MS Looks To Move Windows 7 Users To IE 11

     Microsoft released a developer preview of Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) for Windows 7. IE10, a faster, modern edition of Microsoft's long-running browser, debuted last fall with Windows 8. It did not make its way to Windows 7 users, however, until four months later. The first public taste of IE11 arrived with Windows 8.1 last month, when Microsoft released the OS update as a public preview. At the time, the company said IE11 would be coming to Win7 users, as well.

     The company has not indicated when the final version of IE11 for Windows 7 will be released, but given the quick turnaround with the preview edition, Win7 users might not have to wait as long this time around.

     The developer preview works for Windows Server 2008 R2 as well. IE11 is expected to deliver a number of enhancements, including faster page-loading, support for more standards and improved graphics rendering. For Windows 7 users, Microsoft claims IE11 runs JavaScript 4% faster than IE10, and at least 30% faster than any competitor. IE11 also supports WebGL, which should improve battery life by leveraging the GPU to decode JPG images on Web pages.

     That said, the Windows 7 version of IE11 won't include all the features of the Windows 8.1 variant. The Win8.1 version will be able to run HTML5 videos, such as those in Netflix, without a plug-in, for instance, but the Windows 7 edition will not.

     Additionally, the Win7 version will keep the URL bar at the top of the browser, whereas in Windows 8, the bar is at the bottom. The Windows 8 version also supports Google's SPDY protocol and can concurrently open up to 100 tabs. The Windows 7 edition lacks both of these features.

     IE versions 8, 9 and 10 are the three most ubiquitous browsers, according to Web-tracking firm Net Applications. Despite this firm foundation, IE11 adoption is important to Microsoft for a number of reasons. IE versions languished for years, mired in proprietary technology, security vulnerabilities and inconsistent performance. As a result, competing browsers -- and their pathways to search engines, ad sales and social media -- gained prominence. Microsoft has spent the last few years modernizing IE and closing gaps. With major changes occurring in the PC industry, Microsoft wants to maintain its momentum.

     With IE11, that momentum clearly involves tablets and Windows 8.1; the better the OS's Web-surfing experience, the more attractive the forthcoming Windows 8.1 mini-tablets become as cheap, consumption-oriented devices. But Microsoft's progress will involve Windows 7 users too.

     Windows 7 is the world's top OS, and Windows XP, the runner-up, is still powering nearly 40% of all PCs. Windows XP will lose support in less than a year, and many none-too-pleased customers have been slow to upgrade. When they have upgraded, it's often been to Windows 7, not Windows 8.

     Microsoft will not release IE11 for Windows 8, only for Windows 8.1. The company is assuming, in other words, that all Win8 users will upgrade. This will give IE11 a built-in boost, but Windows 7 still has more users. To reach the widest audience, IE11 for Windows 7 is important, as well.

     The IE11 experience is reliant on not only Microsoft but also Web developers. In an effort to ensure that sites work well with IE11, Microsoft is redesigning its modern.ie site for developers. The company also announced a limited 25% discount for Parallels Desktop 8, the virtualization software for running Windows on a Mac. Microsoft additionally offered developers two new virtual machines for site testing, as well as free access to BrowserStack, a tool that compares how long JPG images take to render in various browsers.

Source: http://www.informationweek.com/windows/microsoft-news/ms-looks-to-move-windows-7-users-to-ie-1/240158971

Microsoft and NUI and the Windows 7 Interface

     Microsoft has been in interested in developing alternative interfaces for users. Their touch and speech technology, which has entered theWindows 7 OS system and has been a player for different models saw a new partner enter with Microsoft.

Natural User Interface

     A natural user interface (NUI) is a user interface that is effectively invisible, or becomes invisible with successive learned interactions, to its users. It is natural because most computer interfaces use artificial control devices where users must learn the operation. Moreover, a NUI relies on a user making a quick transition from novice to expert. Thus, while the interface requires learning, a special interface design gives the user the feeling that they are instantly and continuously successful. This technology allows users to carry out relatively natural motions, movements or gestures that they quickly discover control the computer application or manipulate the on-screen content. The goal is to make the user feel like a natural; and not part of a suspect view that the natural user interface is somehow a mimicry of nature, or that some inputs to a computer are somehow more ‘natural’ than others.

So, Microsoft entered an agreement with 24/7 to jointly bring the power of natural user interfaces (NUIs) and data analytics at cloud scale (Big Data) to enable the future of customer service for businesses.

     Last year, Microsoft saw its Kinect system grow from a game computing add on to a science development system. But now, this new partnership extends this NUI system to business applications. With Microsoft and 24/7, new ways to use NUI should develop and this will give businesses a new way to present their data and information. It should also extend the type of users to Windows 7 that weren’t available before because of disabilities or other handicaps. But even though that is not their first goal, which is instead to provide mobile and social media connections, still using this approach can add many users and start the switch over to an alternative natural interface.

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With Microsoft expanding its NUI technology in Windows 7 and the upcoming Windows 8 this can make an big impact on how users will use computers.

