With the release of Windows 7 in October, PC gamers will finally have another platform on which to play their favorite games. Those who didn't quite enjoy Windows Vista as a game platform or have stuck with Windows XP are probably looking forward to the opportunity to buy some new hardware, install Windows 7, and get the most out of their favorite games.
(Credit:
Microsoft)
But is Windows 7 a promising gaming platform? Now that its development is over, it's time to ask questions. What kind of gaming experience will it offer? Does it have features that will help it beat out Windows Vista or Windows XP in the game space?
Let's take a look:
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Through July 11, Microsoft is offering steep discounts on Windows 7 upgrades for the Home and Pro versions of the software--but not Windows 7 Ultimate.
Windows 7 Professional: What you really need.
(Credit: Microsoft)According to a CNET report, users can "preorder Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional at roughly half the list price, but the Ultimate version is offered at the full $219 price."
Those who currently use Windows Vista Ultimate and were hoping to switch to Windows 7 Ultimate were understandably upset. After getting little more than a few extras with Vista Ultimate, like Microsoft's BitLocker Drive Encryption software, they were hoping they'd be treated better this time around when they opted for Windows 7 Ultimate.
No such luck.
But instead of railing against Microsoft for treating its Windows Vista Ultimate customers so poorly, perhaps we should turn our focus to Windows 7 Ultimate itself. It might be the follow-up to Windows Vista Ultimate. Microsoft might have thrown every feature into it. But if we take an objective look at what it really offers, I don't think Microsoft can justify its existence as a consumer operating system.
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The new Windows 7 packaging.
(Credit: Microsoft)Before Microsoft announced Windows 7 pricing, the company detailed earlier this week how it plans to package the operating system.
Microsoft claims that Windows 7 packaging "has a 37 percent weight reduction, and the econometrics score has improved by 50 percent over its predecessor." Instead of forcing customers to read instructions on how to open the box, Windows 7 packaging will open just like a DVD case.
"We've reduced the number of elements in the package down to three: the plastic case, the paper sleeve, and a simple Getting Started Guide," Microsoft wrote in a blog post. "The plastic case opens easily like a standard DVD case, and it will have a single easy-to-remove seal at the top--and that's it!"
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, packaging accounts for a third of consumer garbage. And as CNET pointed out on the Green Tech blog, "plastics comprise 12 percent of U.S. waste each year, but are rarely recycled, while some scientists fear that irresponsible dumping is making a plastic soup of the world's oceans."
Although software arguably should not require any packaging, instead relying purely on Internet downloads, and plastic packaging could (and should) probably be avoided altogether, Microsoft's reduction of packaging materials corresponds with a trend that I think is better for all of us.
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Microsoft announced on Monday that it's planning to release Windows 7 for the 2009 holiday season. The operating system was originally slated for a January 2010 release.
Now that we finally have an idea when Microsoft will be releasing Windows 7, we can project its financial impact on the company. But we need to be careful. We don't know how the market will accept Windows 7. And we still aren't sure if the enterprise market will adopt it for existing machines.
Looking at past figures, we can develop an understanding of the impact Windows launches--and especially that of Windows Vista--have had on Microsoft's financial state and project that forward.
How important is Windows to Microsoft's financial performance? Will the Windows 7 launch play an important role in Microsoft's financial performance over the long term?
Let's take a look:
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In a recent study from Forrester Research, analysts found that Dell and Hewlett-Packard provided customer experiences that were well below par, while Apple came out on top.
According to the study, which asked 4,500 U.S. consumers to rate the usefulness and enjoyability of products, Dell received a "poor" rating in overall customer experience. The company mustered a "very poor" when it came to the customer's enjoyment using Dell products. HP's experience was rated as "poor," while Apple led the way for computer manufacturers with an overall "good" experience.
Bruce Temkin, the study's author, wrote that while PC manufacturers have some work to do to enhance the consumer's experience, Windows also contributed to the low marks.
"I do think Microsoft's software has a bit to do with it," Temkin wrote. "Consumers don't distinguish problems with the operating system from problems with the PC manufacturer. Bottom line, the Windows ecosystem needs an extreme customer experience makeover."
I agree with Temkin. But I also believe that Windows 7 is the single Windows OS that can improve the consumer's experience.
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 | EPISODE 50 |
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I prefer XP to Vista. Am I alone?
(Credit: Microsoft)In an interview with Computerworld UK, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had some interesting things to say about the enterprise and its desire to keep Windows XP instead of switching to Vista.
"If you deploy a 4- or 5-year-old operating system today, most people will ask their boss why the heck they don't have the stuff they have at home," Ballmer told the publication.
Ballmer went on to say that it's incumbent upon the business world to make employees happy and comfortable and the best way to do that is to deploy Vista as soon as possible.
According to market research firm Forrester, Windows Vista can be found on less than 10 percent of all the computers companies in North America and Europe are running. Windows XP can be found on over 71 percent of enterprise computers. Ballmer wants that to change.
But his premise that an increasing number of people will be asking for Vista doesn't really make sense. According to research firm Net Applications, Windows XP still controls almost 64 percent of the worldwide consumer market. It's trailed by Vista and Mac OS X 10.5 with 27 percent market share and 5 percent market share, respectively.
Based on those figures, I'm not convinced that there are that many people walking into their supervisor's office wondering when Vista will be deployed at the office. In fact, it's far more likely that they would rather use something they know--XP.
But Ballmer's desire to get enterprises to switch to Vista has me wondering what's so bad about Windows XP. Is it really such an awful operating system that every company should switch?
No way.
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| EPISODE 49 |
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The annoying, more secure Windows 7?
(Credit: Microsoft)Last Friday, Ina Fried detailed an interesting report from blogger Long Zheng, who "is drawing attention to an apparent shortcoming" in Microsoft's desire to make Windows 7 less annoying.
According to the report, Zheng believes that because Windows 7's User Account Control isn't as annoying as it was in Windows Vista, Microsoft is leaving its users open to more threats by third parties trying to exploit vulnerabilities. Zheng contends that due to changes in UAC, "malicious code could turn off alerts entirely with the user getting little notice that such a change had been made."
Zheng said in a blog post that he and a fellow blogger, Rafael Rivera, have designed a proof-of-concept code to prove his theory. He believes, "at a minimum, that Microsoft's default setting (should) also warn users if a change is being made to UAC itself."
In Windows Vista, a UAC prompt popped up each time any major change was made to the system. Some users found that annoying. Realizing that, Microsoft decided that in Windows 7, users would be able to decide how often they want to be notified. The default setting in the beta release of the OS only notifies users when a third-party application is making a change.
It should be noted that Zheng's contention is based on the Windows 7 beta, which means practically nothing until the final build hits store shelves. Microsoft can change that setting at any time and make this issue go away. More importantly, it can be changed by the administrator, so the issue, while present, shouldn't be blown out of proportion.
But it's because of that setting that Windows 7 is less annoying. But should we accept annoyance anyway, if it means more security? I think we should.
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| EPISODE 45 |
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