Microsoft said on Friday that it will distribute the near-final "release candidate" version of Windows 7 beginning next week.
Subscribers to Microsoft's MSDN and TechNet developer programs will get the code on April 30, with plans to make it broadly available starting May 5. The May 5 date matches one that was in a note briefly posted on Microsoft's Web site.
Build 7100 of Windows 7, the version presumed to be the release candidate, has been making the rounds on file-sharing services for the past day or so. The software maker has reportedly given the build to some early testers, though it has declined to confirm that.
The near-final release candidate version is expected to be the last public milestone before Microsoft finalizes the code for the new operating system. The software maker has refused to commit to launching the product before next January, but Microsoft has been aiming to get the product done so that it can find its way onto PCs sold during this year's holiday PC buying season.
2009年4月25日星期六
Is convenience worth a Google toolbar?
It will only work on Internet Explorer, and only in the U.S. right now, but if you're looking to extend the same timesaving search convenience of Google's mobile apps to your desktop, the new Google Toolbar from Google Labs will do it.
The My Location feature found in Google Maps for Mobile--and recently integrated into Google Mobile App--uses cell tower triangulation or GPS to find your approximate or exact location. That localizes your search terms, so queries for "weather" or "coffee" pull up results close to you, and save you from typing those extra five digits every time you search for something nearby. Likewise, the My Location feature on the desktop uses information from nearby wireless hot spots to point you out.
I'm no fan of toolbars, believe me (well, maybe RoboForm) and I don't regularly use IE as my go-to browser, but for Google's My Location would the sacrifice be worth it? Truth be told, no, not for me at this point, but I might be tempted to try the souped-up toolbar were it to come out as a Firefox add-on down the road, or maybe switch to Chrome for a while if that were a built-in feature, not a toolbar.
How about you? Is having Google's search gods know where to route your queries a compelling enough feature to warrant downloading a toolbar--yes or no? And does privacy matter? Keep in mind that in using this Labs toolbar, you'll be sharing information with Google.
The My Location feature found in Google Maps for Mobile--and recently integrated into Google Mobile App--uses cell tower triangulation or GPS to find your approximate or exact location. That localizes your search terms, so queries for "weather" or "coffee" pull up results close to you, and save you from typing those extra five digits every time you search for something nearby. Likewise, the My Location feature on the desktop uses information from nearby wireless hot spots to point you out.
I'm no fan of toolbars, believe me (well, maybe RoboForm) and I don't regularly use IE as my go-to browser, but for Google's My Location would the sacrifice be worth it? Truth be told, no, not for me at this point, but I might be tempted to try the souped-up toolbar were it to come out as a Firefox add-on down the road, or maybe switch to Chrome for a while if that were a built-in feature, not a toolbar.
How about you? Is having Google's search gods know where to route your queries a compelling enough feature to warrant downloading a toolbar--yes or no? And does privacy matter? Keep in mind that in using this Labs toolbar, you'll be sharing information with Google.
Windows 7 to have an 'XP mode'
Microsoft is trying to make it easier to sway users of Windows XP onto the latest version of its operating system.
For some time now, the company has been quietly building a "Windows XP mode" that uses virtualization to allow Windows 7 to easily run applications designed for Windows XP. According to sources familiar with the product, the application compatibility mode is built on the Virtual PC technology that Microsoft acquired in 2003, when it scooped up the assets of Connectix.
By adding the compatibility mode, Microsoft is aiming to address one of the key shortcomings of Windows Vista: its compatibility issues with software designed for Windows XP and earlier versions of the operating system.
Details of the Windows XP mode, previously known as Virtual Windows XP, were first published earlier Friday by the Windows SuperSite blog.
The technology has not been part of the beta version of Windows 7 or previously disclosed by Microsoft, but is expected to be released alongside the upcoming release candidate version. Microsoft said on Friday that it will release it to developers next week and publicly starting May 5.
According to the SuperSite report, written by bloggers Paul Thurrott and Rafael Rivera, the XP mode won't come in the box with Windows 7, but will be made available as a free download for those who buy the professional, enterprise, or "ultimate" versions of Windows 7. The site also has some screenshots of the mode in action.
There had been rumors of a secret user interface, but until Friday, no mention of the XP mode.
Update: Late on Friday, Microsoft confirmed XP Mode in a blog posting.
"Windows XP Mode is specifically designed to help small businesses move to Windows 7," Microsoft's Scott Woodgate said in the blog. "Windows XP Mode provides you with the flexibility to run many older productivity applications on a Windows 7 based PC."
