It is well known that Windows 7 is a huge step up from Vista as well as XP. It allows users with computers that could barely run Vista to run 7 much faster and more efficiently.

It is relatively safe to say, that Windows 7 will be the first version of Windows, that does not constantly remind you that you need to upgrade your computer. Since the first beta was released a few months ago, I have done around 25-30 installs of Windows 7. On every type of system, from a 3 GHz quad core system, to a 1.3 GHz single core laptop. On every single one of those installs Windows 7 greatly improved performance and reliability.

The install we want to highlight here is the 1.3 GHz laptop. Even by today's net book crazy market, this is an under powered laptop. With less then 512 MB of ram and an Intel Celeron M CPU, it's no speed demon. Nonetheless, it was amazing how fast it ran and installed Windows 7. Check out the full install and test video below

How Low Can You Go?

Source http://www.neowin.net/news/main/09/05/22/windows-7-how-low-can-it-go

Windows® Brand Ambassador Sponsored by Microsoft®

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who voted for me, I’m now ranked #2 and closing in fast on the 1st place!!!

If you have not voted yet, please just click on the “Vote” button above, thanks in advance!

Ryan

Zune is an amazing platform, It has some of the best devices and software out there. Some of its features are just plain awesome. However there is a problem, not many people know about it. I get to experience this almost daily, as I work in retail and sell the device. You could say that Zune is one of the best kept geek secrets out there.

I’ve always thought that the best kind of advertising is person to person or viral if you prefer. What Zune needs is a “real-life viral”  campaign. Which is why i’m proposing the Zune Street Team or Z.S.T., a network of Microsoft\Zune enthusiasts with a mission to spread the news about Zune too the uninformed masses.

Now here’s the trick, I don’t want this “job” to be a chore or burden to anyone. We all lead busy enough lives, at least I know I do :) . So my idea is to integrate Zune into your daily life in a natural way. Everyone is different, so I want to make this as flexible as possible. You can do as much or as little as you want, its all up to you.

For instance, you could do as little as wearing a Zune tee-shirt to a concert to as much as setting up a “Zune demo” setup at a local street fair.  I’m still waiting on Microsoft to get back to me to see if we can get any type of official support. I can deal with “The unofficial Zune Street Team” if need be  :P .

Here are some rough ideas to think about, I’ll be adding to this list as time goes on.

Zune Street Team apparel:, Hat’s Tee-shirts, Jackets, bags..etc..etc

Stickers Bumper:, Laptop..etc,etc

Zune Business Cards

Outreach

Concerts

Street Fairs and etc

Car Shows

Colleges

Schools

I could go on and on with this list, but I think you get the idea. Our goal is to expand Zune’s “Visibility” and brand awareness to a group of people who may have never heard of Zune.

So now that you’ve heard my pitch, what do you think?.. let  me know in the comments and on twitter

Sometimes what you need is a small step, not a huge leap.

That what the upcoming Windows Mobile update plans to do. Windows Mobile 6.0-6.1 came on to the market at the very very beginning of the “next gen” phones. Sure phones had touch screens but they where very rudimentary and crude. Thus they where looked at as a fad. Fast forward to 2007 and the debut of the iPhone. Suddenly touch screens are everywhere.

Don’t get me wrong, Win-Mo has some amazing hardware out there. The HTC Touch Pro & Diamond & Toshiba G01 are awesome. But up until this point they all had to wrap Win-Mo in some 3rd party skin., with varying degrees of success. With the upcoming update, the days of needing a overlay to use Win-Mo are over.

I’m going to go ahead and call 6.5 an “service pack”. It brings a bunch of new things to the table, like much much improved touch interface and a new browser . However it still feels like Windows Mobile.. and that's a good thing.

I’ve installed Windows Mobile 6.5 on a Sprint HTC Touch Pro, which www.phonedog.com so kindly supplied me with. 

See 6.5 in action in the video below

Impressive, huh?

The screen for the most part is very responsive and uses the “flick” motion very well

Remember, this a pre-beta build so much could change in the coming months.

What do you think?

