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Microsoft is doing a great job at supplying resources designed to permit insights into the next iteration of Windows. The latest content offered by the Redmond company involves a couple of eLearning Clinics on Windows 7, offered for free, just as the Win7 Snacks. Both Clinic 10077: What's New in Windows 7 for IT Professionals and Clinic 10088: What's New in Windows 7 for Information Workers are focused on providing an introduction to the successor of Windows Vista for the respective user segments. Information workers and IT professionals have a chance to see how Windows 7 tailors to their respective needs.
The “two-hour [Clinic 10088] provides you with an overview of key enhancements in Windows 7, which help information workers to improve their productivity as well as work in a more secure environment. This clinic covers the following topics: be More Productive with Windows 7; be More Secure with Windows 7; and get Connected Faster and Easier with Windows 7. Information workers completing this clinic should have experience working with previous versions of Windows,” Microsoft advised.
Microsoft started offering the Release Candidate of Windows 7 on May 5th 2009. The bits are available for public download, and access to the development milestone is of course free. Both information workers and IT professionals can download, install and test drive the next version of Windows. The two clinics will, in this respect, manage to catalyze a stronger focus on a variety of Windows 7 aspects designed to address IW and IE pros specific scenarios.
AVG Internet Security 8.5 Build 336a1515 is the latest security solution from AVG tailored to Windows 7. The software is among the products recommended by Microsoft on the Windows 7 security solutions webpage, even as the operating system is in Release Candidate stage with Build 7100 available for public download since May 5th, 2009. According to AVG, AVG Internet Security 8.5 is designed to play nice not only with Windows 7, but also with previous releases of Windows, namely Windows XP and
Windows Vista. The latest version of AVG Internet Security is part of an update the security outfit introduced to its lineup of products, including AVG Free Edition and AVG Anti-Virus, which have also been bumped up to version 8.5.
“AVG Internet Security provides multiple layers of protection to ensure nothing slips through,” reads and excerpt from the product's description. “Identity Theft Protection prevents new and unknown threats from stealing your personal information like bank and credit card details. LinkScanner checks every link, making sure you're safe searching the internet and surfing the web, minimizing the risk of you accidentally visiting a poisoned web page. Web Shield detects and blocks malware threats in file downloads and instant-messaging conversations.”
Microsoft is pointing to Windows 7 as a panacea for scenarios in which end users go hunting for codecs on the Internet struggling with file formats that are not natively supported by the Windows operating system. The promise from the Redmond company is that, with the next iteration of the Windows client, the necessary decoders will already be in place and ready to handle the formats that users will throw at them, of course with some exceptions. MPEG-4, 3GPP/3GPP2, AAC, ASP in AVI, AVCHD, HDV are the generic names for the formats supported in Windows 7.
The video decoders associated with them are H.264, MPEG-4, ASP and SP. The specific file extensions that will not present a problem when it comes down to Windows 7 are .mp4 (A, V, A + V), .m4a (A), .mov, .3gp, .3g2 (A, V, A + V), .aac (A), .avi, (V, A + V), .m2t, .m2ts, .mts (A, V, A + V). Still, Microsoft indicated that Windows 7 would not be limited to playing back local files.
“In addition to supporting local playback of new formats, we can also ensure that the content will play on devices that may not support the codec, bit rate, container, or format of that content. We accomplish this by using the new transcoding support in Windows 7,” revealed Scott Manchester, Devices & Media program management.
Microsoft has taken extensive steps in order to ensure that Windows 7 computers will be able to play the role of media hubs for home users. In addition to the native support for the new file formats, the next iteration of the Windows client is also designed to play nice with a wide range of DLNA certified devices. In this regard, Microsoft informs that it has implemented DLNA device roles and the DLNA protocols designed to permit communications and media exchange. This move has made Windows 7 capable of interoperability with TVs, stereo systems, cell phones, DVRs, game consoles, and additional devices, provided that they sport the Digital Living Network Alliance logo.
“The Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) is a consortium of more than 200 companies interested in specifying technologies for exchanging media in home networks. The DLNA architecture is based on the UPnP specification, but in addition, DLNA specifies transport protocols (based on HTTP and RTP) and sets of media formats,” revealed Scott Manchester, from the Devices & Media program management team. “DLNA defines device roles (e.g. servers, players, renderers, etc.) and the protocols that these devices use to discover each other and communicate with each other (e.g. UPnP, HTTP, RTP, etc.).”
Windows 7 is a lot like Windows Vista under the covers. So, in general, programs that run fine in Windows Vista will run fine in Windows 7. That also means that, in most cases, those programs that did not run in Vista also won't run in Windows 7. There are a couple of exceptions. In particular, Microsoft has done some work to "rescue" certain applications that did not run in Vista so that they can indeed run in Windows 7.
Microsoft has also added an "XP Mode" to some versions of Windows 7 that allows programs that won't run natively in Windows 7 to run via an XP virtual machine. XP Mode does require more memory as well as a machine whose processor has hardware support for virtualization, something many older machines and some current machines don't have.
For those used to Windows XP, Windows 7 will be a significant change.
It brings with it both a lot of the good and the bad from Vista--albeit with some improvements--as well as new features of its own. It shares the more modern graphics engine, desktop search, and security architecture that are part of Windows Vista. As part of an anti-malware feature known as User Account Control, XP users will also be asked to verify certain changes to their system. Microsoft has worked to lessen the number of such prompts in Windows 7, but since XP has no similar feature, it may still seem like a lot of intrusion to some.
