Microsoft

LOS ANGELES--While Windows 7 has gotten plenty of attention over the past two weeks, there are some features in there that haven't gotten as much attention. I wrote on Friday about a new programming interface for location-based services. Here are seven more features that caught my eye.

1. Standard approach to mobile broadband
Windows 7 treats cellular modems as a standard connection, much like a Wi-Fi network, popping them up in the same available wireless networks dialog.

Sierra Wireless has already said it will support the new approach, which should make life much easier for road warriors (myself included). One of my few gripes about the prebeta Windows 7 laptop I'm using is that it doesn't recognize my relatively new USB Sprint modem.

2. Help with public Wi-Fi spots.
This was a little feature I discovered on my own. With many public Wi-Fi hot spots, once you connect to the network, you have to do something in your browser, such as agree to certain terms or enter a password. Windows 7 pops up a notification that tells you that, although you have to be connected to the network, more action may be needed and it gives you a direct link to open your browser.

When logging onto a Wi-Fi network that requires additional information via a browser, Windows 7 pops up this warning. (Click on image for a short photo gallery.)

(Credit: CNET News)

3. Windows Troubleshooting
Sure, it would be better if your computer worked problem-free. But, acknowledging that's not the case, Microsoft has added a central place in Windows 7 to try to figure out what went wrong and why.

Among the kinds of problems that Windows Troubleshooting aims to help solve are issues with networked printers, detecting hard drive problems, and even some proactive things, like figuring out how much life a laptop battery has before it will likely need to be replaced with a new battery.

4. New sensor support
Windows 7 adds base-level support for all kinds of sensors, from GPS, to ambient light sensors, to accelerometers. Light sensors, for example, can now be used not only to light up a keyboard, but an application could sense daylight and make type larger so that it's easier to read.

At WinHEC, Microsoft handed out 700 free sensor developer kits that included a light sensor, touch pad, and accelerometer. The kit was a big hit with the developers, prompting one of the only long lines of the show.

5. Improved battery life and playback of DVDs
Microsoft is trying to do a couple things to make the DVD-playing experience better in Windows 7.

First and foremost, it has changed things so that DVD movies just start playing, as opposed to bringing up a long list of options.

Second, the company has worked to adjust power settings while playing back movies to enable better battery life.

"I'm hopeful it will have battery life equivalent to a portable DVD player," Microsoft's Jon DeVaan said in an interview. The issue is personal, he said. If Microsoft can reach its goal, he might be able to only bring a laptop on outings. "I hope to spare my back on family trips," he said.

6. Windows Biometric Framework
According to a press release from fingerprint sensor make AuthenTec, the operating system features improved biometric support that should enable a more standard way for fingerprint management applications to work with fingerprint readers in Windows 7.

"This provides ease of fingerprint sensor integration for PC manufacturers and a more consistent user experience," AuthenTec said in its release.

7. Enhancements to Windows Media Center
Microsoft hasn't given up on its dream of having Windows gain a prominent spot in the living room and its main effort in this area--Windows Media Center--is back in Windows 7.

BetaNews has a look at some of the new features, including support for H.264 video, an on-screen keyboard, and better method of scrolling through large libraries.

No word on whether the new Media Center will offer the long-anticipated support for DirecTV.

Click here for more news on Windows 7.

LOS ANGELES--Windows 7 has a new programming interface designed to make it a whole lot easier for software to figure out where in the world a PC and its user are located.

That should make it easier for a whole new range of location-based services from finding nearby friends to LoJack-like PC tracking programs. Even search could be a whole lot better if the search engine knew where you were. Indeed, searchers often enter their city with their location to try and get just that benefit.

"There's so many times you have to enter in where you are at," said Microsoft program manager Alec Berntson.

At the same time, broader use of location-based services could also open up a range of privacy concerns.

Those issues--and how to handle them--was the subject of a discussion this week at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) here.

Microsoft does give a range of control options, such as turning off location services by default, as well as the ability to limit such services only to specific users or only to applications, as opposed to services that run in the background. However, the operating system doesn't allow users the option of letting only certain applications access your location. So, for example, if you turn it on for a mapping program, any other Windows application running could also access that information.

The reason, Microsoft officials say, is that Windows doesn't have a reliable means of determining that an application is what it says it is, so any attempt to limit the location to a specific application would be easily spoofable, Berntson said during the WinHEC discussion.

