Beyond Binary

Microsoft touts Windows 7 in a giant billboard outside the Las Vegas Convention Center.

(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET)

LAS VEGAS--If one of the yardsticks in Sin City is how much skin you show, Microsoft is being rather modest this year.

The world's largest software maker is promising that its highly anticipated Project Natal add-on for the Xbox 360 will ship in time for the 2010 holiday-shopping season, but Microsoft isn't saying how much it will cost or what game titles will accompany its release.

CEO Steve Ballmer--whose keynote was delayed because of a power problem at the Hilton Center--also showed off a number of new PCs, including an HP tablet due out later this year. But Microsoft isn't sharing the specifications of the diminutive slate or its cost.

And on the mobile front, Microsoft is choosing to show off a new Windows Mobile 6.5 device from HTC rather than talk about its next-generation operating system, the oft-delayed Windows Mobile 7.

As for what Microsoft will talk about, the company is happy ... Read the full post at CNET's CES 2010 blog

CES 2010 formally kicks off Wednesday night with a keynote address by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer that starts at 6:30 p.m. PT.

Ballmer is expected to play up the high points of Windows 7 and to talk about other topics near and dear to Microsoft, ranging from its game technology to touch-screen interfaces.

I'll be bringing you details from the keynote speech and offering commentary on what Ballmer and Microsoft are up to as the presentation commences.

Lights go down at Hilton Center--and stay down.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

6 p.m.: Hilton Center is filled up. On stage, naturally, are a whole mess of PCs ranging from the teeny to the large. Still a bit early--half an hour until Ballmer...

6:30 p.m.: Lights just went dark here.

6:35 p.m.: Lights down, music still playing. No one on stage, though. " We are having a small power problem. Please remain in your seats." (And here I thought they were just being green.)

6:37 p.m.: We're not ... Read the full post at CNET's CES 2010 blog

LAS VEGAS--It's what gamers had expected, but Microsoft is officially confirming that it plans to release its Project Natal Xbox add-on later this year.

Natal, which that lets people play games using their bodies as a controller, was shown at last year's E3 trade show. There were indications that it was planned for a holiday 2010 release, but Microsoft had not officially said so.

The software maker had hoped that the news would come on stage later Wednesday, as part of CEO Steve Ballmer's keynote speech, but word leaked out after Microsoft briefly posted a video with Robbie Bach to its Channel 9 developer site.

In the video, Bach also mentions another new Xbox feature: Game Room. Game Room is a feature of Xbox Live that lets users create their own arcade. In addition to playing classic games, such as those written for Atari or Intellivision, users can organize the machines and allow their avatars and those of friends to move throughout the virtual arcade.

Through Xbox Live users will be able ... Read the full post at CNET's CES 2010 blog

Those intrigued by the "GodMode" in Windows 7 may be interested to know that there are many other similar shortcuts hidden within the operating system.

Intended for developers as a shortcut to various internal settings, such features have been around since Vista and even before, according to the head of Microsoft's Windows division, who tells CNET that the so-called GodMode settings folder uncovered by bloggers is just one of many undocumented developer features included in Windows.

In an e-mail interview, Steven Sinofsky, Windows division president, said several similar undocumented features provide direct access to all kinds of settings, from choosing a location to managing power settings to identifying biometric sensors.

As with the all-encompassing GodMode uncovered by bloggers, these other settings can be accessed directly by creating a new folder with any name (GodMode or otherwise) and then including a certain text string. Sinofsky noted more than a dozen strings create particular settings folders, in addition to the overarching GodMode folder option.

Sinofsky and others say the term GodMode was coined by bloggers; it was not something the company used internally to refer to the settings folders. Although Microsoft maintains many such undocumented developer commands to access such settings, all are replicated by the operating system's Control Panel settings.

Such undocumented means of accessing various settings have occurred in previous versions of Windows, and the GodMode identified by bloggers was also present in Windows Vista. Some users of the 64-bit version of Vista, however, say invoking the GodMode folder caused their machines to crash. Microsoft says it has yet to reproduce that problem, though several readers have said they have encountered problems.

It seems that the folks in Redmond have gotten a kick out of all the attention that the Godmode has gotten and have decided to have fun with it. Sinofsky sent a list of other commands that also create special folders (see list below).

