Tue 28 Oct 2008
Microsoft unveils Windows 7, featuring new Recycle Bin icon. About 4.6 people care.
Posted by Jason T. under Microsoft, User Interface
[2] Comments
Today Microsoft released an early test version of Windows 7 to developers and gave the most in-depth demonstration of the new operating system. About 4.6 people around the world, who still use their Zune’s, actually cared.
OK, to be fair, on Wall Street quite a few people cared, sending Microsoft’s stock up about 4%, outpacing all the major indices. But that was for, oh, about 45 minutes. Now, the stock is back in trend with everyone else. And it appears that Wall Street, much like those of you probably reading, have already stopped caring.
Graph of MSFT on 10/28/2008
In case you’re one of those people who have eagerly been awaiting what wondrous possibilities could await you after Vista–or more likely are one of those folks who have decided to pass on Vista all together–you’ll be able to get your hands on a retail copy “by January 2010″. That’s only a little more than a year away! Of course, given Microsoft’s track record with releases, I’m saying November 2011 at the earliest. Taking a historical look, Vista was birthed in May 2001, with an expected ship date of 2003. In August 2004 the product still hadn’t shipped and the Windows XP code base was thrown out and Vista was rebuilt on top of Windows Server 2003. Vista didn’t actually ship to retail shelves however until January 30th, 2007.
So lets guess that MS started coding for Windows 7 as soon as Vista was released (Wikipedia says the first build was released in January 2008). If they manage to cut the dev time in half for their new OS, we could in fact see a 2010 release. If they go par for the course, we’re looking at late 2012 or 2013. I’ll give them a little credit and stick with my November 2011 target.
But who cares when it comes out…just know that it’s on the way! With such features as a new Microsoft Paint app, now featuring the familiar Office Ribbon! Tripple w00t! Now we’re cookin’ with gas–check out the hot new color pallet! (admittedly my favorite part of Excel 2007 is the much-improved default color pallet…)
Windows 7 Paint
And no more do you have to go into a menu to get to the zoom! Just slide away in the lower-right and zoom to all the pixelated glory you can! And Paint would be worthless without something to showcase your creation in, right? Well step on up Windows 7 Wordpad! Now with Ribbon!
Windows 7 Wordpad
I’m already saving up my $350 for the Super Premium Ultimate Edition–I wouldn’t want to miss out. But I’ll be disappointed since Bill G. probably won’t sign the box. But maybe I can get a cool Halo 5 Master Cheif Replica Helmet if I buy the right version.
But that’s all fun and games. What about the real meat and potatos of the OS. Well to that we have plenty of screenshots over at Neowin.net. Here’s my favorite:
.png "Neowin: Windows 7 Desktop featuring Jump lists")
Neowin: Windows 7 Desktop featuring Jump lists
Wowie Zowie! No they didn’t! Ohh yes they did! You can right click an item in the task bar and…BAM! a contextual menu with your book marks. OhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHH SNAP! And is that a transparent frame I see around the window, letting me see my Internet TV widget through the min/max/close buttons? OhhhhHHHHHH SNAP!!!
And forget Expose or any of that crap that Apple offers. Why press a single button and see all your open windows from all your open applications conveniently at one time, when you can meticulously hover over each taskbar representation of a program, wait a few seconds, and finally be presented thumbnails of the page? DUH! Clearly a brilliant design feature!
WSJ: Hover over windows preview
Damn! Hot shit! Just like the woman featured in the screenshot above, this feature is sure to be a real maverick when it comes to changing the game in the OS battles. Take THAT you fat cats at One Infinite Loop!
Man ohh man am I excited! I just hope that Nvidia comes out with some new GPUs so when I build my next-next-next Windows box I’ll be able to enjoy all these hot eye candy features (I damn well hope so because their stock is a heaping pile of crap right now, and not fit to be recycled in the spiffy new Windows 7 translucent recycle bin of the future). Niiiicccceeeeee!
September 8th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Funny how a year later (give or take) and all your sarcasm in this article makes around 0% of people care, don’t worry though, i’m here to up your rating.
Turns out windows 7 is the best operating system Microsoft have ever put together and most of your commentary was not only from a clearly uneducated viewpoint but also mostly trivial.
For example, there is and has been for a while a shortcut with windows7 and Vista that allows you to see all of your windows at once…with just a push of a button, funny that.
And as for the paint program, if you are serious about digital art of any kind obviously you go and get yourself a decent piece of software (gimp/photoshop/corel) at least you’re given a basic paint program.