"We only promise the control that we can realistically give to them, rather than trying to promise more than we can deliver," Berntson said.

That said, application-based control, "would be great to have and it is certainly on our Christmas list for future stuff," he said.

But, not everyone felt that Windows 7 was doing all it could on the privacy front. One attendee suggested, for example, that Microsoft at least notify users when an application requests location information.

Although technically possible, Berntson said that's not currently on Microsoft's roadmap for Windows 7.

In fairness, location-based services are actually more secure in Windows 7 than in the past. That's because in past versions of Windows, there was really no way to reliably turn off location information.

"The old way of doing it--there was no warning, there was no switch, there was nothing," said Microsoft lead product manager Daniel Polivy. That said, it was so cumbersome that few people have enabled such location-based information or built services on top of them.

A pair of APIs
So just what is it that Microsoft is doing in Windows 7?

Well, at a low level, Microsoft has a new application programming interface (API) for sensors and a second API for location. It uses any of a number of things to actually get the location, depending on what's available. Obviously there's GPS, but it also supports Wi-Fi and cellular triangulation. At a minimum. Users can type in their location if they really want location-based services and don't have any of those other sensors.

Applications can then use that longitude and latitude information to provide any number of services to the customer, of which mapping is only the tip of the iceberg. Most of those applications will be up to developers, though. The only location-based service in the current Windows 7 OS itself is the fact that the weather gadget will use your location, assuming you have such services available and turned on.

Masafumi Kuboyama, a senior manager in Sony's Vaio PC unit in Japan, said he wants to know what's going on in his system and would appreciate knowing what the location-based services were up to. Most computer users, though, don't want to be bothered, he said.

"My relatives never understand what's going on in a PC," he said. "Everybody says, 'Please do (it) automatically.'"

He also said he's interested in the possibilities opened up by location-based services. "I'm looking forward to seeing more convenient applications for the Netbook."

Tim Zinsky, a software architect at Hewlett-Packard, said he wasn't all that disappointed that Microsoft isn't providing all the pieces with its location API.

Zinsky, who stressed he was speaking for himself and not HP, said he isn't convinced that there isn't a way to track which applications are using the location information.

"They are underestimating the capability there," he said. "I think they could do it."

But that's OK with him. "I don't want it all to come from Microsoft," he said. "If they can't do it, maybe somebody else or another company can do it."

Click here for more news on Windows 7.

LOS ANGELES--In a technical session on Thursday afternoon, Microsoft provided the clearest public indication that it is planning on getting Windows 7 completed in time to run on PCs that ship for next year's holiday buying season.

In a presentation on its somewhat secretive Velocity program to improve PC quality, Microsoft director Doug Howe showed a slide saying that the Vista Velocity program would continue through next spring as Microsoft worked to improve Vista machines that ship in next year's back-to-school time frame. He went on to say that Microsoft would continue the Velocity effort with Windows 7.

The slides and Howe's presentation appeared to confirm what has been widely speculated--but something Microsoft has not outright said--namely that Windows 7 is aimed to ship around mid-year, in time to be on machines that ship for the 2009 holiday buying season. After the session, Howe essentially confirmed that Microsoft is aiming Windows 7 for the holidays.

"Definitely the holiday focus is going to be on 7," Howe told me.

Although hardly shocking, Microsoft has worked hard not to publicly commit to shipping Windows 7 for next year's PCs. While partners have been told privately when to expect Windows 7, the company is trying to avoid the PR hit that would come with missing another deadline. Officially, the party line is that Windows will ship within three years of the January 2007 consumer release of Windows Vista.

Microsoft hasn't said more about that timing at either this week's WinHEC or last week's Professional Developer Conference. It has said that it will ship a beta version early next year and also hinted that only one release candidate is planned.

The session also shed a little more light on the Velocity program itself. Initially open only to selected computer makers, Microsoft is trying to open up the program somewhat to other hardware and software makers, though it still has yet to publicly say what its criteria are or how it will promote the computers that pass its testing.

Howe said increased marketing is a benefit for computer makers, and a slide said computer makers get promotion in Microsoft's advertising, but Howe would not offer any further details.

As far as criteria, Microsoft didn't offer a list at the session, though Howe confirmed that one of the current benchmarks is having a system that boots up and is ready to run within 50 seconds. Many machines that have gone through the velocity testing can boot up faster, he said, but because there are so many factors that can influence boot times, Microsoft wanted a goal that was broadly achievable.

