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Microsoft

New HP Computers Not designed for Windows 7

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Looking to buy a new PC? Make sure you get one with the operating system you want, already pre-installed.

Windows_7_Horizontal_Logo_Web

HP support mentions that downgrading your new Windows 8 PC may cause hardware issues and you may ultimately have to return to Windows 8 to get things to work again. Besides having major hardware issues, reverting to Windows 7 could be a time consuming task that will require you to modify the BIOS in order to work with previous versions of Windows.

Here is the response from an HP Administrator when asked about downgrading:

“HP does not recommend downgrading on any HP consumer desktop and notebook products. After October 26, 2012, HP consumer desktop and notebook products will ship only with Windows 8. Windows 7 will not be supported on these new platforms, and no drivers, apps, or Windows 7 content will be available through HP. If users choose to downgrade their HP consumer desktop or notebook system, HP will continue to support the hardware but if there is an issue where HP diagnostics are required OR it is determined that the loaded software or upgrade operating system is causing the issue, HP may suggest returning the system to the original Windows 8 OS that shipped with the computer.”

As a Windows 8 user I don’t feel the urge to downgrade. In most cases I have actually spent very little time using the new tile UI, in fact I spend about 90% of my time on the “old desktop”. I don’t purposely avoid the new UI, it’s just that many of the apps I use are either not designed for Windows 8 or have one too many bugs at this point. Only time will tell if users start to drop Windows 8 and go back with Windows 7, but I don’t see why anyone would. Microsoft will obviously be continuing to patch the new OS to ensure things are running smoothly and there are even a few ways to make Windows 8 look and feel more like previous versions.

 

Xbox SmartGlass Now Available for iOS

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XboxSmartGlass LogoXbox SmartGlass creates a richer, more immersive experience for Xbox owners. This is definitely one of the best things that Microsoft has released for Xbox and now it’s available for iOS devices.

With Xbox SmartGlass you can use your phone, tablet, Windows 8/RT tablets, and PCs to control your Xbox. Basically, you will be able to use any of these devices as a remote control with the added benefit of being able to use gestures to navigate and control your Xbox. Extra content will appear on the device of your choice for games, TV shows,  and movies. You can imagine Xbox SmartGlass as a second screen that you can use to add another layer of content to anything you do on Xbox, this is the same direction Nintendo went with when designing the Wii U.

Some of the cool uses for Xbox SmartGlass include displaying extra content like commentary, map UI for games, and interactive strategy guides that integrate perfectly with your TV experience.

 

Get Xbox SmartGlass:

Windows

Windows Phone

Android

iOS

 

Microsoft Acting More Like Apple

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It’s been a crazy week for the world of computer technology. With new hardware and software making it’s debut and keynotes to present it all to the masses but as the madness continues, I can’t help but notice that Microsoft seems to be taking industry cues from other big players like Apple.Microsoft Logo

Microsoft just isn’t the trendsetter here anymore and the proof is in the products that the software giant has recently released. Microsoft is now deep into the hardware game and it’s not just gaming consoles or mp3 players anymore, were talking about a PC with the Microsoft logo on it. The comparison to Apple is obvious, but not just because of the hardware itself but also because of the way they describe it. In a recent video released form Microsoft, (shown at the bottom of this page) you can begin to feel the Apple vibe right away.

Windows 8 features a store much like the App Store in OSX. The UI is completely different from the App Store but the idea is the same. The app based system simplifies the way a user finds, downloads, installs and removes applications. This new store also sandboxes applications which can have the potential to create a more secure OS. It’s a system we have all become accustomed to using and we should feel right at home using it in Windows 8, but why? It’s because we seen this before, on Apple devices.

Having an operating system that works on virtually any modern computer is pretty awesome but you can’t deny the fact that that user experience can vary greatly from system to system. With Microsoft creating it’s own tablet, it has absolute control over the experience the user has with the device, this is the mentality Apple has continued stand by year after year, and Microsoft seems to be adopting it. I would love to see what a Microsoft desktop or laptop would look like and I wonder what effect it would have on the industry. Could you imagine if HP or Dell made it’s own operating system? Would they be Linux Based? Interesting food for thought.

When I say that Microsoft is acting more like Apple I don’t mean that they are sitting around copying them, I mean that it’s clear that Apple has become the major trendsetter for the industry. The hardware and software that Apple has created over the last decade has changed what we think a PC experience should look and feel like. I am excited to see Microsoft embrace these new ideas because it’s something that I think most of us want and it sends a message to the world that Microsoft is here to compete.