According to the post, "all you need to do is to install suitable applications directly in Windows XP Mode which is a virtual Windows XP environment running under Windows Virtual PC. The applications will be published to the Windows 7 desktop and then you can run them directly from Windows 7."
Microsoft said it "will be soon releasing the beta of Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC for Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate."
For some time now, the company has been quietly building a "Windows XP mode" that uses virtualization to allow Windows 7 to easily run applications designed for Windows XP. According to sources familiar with the product, the application compatibility mode is built on the Virtual PC technology that Microsoft acquired in 2003, when it scooped up the assets of Connectix.
By adding the compatibility mode, Microsoft is aiming to address one of the key shortcomings of Windows Vista: its compatibility issues with software designed for Windows XP and earlier versions of the operating system.
Details of the Windows XP mode, previously known as Virtual Windows XP, were first published earlier Friday by the Windows SuperSite blog.
The technology has not been part of the beta version of Windows 7 or previously disclosed by Microsoft, but is expected to be released alongside the upcoming release candidate version. Microsoft said on Friday that it will release it to developers next week and publicly starting May 5.
According to the SuperSite report, written by bloggers Paul Thurrott and Rafael Rivera, the XP mode won't come in the box with Windows 7, but will be made available as a free download for those who buy the professional, enterprise, or "ultimate" versions of Windows 7. The site also has some screenshots of the mode in action.
There had been rumors of a secret user interface, but until Friday, no mention of the XP mode.
Update: Late on Friday, Microsoft confirmed XP Mode in a blog posting.
"Windows XP Mode is specifically designed to help small businesses move to Windows 7," Microsoft's Scott Woodgate said in the blog. "Windows XP Mode provides you with the flexibility to run many older productivity applications on a Windows 7 based PC."
According to the post, "all you need to do is to install suitable applications directly in Windows XP Mode which is a virtual Windows XP environment running under Windows Virtual PC. The applications will be published to the Windows 7 desktop and then you can run them directly from Windows 7."
Microsoft said it "will be soon releasing the beta of Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC for Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate."
Reporter's notes: Cloud Computing conference
I was at the Under the Radar: Cloud Computing conference on Friday. I didn't have the chops to evaluate most of these companies, and certainly not based on their brief 6-minute pitches. Watching the demo of Cloudkick, for example, which is showing a new tool, Cloudshift, that lets you transfer an app from one cloud service (like Amazon EC2) to another (like Slicehost) is impressive, but you can't tell how well it works in the real world from the pitch.
...
I'm not the only person here who's skeptical. At a panel discussion this morning, corporate IT execs expressed a hesitancy to adopt cloud services in their businesses, in part because they're afraid of the cost of adopting the services. Other IT execs fear the security of cloud services. It is, however, unlikely they'll be able to stop the cloud from coming into their companies. Just as PCs, wireless networks, and smart phones have come into the enterprise, and most importantly latched onto corporate networks behind firewall, cloud services are coming into business as non-IT personnel pay for services on their credit cards, and hook them into their workflows.
Judges Peter Cohen, Sunil Dhaliwal, Lew Moorman, and David Powers consider a start-up's pitch at Under the Radar.
(Credit: Rafe Needleman/CNET)
This is freaking some CIOs out, says Oren Michels, CEO of Mashery, which helps companies manage API access to services. He recommends embracing cloud apps. "When CIOs block productivity, they're screwed," he says. For companies building cloud-based products, likewise, his advice is to forget appealing to the CIO. "There is no way in a startup's time horizon that they're going to be selling to CIOs," he says.
...
Matthew Glotzbach, director of product management for Google Enterprise (and one of the judges on pitch session I was moderating), says IT execs are bifurcated. "Some get it, they're putting the controls in place and encouraging use of the services."
...
Rackspace, traditionally a hosting company, is splitting the difference. It's getting with the cloud program, but is not giving up its traditional service of providing actual physical machines locked in server cages for their customers who want them. Lew Moorman, Rackspace's chief strategy officer, is running the company's cloud business. The company recently reported that under 10% of its business is coming from its cloud-based application hosting services, Cloud Sites, Cloud Servers, and Cloud Files, but Moorman told me that the cloud business is growing at over 100% a year. He declined to project when the "lines will cross," and Rackspace's clound business will overtake the hosting business it was originally based on.
