA.

Unless they have that kind of technology backing them up, OnLive is unlikely to kill Xbox 360, the Wii, or even PS3.

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What will come of Microsoft Retail?

It seems that Microsoft has also decided to get into the retail business, and will be selling Microsoft products at retail outlets at various locations. Some say that this is a mimicking of Apple Stores, and some say Microsoft can also succeed where others have failed. The question before us today then, is whether or not Microsoft can make their retail stores successful, and if this will help their overall business. It is my belief that Microsoft should abandon the idea of Microsoft Retail, and stay focused on making software, and distributing the software to vendors.

I don't know exactly what caused this notion to start up, but it's bordering on the ridiculous. The only reason Apple stores are successful is because you can't buy Apple computers anywhere else, save for a few retailers. The fact is, Microsoft products are already at practically every retail outlet that carries computer products, and most of the time Microsoft products are already bundled into computers, so there's no need to specifically look for Microsoft products. Microsoft products are the norm, and so there really isn't a reason to get new retail stores that specifically sell Microsoft products. I have some serious doubt about how successful these Microsoft stores will be, because they are essentially competing with themselves, and the people who market their products. There's really no reason for this. A better idea would be to ask retailers to make a Microsoft only section, and even then I don't think it is necessary, because most of Microsoft's products come with the products, without anyone having to ask for it.

If Microsoft were to open its own stores, chances are, nobody will go there, because you can already get Microsoft products everywhere else. It's not a matter of helping customers getting more convenient service, but simply that you are putting together a whole bunch of Microsoft Products in one store, and not sell anything else. If we look at history, most retailers have failed, and Apple is the only one that hasn't. Why is this? It's not because Apple is great at retailing, it's simply because there's demand for Apple products, and you can't get them anywhere else, so people go to Apple stores. If Apple allowed many more stores to sell their products, I suspect Apple would see significant increase in sales, but then their own Apple stores will see same store sales decline.

We can already see that these Microsoft stores will not be helping Microsoft gain more sales or customers, and so the next question is, can it help Microsoft's business?
The answer to this is most likely a no as well. Every retail store that Microsoft has to operate will increase Microsoft's expenses, and thus increased their fixed costs, which amounts to lower profit every year. The greatest businesses are able to generate maximum profit and a high rate of return on equity, whereas the poor businesses have to continually increase fixed costs in order to grow, without actually increasing profit potential. Microsoft has always been one of the best businesses around, largely because it focused on software, and thus their fixed costs were extremely low, while production costs were practically non existent once you factor in the volume of software being sold. This allowed them to continue to reap hefty profits, without the hassle of having large expenses and/or production costs and price competition. Microsoft has been able to follow this philosophy, and thus generating many cash cow products that bring revenue without Microsoft spending on them heavily. The biggest cost that Microsoft had was research & development, but once you had the product, you could product it without incurring more production costs. Now that Microsoft wants to enter the retail market, they need to rent more, buy land, pay more employees, and they also have increased production costs by having to put their products at every store, unlike when they just loaded copies of software onto hardware from other manufactures.

This all adds up to the fact that, Microsoft will have a difficult time to make their retail operations successful, and if they ARE able to, then they have some VERY talented management. With the hire of a Wal-mart veteran, and the Microsoft internal reforms, they may be able to pull it off, and allow easier access to everything Microsoft, while increasing their brand name value, but that road will be long and hard. Fortunately, they may be able to snatch up land and lower some of their long term costs by starting this operation during a depression. Unfortunately, if they start in the middle of a depression, they won't see powerful results for a while.

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About us

Hello, my name is Bill and I'm the primary writer of TopTechWire. Now as you may notice, I tend to refer to "us" a lot and that will shortly be explained. This page is simply to show you basically who I am and my reasons for writing this blog, and a few other things.

First off, while I am the primary and sole writer of this blog, there are plenty of people working behind the scenes to help me with my posts. Now, due to their wish for anonymity, I won't mention who they are, but I can assure you that they've given me a lot of help with writing this blog, and they do it simply because they want to.
Who am I? I'm Bill, and I write this blog for the purpose of enjoying writing it, keeping up with the world, and a host of other benefits writing a blog provides, such as a possible income opportunity. But please, think not of just me, but instead think of TopTechWire, because that's who WE of TopTechWire truly are.

