Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

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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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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Filed under: Laptops

We heard the rumor now ASUS’ CEO, Jerry Shen, confirms in an interview with Laptop that ASUS will slap a touchscreen and Windows 7 into a new Eee PC sometime in the second half of 2009. A statement likely to make a few project managers at Microsoft uncomfortable as that cuts into the official early 2010 padding built into their Win7 Gantt charts. The touch-enabled Eee PC model(s) could come in the form of a convertible tablet although Shen wouldn’t specify — he only promised more details in Q1, presumably at CES. Unsurprisingly, ASUS has no plans to put Vista onto Eee PCs at all. Also noteworthy is the introduction of “more exciting” Eee PC rigs in Q1 and Q2 in prices ranging from $250 (yes, $250) to $700. Steadily inching closer to that ellusive $199 Eee PC.

Other interesting points from the interview:

• Eee Top all-in-one PC will be released at the end of this month
• EeeStick (and compatible games) is to be released soon as both an Eee PC bundle and as a separate accessory (depending upon country) priced somewhere between $50 and $100
• Two new “Eee products” (not Eee PCs if we read this correctly) will be announced in January
• Eee PC devices will be limited to 10-inch, and smaller displays — Shen describes the netbook as a platform to consume content whereas a laptop is for creating content
• ASUS is focused on improving battery life and startup times on future Eee PCs — adding more power, like dual-core Atoms, is not a priority

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Filed under: Laptops

We heard the rumor now ASUS’ CEO, Jerry Shen, confirms in an interview with Laptop that ASUS will slap a touchscreen and Windows 7 into a new Eee PC sometime in the second half of 2009. A statement likely to make a few project managers at Microsoft uncomfortable as that cuts into the official early 2010 padding built into their Win7 Gantt charts. The touch-enabled Eee PC model(s) could come in the form of a convertible tablet although Shen wouldn’t specify — he only promised more details in Q1, presumably at CES. Unsurprisingly, ASUS has no plans to put Vista onto Eee PCs at all. Also noteworthy is the introduction of “more exciting” Eee PC rigs in Q1 and Q2 in prices ranging from $250 (yes, $250) to $700. Steadily inching closer to that ellusive $199 Eee PC.

Other interesting points from the interview:

• Eee Top all-in-one PC will be released at the end of this month
• EeeStick (and compatible games) is to be released soon as both an Eee PC bundle and as a separate accessory (depending upon country) priced somewhere between $50 and $100
• Two new “Eee products” (not Eee PCs if we read this correctly) will be announced in January
• Eee PC devices will be limited to 10-inch, and smaller displays — Shen describes the netbook as a platform to consume content whereas a laptop is for creating content
• ASUS is focused on improving battery life and startup times on future Eee PCs — adding more power, like dual-core Atoms, is not a priority

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Filed under: Podcasts

Desirous of more of that enlightening Engadget banter? You’re in luck! We’ve got another installment of the newly-minted Engadget Podcast on tap, featuring an in-depth exploration of thoughts, feelings, and thoughts about feelings. This week Joshua Topolsky, Paul Miller, and Nilay Patel take you thorough a breathtaking range of topics, with a thorough dissection of the new MacBooks / MacBook Pros, a little Windows 7 talk, and an extra deep look at the T-Mobile G1 with the help of Engadget Mobile super-editor Chris Ziegler. Prepare for extreme geek-craft… now.

Note: We had some minor audio trouble with this one, so don’t be alarmed if you hear a little crosstalk — we’ll make sure things are as magically pristine as usual next week. Also, iTunes should be back properly soon, so stay tuned.

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Paul Miller, and Nilay Patel
Guest: Chris Ziegler
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Dr. Teeth — The Interview Is Over

00:00:42 - Apple’s “spotlight turns to notebooks” event roundup
00:38:43 - T-Mobile G1 review
01:10:59 - Motorola Krave ZN4 officially launches on Verizon for $149.99
01:18:10 - Windows 7 to be officially named… Windows 7
01:21:18 - Engadget: now the Official Blog Partner of CES

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Maybe you’re running a six-year old pirated copy of XP because you still don’t trust Vista — “I’m waiting on one more Service Pack, just to be extra sure,” you say. If that’s the case, you might have to come up with a new excuse soon: Mary Jo Foley over at ZDNet is reporting that a beta build of Vista Service Pack 2 is already in the hands of some software and hardware partners, and that Microsoft intends to deliver both Vista SP2 and Server 2008 SP2 before it launches Windows 7 — err, 6.1, no wait, yeah let’s go with 7 — which it supposedly hopes to release June 3rd of next year. At present we know very little about SP2’s features, but we’re sure you have a few ideas.