“Features tell, Benefits Sell”

That's a saying an old salesman once told me at my first retail job, It has stuck with me throughout all of my subsequent jobs.

I could blow the customer away with all of my product knowledge, however that would be no help to them. You must connect what the product does with how they can use it in their daily life.

Microsoft has some great products to work with, especially the Live suite. Its powerful, easy to use and most of all free.

What needs to happen in Microsoft's retail stores is to show how the products can help connect your digital life,

Example: Windows Live Photo gallery

Feature: Face Tagging

Benefit: Quickly and easily organize your massive photo collection.

Feature: Panoramic Stitching

Benefit: Create stunning panoramic photos of your favorite locations.

I could go on and on……..

This could be an awesome draw to Microsoft's stores, “Bring your media to us and we’ll show how to make it amazing”, When I show my friends and family what Photo gallery can do, they are amazed. And that is just a very small part of MS’s digital media solutions.

So, applying the above strategy to any of MS’s digital  products you have a great way to showcase in a retail setting. Just make sure the staff is well versed and knowledgeable, and you are set to go.

What do you think?

I”ve been taking a closer look at Microsoft's Photosynth for its “Retail Experience”. I have uncovered a few interesting tidbits here and there.

The fake storefront that Microsoft has put out is pretty impressive. For a non-functioning store, it looks like it could open its doors tomorrow. However as with every experiment, there is room for improvement.  For starters, the store looks just a tad bit too much like a big box store. Me and other community members have said that Microsoft needs to create a smaller more intimate setting. Also they really need to stay away from the “box on shelve” setup. I’ve hastily marked up a screenshot of the photosynth below.

As you can see, I’ve eliminated the center divider on the computer display areas. As well as all the “boxed” items . The benefit from this is two-fold. First it creates a much more visually appealing sales area, less visual distraction is always good. Secondly it would reduce theft to almost zero. Removing the center divider also promotes a much more social shopping experience. As well cleaning up the visual aspect even more.  Something's I do like about the above area…. I Love the multi-screen video wall and wood floors, adds a premium touch to the surroundings.

I’m going to call this the gaming center…. It would be amazing if it was expanded and included a few Xbox 360’s running on big screen TV’s. This would also be a great place to show the amazing streaming abilities  of Windows Media Center & extenders. In the background, I really like the laptop display area with stools. This allows customers to sit down and really experience the computer they are looking at.

However, I do not like the keyboard and accessory display on the left.  Much better shelving and display is needed for that to be useful.  

This is one of my favorite views in the photosynth, it gives an great idea of how Microsoft is trying create a fresh and innovative retail experience. Just delete all of the blue strip signs and it looks just about perfect.

Stay tuned for more of my thoughts on Microsoft's retail endeavors.

I was poking around the Photosynth for the “Retail Experience”. Microsoft's fake (but soon to be real) store.

Looking around the store I noticed something a little odd.

Can you see what I see?

I’ll help you out a bit…

That's right people… that is a Apple TV box!!! What on earth is it doing there?? Inside joke perhaps? Or Maybe MS is reaching across the aisle to its arch enemy in Cupertino? I guess we will never know.

Its been a busy week hasn't it, Windows Mobile 6.5 & MWC have dominated the headlines.

My mind has been somewhere else this week, ever since MS announced they that would be opening their own branded stores. My brain has been in overdrive. You may say I’m some kind of MS fanatic, and to a point you may be right. The reason I”m so kung-ho about all of this, is quite simple.  I believe that given the right Ideas and practices, these stores could be uber-successful.

Customers will flock to a store that is “different” from all of the big box stores. A smaller more intimate setting, where people can shop and buy computers and etc..

I was reading another community members post about MS’s foray in to retail.. which you can read here.  He has some really great ideas, which I would like to expand on.

One of my favorite ideas was to make the stores more lounge-like. And in this way induce a much more relaxing shopping experience. I’m thinking, don’t have any boxes or such out on the floor (most of MS’s stuff is digital anyways.). Have couches  and Surface’s scattered throughout the store, along with plenty of display computers as well,

It would also be awesome to have some Xbox 360’s and Media Center extenders set up on big screen TVs. This would allow for real world demos of features such as Photo, Music and Video streaming. This is a bit better then a small sign on an Xbox 360 case… don’t you think?