TopTechWire is a blog based on reporting the latest news, rumors, products, software, gadgets and opinions in the technology sector involving I.T., computers and the Internet as well as high tech gadgets and tech companies.

We at TopTechWire are dedicated to bringing the the best information from trusted sources whenever possible and also use other unconventional sources to report rumors. We take pride in providing only highly valuable information and opinions that shed new light on various subjects, and we also analyze situations in the tech world. We value the insight and predictions we make over the actual breaking of news. While we do also provide news, we analyze all the aspects of each news piece, and attempt to understand it better, as well as debate on the merits of decisions, products, etc.

You can contact me further at the following email address: TopTechWire [at] gmail [dot] com
Replace [at] with "@" and replace [dot] with ".". Caps included, no spaces.

That about wraps up what we are and what we do. Thank you all and don't forget to keep visiting TopTechWire.

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Microsoft cuts jobs in cutting-edge profitable strategy

It was just this morning that Microsoft released their earnings report for the second quarter ahead of schedule. Originally, they were supposed to release the report later today, but they came out with the report and have announced a job cut of 5000 positions. It seems that the rumors about a 17% job cut were in fact wrong, but Microsoft has indeed suffered slightly in this depressing economy.
Yesterday, I wrote a post on how Microsoft couldn't possibly lay off 17% of its workforce, and it appears that I was slightly correct, and also slightly wrong.

While Microsoft has blasted ahead with profits from its Xbox division, and sustained profits from many other divisions while retaining investment, they too have suffered from the bleak economy. Due to businesses and consumers cutting their spending, Microsoft's Windows sales have been going down, and caused Microsoft's earnings per share to be $0.02 lower than analysts' expectations.
Microsoft managed to obtain slight revenue growth, despite the economic conditions. Throughout this quarter, Microsoft has showcased plenty of new software innovations and continued to invest in new products. From what we can see, although Microsoft was affected, they will continue investing in the long term, and has practically 0 chance of failing.

I said yesterday that it was highly unlikely for Microsoft to really cut massive amounts of jobs, however, the figure of 5000 jobs is still slightly disturbing. But Microsoft also says that they will continue to hire more, so in actuality the amount of workforce they are reducing is about 3000 positions. 1400 jobs will be cut immediately, and the rest will follow over an 18 month period. From my opinion, Microsoft has made an excellent choice. Cutting 1400 jobs right now will help them to sustain profits in the short term. Meanwhile, cutting the rest over a long period of 18 months will help Microsoft to make themselves more profitable, while keeping less staff. The announced hiring by Microsoft will also help Microsoft continue their position as the industry leader, because Microsoft definitely has enough cash to invest aggressively in new products, while competitors are in weaker positions. Microsoft should take this time to invest heavily in their existing product lines, and invest more into their new ventures. Even though in the short term they may have a lot of spending to do, this will undoubtedly put them in far better position in the long run.
The strategy Microsoft should take right now is to invest in products, while cutting down on marketing and other similar expenses. Microsoft doesn't have to market its products heavily right now, because there are far less people trying to buy new things, but they should resume heavy marketing as soon as the economy lights up just a little, and especially when they release Windows 7. From what Microsoft has done so far, it appears they are following this strategy quite well.

An interesting fact I noticed was that Microsoft started their massive advertising campaign just before and during the start of the major depression we're experiencing right now. Whether this was intended or not, this definitely helps Microsoft, by having marketed right before the depression, and not many other companies will be advertising during or even a little after, thus, Microsoft has gained an advantage here. Plus, from what I can tell, the use of Seinfeld in the ads while the ads weren't exactly perfect, may also contribute to reminding customers of Microsoft during dark times. It's unlikely for other companies to start massive ad campaigns during the depression, so as customers go through the depression, they will be reminded of Microsoft's ads that don't necessarily target Microsoft products in general. Then Microsoft can resume mass advertising after the depression and continue their marketing without further problems.

The outlook for Microsoft is highly positive over the next few years, from my point of view, seeing as Windows 7 is a huge improvement from Vista, and will ultimately net Microsoft some serious cash. Then, with their strategy in place, Microsoft will be in a strong position as they emerge from the depression. The only problem is we don't know how long the economic turmoil will last, so the rebound may take quite a while, and outlast the release of Windows 7. But I'm confident that customers will be itching to get Windows 7 regardless of the economy, after what happened with Vista's image (even though it wasn't all that bad as an OS).

