October 27th, 2008 by
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Networking
Steve Ballmer himself first dropped word of this one earlier this month, but Microsoft has now finally gotten official about its new cloud computing operating system, and its name: Windows Azure. What’s more, the OS is apparently just one component of Microsoft’s larger Azure cloud computing platform, which will eventually be fully rolled out alongside Windows 7, and will encompass Microsoft’s existing Live services, SQL services, and .NET services, among other things. If that’s got you excited, you can find plenty more details at the link below, and even a few SDKs ready for downloading.
[Via Pocket-lint]
Microsoft gets official with Windows Azure cloud OS, platform originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted in Microsoft, windows, cloud computing, CloudComputing, cloud, pdc, windows cloud, WindowsCloud, azure, windows azure, WindowsAzure | No Comments »
October 27th, 2008 by
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
We should be getting a much bigger dose of Windows 7 details on Tuesday when Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference gets underway, but it seems that some tidbits just can’t be kept under wraps, and ZDNet’s Mary-Jo Foley now has word of a few more features that are apparently in the forthcoming Windows 7 pre-beta. Chief among those is a so-called Device Stage, which promises to let users more easily interact with a whole range of different devices — assuming those devices are “Device Stage-enabled’ devices, that is (yes, really). Other features supposedly in store include an Action Center that promises to help you troubleshoot problems, a new animation framework to allow for custom animations (which should tie in nicely with the rumored GPU acceleration), tighter integration of the Windows taskbar, an expanded use of Microsoft’s so-called “ribbon” interface and, of course, plenty of multi-touch and gesture support.
[Via Electronista]
More Windows 7 details emerge ahead of PDC originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted in Microsoft, windows, windows 7, Windows7, pdc, device stage, DeviceStage | No Comments »
October 27th, 2008 by
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
A first true glimpse of Windows 7, Microsoft’s Vista successor, is T minus 1 day and counting. So far we know very little. Oh sure, it supports multi-touch and takes 1,000 engineers to code but the real details will emerge from Tuesday’s kickoff to the PDC 2008 developer conference. As detailed by TG Daily, the PDC track notes dedicate 22 of the 155 tracks to Windows 7 with 2 further dedicated to GPU acceleration under the titles, “Unlocking the GPU with Direct3D,” and “Writing Your Application to Shine on Modern Graphics Hardware.” Interesting times given Apple’s announced OS X Snow Leopard support for OpenCL GPU acceleration in partnership with new best buds, Nvidia, and Intel planning to kill off the GPU entirely. Somebody has to be wrong.
[Thanks, Jeelz]
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Posted in Microsoft, GPU, windows 7, Windows7, pdc, pdc 2008, Pdc2008, GPU acceleration, GpuAcceleration, OpenCL | No Comments »
October 16th, 2008 by
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
While we were hoping for a bit of naming intrigue for the new flavor of Windows, Microsoft has chosen to simply call it Windows 7. Fair enough, we said, but some netizens are perplexed about where that number came from and, after reading Mike Nash’s explanation on the Vista blog, we are too. His numbering scheme goes like this: there were three versions of the original Windows, with NT dubbed 3.1. Then came 95 as version 4, with 98, 98SE, and ME all considered minor updates. 2000 got the next major update to 5, while XP is 5.1, Vista is 6, and this new one is labeled 7. The confusing bit is that it’s actually numbered 6.1 internally, a minor version change for the sake of application compatibility. It’s still a little early, since the official coming out party isn’t until later this month at PDC, but if NT wasn’t considered a full step above Windows 3, we’re not entirely sure why this should be over Vista. We’re also not sure why we care.
[Thanks, Andrews S.]
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Posted in Microsoft, windows, windows 7, Windows7, pdc, 7, pdc 2008, Pdc2008, mike nash, MikeNash | No Comments »
October 13th, 2008 by
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
Microsoft is expected to be handing out pre-betas of Windows 7 to devs at WinHEC and PDC soon, and it looks like it’s settled on an official name for its next-gen OS — ahem, Windows 7. Yep, the code name is the real name, which is a first for Windows. According to Mike Nash on the Vista blog, the company went with Windows 7 because it “just makes sense” as the seventh release of Windows, and MS doesn’t want to come up with a new “aspirational” name like Vista — it “doesn’t do justice” to the goal of staying “firmly rooted” in the ideas of Vista. Which probably explains why it looks so much the same. Sure, call it whatever you like, just get it out the door on time, okay?