Given the Vista issues, though, I would try these only on a Windows 7 machine, ideally a test machine. To make it work, create a new folder with any name, then a period, then one of the text strings below.

For example, the first one could be a folder named "thankscnet.{00C6D95F-329C-409a-81D7-C46C66EA7F33}" (use everything inside quotes--but not the quotes themselves).

Here's the list of strings:

{00C6D95F-329C-409a-81D7-C46C66EA7F33}
{0142e4d0-fb7a-11dc-ba4a-000ffe7ab428}
{025A5937-A6BE-4686-A844-36FE4BEC8B6D}
{05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9}
{1206F5F1-0569-412C-8FEC-3204630DFB70}
{15eae92e-f17a-4431-9f28-805e482dafd4}
{17cd9488-1228-4b2f-88ce-4298e93e0966}
{1D2680C9-0E2A-469d-B787-065558BC7D43}
{1FA9085F-25A2-489B-85D4-86326EEDCD87}
{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}
{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}
{241D7C96-F8BF-4F85-B01F-E2B043341A4B}
{4026492F-2F69-46B8-B9BF-5654FC07E423}
{62D8ED13-C9D0-4CE8-A914-47DD628FB1B0}
{78F3955E-3B90-4184-BD14-5397C15F1EFC}

And, as a reminder, to create the Godmode folder itself, use this string:

{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Microsoft on Tuesday said it is investigating reports of a glitch causing some Windows Mobile devices to attach the wrong date to incoming SMS messages.

The glitch, which applies to text messages sent after New Year's Day, causes them to appear to have been sent in 2016.

"Microsoft is aware of reports that phone messages received after 1/1/2010 may be dated 2016," the software maker said in a statement. "These reports have not yet resulted in widespread customer inquiries; however, we are working closely with our manufacturing and mobile-operator partners to investigate the cause and correct the issue, as appropriate."

Although CES announcements are already well under way, the event itself will formally kick off Wednesday night, when Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer takes to the stage for the second year running, occupying a spot long held by company chairman Bill Gates.

CEO Steve Ballmer at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference in July.

(Credit: Microsoft)

In his keynote, Ballmer is expected to tout Windows 7--how well its sales are doing and show off the latest PCs running the new operating system. (Update: As noted by The New York Times late Tuesday, among the devices Ballmer is expected to tout is a slate-form, touch-screen tablet computer. However, industry sources tell CNET that the device is an evolution of the kinds of tablet PCs long offered in the Windows world, as opposed to an earth-shattering device designed to rival Apple's as-yet-unannounced tablet.)

The company is also expected to tout its gaming presence and how it expects to carry things forward from its Xbox 360, which executives said is only half way through its life even at ... Read the full post at CNET's CES 2010 blog

Microsoft has announced pricing for Office 2010, with the biggest change being the fact that buyers can pay less by forgoing the full boxed copy in favor of a card with only a product key code.

Office 2010, which is now in public beta testing and due in final form later this year, will come in four retail versions--Home and Student, Home and Business, Professional, and an academic version of Office Professional. Of note, the product key cards are good for only one PC, while the boxed copies are good for installation on two PCs, with the exception of Home and Student, which is licensed for use on up to three machines.

Office Professional, which includes Word 2010, Excel 2010, PowerPoint 2010, OneNote 2010, Outlook 2010, Publisher 2010, Access 2010, premium technical support, and the browser-based Office Web Apps, is priced at $499 for the full boxed copy or $349 for the product key card. The academic version of Office Professional for students and educators will sell for $99 and will be available at campus bookstores and through certain retailers.

Office Home and Student is priced at $149 for the boxed version and $119 for the product key card and includes Word 2010, Excel 2010, PowerPoint 2010, OneNote 2010, and the Office Web Apps. It is available in a Family Pack, allowing use on three PCs in one home.

The new home option, Office Home and Business, which adds Outlook to the mix and is licensed for business use, is offered at $279 for the boxed form or $199 for the product key card.

Microsoft also noted that it has now reached more than 2 million downloads of the beta version of Office 2010.

"To get a better appreciation for that number, it's a rate of more than 40,000 downloads per day," Office General Manager Rachel Bondi said Tuesday in a blog posting. "That's approximately twice the number of people who run the Boston Marathon each year, or the entire population of Olympia, WA, or Annapolis, MD, downloading the Office 2010 beta every day!"