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No way Microsoft is laying off 17% workforce

Recently the rumors have escalated enormously concerning whether Microsoft would be laying off 17% of their workforce. The FudZilla blog was the one who originally reported this outrageous rumor, and some other blogs/news sites claimed to have confirmed it and/or predict the same.
Very soon, Microsoft will be releasing its earnings report, and that's what has caused all these rumors to spike, in discussion of exactly how much Microsoft has been impacted by the depression.

Now, first of all, Microsoft has been barely affected considering some of the problems in other industries and companies. Seriously, Microsoft has a huge $19Bil + in their bank, no wonder they don't have that many problems. If anything, they're probably trying to take advantage of the issues currently in its competitors, and attempting to improve themselves.
I highly doubt Microsoft profits will have gone down by a large margin, albeit it will have been affected somewhat, considering that consumers are no longer buying as much, and businesses will not be investing as much either. However, the nature of their business causes many businesses and consumers to continue purchasing their products even during a downturn in the economy.
Microsoft most likely has weathered the economic problems so far much better off than other companies, and I believe they will exceed analyst expectations in terms of earnings and profits. Unlike other companies, Microsoft has continued to invest in new products and research to develop new product lines or continue old product lines. They have also improved various existing betas and services. In fact, you can even see the vast list of beta applications and platforms they have available on their Microsoft Connect website. Just this past half of 2008 and now 2009, Microsoft released beta versions of notable products including Internet Explorer 8 Public Beta 2, Windows Live Essentials, Windows 7, Windows SDK and others. It's obvious that Microsoft isn't going to stop their R&D anytime soon, nor are they cutting back on expenditures by a large margin.
Also taking a look at Xbox 360's enormous success this holiday season compared with other products during the recession we've experienced, Microsoft still holds major advantages and they are complying with customer demands for cheaper products, while sustaining viability and increasing market to defeat the competition. Plus, I think Microsoft is in excellent position to take maximum advantage of the depression with the release of Windows 7. From my experience, Windows 7 is already fine and ready to go whenever Microsoft wants. All they're looking for is some feedback and perhaps minor bug fixes.
With Windows 7's massive performance upgrade and improvement from Vista's issues, most customers can't wait for getting their hands on Windows 7. Especially now that there's a depression going on which might last quite a while, Microsoft's plan to market cheaper products will definitely help them. Customers no longer desire expensive computers as much as before, so many are getting the low-cost laptops/desktops with as much performance as they can pack without upping the price. Thus, Microsoft's Windows 7 improvements allow them to be in excellent position to market to these customers and will ultimately make Windows 7 highly successful, as well as get rid of Vista's tainted brand.

In such a situation where their money is plentiful, having tiny debt compared to their vast reserves of capital, and where they are in a great position to be marketing and creating new products, they can't possibly be seeking to downsize by 17%. that rumor is absolutely outrageous. While it may be true that Microsoft has slowed on hiring, that's just a part of the way a depression works. Nobody wants to overspend during such times because you never know when it'll really end. Microsoft may be looking at small layoffs in certain sections that aren't proving to be profitable, in the manner that they have always used to deal with economic issues. I highly doubt they will engage in massive company wide layoffs, unless they think they can become even more profitable, in which case I still doubt the layoffs will be as large as 17%, because such numbers are generally only shown by companies in serious debt and are failing in some way. This is one of the most profitable companies in the world that we're talking about here, and they have practically no debt, while their cash reserves are enormous.

Obviously, Microsoft isn't going to lay off 17% of their work force, but only time will tell, and we will find out their situation as the earnings report comes in. I feel inclined to believe their earnings may have increased, rather than slowed down.

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5 Reasons EU plan to cut IE from windows will fail

Recently, the European Union (EU) has decided to take serious legal action against Microsoft, by claiming their Internet Explorer (IE) should not be bundled with Windows, because it is anti competitive and is taking advantage of Microsoft's immense market power. They want Microsoft to stop immediately, and change their marketing tactics so that Internet Explorer will no longer be bundled with future releases of Windows. They have not made any statements concerning whether Windows can come with different versions with and without IE.
Now, it may sound fine, but this logic is seriously flawed. There are too many reasons why Internet Explorer is essential to the Windows OS, and taking it off will not help consumers at all. Here's a list of reasons for why this plan must and surely will fail.