Microsoft is all about the “Live” experience, so their stores must reflect this. It needs to be much more then just  a store. It must be an experience… Somewhere where people want to go even if they are not going to be buying anything.

Like I said in my previous post…… The most important part of any store is its staff. The staff must be well trained, like technology and Microsoft in general and last but not least, be people persons! If you think about it, finding these people will not be that hard. Microsoft has leagues of Fanboi’s (and girls) who would die to work at a MS store.  If MS does some major web outreach, during its hiring phase. They will find the right people.

So if Microsoft does this right, they will have a runaway hit on their hands. Fingers crossed, that they can pull it off.

What do you think? Sound off in the comments

Microsoft has decided to tip it toes in the shark infested waters of retail.

A lot of things went through my head when the news broke late yesterday, that Microsoft would be opening its chain of branded stores.

The 1st was shock and disbelief. Up until now MS has shown no interest in venturing into that area. They have always been  content to hand the retail to their many partners. Most of the time this works great, however the retail market has been in freefall of late. More and more people have moved to shopping online and lets face it. Shopping for electronics at brick and mortar has become a chore. Superstores such as Best Buy & Circuit City are sometimes painful to go into. Just last week I was in a local Best Buy, as I breezed by the computer section. I noticed an older lady, looking at laptops. She had that look of utter confusion on her face. Of course there was not an employee to be seen. So I did what any self respecting geek would do. Wandering over I asked if she was looking at laptops. Pointing to a way overspec’ed gateway, she said yes. To make a long story short, I ended up selling her a mid level Gateway, that did just what she needed it to.

You really can’t blame the employee’s, they are paid $8.50 an hour to unlock cases and stock shelves. Maybe 1-2 of them is a geek or likes computers. The blame lands squarely on the corporations shoulders. They refuse to pay or train the people needed to sell electronics to the public.

So what can MS take away from the above? Hire people who really like computers and electronics.

On to the next item… The Stores themselves.

About a month ago Microsoft let the world in one of its pet projects. A completely working (fake) store. Billed as the store of the future ( I guess it was little closer then we thought.).  The store is very nice, but to be successful Microsoft must pull out all the stops. They need to make a “showcase” of all their products.  Somewhere where consumers can come and touch, feel and experience all of the things Microsoft has to to offer. 

Above all, Microsoft must must must (can’t say it enough) make the stores cool. If it takes a gimmick such as a bunch of surface tables, so be it. They must be hip, up-to-date and  be able to change with the ever fickle market.

Working in retail, is my day job. So I know a little bit about how this works. Day after day at work, I think to myself… there must be a better way to do this. Take for example, how video games are sold at retail. At most stores, they are located in huge space wasting cases. When a guest would like a game, a employee must unlock the case and walk the guest to the counter. Sometimes they just want to see the back of the game case. Which is more wasted time.

Now here is my idea, Instead of having the cases out on the floor. Have two or so Surface tables, each with some sort of custom UI. Have the entire game index, at the guests fingertips… Literally! The guest would be able to see a ton of info\videos about whatever game they chose. When they made a selection, they could select to pick up the game on the way out.     

That is just one of the many many ways MS could improve the retail experience. Will they? only time and the market will tell. Me, I am optimistic about how they will do. What do you think? What would you like the Microsoft store to be? Let your voice be heard in the comments.

(Update)

I think that Microsoft should have the  design firm thirteen 23 do all the design work for POS related items. They do some of the best WPF work.

check out their stuff here…http://www.thirteen23.com/experiences/desktop/

Windows 7 is upon us… well almost anyways

Even before the beta was publicly available, I have been on a mission to spread the good word.  So many people I know heard or experienced bad things about Windows Vista. I made it my personal task, to tell as many people about Windows 7, As I possibly could.

There are so many good things about Windows 7, Faster, more secure & of course all the new features. I won’t go into all of that in this post. What I do want to talk about is my experience installing and promoting Windows 7.

The following list is all the computers I successfully installed Windows on.