Windows 7's so-called GodMode is actually a shortcut to accessing the operating system's various control settings.

(Credit: CNET News)

Although its name suggests perhaps even grander capabilities, Windows enthusiasts are excited over the discovery of a hidden "GodMode" feature that lets users access all of the operating system's control panels from within a single folder.

By creating a new folder in Windows 7 and renaming it with a certain text string at the end, users are able to have a single place to do everything from changing the look of the mouse pointer to making a new hard-drive partition.

The trick is also said to work in Windows Vista, although some are warning that although it works fine in 32-bit versions of Vista, it can cause 64-bit versions of that operating system to crash.

To enter "GodMode," one need only create a new folder and then rename the folder to the following:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Once that is done, the folder's icon will change to resemble a control panel and will contain dozens of control options. I'm not sure it's my idea of playing God, but it is a handy way to get to all kinds of controls.

I've asked Microsoft for more details on the feature and how it came to be. But so far, Redmond is silent on the topic.

There are many ways to measure how Windows 7 is doing. There are reports on new PC sales, tallies of boxed copy sales, and surveys of planned enterprise adoption, to name a few.

But one of the most encouraging signs for Microsoft is the lack of phone calls it is getting from people with problems. Overall, Microsoft said the volume of calls to its support lines is half of what it expected.

Gordon

(Credit: Microsoft)

"Overall we are finding our call center volume is down significantly more than we expected," said Barbara Gordon, vice president of customer support for Microsoft.

The drop in calls isn't just due to the fact that Windows 7 appears less problem-plagued than its predecessor, though. In the weeks leading up to and following the operating system's release, Microsoft also added two new ways to get help--through an online forum called Microsoft Answers and via the Microsoft Helps feed on Twitter.

"What we have found is we are seeing far more take-up of self-service...forums and Twitter to get responses," Gordon said in an interview this week.

With the Microsoft Answers forums, which launched late last year, users submit questions and experienced community members offer answers that Microsoft workers later validate to make sure they are correct.

So far, Microsoft has validated some 60,000 solutions. The company says that 83 percent of English-language queries are answered within seven days. Those in other languages have a slightly lower rate, but even of those 78 percent are taken care of within a week.

Meanwhile, Microsoft went live with its Twitter help site in October. Users can post a tweet with "@microsofthelps" in the message and Microsoft will respond. A team of seven employees dedicated full time to the project work with the broader support organization to respond to the many tweets. The goal is to either answer simple questions or to point people to a place where they can get a more detailed answer.

"It's hard to answer (most questions) in 140 characters," Gordon said.

But, she said, social networks like Twitter, Gordon said, allow the company to realize a problem that could be affecting thousands of people via a single short message.

"It's really like a customer megaphone," Gordon said.

Gordon hopes the new online options will not only cut down on call center expenses, but ultimately improve overall customer satisfaction with Windows. Customer satisfaction an area where the Mac has traditionally outpaced the various PC brands.

But Gordon says she hopes to see Windows gain ground. "We are really working on this," she said.

Although Apple touts its personal touch with its stores, Gordon suggests Microsoft's high-tech approach might ultimately win it more fans. "If I can help myself without having to go to the mall and sit at a geek bar I will be happier," she said.

Nonetheless, one of the main features of Microsoft's two retail stores is an answer desk very similar to the "Genius Bar" found in Apple stores.

As for the questions people ask on Twitter, they range from the expected range of bugs and problems to inquiries about future versions of products. This week, for example, one user asked when to expect Windows 8. Although vague, the answer was at least as direct as anything a reporter would get by asking Redmond.

"It will be a few years until the next official version comes out," Microsoft replied on the Twitter feed. "Keep an eye out on microsoft.com for future updates."

In addition to building goodwill and cutting costs, the online forums also allow Microsoft to quickly see when a problem is affecting a significant number of users. Such mechanisms helped Microsoft to recognize and then solve a video driver problem that was causing some users to have their systems hang when they reached 62 percent completion on an upgrade to Windows 7.

Within a week, Microsoft had a solution on its Website and shortly thereafter it posted an automated "Fix It," essentially a script that a user can click on to have the proper steps done automatically. The Windows 7 upgrade fix has already been used more than 35,000 times, Microsoft said.

"We're getting people able to meet their needs themselves," Gordon said.