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Posted in Microsoft, windows, breaking news, BreakingNews, windows 7, Windows7, pdc, winhec, 7, pdc 2008, Pdc2008, winhec 2008, Winhec2008 | No Comments »
October 9th, 2008 by
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
When Ballmer dropped a few sprinkles of information about Vista’s successor, he dubbed it “Windows Cloud,” but said the real moniker would be unveiled at the Professional Developers Conference later this month in LA. That show’s agenda was recently posted, and interestingly contained a number of sessions under the header “Windows Strata,” leading many to believe that it’s the true name of Redmond’s next offering. That the section was quickly changed to “Windows 7″ makes things all the more suspicious, but don’t go cyber-squatting WindowsStrata.com just yet (oops, too late). Strata — a term that can apply to the layers of the atmosphere — might be more of a general classification for numerous cloud computing-related offerings destined for all manner of devices. But if so, why rename the sessions, and why the secrecy? And, most importantly, why are we so intrigued?
[Via CNET]
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Posted in Microsoft, windows 7, Windows7, cloud computing, CloudComputing, pdc, windows cloud, WindowsCloud, professional developers conference, ProfessionalDevelopersConference, windows strata, WindowsStrata | No Comments »
October 7th, 2008 by
Posted in Microsoft, ad, advertising, promo, pdc, awful, bad, boy band, BoyBand, painful, Professional Developer Conference, ProfessionalDeveloperConference, why god why, WhyGodWhy | No Comments »
October 7th, 2008 by
Filed under: Displays
In a fashion not dissimilar from one tiny multitouch device (save the outcry), Microsoft’s large multitouch device — the Surface — will be getting its very own SDK at Microsoft’s Professional Developer Conference this month. The package, which the folks in Redmond have apparently been promising since April, will introduce developers to “vision-based object recognition” and something called ScatterView, and a session at the PDC will detail how the kit “aligns with the multitouch developer roadmap for Windows 7.” All exciting stuff, but if we don’t see a giant, multitouch version of FreeCell soon, we might just stop paying attention.
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Posted in Microsoft, SDK, multitouch, surface, software development kit, SoftwareDevelopmentKit, pdc, Professional Developer Conference, ProfessionalDeveloperConference | No Comments »
October 1st, 2008 by
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Networking
While a good chunk of this month’s Professional Developers Conference will be focused on Windows 7, it looks like Microsoft has another little surprise up its sleeve, with CEO Steve Ballmer himself dropping word that the company also plans to introduce its new, tentatively-titled “Windows Cloud” OS at the conference. Of course, Ballmer isn’t about to get very specific about the OS just yet, though he does seem to be dampening expectations a bit by saying, “just like Windows Server looked a lot like Windows but with new properties, new characteristics and new features, so will Windows Cloud look a lot like Windows Server.” He also apparently confirmed that geo-replication and other features “designed for the cloud” would be built into the OS, and he confirmed the existence of Midori, but said it was still in the incubation phase, adding that, “the guy in the office next door to somebody working on Midori is not supposed to know about Midori.” We assume that also means that Windows Cloud is not Midori, but we’ll know for sure once PDC gets underway on October 27th.
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Posted in Microsoft, windows, cloud computing, CloudComputing, pdc, windows cloud, WindowsCloud | No Comments »
October 1st, 2008 by
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Networking
While a good chunk of this month’s Professional Developers Conference will be focused on Windows 7, it looks like Microsoft has another little surprise up its sleeve, with CEO Steve Ballmer himself dropping word that the company also plans to introduce its new, tentatively-titled “Windows Cloud” OS at the conference. Of course, Ballmer isn’t about to get very specific about the OS just yet, though he does seem to be dampening expectations a bit by saying, “just like Windows Server looked a lot like Windows but with new properties, new characteristics and new features, so will Windows Cloud look a lot like Windows Server.” He also apparently confirmed that geo-replication and other features “designed for the cloud” would be built into the OS, and he confirmed the existence of Midori, but said it was still in the incubation phase, adding that, “the guy in the office next door to somebody working on Midori is not supposed to know about Midori.” We assume that also means that Windows Cloud is not Midori, but we’ll know for sure once PDC gets underway on October 27th.
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Posted in Microsoft, windows, cloud computing, CloudComputing, pdc, windows cloud, WindowsCloud | No Comments »
September 25th, 2008 by
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
We’ve already seen a few apparent Windows 7 screenshots and videos turn up, and it looks like there could soon be plenty more where those came from, as Microsoft has now officially announced that it’ll be handing out “pre-beta” builds of the OS at both the Professional Developer Conference (PDC) in late October and the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) in early November. As we had heard previously, you can also expect to hear plenty of technical details about the OS straight from Microsoft at PDC and, who knows, we may even get word of an actual release date.
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Posted in Microsoft, windows, windows 7, Windows7, pdc, winhec | No Comments »