But he does believe it will happen. Many businesses, he says, will need both traditional hosted services, where they have near absolute control of their computing environments, and cloud services for more run-of-the-mill apps and for services that have highly variable usage patterns or that need to be brought on-line very quickly. "The cloud is for everyone, but not for everything," he says, even though, "it is the ultimate productization of hosting."
...
The moderator's view of a pitch. This is Heroku's James Lindenbaum.
(Credit: Rafe Needleman/CNET)I moderated two sessions. In the first, three Web app testing services presented: SauceLabs, which runs your Web app testing scripts against multiple browsers at the same time; uTest, a marketplace for professional beta testers; and Zephyr, which manages testing programs. SauceLabs had a great pitch. uTest is basically a product testing service, except you never know exactly who will be doing your testing.
I also moderated a session with four application development companies. I liked best Twilio, which pitched its super-simple solution for creating voice/touchtone apps that run over phones using well-known Web development techniques.
...
I always see venture capitalists at these Under the Radar events, but this one is full of heavy hitters, folks I generally only see at the high-end conferences like D and Demo. One VC who traditionally invests in consumer Web companies, Jeff Clavier, told me the reason he's here is that nearly all the companies he's been looking at are using cloud services for their infrastructure. He's following the money, as are the other investors here.
In the current economy, the allure of cloud services is in part financial. As investor Kent Goldman says, with cloud services, "everything that was a fixed cost becomes variable."
...
I'm not the only person here who's skeptical. At a panel discussion this morning, corporate IT execs expressed a hesitancy to adopt cloud services in their businesses, in part because they're afraid of the cost of adopting the services. Other IT execs fear the security of cloud services. It is, however, unlikely they'll be able to stop the cloud from coming into their companies. Just as PCs, wireless networks, and smart phones have come into the enterprise, and most importantly latched onto corporate networks behind firewall, cloud services are coming into business as non-IT personnel pay for services on their credit cards, and hook them into their workflows.
Judges Peter Cohen, Sunil Dhaliwal, Lew Moorman, and David Powers consider a start-up's pitch at Under the Radar.
(Credit: Rafe Needleman/CNET)
This is freaking some CIOs out, says Oren Michels, CEO of Mashery, which helps companies manage API access to services. He recommends embracing cloud apps. "When CIOs block productivity, they're screwed," he says. For companies building cloud-based products, likewise, his advice is to forget appealing to the CIO. "There is no way in a startup's time horizon that they're going to be selling to CIOs," he says.
...
Matthew Glotzbach, director of product management for Google Enterprise (and one of the judges on pitch session I was moderating), says IT execs are bifurcated. "Some get it, they're putting the controls in place and encouraging use of the services."
...
Rackspace, traditionally a hosting company, is splitting the difference. It's getting with the cloud program, but is not giving up its traditional service of providing actual physical machines locked in server cages for their customers who want them. Lew Moorman, Rackspace's chief strategy officer, is running the company's cloud business. The company recently reported that under 10% of its business is coming from its cloud-based application hosting services, Cloud Sites, Cloud Servers, and Cloud Files, but Moorman told me that the cloud business is growing at over 100% a year. He declined to project when the "lines will cross," and Rackspace's clound business will overtake the hosting business it was originally based on.
But he does believe it will happen. Many businesses, he says, will need both traditional hosted services, where they have near absolute control of their computing environments, and cloud services for more run-of-the-mill apps and for services that have highly variable usage patterns or that need to be brought on-line very quickly. "The cloud is for everyone, but not for everything," he says, even though, "it is the ultimate productization of hosting."
...
The moderator's view of a pitch. This is Heroku's James Lindenbaum.
(Credit: Rafe Needleman/CNET)I moderated two sessions. In the first, three Web app testing services presented: SauceLabs, which runs your Web app testing scripts against multiple browsers at the same time; uTest, a marketplace for professional beta testers; and Zephyr, which manages testing programs. SauceLabs had a great pitch. uTest is basically a product testing service, except you never know exactly who will be doing your testing.
I also moderated a session with four application development companies. I liked best Twilio, which pitched its super-simple solution for creating voice/touchtone apps that run over phones using well-known Web development techniques.
...
I always see venture capitalists at these Under the Radar events, but this one is full of heavy hitters, folks I generally only see at the high-end conferences like D and Demo. One VC who traditionally invests in consumer Web companies, Jeff Clavier, told me the reason he's here is that nearly all the companies he's been looking at are using cloud services for their infrastructure. He's following the money, as are the other investors here.
In the current economy, the allure of cloud services is in part financial. As investor Kent Goldman says, with cloud services, "everything that was a fixed cost becomes variable."
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