11-11-11-11 Contest Winners
The winners of the contest are:
1st place (HandyBackup Professional): Timotei Dolean
2nd place (HandyBackup Standard): tisi, Ursul
Winners: please check your e-mail Inbox and Junk folder.
1, 2, 3, 7!
Today is a big day for Windows fans. The final milestone in Windows 7 development process has been reached and the new operating system is general available.
Just two years passed since the release of Vista and many say that Windows 7 should be just a “super-service pack” for Vista.
If you are not a MS Partner and you don’t have a MSDN/TechNet Subscription then this is the first time you can get Windows 7 non-trial. Many shops already started to sale and deliver copies of W7 – got few mail in the morning with special offers.
The prices on Amazon are:
- Windows 7 Home Premium (Retail/Upgrade): $199.99/$119.99
- Windows 7 Professional (Retail/Upgrade): $299.99/$199.99
- Windows 7 Ultimate (Retail/Upgrade): $319.99/$219.99
And now two funny things: on Amazon you have “2 Used and new” copies of Windows 7. I wonder who has a used copy of W7 that has just been released :)
The image on the right I found it on Larry Osterman’s blog.
Office 2010 Web Apps
Most of you know Google Docs (GD) - the web-based word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, and form application offered by Google. Probably in the attempt to remove GD’s supremacy and to promote their new Office 2010, Microsoft is preparing a free online version of Office called Office Web Apps.
For the Technical Preview four application are available: Excel, PowerPoint, Word and OneNote. Each of them tries to reproduce the aspect and the functionally of their offline big brother. For Office 2007 users, the interface is well known. In the top side we have a Ribbon bar, the middle part is dominated by the working area and to bottom is reserved for an optional status bar.
In order to use Office Live Apps you need to have a Live ID and a Skydrive account. All these applications integrate with Skydrive and this is a curious fact because I would expect to be part of Office Live [very strange decision!].
The interaction with the live apps is not really fluid because it has a delay, especially in Excel, when you work with formulas – it takes 3-4 seconds to see the result. I understand Microsoft’s wish for adoption and interoperability with any browser without any addon, of the new product, but I think that a Silverlight interface would improve the usability or at least some drag/drop support and a right click menu.
Excel Live
Spreadsheets – this is Excel all about. The little brother of the offline version is, for the moment, limited to some basic spreadsheet operations. The are no more and no less then 3 sheets [does anyone know how to add/remove them?] on which you can put your data.
The simple tools available are: text format (color, font, size) and cell format (color, text alignment, data type). There is support for part of the formulas in Excel and one can use cell references to add dynamic data. There is some support for external data sources but it seems that data can only be refreshed if already exists – one cannot add/modify a data source.
Unfortunately there is no support for locked sheets, hidden sheets and data validation. If you try to open an uploaded document containing some of the previous you will get and error message for edit.
Excel Web Apps gets another minus because there is no support for diagrams/charts. It would be nice to have at least support for charts in a new sheet. Maybe in the next version?
I am thinking to migrate my expenses Excel document in Skydrive (Office Live Apps) even though it is quite limited.
HTC HD Review
There’s been a week since I am the proud owner of a HTC HD mobile phone.
The first WOW
The HTC HD is one of the greatest phones I ever interacted with. It is impossible to keep your “WOW” when you first see it. It has an huge 3.8” resistive touch screen which is the second biggest screen for mobile phones (Toshiba TG01 has 4.1”) and compared to an iPhone the display is really impressive. Also has a good resolution: 800×480.
The second WOW
The HTC HD looks really good and even it weights 146g, seems a light (or at least compared with my previous Toshiba Portege G900 that had 200g). It’s hard to believe that is only 1.2 cm thick and because of this, the phone gets conformable in one’s hand and you don’t notice that it has 11.5 cm height and 6.2 width.
Windows 7 Enterprise FREE Trial
It’s been a while for my last post. I was busy moving to another country – will explain this in another post.
Microsoft has announced the download availability of Windows 7 Enterprise for trial inside your environment.
The Windows 7 Enterprise trial is designed specifically for IT Professionals, so that you can test your software and hardware on a final version of the product. In addition, it provides the opportunity for you to become more familiar with the key improvements over previous versions of the Windows operating system, and experience firsthand how Windows 7 can make your PC environment more productive, secure, and manageable.
There is a time limit for downloading this version so better hurry. Access this site. However, if you are a MS Partner or Technet/MSDN subscriber you should check your software subscription page because you can access the non-trial version.
