Vista Ultimate Dreamscene

I'm running Windows Vista Ultimate at home and bumped into a cool new feature available to Ultimate users as an Ultimate Exclusive. The feature is called Dreamscene and it makes it easy to replace your boring static wallpaper with exciting dynamic wallpaper - apparently, without taxing your system resources too much. If you're an Ultimate user and good about downloading updates (even the optional updates) it's probably already installed; if you don't already have it installed, you can use Windows Update to download and install Dreamscene. While you're updating - grab the Dreamscene Content Pack as well.

Instructions for activating Windows Vista Ultimate Dreamscene:

1. Right-click the desktop
2. Select Personalize from the menu that appears
3. Select Desktop Background on the Personalizaton screen
4. Select Windows Dreamscene for Picture Location on the Desktop Background screen
5. Select a Dreamscene, your background will update, click Ok after you settle on a Dreamscene for your background. NOTE: If you don't have the Content Pack installed, you will only see one Dreamscene in the list of available Dreamscenes. The Content Pack brings the number closer to ten.

Dreamscene is working pretty well for me on my modestly equiped Lenovo laptop so far. I like the liveliness it brings to the background - I have a rainy day scene running for my background. Oh, Dreamscene is also smart enough to go into a static state when the laptop is running on battery power. If you are a Vista Ultimat user - it's worth a look.

   (Vista Dreamscene: Select "Windows Dream Scene" for Picture Location)

Google Apps - Sneaking up on MS Office?

I'm a big fan of Google Apps. If you check my browser history you'll see a lot of action around docs.google.com. I think Google Apps is sneaking up on the flank side of MS Office for the sneak attack - but I'm an early adopter and smart enough to realize that I don't represent the masses. MS Office still owns the lion's share of the office productivity market. Bernard Lunn, a self described "later early adopter," writes today on "Why Google Apps is a Serious Threat to Microsoft Office."

This is the perspective of a “skeptical, later early adopter”; the sort of person who Microsoft needs to retain and should have been able to retain easily. I don’t spend time on productivity tools that may at some date make me more productive, but which today are just a frustrating time sink. That describes the majority of people. MS Office can be annoying, but it does work. So any serious alternative has to offer a significant advantage and at the same time make adoption a total breeze. [continue reading]

In his post, Bernard does an excellent job of summarizing some of the key reasons more and more people are logging into docs.google.com. Collaboration, and mobile access are two of the key reasons.

Microsoft managers, patting themselves on the back for cooking-up a nice marketshare pie chart, need to keep one thing in mind - a lot of current Office users are dabbling in docs.google.com - at some point, the tipping point, they'll stop adding Office to the cart when they're configuring a new machine because docs.google.com is good enough. I have Office on both of my machines at the office and I spend more time in docs.google.com than I do Office.

Microsoft Auto

Office Live Workspaces Beta Announced - Snore

Scoble posted a video interview yesterday with a couple managers from the Office Live Workspaces (OLW) team - they talk about the service, the future of the service, and walk us through a demo. Microsoft announced the BETA for (OLW) yesterday. Sign-up here if you're in to this kind of thing - Windows Live ID required. Personally, I have very little need for a service like OLW.

Office Live Workspaces is an improvement over previous versions of Office Live which were more small business oriented and very SharePoint like but the service has a huge anchor tied to it - it requires Microsoft Office.

I have multiple copies of Office 2003 and 2007 so I'm by no means an Office hater but I use Word and Excel less and less as the months pass. Instead, I'm using services like Google DOCS and Google Calendar more and more. Why? Primarily, because I can access the services from almost anywhere without any system requirements other than a decent internet connection and a browser. Access from anywhere is important to me because I use multiple computers on a daily basis - I simply can't afford to spend time keeping client-side software current on all these machines.

Collaborative functionality is another major reason why I'm using services like Google DOCS more and more. If I need to collaborate on a document with a team, I'm going to use Google DOCS. I'm done passing Word and Excel files around in e-mail - constantly trying to track changes and a mess of files with files names that get more and more creative as the collaborative process continues.