Windows 8 to be Released at Midnight and Final Thoughts

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Well, the era of Windows 8 is nigh and at 12:01 AM across all time zones, we will finally get to see how the world reacts to one of biggest changes to Microsoft Windows in the history of the company.product_win8-startscreen_Web

I have mentioned before that I think that the new Windows OS will do just fine but it will take some time for people to get used to. Most people don’t like change, it makes them uncomfortable and in some cases a bit angry. Some people will continue to hold on to Windows 7 and never let go, and they have every right to, but I think that Microsoft is headed in the right direction, it’s time to let Windows evolve.

What’s kind of strange to think about is that this release of Windows actually lacks just that, windows. For the first time Windows will be released with a new UI that doesn’t have any “windows”. How weird is that? I suppose they could have really turned things upside down on us and named it Microsoft Tiles, but that just sounds wrong. All joking aside this is a big deal for Microsoft but is it a big gamble? Maybe it isn’t.

Just where would all of those Windows 8 haters go? Would they move to Linux or OSX? I would venture to guess that most of these “h8ters”, if I may so un-elegantly put it, would just end up using a previous version like Windows 7. So how does Microsoft lose here? In the worst case scenario Microsoft completely redesigns and rethinks their UI again and quickly pushes toward Windows 9. They have had their fair share of OS failures over the years and have recovered just fine i.e. (Windows ME, Vista). I understand that putting this much time and money into a product release with this much change is a big deal but I don’t think that a Windows 8 failure is enough to make the average Windows user jump ship.

Understanding what users want and need is crucial in a release like this and Microsoft has put in billions of hours into testing Windows 8 and hopefully we will see all that hard work payoff. Windows 8 offers everything a modern OS should and they have wrapped it up in an elegant design, but there are a few major changes in Microsoft’s mentality that are reflected in Windows 8.

One of the more notable changes besides overall UI design is the sandboxing of applications. Sandboxing apps can make your system a lot more secure and it’s something that Apple has been doing for years now with Mac OS. Many developers are divided about having their apps in a sandbox environment, again it’s a change and people don’t like change, including developers. From a user perspective having an ‘app store’ is convenient and it gives us an extra sense of security knowing that these apps needed to be approved before making it into the store. Personally, I don’t have an issue with anything that has the potential to make Windows more secure.

I will be spending with weekend with Windows 8 Pro and will be talking about my experience soon after. For now we wait and see if the world will accept the change that Microsoft has put in front of us.

 

How to Tell If You Are Taking Advantage of USB 3.0

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USB (Universal Serial bus), how did we live with out it?

gravisGamePad
Gravis GamePad

It’s probably a safe bet to say that most of the people who use USB technology have no idea what the world was like before it existed. Remember PS/2 and RS-232 connectors?It used to be a very different world when it came to how we connected devices to our computers.

Imagine having a different type of connector for each device you connect to your computer, that was reality in the early years of computers. I remember plugging in my Gravis Game Pad into the sound card, yes that’s not a typo, which had a midi/joystick port next to the 3.5mm jacks for microphone and audio out.

Fortunately for all of us, USB which was officially introduced in 1996, standardized the way we connect devices to our computers. We no longer had to worry about which device needed what port and which device would work on what type of hardware, everything became “universal”. The USB standard has undergone a few changes over it’s lifetime with each version slightly more stable and faster than the last.

USB1
USB 1.0

Transfer speeds for USB 1.0 are 1.5 Mbit/s and 12 Mbit/s

USB2
USB 2.0

Transfer speeds for USB 2.0 are 480 Mbit/s

USB 3.0

Transfer speeds for USB 3.0 can be up to 5 Gbit/s

Of course there are many other changes that go along with each USB release besides just transfer speeds. Changes to USB have also included power management and simultaneous two way transfer. The USB connector is really amazing, everything from keyboards to cell phones utilize this amazing interface and USB 3.0 is even better.

Now that we know how much faster USB 3.0 is compared to 2.0 (about 10 times faster) we need to know if were even using it. It may be difficult at first to tell which technology you’re using because USB 3.0 ports are backwards compatible with USB 2.0 and therefore look identical to their 2.0 counterpart . If you haven’t bought a new computer in last year or so you probably don’t have USB 3.0.

In some cases an indication that you may have USB 3.0 will be a blue colored USB port on the computer itself, but the best way to tell is to check your hardware configuration via your preferred OS.

Microsoft Windows

You can check your computers hardware on Windows machines by right clicking “My Computer”, then “Manage” and then “Device Manager”.

Locate USB and you should see “USB 3.0” somewhere in the hardware description.

Mac OSX

Similarly, in OSX you can click the Apple logo in the top left of the finder bar, click “About this Mac”, then “More Info” and then “System Report”.

So is it worth all of the fuss? Absolutely! I have a USB 3.0 external hard drive and data transfer speeds are incredibly fast compared to 2.0 models. Any device using 3.0 should perform significantly better.