1. Internet Explorer is a part of OS
Unlike many other programs, Internet Explorer is not just any other program, but rather a part of the windows environment and operating systems. There are a variety of functions in Windows that are based on Internet Explorer, and cannot be done with Internet Explorer or another browser, and even sometimes, only Internet Explorer will suffice. Windows uses Internet Explorer to read .xml files, to set up configurations settings for various functions, to set up router settings, and much more. If we take out Internet Explorer, we are taking out a vital aspect of Windows.

2. All browsers need to be downloaded
Internet Explorer comes with Windows for one main reasons: to let users use the Internet quickly, and without hassle. Now, where do we get new browsers? Obviously, the INTERNET! And how are we supposed to get these browsers if we don't have one to begin with? There are some methods, including possibly ftp and other protocols available with command prompt, etc, but will NORMAL users be able to do this? The answer is no. They rely on the simplicity of web browsers to get around, and they probably can't get a new browser, without using Internet Explorer to download one! Thus, we have a computer that is cut off from the Internet, unless we hire somebody or ask somebody else to use sophisticated methods of downloading software.

3. Users want simplicity
For most users, the hassle of getting a new browser is far too great, and that is exactly why IE holds so much market share. The fact is, people don't want to download new browsers because there's too much hassle! Everybody just wants to get on the Internet, and be done. They don't care how bad Internet Explorer is, as long as it gets them to where they want. This is precisely why taking off Internet Explorer is not helping the consumer, and in fact causing a vareity of problems in accord with problem 2.

4. If Internet Explorer can be cut off from windows, then so should the browsers from other Operating Systems right?
Well if it really were this case, why don't the EU chase after every company or operating system? All they want, is to take off and unbundle Internet Explorer from Windows because the EU is a big Microsoft hate group. All the operatings systems around come with a browser, because it's the only natural thing to do. Most people use the computer because they want to access the Internet, so we shouldn't be impeding their desires. Of course, a computer can do many things without the Internet, but our world revolves around the Internet! Most average consumers even use the computer solely for that purpose! Thus, the EU can't strip every Operating system of their browsers, and they shouldn't strip Windows of IE.

5. Without programs like IE, Operating systems could end up with nothing left
If they can really take off IE, then in theory, they should take off every program every OS comes with. What's left of that? Maybe the recycling bin, control panel, and basic system features such as the registry. Perhaps not even that. Registry editor is a program by windows too no? So is recycling bin and all the tools in control panel. Why don't we get rid of those? Then whats left? It's very simple actually. By removing every software except the OS, what we have left is the command prompt, if you can really call it an "operating system". Here's an idea, how about Microsoft lose this case on purpose, then make a version of windows called Windows 7 Command Prompt Basic, and include nothing but command prompt in that version? I'd like to see how the world and the European Union would react. I doubt the anyone will buy this version, and even complain about it to Microsoft or the EU. Then Microsoft will just issue a statement saying they are trying to abide by the EU's laws, and making a version of Windows with just the core. In fact, this will barely affect Microsoft if they did this anyway, because people will only buy the "premium" version.

Conclusion
The EU has absolutely no grounds to be complaining about Microsoft's marketing tactics, because it's not really marketing, it's just putting a piece of software where it belongs. Internet Explorer isn't being bundled WITH Windows, it is a PART of windows. The EU cannot do anything to Microsoft, and even if they did, they would have no public backing at all. There is no way this case will go through, and I'm surprised such a ridiculous notion has even been proposed. It goes to show what Microsoft hates will do.

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It's astounding why people hate Microsoft

It really isn't a surprise to me at all, but it's always appalling to see that most of the world seems to hate Microsoft for causing the computer revolution available to the lower and middle classes.
As you probably already know, a few days back when Windows 7 was released, I wrote my review on Windows 7 Beta, some of my reliable sources alerted me to the fact that after my review got into the social media, certain people (or rather, most) commented on it by quoting all sorts of lie-filled sources with improper and rigged benchmarking (especially on an OS BETA, which is prone to benchmark faults), as well as claiming I was being paid by Microsoft.
Obviously, (or maybe not) this is not the case, and we are in no way affiliated with Microsoft. The review is simply what I experienced from the beta itself, without bias from my "views" (which I assure you, are not in support of Microsoft's anti-competitive ways, but understand that they are legal).