Microsoft is losing the ability to provide me with products that work the way I want to work. I understand why they have to protect Office - it's a cash cow and all that - but that huge anchor is going to really screw them up in the long-term if they can't put it down and move Office forward at a faster pace and in a revolutionary as opposed to evolutionary way. How hard would it really be for Microsoft to offer the Office suite as 100% web-based solution? I'd pay for that and they'd probably get more out of me over the years than they do currently for Office.

Office Live has been in the works for two years - a good decisive strategic decision to make Office available in the cloud two years ago would have Microsoft in a better position today. Make the decision and implement guys before it's too late. Office Live Workspaces - Snore.

iPhone - 700,000 Sold Over Weekend

Apple over the weekend sold more than 700,000 iPhones to rocket past analyst predictions and shatter AT&T's record by selling more iPhones in three days than Motorola's RAZR did in its first month.

Motorola Q vs iPhone

I ordered a Motorola Q on Tuesday from my cellphone provider - Verizon. The Q is coming my way via FedEx, I should have it by tomorrow. The Q is replacing my Motorola RAZR, which I'm quite fond of, but needs at the office necessitate the upgrade. The upgrade also means I won't be getting an iPhone any time soon. Some of you might find this surprising considering my recent iPhone posting frenzy.

Why did I opt for the Q over an iPhone?

1. Cost. The Q, $179 - the iPhone, $499, or $599. 2. Proven track record. The Q is a great phone and a reasonably good PDA - it has the track record to prove it. The iPhone might suck. Even if it doesn't V 2.0 will be better. I'm going to give Apple some time to make it better and cost less. 3. Windows Ecosystem. I live in the Windows world and so does the Q - it remains to be seen how well the iPhone will do in a Windows world. 4. Verizon. Verizon provides the best all-around service of any carrier I've ever used. The phones work, I get great coverage, they don't drop calls, and their customer service is excellent. Switching from Verizion to AT&T (which I've had bad experiences with) for an iPhone isn't worth it. 5. Zimbra. We're switching to a Zimbra mail setup at the office - I know the Q supports Zimbra Mobile - the iPhone may not. 6. Microsoft Outlook. I spend a lot of time in Microsoft Outlook. The Q has great support for Outlook - the iPhone may not.

I'm still a big fan of Apple's products. I have an iPod and I use it almost everyday. I still really like the iPhone and I hope it's great. I'm just waiting for a V 2.0 that's better (more storage, better carrier options, a replaceable/extendable battery) and less expensive. The 1st iPod shipped in 2001 with 5g of storage - today, for the same money, you get 80g of storage and a much better product. I'm going to wait - at least a year. More to come on my Moto Q experience.

Update 06/21/07

See Apple already working on cheaper variants of iPhone 

New York Post Reports Microsoft and Yahoo! Talking

BILL'S HARD DRIVE By PETER LAURIA and ZACHERY KOUWE - Business - New York Post Online Edition

May 4, 2007 -- Stung by the loss of Internet advertising firm DoubleClick to Google last month, Microsoft has intensified its pursuit of a deal with Yahoo!, asking the company to re-enter formal negotiations, The Post has learned.

Good or bad? I'm still forming my thoughts. I have friends that work for Right Media, recently acquired by Yahoo!, I wonder what they think of this? I'll update this post as more news flows in.

Update 05/07/07:

The Wall Street Journal reports that the talks are no longer active. [ Source ] Maybe this was just a press play on Microsoft's part to test the waters and the market. A deal of this size ( excess of 50 billion for Yahoo! ) requires a scouting mission or two. After all, a deal like this is a lot about public perception.

Silverlight

Mix07 started yesterday, Microsoft's developer oriented conference, so the pipes are pushing a lot of Microsoft bits this week. Silverlight, Microsoft's Flash/Flex/Apollo competitor, is capturing the bulk of the attention. Trying to figure out what Silverlight is all about? Check out these links.