Windows 7 RTM Date Announced
Yesterday, Brandon LeBlanc, announced on the Windows 7 Team Blog, the official release dates for Windows 7 RTM (Release To Manufacturer).
Depending on who you are you will be able to get W7 RTM sooner or later:
- Partners & OEMs
- ISV (Independent Software Vendor) and IHV (Independent Hardware Vendor) Partners will be able to download Windows 7 RTM from Microsoft Connect or MSDN on August 6th.
- Microsoft Partner Program Gold/Certified Members will be able to download Windows 7 RTM in English through the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) Portal on August 16th.
- Microsoft Action Pack Subscribers will be about to download Windows 7 RTM in English starting August 23rd.
- OEMs will receive Windows 7 RTM software images beginning approximately 2 days after we officially RTM.
- Business Customers
- Volume License (VL) customer with an existing Software Assurance (SA) license you will be able to download Windows 7 RTM in English starting August 7th via the Volume License Service Center (VLSC).
- Volume License customers without a SA license will be able to purchase Windows 7 through Volume Licensing on September 1st.
- IT Professionals with TechNet Subscriptions will be able to download Windows 7 RTM in English on August 6th.
- Developers with MSDN Subscriptions will be able to download Windows 7 RTM in English on August 6th.
- Beta Testers & Enthusiast will not receive a free copy of W7 and will be able to purchase it after the official release.
- For Consumers: will be in retail stores and shipping on new PCs starting October 22nd.
GeekMeet Brasov 5
This is the last GeekMeet from Brasov I am organizing.
There will be four presentation and I will also be a speaker. The four presentations are:
- Nadia Comanici will speak about genetic algorithms.
- Dorin Lazar will speak about build automation.
- After a break, Claudiu Gamulescu will speak about QuickWeb.
- In the end I (Victor Hurdugaci) will speak about rule based systems.
The event will take place on July 25 at Okian Library.
For more details and registration visit this link.
Windows Mobile 6.5 SDK is Available
The Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Tool Kit adds documentation, sample code, header and library files, emulator images and tools to Visual Studio that let you build applications for Windows Mobile 6.5.
A new set of APIs is being introduced that will enable application developers to take advantage of the new Windows Mobile 6.5 touch gesture framework. The gesture APIs allow an application to handle touch gesture input and provide a visually consistent experience with the rest of the device UI. Note that the gesture APIs are only available on the Windows Mobile Classic and Professional SKUs.
Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Tool Kit comes with the following Emulator Images:
- Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional Square Emulator
- Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional QVGA Emulator
- Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional WQVGA Emulator
- Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional VGA Emulator
- Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional WVGA Emulator
- Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard Square Emulator
- Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard QVGA Emulator
In order to install the SDK and integrate it with Visual Studio you must also install the Windows Mobile 6.0 SDK. Make sure you install this first. I had problems with the 6.5 SDK because I forgot to install 6.0 SDK. If you somehow install 6.5 without 6.0 you must uninstall the first one in order to reinstall it…
The Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Kit can be downloaded from this link.
Microsoft unveils new controller
Microsoft has unveiled its new control system for the Xbox 360 console, at E3 in Los Angeles.
Project Natal is a fully hands-free control system that will use face recognition and motion sensors to allow users to play games. Film director Steven Spielberg, attending the launch, said it was “a window into what the future holds”.
Basically it allows you to interact with the virtual world without using any controller at all. There is probably one or more webcams that capture movement and other sensors for voice and other forms of interaction. This is just a prototype and I don’t know if it will be possible to interact freely with the system or just under some constrains (light, body position, movement speed, correct language, etc); remains to be seen but it is fascinating.
It is so hard to describe it in words. You must see what it can do to convince yourself that this might be a revolution:
The previous video might not have convinced you but the following will raise the hair on your head:
Microsoft Bing (Bang?)
Because Live Search didn’t had the expected impact, Microsoft decided to create a new (revolutionary?) search engine. It is called Microsoft Bing and is said that “is more than a search engine, it is a decision engine”.
One thing is clear, though: a search engine that is only ‘good enough’ will not be enough to gain back any market share from Google, which now virtually controls the search engine market. Remains to be seen how can be used in practice. Until a demo will be available we can only watch a movie with Bing – seems pretty cool.
Watch the movie in high quality: click the “HQ” button in the right-bottom corner.
Bing is available through bing.com but for the moment it sends you to a site where you can discover what Bing is (you can watch the movie above and read some stories about the decision engine).