Lastly the ribbon menus are simply a design change, it’s bound to happen, adapt or stick with whats familiar…either way nobody really cares.
From all this at least you have learnt not to be such an idiot jumping to conclusions (release date turned out to be two months before the target stated in this article), now run along and play nice with the other kids at school.
September 10th, 2009 at 12:39 am
Honestly, 0% of people cared in the first place, so this isn’t news to me. Though I’m not sure where my rating is getting upped, so please let me know…
To your points:
Microsoft may be the best operating system MS has ever put together, but that doesn’t make it a stellar operating system. I honestly can’t verify that it is or is not the best operating system ever, as I don’t know anyone who has actually purchased a machine with it or installed it. A coworker installed a beta on his home personal laptop and he said it crashed less than Vista but that was really all that he had to say about it.
I don’t know anyone other than friends working at Microsoft who are using Windows 7 in the workplace. In fact, all the people I know working in tech for the most part are still using XP. There was no compelling reason to upgrade to Windows Vista and there apparently isn’t all that many convincing arguments to spend the money to upgrade to Windows 7 either. And no, I and my friends do not work at some small back office government location, but rather at various small, medium, and large corporations in Microsoft’s own backyard.
You point out that there is a shortcut with Windows 7 and Vista that allows you to see all our Windows at once…but what’s the point? That’s not amazing technology, and the point is that if it’s been out for years then why make it seem like a new feature? OS X has done it for years now, but they made it “new” feature when it was new, and moved on. In fact, you might have been able to do something similar with PowerToys in XP but I can’t remember.
Regarding the Paint–again I was pointing out that one of these highlighted features was an updated crappy image editing program. Other companies make free tools that allow for easy editing for average computer users–and they make it for free. Why not bundle the Live Photo Gallery on the machine? It’s free. The point of the comment was they added the Ribbon to Paint. Wow! That sounds like one of the many enticing reasons to go upgrade today!
As far as the Ribbon goes, I actually very much like the design and use of it. I think it’s still too big, and suffers the standard Windows/Office problem of toolbar bloat, but at least they’ve done an elegant job of exposing lots of features that were otherwise hard to get to. Excel is perhaps the best example of the use of ribbon. See, a compliment to Microsoft–I can do that, and understand good design when I see it and am more than willing to point it out.
But adding the Ribbon to Paint in this case is really just a UI consistency issue which could have been done with any upgrade of the software. An upgraded Paint and Wordpad program shouldn’t ever make the bulleted list of awesome new features for Windows 7, and yet here the reviewer was doing just that.
So, having jumped to conclusions long ago, I will have to stick with my original theme that most of the world just isn’t all that excited about Windows 7. Sure there were some folks lined up at the Best Buy in Bellevue where Bill Gates made an appearance on release night. But that was about the most excitement I heard about. Never have I talked to anyone who’s been super stoked about Windows 7, complained that there system is just not good enough to run it so they simply *must* go upgrade, etc. etc. Congrats to MS for getting it out earlier than my prediction. But Microsoft still has failed to blow me away with this operating system. Perhaps one day if my company ever upgrades I’ll sing a different tune. But they’re still passing out brand new machines at my company that they’ve specifically downgraded to XP, so the day my machine runs 7 seems like it’ll be pretty far away.
And should the commenter above ever return and comment again, I would ask that they please provide me a list–of any length–of why they feel 7 is the best operating system MS has made. I’m sure it is, as one generally strives to create something better with each new iteration. But don’t just come to my blog and call me an idiot and a child without at least providing some supporting details or legit counterarguments. You complained about my statements yet provided nothing of substance to challenge them (sans comment about serious digital artists buying a 3rd party product).
Regarding this: ” and most of your commentary was not only from a clearly uneducated viewpoint but also mostly trivial.” …..
I would venture to say that my viewpoint is also anything but uneducated with regards to computing and technology. I have been using, building, and upgrading computers since DOS 6, and have used practically every version of Windows that’s been out there (starting with Windows 3.11, followed by Windows 95, 98, 98SE, ME, XP, Vista, 7, NT 4, 2000, 2003 Server). I’ve worked at Microsoft both as a vendor and as an employee. I’ve worked for Apple. I have worked for Intel. I’ve run and maintained computer labs. I’ve sat on a committee that made technology purchasing decisions for a university. I own a Windows desktop, multiple Macs, and a Linux box. So I would venture that my comments were far more educated than the typical person bashing Windows or Mac.
But that’s just my opinion.