The Universal Desktop - The how and when of Adobe and Microsoft's Rich Internet Application Technologies

TechCrunch - The Web Just Got Richer

The Universal Desktop - My lunch with Ray Ozzie and Scott Guthrie 

Tim Sneath's Blog - Microsoft Developer Evangelist 

Updated 05/03 

Knowledge @ Wharton -  The Man Who Would Change Microsoft: Ray Ozzie's Vision for Connected Software

CNET News.com - Ozzie's Quiet Revolution at Microsoft 

Ed Burnette's Dev Connection - Dissecting  Silverlight

Scoble -  Microsoft "rebooted the Web" yesterday

Scott Hanelman's Computerzen.com -  Hanselminutes Podcast 63 - Scott Guthrie and Jason Zander on Silverlight

SmugBlog: Don MacAskill - Thoughts on Silverlight 

Channel9 - Scott Guthrie: Silverlight and Cross-Platform CLR (video) 

Updated 05 / 08

ScottGu's Blog - Silverlight ** probably one of the best overviews ** 

Windows Vista Packaging Patched

Earlier this week I came across a Windows Vista Ultimate package here in the office and discovered something interesting - a U.I. flaw in what was probably an uber-expensive package designed by uber-packaging experts from all corners of the world.

I saw the package sitting on a co-worker's desk and was immediately interested. I've worked on designing software packages in the past so a package like the Windows Vista package that is obviously going to be well funded and the product of hundreds of hours of experience deserves some attention. I picked up the package, looked at the front, looked at the back, and proceeded to open it. To my surprise, and some embarrassment because my co-workers were watching, I had a hard time getting it opened. I don't remember how long it took me to get it opened but I do know it was way longer than it should have been. Even after I got it opened, using what appears to be a last-minute hack, I had difficulty opening and closing the package. Is this for real? How many of these packages is Microsoft shipping? Did they test this at all?

The hack I referred to is illustrated in the photo I took below. The little red piece of tape attached to the top of the package can't be part of the original design but without it I would have been really stuck. I'm sure the last minute hack was subject to protest on the designers part - it's ugly. Did Microsoft "Patch" the Windows Vista package? We'll probably never know.

By the way, I passed the package around the office for a little in-house usability testing and a lot of really smart people turned red trying to get the Windows Vista package opened in front of a crowd. That's bad design - period.

Has anybody else had this experience? If so, comment.

Does anybody know who designed the package? If so, comment.

Related:

I found this post on the Windows Vista Team Blog that, after having seen the package for myself, is almost comical.

Me Too

I want what Michael Gartenberger (Jupiter Research) wants. Me too! I also want what Michael already has - a Microsoft Exchange Server. Might be time to look into my own "hosted" Exchange solution.

I love Exchange. Every time I get a new computer or Smartphone, all I do is plug in our Exchange settings and magic happens. All my contacts, calendar items, to-do lists and email flow directly into the new device automatically. Once that happens, if I make a change on one device, it ripples across all the others. Everything is in sync and up to date. It's nice we've solved sync for PIM information but that's not enough for me now. Now I want sync for everything. I regularly move among multiple PCs and other devices like Smartphones. Trying to keep just two PCs in sync is a total nightmare. Stuff gets lost. I want to have (or have access to) every picture I have taken (I've been a digital camera users since 1995), every song in my collection and every document I have written on every one of my PCs. If I take pictures and download them to one of my PCs, I want those photos updated on all my other machines the next time I access them. I want it to happen simply, invisibly and just work. Now, many of you don't switch regularly between a dozen PCs and Smartphones on a regular basis but there are multiple devices in everyone's future. Whoever solves this next generation of sync first is going to win big. Oh. And while we're at it, can I have that cross platform please? - Michael Gartenberger

Windows Vista Myths

Takeaway: The official consumer launch of Windows Vista has brought with it a great deal of confusion, misinformation, and some fairly ignorant assertions. Windows expert Deb Shinder debunks some of the misconceptions she's been hearing, from exaggerated cost and hardware requirements to feature limitations and compatibility issues.

iTunes 7.0.2. Works w/ Vista

Apple is suggesting Windows iTunes users delay updating to Windows Vista until they can get an update for iTunes out. iTunes works fine for me on my Vista powered Lenovo - it was working fine on RC1 and it's still working fine on the Gold bits today. I think this is probably just Apple trying to cast a shadow of doubt on the new operating system from Redmond. If it doesn't work properly - it's Apple's bad - they've had plenty of time to prepare for the Vista launch. Apple is good at making their Windows-based customers feel 2nd class - Microsoft should leverage this in their efforts to market the Zune. I'm going to trade my iPod in for a Zune.