Five Windows 7 Issues Every IT Pro Needs to Know

     Windows 7 proved to be a hit product for Microsoft, with sales of more than 90 million licenses since its October 2009 release. Generally seen as a vast improvement on Windows Vista, as well as a timely successor to the decade-old Windows XP, Windows 7 also met with largely positive reviews from many tech sites and media outlets. As with any huge software platform, however, Windows 7 also contained some kinks for a subset of IT administrators. 
     
     The following were some of the issues that IT pros pointed out to eWEEK during the operating system’s first weeks and months on the market. Some of these, such as driver incompatibility, have been largely resolved; others, including a lack of an upgrade path between Windows XP and Windows 7, continue to (in some cases, necessarily) persist.

Issue 1
Lack of upgrade path between Windows XP and Windows 7. Given the number of SMBs (small and midsize businesses) and enterprises running Windows XP, the lack of a direct upgrade path to Windows 7 continues to represent an issue to businesses considering the switch.

Issue 2
Legacy Applications/backwards compatibility. A number of companies have found that their proprietary applications, built for Windows XP, need Windows 7’s XP Mode (seen here) in order to run. However, that virtual environment operates very slowly for certain users, resulting in a frustrating process.

Issue 3
Libraries functionality. A subset of IT administrators seem to find Libraries, a Windows 7-specific system for ordering files of user content, to be confusing.

Issue 4
Occasional battery life issues for laptops running Windows 7. A number of IT administrators continue to report that installing Windows 7 onto a laptop very occasionally results in an inability for the laptop’s battery to carry a full charge. Microsoft has disputed these claims, saying their engineers have been unable to replicate the issue.

Issue 5
Early Driver Incompatibility. Following the release of the Windows 7 RC, some users noted missing drivers for certain printers and other auxiliary devices. However, it seems that many of those issues have been subsequently addressed.

OnLive Brings Windows 7 To Your iPad

     Tablets are becoming more and more popular all the time, and the vast majority of them are iPad’s. Of course everyone knows of the limitations that this brings but OnLive is looking to getting around these barriers. At CES this year they announced their new OnLive Desktop Service which allows you to use Windows 7 on your iPad over the internet.

     OnLive have been around for a while now and are known more for their OnLive Gaming service. OnLive Desktop is a free app that’s available on the iTunes app store (US only for the moment) that allows you to access a Windows 7 virtual machine from your iPad. OnLive starts up a virtual machine on one of its servers and streams the screen to your iPad. The user can then interact with the screen and the information will be relayed back to the virtual machine.

     Once you’ve loaded up the app and have connected to a desktop you will be presented with the standard Windows 7 interface. There’s also a number of Microsoft Office applications for you to use for free including Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Of course all the other standard Windows 7 programs will be available to you as well as a few touch based games.

     You interact with your Windows 7 desktop the same way you’d normally use your iPad, ie. pinch to zoom etc.. and you can even use an external bluetooth keyboard if you wish. At the moment this free service operates on an “as-available” basis, which means it just makes use of the left over capacity from OnLive’s gaming service and only offers 2GB storage.

     However this won’t do for most businesses so a subscription service called OnLive Desktop Pro will be available soon for $9.99 per month. This service will provide a larger selection of applications and features, 50GB of storage space, and also priority access to OnLives server resources. Another service “Onlive Enterprise” will also be available which will allow installation of custom programs and allow IT staff full access to the virtual machine.

      Of course the big limitation with this service is that you will need a pretty quick internet connection to use it which isn’t really much good for people who are travelling or who have below par internet connections.

Windows 7 Continues To Dig Into XP’s Market Share

     Another year, another massive loss for Windows XP. It seems like consumers are finally starting to pay heed to Microsoft’s message to ditch the OS that is now well over a decade old. And while Windows XP is losing big time, Windows 7 is gaining all its market share and more.

     Going by the latest results from Net Applications, Windows XP lost 2.4 percent of the market in December leaving it with an average of just 46.5 percent of the market for the end of 2011, this fall matches the record drop the OS also suffered in October 2011. It’s still quite impressive that Windows XP has managed to hold onto such a large percentage of the market after so long, but it’s a big drop when you remember that XP started of 2011 with nearly 58 percent of the market.

     Windows 7 on the other hand has been rapidly growing as it has been since its release, not only is it robbing market share from XP, but it’s also eating into Windows Vista’s as well. It gained 2.4 percent last month to reach 37 percent of the market, and in the same four months at the end of the year that Windows XP lost 5.9 percent, Windows 7 gained 6.4 percent. Considering that Windows 7 only started off with 23 percent of the market in 2011, it’s a good jump.

     Windows Vista is very very slowly dropping in market share while OS X is holding pretty much steady. Of course we’ll probably see quite a big boost for Windows 7 again when the results come in for January as all those PC’s that were purchased over the holiday season come online and more and more Windows XP machines are made redundant.

     It’s still worth remember that internationally, Windows XP is still the most used OS. However in the US Windows 7 has already replaced it as the most used OS, so it’s really only a matter of time before XP is finally knocked off it’s throne.