Microsoft started Velocity in July 2007 as a three-month effort to see what were the main causes of sluggish system performance. It quickly realized a broader effort was needed and has kept the program going as an effort for computer makers to create "best-in-class" machines. The program focuses on improving start-up and shut-down times as well as tasks like going to sleep and waking. Other criteria include making sure that systems ship with stable drivers and software that has been proved to be Vista-compatible.

The specific testing itself is done at Microsoft's labs in Redmond, Wash., Howe said.

Click here for more news on Windows 7.

LOS ANGELES--After two weeks of focus on the desktop version of Windows 7, it's server counterpart finally got a day in the sun.

Vice President Bill Laing began on Thursday pointed out the obvious difference between the products that would use the server software, as compared to Netbooks and other PCs built on Windows 7.

"We actually use forklift devices to bring our toys," he said, pointing to several refrigerator-size servers that were on stage with him.

Laing traced the company's progress in developing its various server operating systems, which now span from its Windows Home Server product to the data center and high-performance computing versions of Windows Server 2008.

Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 is now in technical beta, he said.

Next week, the company plans to launch the small and midsize business versions of its server products--Windows Small Business Server 2008 (formerly code-named Cougar) and Windows Essential Business Server 2008 (formerly code-named Centro).

But the main focus was on the server version of Windows 7, known as Windows Server 2008 R2. It's noteworthy because, on the server side, Microsoft is characterizing Windows 7 as a minor release, while the desktop Windows 7 is being called a major release--albeit one with fewer low-level changes than came with Vista.

As for Windows Server 2008 R2, Laing confirmed its statement that it will be 64-bit only.

Other features include support for more processors--256 compared to 64 in Windows Server 2008--as well as live migration and the next version of its PowerShell scripting language. Live migration was a feature originally planned for the first release of Windows Server 2008, but the plan was scrapped as Microsoft aimed to get the product out the door.

WinHEC attendees received a prebeta version of the new server operating system alongside their copy of desktop Windows 7. Microsoft said on its server blog that the prebeta is available only to those at WinHEC or the TechEd EMEA conference, while everyone else will have to wait until the beta is released early next year.

Click here for more news on Windows 7.

LOS ANGELES--Over the past few days, readers have been diligently sending me their Windows 7 questions and on Wednesday I had a chance to put some of them to Jon DeVaan, the head of the Windows core operating system division.

Microsoft has talked about the ability of Windows 7 to run on a Netbook, adding today that it can fit on a solid-state drive as small as 16GB. But just how much space does that leave?
Devaan said Microsoft has done a lot of work to ensure that Windows 7 occupies a smaller amount of both memory and storage, allowing it to run comfortably on a 16GB drive.

So how much space is left on that drive?
It's over half by quite a bit.

Windows 7 is supporting multitouch. Is there a way that I can tell whether a touch screen Vista PC will support the touch features of Windows 7.
DeVaan said there will be a logo program by the time Windows 7 rolls around, but the company is still working on the facets of that, so there isn't a program today.

"I'm not sure we quite know," DeVaan said. That said, Microsoft has shown Windows 7 running on HP's TouchSmart PCs as well as on Dell Lattitude XT laptops, so those two lines are probably a safe bet.

Is there anything new on the professional audio side, as compared to Vista?
DeVaan said that Microsoft isn't making major changes to the audio system in Windows 7, though it is adding support for a bunch of new audio and video formats, such as DivX, H.264, and unprotected AAC files.

Anyway, I'm here until Friday, so if you have more Windows 7 questions, send them my way.

Click here for more news on Windows 7.

Correction, 10:33 a.m. PST: This story initially misstated when a Windows 7 feature-complete beta will be available. It is early 2009.

LOS ANGELES--Choice was the watchword in the Windows 7 discussion Wednesday, as Microsoft aimed to highlight what it sees as its chief advantage over rival Apple.

"A key part of Windows 7 is to enable a full spectrum of choices," senior vice president Steven Sinofsky said in a speech at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) here.

While the new Windows will enable high-end machines with multitouch, it will also work on low-end machines. While Vista has largely been absent in the fast-growing Netbook category, Windows 7 is aimed to work well on such low-end devices--a number of which are on display at WinHEC.

Among the machines Microsoft showed was an Eee PC with a 1GB hard drive and a 16GB solid-state drive, which the software maker said could run Windows 7 with "room to spare."