According to a company statement provided by Apple spokesman Derick Mains, "Although iTunes 7.0.2 may work with Windows Vista on many typical PCs, Apple is aware of some known compatibility issues and recommends that iTunes customers wait to upgrade to Windows Vista until after the next release of iTunes, which will be available in the next few weeks." Apple declined further comment. - source

My 2007 Tech Predictions

• Windows Vista will be hugely popular.
• Apple's growth in the personal computer space will slow as a result of Vista's success and the next generation hardware that will support it.
• RIA apps., powered by WPF/WPFE and similar technologies, will start to get traction as the line between client-side software and web-based software continues to soften.
• Yahoo! will continue to loose momentum as Google and nimble Web X.0 companies continue to eat away at it.
• Wi-fi everywhere and geo-based advertising will start to catch hold and Google's early efforts in this space will pay off - securing their dominance in the ad space for the near future.
• Microsoft will establish multi-media beach-heads in more American living rooms this year using the xBox 360 platform - re-configuring the gaming system into a Media Center replacement via free updates as unsuspecting users sleep.
• Apples's cell phone will change the way we think about cell phones and cell service forever.

Read what everybody else is predicting for 2007.

NOTE: I reserve the right to add to this list for the remainder of this week ; )

Zune Failing

I really think Microsoft's new media player, the Zune, is going to flop. All the marketing dollars in the world aren't going to displace the iPod - at least not this time. Gary Stein recently commented on something that happened on CNN related to the marketing challenge Microsoft faces with Zune. Zune is going to fail because marketing products isn't one of Microsoft's strengths. Just look at the Zune website - the fake lifestyle shots are transparent and an instant turn-off for the demographic Microsoft needs most at this point - the kids.

I watched CNN this morning and Soledad O'Brien literally interrupted the tech-biz reporter, who was talking about the Zune, to extoll the virtues of her new, $70 iPod Shuffle. The next time the story came through the cycle, she had gotten her iPod out of her office and demonstrated how cool it was that you could clip it, and essentially un-sold the Zune, and pitched the iPod. -- Gary Stein's post

Microsoft Live Labs: Photosynth

Photosynth, a Microsoft Live Labs production, was a big hit at the Web 2.0 conference and it's easy to see why. Scoble dug it.

Our software takes a large collection of photos of a place or an object, analyzes them for similarities, and displays them in a reconstructed three-dimensional space.

With Photosynth you can:

• Walk or fly through a scene to see photos from any angle.
• Seamlessly zoom in or out of a photo whether it's megapixels or gigapixels in size.
• See where pictures were taken in relation to one another.
• Find similar photos to the one you're currently viewing.
• Send a collection - or a particular view of one - to a friend.
  
  Link to source >>

Dare Obasanjo Meets BillG

Dare Obasanjo aka Carnage4Life - Meeting Bill Gates

Last week I got an email from someone at Microsoft asking if my dad was the president of Nigeria. I almost deleted the email without responding until I looked at the person's email signature and it said "Executive Assistant to Bill Gates". So I responded and it turned out that Bill Gates was going to be in Nigeria over the weekend to meet with my dad and he wanted to chat before his trip.

I enjoyed reading this blog post by Dare Obasanjo (1st son of Nigerian president and Microsoft employee) that describes his recent meeting with Bill Gates. Why? It shows a different side of BillG - the guy that thinks about diseases, not software. Well written and an interesting perspective.

Vista Audio

Check this out. In Windows Vista you can manage the audio settings for each active application individually. Pretty cool. Still having problems getting Firefox to run - can't seem to get it installed properly - notice the "Firefox won't run suddenly ..." application ; )

Virtual PC 2004 Now Free!