I may have remarked during the review that one should at least think about trying Windows 7 before making unfortunate assumptions. Obviously, Microsoft tried very hard to market Vista to people who wanted more simple OSes, and yet wanted security without "annoyances" which was a commendable effort, only it failed. What surprises me most is how people seem to think Windows 7 is another Vista, even when I was already surprised at how many people didn't seem to understand how great Vista was as an improvement in software technology.

While Vista had drawbacks, it was necessary to pave the way for future OSes. As well, Vista was a great advancement regardless of what some people might say. Most NORMAL users of Vista aren't complaining, but only the people who think they "speak out for the general population" and think they are good with computers, claim Vista is a huge pile of waste.

This is what I have to say to them: If vista were really so bad, then change the settings so that it doesn't annoy you, if you're so good with computers... If most people didn't like Vista, they could just get linux or some other system. I assure you, if everybody was so troubled by Vista, they would definitely either switch back to XP, or do something about their predicament. The fact is, they don't. Only the people who want to continue with the massive online upsurge in negative propaganda, would complain. If all these people knew what they were doing, then they could easily change some settings. Why are they still complaining and not trying to be more productive if Vista is harming their productivity? Some people might even try to claim that other OSes are gaining ground fast on vista as proof of this. Well, 2 years is definitely long enough to have made plenty of true vista haters switch. If vista and Microsoft products were all that bad, they would've been out of business long ago! Of course Apple is growing faster than Microsoft. What can you expect from a company that has ALREADY taken up basically every computer in the US? Oh and by the way, it's a monopoly because there's nobody better than them. If there were, then it wouldn't be a monopoly.
Some people say that Bill Gates and Microsoft only became a monopoly because of their special circumstances and the way Bill Gates took advantage of IBM's power and his own power. That may be so, but if they didn't do that, nobody would be here arguing about this. Only the super rich would be on the Internet, and they wouldn't bother subjecting themselves to petty arguments such as this.

In any case, Microsoft may be anti-competitive, but Windows 7 is fine, and reviews should only be based on the actual merits and problems of software, not because of bias.

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Windows 7: AMAZING and REVOLUTIONARY! Part B

It was just a while ago that the Windows 7 beta was publicly released on Microsoft's website.
The new Windows 7 beta is truly revolutionary in that it enormously improves the good points of Vista, and adds so much more for the average user, and also for business users. This time aorund, Microsoft has focused their software on making it easy to use, performance based, and just more effective in all aspects of use, without interfering with other software or tasks.

In Part A of the Review of Windows 7: Amazing and Revolutionary, I explained just the tip of the iceberg of what's new and improved in Windows 7.
Now, this is Part B of the review. This will conclude my review of Windows 7.

Windows Explorer and Libraries
Another major feature of Windows 7, is the new library system, which adds to the functionality and management of various files, and as I already explained, it is integrated with Windows Media Player, and media files.
Windows Explorer has gone through a massive face lift, and the graphics are much better than before, with less clutter and provides easier access to the items you need.
With the addition of Libraries, we no longer have to rely solely on Search, indexes, or going to long file paths to file specific directories. With the power of libraries, you can manage several locations at once by accessing your library, including different places, drives, and other computers on your network. It definitely makes finding files and managing files easy to use and more effective. It saves you a lot of time when you need to remember where you last stored your file or such, because all you need is to set up the library, and access all your files from there later, notwithstanding where the file actually is.
These libraries can definitely be taken advantage of in other applications, as shown by the use of it in Windows Media Player.

The above is an image of what libraries look like and the new interface for explorer, with HomeGroup also visible, from the Windows 7 Blog.

The TaskBar
Wow, this is really next generation right here! The old taskbar is gone, and it's replaced by an amazing graphical taskbar that utilizes very effective all the space available. See it and you'll understand what I mean:

The Windows 7 team has definitely put some good effort into this taskbar, and I really like using it. There's no more of the old text, it looks well in place with the rest of the screen, and feels soothing to the eye. As well, the preview has been changed slightly to fit as well. These previews are now also clickable, with a title and icon at the top, and if you mouse over it, a close button appears.
Then we have the awesome Aero Peek, which lets you "peek" at the windows you mouse over the thumbnails of! Everything else then fades away, and you can also do this with the control button to show the desktop. This is definitely cooler than what Vista had, and deserves praise.

