Paul Thurrott has already said, Windows 7 will ship on 15th October, which contradicts with the time frame given by Microsoft that is ‘they’ll ship it, when it’s ready’. input.Microsoft.com is your chance to still give feedback on Windows 7, and let them know if you think it’s ready to ship or not. You can consider the various aspects of Windows 7, and tell whether it is ready to ship and if not,  you have to give a reason why. While the feedback tool might have disappeared from Windows 7 RC and the features set in stone, you can still provide your feedback on the following:  Read more...

Permalink: Tell Microsoft if Windows 7 is ready to ship

If there’s one thing that excited me before the release of Windows 7 Beta, it was the news of a new animation framework being implemented. Vista did not have a native animation framework as far as I know, but with Windows 7 Microsoft did a native implementation which means higher performance. Channel 9 describes the new Windows Animation Manager (previously called Windows Scenic Animation):

Smooth animations are fundamental to many graphical UI applications, and Windows 7 introduces a native animation framework for managing the scheduling and execution of animations. The animation framework supplies a library of useful mathematical functions for specifying behavior over time and also lets developers provide their own behavior functions. The framework supports sophisticated resolution of conflicts when multiple animations attempt to manipulate the same value simultaneously. An application can specify that one animation must be completed before another can begin and can force completion within a set time. The new framework also helps animations determine appropriate durations.

If you have knowledge about developing applications for Apple’s OS X, you’ll quickly think this is Windows version of Core Animation, and you really wont be wrong. If you bother to check out the implementations of Core Animation in various OS X applications, it’ll only add to your excitement over the possibilities available to developers and the cool eye candy that can be implemented in applications for Windows 7.  Read more...

Permalink: Learn about the Windows Animation Manager in Windows 7

AHCI  (Advanced Host Controller Interface) enables native command queuing and hot-plugging through SATA host controllers (Serial-ATA) for your hard drives. In many scenarios it enables more efficient multi-tasking. Vista was the first Windows OS to support AHCI out of the box, where as Windows 7 does the same. But an issue with AHCI is that if you install the OS without enabling AHCI in the BIOS, enabling it after installation will render your OS unusable. This is because Windows disable the AHCI driver since it is not needed during the installation.  Read more...

Permalink: How to enable AHCI in Windows 7 RC after installation

Microsoft shows off Facebook Open Stream API demos from Rafe Needleman on Vimeo.  Read more...

Permalink: Microsoft demos Facebook on Silverlight and WPF

Adrian Kingsley over at Hardware 2.0 has done another comparison between Vista and 7, keeping XP out this time, and based on gaming performance. He doesn’t reveal any accurate numbers for his benchmarks as that is against the Windows 7 RC EULA ( I wonder if using a leaked build is against that as well?! ). The benchmarks have been run on a fairly powerful system, with graphics cards ranging from mainstream to enthusiast performance, an Inter Core 2 Due E8500 processor overclocked to 3.6 GHz, 4 GB of RAM and pixel killing games like Crysis Warhead, Far Cry 2 and Left 4 Dead, all at a resolution of 1,680 x 1,050. 32 bit versions of both OS were used.  Read more...

Permalink: Windows 7 RC vs. Vista SP 1 – Gaming Performance

As 5th May comes closer, and we all anxiously wait for the Release Candidate of Windows 7, build 7082 screenshots have been posted PCBeta. The images are from a Chinese language version, so we all know where they came from. From what I could tell from the translated version of the page, this is another build from the RC branch. Not much new to see in this version visually, apart from the rounded taskbar buttons that make it somewhat easier for some people to differentiate between open and closed applications. No signs of any new theme or new icons either. But, just for your viewing pleasure, here they are.

P.S. It shouldn’t be hard to guess why some of your comments aren’t allowed. I will never post links to any leaked builds, neither search them for you. So, kindly stop asking. Also, this is not a leaked build.

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Permalink: Windows 7 build 7082 Screenshots.

Paul Thurrott has just posted some screenshots of build 7106, that has been the center of attention for beta testers for some days. The build leaked in Chinese to start with, but Paul has posted images of the English version. There’s not much to say about this build, as Paul points out. An interesting bit I’ve picked up from is article is that he mentions rumors of a new UI for RTM builds.  Read more...

Permalink: A new UI expected for Windows 7 RTM?

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Permalink: Now, Windows 7 build 7106 to leak!

Windows 7 has reached build number 7105 which is the RC Escrow. This means that it could be the build that would be released as a public release candidate for Windows 7, but don’t take my word on it, as per the MSDN RC page leak, it will be made public in May. Meanwhile, there is a possibility that this build will be leaked soon to the interwebs. The build string is 6.1.7105.0.090404-1235_x86fre_client_en-us_Retail_Ultimate-GB1CULFRER_EN_DVD according to a Russian website. And a change log has been posted as well:  Read more...

Permalink: Windows 7 Build 7105 RC milestone reached

That’s right. Finally you can resume downloads in Internet Explorer. It works for me on Windows 7build 7057. This ‘feature’ isn’t documented anywhere, but it does work. If your download breaks before 100% completion, just restart the download from its link and save it to the same location. It’ll start from where the download had broken. Very handy, and I’ve been able to continue a few number of downloads thanks to this. Although, if you try to resume the download after ages (ages as in hours) of breakage, it might not work.  Read more...

Permalink: Hidden Internet Explorer 8 Feature – Resume your downloads