Virtual PC 2004 is now free. Go download it now. Or, take a look at the DEMO.

You can use Virtual PC to run multiple operating systems at the same time on the same computer. I use Virtual PC at the office to test our software on multiple operating systems. I can be in my work environment and have a test environment running in a separate window. It's pretty slick - I love being able to install all kinds of software without messing up my main work environment.

Why is Microsoft giving Virtual PC away?

Microsoft views virtualization as a tool.  Virtual PC is used for a number of reasons, but the primary reasons are for development and test scenarios and application compatibility.  We already provide Virtual PC as part of MSDN for development and test users, and given that all our other application compatibility tools are free - charging for Virtual PC did not make much sense. - Virtual PC Guy's Weblog MSDN

Firefox Gains Market Share

TechCrunch - Firefox Surges to 16% Market Share in U.S.

Good for Firefox.

I use Firefox, and not because I've sworn some crazy oath to never use Microsoft software or anything like that - I use and love a lot of Microsoft's products, but because it's better software. The competition in this space is good for us (users) - it's going to force all the browser publishers to innovate and produce better browsers. Keep it up Mozilla. Get moving Microsoft. Competition is a good thing - always - unless you're loosing.

Gnomdex6 Live

Gnomedex6 (July 29th - July 1st) - I'm not at the conference but I'm listening to the live stream. Props to Chris for streaming the conference live - video included through the keynote. Chris' blog is is updating with conference content as it progresses.

I commend Microsft for ...

I commend the Microsoft leadership for allowing their employees to publicly criticize their business practices.  Philip Su, a Microsoft developer on the tablet team, does an excellent job in this wildly popular post. The World As Best As I Remember It : Broken Windows Theory. On the other hand, it sounds like the leadership in Redmond doesn’t have control over much these days. I think Bill’s plan is to leave on a high note – you know, like Seinfeld.

Time with BillG

Joel on Software reflects on his time with BillG - good read. I hope Bill gets to read this - it should make him feel pretty good.

Adobe's Side of the PDF/XPS Dispute by Mike Chambers

Mike Chambers, a senior product manager for Adobe, blogs about Adobe's side of the Adobe vs. Microsoft PDF/XPS dispute. Ryan Stewart over at ZD NET dubs Mike's blog post "Adobe's side of the story" - I'm guessing that pissed a few Adobe PR / Legal types off. Mike's post is interesting because it provides a candid perspective of the way Adobe employees probably feel about the dispute. The comments (public perspective) associated with Mike's post are even better - I just skimmed them but I'd have to say they're mostly in Microsoft's favor and a lot of them criticize Adobe for producing crappy PDF software. I think this whole thing is producing a net negative PR return for Adobe.

IMO - Microsoft should include PDF support in Office 2007 and Adobe should support the effort - it's good for their brand because the PDF standard is typically associated with it. They're going to have a hard time protecting this association with legal tools - the best way to protect it is by building great PDF software.

Scoble - IMO

Scoble, the uber blogger, is leaving Microsoft for Silicon Valley start-up podtech.com. News of Scoble's decision to leave Microsoft rocked the blogosphere over the weekend and it will continue to monopolize the conversation through the week. In fact, the jolt and the resulting traffic was significant enough to knock podtech.com off-line for a while. IMO, Microsoft should have done a lot more (there's a price) to keep him around. Seriously, Scoble is Microsoft in the blogosphere and I can't see how they're going to fill the void - Channel9 was just a small part of what he did for them. Big mistake Microsoft - you can't afford to loose guys like Robert. Best wishes Robert!

Related: Scoble is Leaving Microsoft - Chris Pirillo (good "buzz" outline/link list

Microsoft Monitor - Google My Spreadsheet

Joe Wilcox (Microsoft Monitor) posted an excellent write-up on Google's spreadsheet and how it might impact Microsoft. I like the way Joe thinks about Google, more specifically, the way they compete (or don't) and the method to their madness. Microsoft Monitor: Google My Spreadsheet

Everbody is talking aboug Google's spreadsheet.
Scoble, TechCrunch, GigaOM, David Card (Jupiter)

Personally, I think Google Spreadsheet and the other on-line spreadsheets are weak - I don't fit the use case. On the other hand, I'm excited to see the 1.0 generation emerging - imagine what it will be like when we get to the 2.0 and 3.0 generations. Better, less expensive, and more accessible software is coming our way.