For hardware makers, Microsoft has a feature called "device stage" that lets them offer up things like manuals, links to services, and access to content stored on the device in one place.

On stage, Microsoft showed a Nokia phone hooked up to Windows 7, automatically making available all the content on the device.

The company also said it will support a number of additional audio and video formats out of the box, including Divx, H.264 and unprotected AAC.

Windows 7 also has integrated support for sensors, such as light sensors, accelerometers or GPS, or even more exotic kinds of input. For example, Microsoft showed a ThinkPad with a spectrophotometer to help handle color calibration.

Sinofsky also noted that even though Microsoft has put a lot of focus on touch, it is not abandoning its Tablet PC work. Ray Ozzie last week told TechFlash that touch can be mainstream, while Tablet PC was "truly niche," a description that apparently irked the Tablet PC enthusiast crowd.

As for when folks will actually get their hands on 7, Microsoft didn't offer new details, beyond saying a feature-complete beta will be available in early 2009.

Sinofsky did mention a "release candidate to RTM phase," suggesting that Microsoft is only planning a single beta.

Click here for more news on Windows 7.

LOS ANGELES--One of the biggest problems with Windows Vista had nothing to do with the software Microsoft shipped.

It was all of the things Microsoft didn't ship. In the years leading up to Vista's release in November 2006, Microsoft changed course several times, leading to wasted time and energy for hardware and software makers that had made bets on features or timing that later were changed.

In a speech to hardware makers attending the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC), Microsoft's Jon DeVaan said that the company is aiming to rebuild trust that Microsoft will deliver products with the promised features and at the promised time.

And Microsoft is also hoping that most partners won't have a lot of work to get ready for Windows 7. "We have the tenet that if something works in Vista it really should work in Windows 7," said DeVaan, senior vice president of Microsoft's Windows core operating system division.

The company is hoping to improve some things from Vista, particularly start-up times as well as performance when managing a lot of open windows.

Battery life is another area where Microsoft hopes software improvements will make a meaningful difference. The company said that in some cases it is getting up to an extra hour of DVD playback and at a minimum, the same PC should get 20 more minutes of time in 7 than the same system would get in Vista.

That's the difference between a cliffhanger and getting to finish your movie, one of the Microsoft workers said during a demo onstage.

Click here for more news on Windows 7.

LOS ANGELES--It's a case of divided attention here at WinHEC.

Some of the developers spent their time cruising the booths, while others sat on bean bag chairs and watched CNN and MSNBC on plasma TVs.

I'll leave the election predictions to others, but here's some key early returns from WinHEC.

Windows 7 logo program: After using multiple programs for Vista, including a Vista capable program as well as basic and premium logos, Microsoft will have just one logo for Windows 7 and no 'Windows 7 capable program."

The feedback was loud and clear after Vista--just one program. Microsoft, in fact, faces a class-action lawsuit over its Vista capable program.

Vista Velocity: That's the name given to a program in which Microsoft has helped PC makers create and test their Vista machine to meet a series of performance metrics. Still fuzzy is just how Microsoft and the PC makers plan to market the machines that passed such testing. I hear there won't be a logo on the machines, but there may be some sort of designation at retail.

Device Stage: Microsoft and partners were showing a number of devices that pop up special "Device Stage" screens when connected to Windows 7, including printers from HP and Canon, cameras from Nikon and phones from Sony Ericsson and Nokia.

Click here for more news on Windows 7.

LOS ANGELES--Attendees at this year's Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) will get at least one thing that folks at Microsoft's Professional Developer Conference didn't get--a laptop bag.

There were some grumbles last week about the cheap nylon bag that served as the conference bag. But, then, those at the PDC also walked away with a portable hard drive packed with code. WinHEC folks are only getting DVDs, I'm told.

The conference is expected to largely reiterate the Windows 7 news from last week, albeit with a bigger hardware focus.

The show floor doesn't open up for a little bit yet, with a giant projector set to display MSNBC so folks won't have to forgo election results to get in their networking time. In the meantime, a crowd has gathered around a kiosk displaying a host of laptops running Windows 7, including several Netbooks.

The keynote speeches start Wednesday morning, with Steven Sinofsky and Jon DeVaan talking Windows 7, while Bill Laing is set to talk Thursday about the next server release, built on the Windows 7 code, but to be called Windows Server 2008 R2.

Click here for more news on Windows 7.