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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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Filed under: Laptops

With HP’s touchscreen laptop looming on the horizon, out come the leaks of an ASUS touchscreen lappie scheduled for launch in the first half of 2009. Touchscreen Eee PCs too (finally, right?) if DigiTimes‘ sources at panel makers are correct (which they tend to be with regard to ASUS). According to the Taiwanese industry rag, ASUS will likely use either a 12.1-inch or 11.6-inch touchscreen panel developed by AU Optronics (AUO) or Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO). What’s odd here is the claim by sources that the touch-panel notebooks “are expected to take advantage of Windows 7” and presumably the new Microsoft OS’s multi-touch capabilities. Strange, since Windows 7 isn’t officially expected until sometime in early 2010 — a date looking more and more like a publicly padded goal to avoid the bashing Microsoft received for its Vista delays. The whispers certainly add a bit more credence to rumors of a 2009 release as expressed by Bill Gates himself, or more specifically June 3rd, 2009 as allegedly marked in the internal Microsoft calendar.

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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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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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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Right, so we have to pepper in some skepticism here just in case someone with way too much time on their hands has simply coated Vista in what they believe is Windows 7 garb, but ThinkNext purportedly has a whole host of screenshots from the forthcoming OS. The shots in the read link are supposedly from Windows 7 M3 Build 6780, and to be honest, it doesn’t look a tremendous amount different than Vista. Oh, and keep the source linked bookmarked — the author has promised videos shortly. Mmm, videos.

[Via GottaBeMobile]

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

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All smartass-ery aside, we’re pleased to see Microsoft’s attempt to more fully engage the development community as it marches towards a 2010 release of Windows 7. The 1,000-strong engineering team is comprised of 25 different feature teams each made up of about 40 persons on average. The whole dry but peculiarly intriguing setup is fully detailed on Microsoft’s new E7, corporate transparency blog sitting just beyond the read link.

By the way, how many Apple employees does it take to change a lightbulb? 13, 1 to do the screwing and a dozen lawyer-types to prepare for the recall.

[Via Pocket-lint]

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Windows 7, in large part, has remained fairly elusive thus far. Granted, we wouldn’t expect anything different given that it’s still years out from being formally titled and pushed to market, but it’s still great to hear that we’ll be hearing more shortly. The new Engineering Windows 7 (E7 for short) blog, which is penned by engineering managers Jon DeVaan and Steven Sinofsky, points to two upcoming conferences in which “in-depth technical information about Windows 7″ will be revealed. The Professional Developers Conference (PDC) on October 27 will the first of the two, and the aforementioned duo has promised to keep a steady stream of details flowing on their blog during the run-up. Are you on the edge of that seat yet?

[Via CNET]

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Filed under: HDTV, Media PCs

Engadget HD has gotten the latest on the highly anticipated update for Vista Media Center and it doesn’t look good. The first release candidate made it into testers hands recently and they weren’t happy to see that the most anticipated features — support for a DirecTV HD tuner and native H.264 support — got pushed to Windows 7. So head over to Engadget HD for more details (screen shots included).

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Filed under: Displays

We didn’t think it’d take too terribly long to make it happen, but Albatron is taking Microsoft’s heed and is already demonstrating a prototype 22-inch monitor with multi-touch, intended for use with whatever Windows 7 will eventually come to be called. The early verdict on the 1680 x 1050 display? TG Daily says it “works much better than we expected,” but we said the same thing about Surface when it debuted last year — so maybe it simply works as well as it should.

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/microsoft/Microsoft_shows_off_Multitouch_Windows_7′; Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer got on stage at D6 with Walt and Kara to talk… Microsoft, of course. While the company is still being rather coy about Windows 7 — some have blamed loose lips early on in Vista development for saddling the OS with too high of expectations and making things difficult for developers — they were nice enough to show off what Ballmer called “the smallest snippet” of Windows 7. The big reveal was multi-touch support, which utilizes technology developed by the Surface team. The taskbar seems to have been reworked a bit, and the demo was running live on a Dell Latitude XT tablet. Apparently Microsoft is reworking the whole user interface with a multitouch experience in mind. Steve reiterated the “three years after Vista” mantra for availability. Not exactly earth-shattering, but we’ll take what we can get at this point.

Update: Video added after the break. Enjoy! [Thanks, Dan Z.]

Continue reading Microsoft shows off “snippet” of Windows 7 at D6, reveals multi-touch support

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