Vista Beta 2 and Office 2007 Beta 2 Bits Installed

I installed the Vista Ultimate Beta 2 and Office 2007 Beta 2 bits on my Motion Computing M1400 tablet PC last week. I installed the bits in a computing fit after I managed to trash my user profiles on the M1400. Frankly, I didn’t expect Vista to install properly – I thought I’d waste and hour or two and end up with a fresh copy of XP on the machine. To my surprise I was wrong.

NOTE: I don’t like the way Windows manages user profiles – I’ll spare you the rant.

Vista Beta 2 installed on the M1400 flawlessly and I was installing it over a networked DVD drive. The installer even re-started the system once or twice during the process and it just kept going. I performed a “clean upgrade” which is different than a typical upgrade – it dumps the old Windows XP installation into a windows.old folder which you can delete after you’ve transferred any files or folders you might want off the old system. The installation process took between an hour and two and to my surprise I was sitting in the seat of a brand new working Vista installation when it was over – cool.

Vista isn’t a Windows XP update – the U.I. is radically different. I’m not going to get into the details – there are a lot of other places to go for that kind of thing. I can tell you that it’s going to take some getting used to. At this point I’m using the integrated Help features (which are in pretty good shape considering it’s Beta software) to bounce around the OS. 1^st impressions are good. I’m looking forward to the fresh perspective. In my opinion this upgrade is long over due – the OS needs to keep up with innovations in the areas of tagging and RSS.

Office 2007 Beta 2 (I installed it for OneNote 2007) also installed flawlessly and installed these bits over a wireless network just for kicks. Again, 1^st impressions are good and it’s refreshing to see something new. The ribbon (widely employed throughout the system) will take some getting used to but I can see the logic behind a task oriented U.I. – we’ll see how it does long-term. OneNote 2007 is great (I’m a big OneNote fan) – the OneNote 2007 team spent a lot of time listening to their customers and making improvements that makes sense – improvements that will really improve the usability of the application. More and more my work day is spent in Outlook and OneNote. Thanks OneNote team.

More to come as I bounce off of new things in the software so many of us use. 

Vista Upgrade Advisor

Want to see how your machine (PC) will "make friends" with Windows Vista? Download and run the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor. One of my work machines is Aero capable, I'm hoping at least one of my home machines is.

Windows Code Names

Now I know where Microsoft comes up with Windows code names. I didn't know the Canadians had this kind of influence over Windows development.

Ever wonder where Microsoft got the code name for its upcoming Windows Vista release? According to Lily Delos Rios, VP of Product Delivery at Symantec, the code name Longhorn grew out of two then-current project code names: Whistler and Blackcomb. Whistler and Blackcomb are two mountains near the popular Whistler, British Columbia, ski community. The project named Whistler became Windows XP, and Blackcomb was to be an even more ambitious new operating system. When it seemed that Blackcomb was too ambitious, Microsoft decided it needed something in the middle, something between Whistler and Blackcomb. In the real world, there's a saloon located between the two mountains, and that saloon's name is Longhorn.

Source: Security Watch: Forget Google, it's Symantec vs. Microsoft - CNET reviews

Micrsoft vs. Google - A Question of Relevance

Windows Live

I like what Microsoft is doing with Windows Live. Some people think it's a hacked and desperate attempt to keep up with the Web 2.0 innovators but I give Microsoft a lot of credit (a massive company) for seeing the need, developing a plan, and implementing it quickly - like a small business or start-up would. In my opinion they're running circles around the Google camp. I also think they're developing some really high quality products and services - better yet, a lot of it is free. Check some of it out!

Windows Live Ideas - All things Windows Live - I like the Windows Live Toolbar

The