Next up is the addition of Jumplists which hasn't been fully taken advantage of yet, but provides efficient clicking and access to files when it is taken advantage of. Microsoft Office Word is able to make use of it, by showing recent files. You can access this menu just by right-clicking.

For some programs, toolbars are also accessible via the preview:

This makes using your media players much more effective, and you don't have to have the program as active to do something quickly.

To top it off, another cool feature is the ability to show the progress bar on the icons!

I don't care what the Windows 7 Team Says, this new taskbar is REVOLUTIONARY!

HomeGroup
This is another of the great new features available in Windows 7, and I've already mentioned it several times. This, like many of the other features, are integrated with Windows 7, and all the other features newly available. With HomeGroup, setting up a network is easy as 1,2,3!
At the end of the windows 7 installtion, it asks you whether or not you want to set up or join a HomeGroup. As technology advanced, networks are bound to become increasingly popular, and HomeGroup is one of those features that makes good use of networks, by sharing various content available via libraries and media content and even documents if one wishes to share those. This allows all members of the HomeGroup to easily access material, without the hassle of setting up specific directories and all the small details.
In setting up HomeGroup, te Windows 7 Team decided to apply a create a random default password on set up, because it apparently

In testing, this concept raised quite a bit of alarm with people. It seems that most people generally have 1 or 2 passwords that they use for all their online or offline activities. When asked to input a user password for their HomeGroup, they gravitated towards using one of those, and then reacted with alarm when they realized that this password needs to be shared with other users in the home! People generally reacted better to the auto-generated password, since they knew to write it down and hand it around. The other interesting benefit we got from this was a reduction in the amount of time people would spend on the UI that introduced them to the HomeGroup concept. With a user-generated password, they had to grasp the HomeGroup concept, think about what password to set, and decide whether to accept the shared libraries default. Without having to provide a password, people had more time to understand HomeGroup, and their sharing decision - leading to a much more streamlined, private, and secure design.

With a default password, one can still change it in control panel, but it seems to be more effective to use a default random password.

In windows explorer, there are also options readily available, (as shown by one of the graphics above), to easily share your files on HomeGroup.
There's just one little drawback to HomeGroup, and it's that it seems to be a feature only available to Windows 7. That means that in order to take advantage of all the benefits of HomeGroup, one will have to upgrade Vista or XP. Perhaps some features of HomeGroup could be applied in later service packs to Vista, because if that doesn't happen, we can easily see how many people will not be happy about it.

Performance
With Windows 7, I have to say, this is one of the things that most people are going to love! I can tell you right now, that Windows 7 performs faster and responds faster than both XP and Vista. While in my opinion Vista was already very fast (the graphics make it "appear" slower), Windows 7 is what speed is all about. All the standards for massive RAM and processing power is gone, replaced with much lower requirements, and still be able to run lightning fast, including faster boot times, opening of applications, etc.
A note on the comparison some people tend to make with Mac's super fast boot:
Windows 7 seems to be getting much closer to instant-boot, with all the effectiveness of using the registry and start-up configurations, unlike mac OS. It fully takes advantage of all the raw power available, while still allowing for the use of start-up programs, registry settings on start-up, other boot settings, etc.
The only tiny drawback here, isn't really a drawback, but it's more related to a graphics animation issue which some people will love, and others hate. When you try to move windows around, there's an issue that appears to be lag, but is actually not, because the response time is superb, but the animation makes it look as if dragging windows around is laggy.
It doesn't stop there either, because there's also been a boost in regards to gaming and graphics performance. Plus, Windows 7 comes with energy saving capabilities that also use energy more efficiently while providing maximum performance.

Windows 7 is undoubtedly a huge improvement.

Touch
I don't know if this will be a strong selling point for a lot of people, as I personally don't find it extremely enticing, possibly because I prefer just using normal computers. However, they have implemented a multi-touch system that people with touchscreens are bound to enjoy. It seems all the new gadgets these days involve the use of touch screen, althought touch screen technology itself isn't all that new or complicated.
There's nothing extremely special or helpful about the touchscreen capabilities, but I suppose it is a step in the direction of more modern machines. Although, I don't see how it would increase productivity, and probably isn't a huge deal to most users of the PC.