Windows 7 also brings features of its own, most notably the taskbar at the bottom of the screen that allows quick access not only to frequently used programs, but also one-click and two-click access to commonly used actions within those programs. Windows 7 also adds Internet Explorer 8 and built-in support for multitouch gestures, provided you have a machine with a compatible touch-screen display.
For a nice side-by-side chart comparing Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, check out this piece from my colleague Seth Rosenblatt.
What else do you want from the error message?
It’s not just telling you it can’t connect or giving some random error number advising it cannot continue, it states that “you are not connected to the internet” which is more than adequate as far as I’m concerned.
And add in the fact you’re using a beta version of Win7 or an unofficial copy of the RC, surely you can;t read too much into it until the RTM version is released.
Windows 7 pricing is potentially an obstacle to Windows 7 adoption for some users, though in just about every other aspect the operating system is beating Vista, according to a Dell marketing executive.
"If there's one thing that may influence adoption, make things slower or cause customers to pause, it's that generally the ASPs (average selling price) of the operating systems are higher than they were for Vista and XP," Darrel Ward, director of product management for Dell's business client product group, said in a phone interview, referring to the various versions of the Windows 7 operating system that are expected to appear.
Ward continued. "In tough economic times, I think it's naive to believe that you can increase your prices on average and then still see a stronger swell than if you held prices flat or even lowered them. I can tell you that the licensing tiers at retail are more expensive than they were for Vista."
In the business market, Windows 7 Professional is expected to be more expensive than Windows Vista Business, the version that Professional is replacing, he said.
Some schools and smaller businesses may not be early adopters due to price. "Schools and government agencies may not be able to afford (the additional cost). Some of the smaller businesses may not be able to enjoy the software as soon as they'd like," Ward said.
Pricing aside, Ward said momentum behind Windows 7 is big compared with Vista. "When Vista came out we didn't have the motivation to do the types of services that we're doing now. We didn't have the clear customer demand for such services," he said. "We do have a visible number of customers, large and small, who are actually waiting for Windows 7 and who have already put plans in place to target the transition to Windows 7, they're asking Dell for help. That demand and this opportunity is stronger than it has been in the past," Ward said.
Microsoft is taking the hatchet to aspects of AutoRun in Windows 7, as it reacts to new attacks by hackers.
Autoplay is the dialog box that pops up when you connect removable media, such as flash drives to your computer. Autorun options are those which appear in the dialog box allowing you to install a program or browse files.
Autorun is typically used to start an installation program running when you first insert a CD or DVD.
However, in recent times it has become the plaything of hackers, most prominently in the spread of the Conficker worm.
Security researchers are warning that Internet users who install pirated versions of Microsoft's latest Windows 7 operating system may also be installing malicious software, too.
Experts at Atlanta-based security firm Damballa say they first noticed
hacked versions of the Windows 7 release candidate available on peer-to-peer file-sharing networks and newsgroups last week, shortly after the OS was released to developers.
Damballa found that computers with the tainted versions of Windows 7 were programmed to silently reach out to an Internet server to check for further updates, which in this case is a piece of malware that Kaspersky Antivirus calls Win32.Banload.cdk.
"The first thing this does is phone home and get a list of additional malware to install," said Tripp Cox, vice president of engineering at Damballa.
Damballa managed to grab control over the server that's contacted by the pirated Windows 7 versions -- codecs.sytes.net. -- which is how it knows how many new, compromised installations are requesting the malware. As of Monday afternoon, the company had tracked 3,452 compromised systems hitting the site, with a peak of more than 550 new infections per hour on Sunday.
It's a good idea to avoid installing software of any kind -- operating systems in particular -- downloaded from P2P networks. Bundling malware with executable and installer files is an old trick that is still quite useful and effective today. In fact, there are no shortage of shadowy pay-per-install programs that revolve around this concept, granting tiny commissions to affiliates who spread the poisoned files on P2P networks like BitTorrent. The screen shot below shows a popular pay-per-install forum where affiliates of different programs compare methods for making their poisoned installer files more attractive on P2P networks.
Microsoft is effectively giving away Windows 7 free for a year with the launch of the Release Candidate.
The Release Candidate is now available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers, and will go on unlimited, general release on 5 May.
The software will not expire until 1 June 2010, giving testers more than a year's free access to Windows 7.
"It's available to as many people who see fit to use it, although we wouldn't recommend it to just your average user," John Curran, director of the Windows Client Group told PC Pro. "We'd very strongly encourage anyone on the beta to move to the Release Candidate."
The Release Candidate includes all the features that will be available in the final version. "The Release Candidate is the near-finished product," Curran said. "It's now just final regression testing and performance enhancements."
Microsoft refused to be drawn on the final release date of Windows 7, sticking to the company line that it will be ready by January 2010, although most observers are predicting a late summer/autumn 2009 launch.
Microsoft is doing a great job at supplying resources designed to permit insights into the next iteration of Windows. The latest content offered by the Redmond company involves a couple of eLearning Clinics on Windows 7, offered for free, just as the Win7 Snacks. Both Clinic 10077: What's New in Windows 7 for IT Professionals and Clinic 10088: What's New in Windows 7 for Information Workers are focused on providing an introduction to the successor of Windows Vista for the respective user segments. Information workers and IT professionals have a chance to see how Windows 7 tailors to their respective needs.