Conclusion
In conclusion, I will say that Windows 7 is absolutely amazing and although the windows 7 team won't admit it, it is revolutionary. While it doesn't rework the main parts of the windows platform, it builds on existing Vista base, and improvements a lot of functionality, adds new features, taking out many bugs, increase performance, and is certainly a very worthwhile upgrade from Vista. I can honestly say that Windows 7, even in its beta form will please many users of the PC, on their wait for the next amazing Operating System.
I think you'll agree with me strongly on this point, just try it out.

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Windows 7: AMAZING and REVOLUTIONARY! Part A

Many years ago, Microsoft released an Operating System Called Windows XP, but it wasn't received very well in the beginning. As time went on, people realized the true power of XP, and it became increasingly popular, until it was used by practically everyone. Then Vista came out, and it was the turning point in software for Microsoft. After massive changes to the core of the Operating system, they came out with a highly advanced operating system, but with many problems that are typical of a new revolutionary technology that hasn't been perfected.

With Vista, many improvements were provided that were also filled with bugs, or rather, certain features that many people didn't like, even though it made Vista better than more secure. Due to the annoyance of these features, and the negative propaganda Vista received even though it was a great software that everybody bought and liked (that's right, most users liked it! If people really didn't like it, then they would've asked for a refund or something, instead of complaining on the Internet, which demonstrates that they liked it and are hoping Microsoft will further improve it.)

Now, Windows 7 Beta has just been publicly released, and it is one big step up from Vista. It is a revolutionary product and it certainly multiplys the effectiveness of Vista's basis, and adds more features that make the operating system easier to use, more efficient, betting looking, and just overall, better. It makes what was already a great operating system, into an amazing operating system!

Windows 7 reduces the memory and resource usage of Vista, and brings the best features while tuning up everything to what most computers want. Let's take a look at some of the highlights of Windows 7 and some of the not so good points.

Setup and Device/Driver Installation
If you didn't know it beforehand, you might've thought you were installing another version of Vista, when you install Windows 7. There's nothing special about the set-up process except the new boot screen, and the new HomeGroup setup, which we'll talk about later.
It seems that with the coming of Vista and Windows 7, drivers are found by the OS extremely fast. With XP, sometimes you had to go looking for specific drivers, but Vista and now Windows 7 gets them immediately, and you barely have to do anything. It finds drivers by itself.
What's interesting about manging devices and drivers, is that 7 now provides a feature called Devices and Printers. The old Device manager is still available, but this new features seems to be better looking, and possibly more user friendly than device managers. According to Paul Thurrot, it's also more advanced. It may be able to fix certain issues Device manager cannot, and makes fixing those issues easier with the GUI. However, the use of this feature may be limited, seeing as Windows 7 gets and installs most or all drivers without the need of user interference.

Preloaded Apps
I have to say, there's two words that can be said about this, and those are, COOL, and AWWW.
First off, it seems many applications work on Windows 7 that work on either Vista or XP, so that's a good sign, but basically all of them either don't take advantage of Windows 7's new features, or has minor bugs with one or two of them. What's cool is the new Windows Media Player, with lots of new codecs to support many types of files, and the slick design which is much simpler and no longer overcrowded. As well, Windows Media Player is integrated with Libraries so you can load all your media files in one place. You access these libraries in the same way whether you're using WMP, Explorer, or the new Media Center. More on Libraries later.

That's a picture from the windows 7 blog, showing a more simplistic design.

This is a picture of the new and improved Windows Media Center, which you can use HomeGroup to share media, and even stream recorded-TV(non DRM).

Moving on to the AWWW, well, a huge drawkback here is that some of the usually prepacked apps are no longer bundled with Windows 7, such as Windows Mail, photo managing, etc.
WHY??? Those apps were great, easy to use, and didn't require downloading! Has Microsoft been the victim of anti-trust lawsuits that actually WORKED so far? NO! That's because bundling these products is perfectly legitimate, and most people prefer having it this way! Want proof? Just look at IE's market share, even though it's kind of really horrible.

However, the apps that are still there have definitely improved a lot, has cool graphics, and continues the Vista style.

This ends Part A of the Windows 7 Review. In part B, we'll take a look at some other features, and Windows 7's overall improvements.

Update: Part B of the Review is now available.

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