My personal Computer

Intel Quad Core Q6600 @ 3GHZ

4GB Ram

Nivida 9800 GTX

This computer ran Vista well, so it runs 7 fantastic. The install only took about 30 minutes and went very smoothly. Its been running for a few months and has been performing excellent.

My Personal Laptop Gateway 6860-FX

Intel Core 2 Duo @ 1.86 GHz

4GB Ram

Nvidia 8800 GTS-M

My laptop ran Vista fine—if a bit slowly. This can be credited to the slightly low Spec CPU. Gateway did this to keep the price low, while throwing in the powerful GPU. Now running 7, Windows uses the CPU much more efficiently. Thus, a better user experience.

Sister #1: Laptop Toshiba P105

Intel Celeron 1.6 GHz

1 GB Ram

Intel 945 GPU

Here is a laptop that originally came preloaded with Windows XP. It was also one of those fateful “Vista Capable” laptops. I also loaded it with Vista when it came out. This computer could barely run Vista, let alone Aero. After installing 7, it was a night and day difference. It relatively fast and it can run Aero!!! Yes, the 945 GPU, which spawned lawsuits during Vista’s Launch.

Sister #2 : Laptop Toshiba

Intel Celeron 1.86 GHz

1 GB Ram

ATI 200M

A Very very low end Toshiba. Came preloaded with Vista basic.  Even though it is faster then the 1st laptop, it ran Vista much much slower… no idea why. Windows 7 breathed some new life into this laptop. It can run Aero and all of the other special visual effects.

Family Computer

Pentuim D @ 2.8 GHz

2 GB Ram

Nivdia 8500 GT

A Frankenstein of a computer, built from about 3 different computers . Ran Vista just ok. Runs 7 more then fine.

Friend’s Computer

Dell

Intel Core Solo @ 1.6 GHz

2 GB Ram

Intel 4500X GPU

One of the most low end Dell’s I’ve ever seen. Had never seen a computer run vista so poorly. Windows 7 allows for this computer to be an actual functioning computer.

Friend #2 Dell Laptop

Intel P4 3.4 GHz

512 ram

The oldest computer I installed Windows 7 on.  It couldn’t run Aero, but was able to run 7 Fine

Grandfathers Computer: Dell

Intel P4  3.4 GHz

1 GB Ram

Nvidia 6200

An older dell desktop, came with XP, Upgraded to Vista & then to 7. Running 7 perfectly.

Get all that? Those are all the computers I upgraded, so far all of them are running perfectly (Knock on wood). I keep in very close contact with all those people. So that I can keep the computers in top running shape. I have not heard of any problems or craziness as of yet.

How is your Windows 7 experiences going? I would love to know!

I don’t think I get much more synced then I am right now

Using just about every single syncing solution MS offers, My digital life has never been more synced.

Here is the services I use…

Live Mesh: For sharing large files and doing remote tech support for my friends & family.

Live Favorites: Keeping my Favorites in sync across my computers

Live Gallery Sync: A “New?” service for your photos\Live Photo gallery ( which I LOVE)

Skydrive: Your online “store” for your digital life

Right now MS has a lot “overlapping” syncing technology… Live Mesh and Windows Live Sync run on totally separate frameworks. They also use separate clients and websites. I’m told this will all change in the future, bringing all of the service’s under one “roof”. I’m thinking that “roof” will be the Live Mesh platform. It remains to be seen if they can pull it off in a seamless manner.

One of the services I recently just discovered, Would be the Photo Gallery Sync.  At first I was “another MS syncing service!!!”…. But I quickly found that this was service that I would be using a lot.  To break it down, Gallery Sync keeps your photos & Video! synced across any number of computers. This  is a lifesaver for me, Because on my main computer I have about 10,000 pictures. Most of them span from 2003-2009. My family is always asking me “ can I have that picture”.  Before Gallery Sync I had to burn a CD or resort to sending them via email (horrors).  Now it is almost too easy… All I have to do is import the files via Photo gallery, Gallery Sync will then blast the photos wherever you would like them.

That unassuming little menu option is your key to picture-perfect sync-ness.

  The screenshot above is the website for Gallery Sync. As Far as I can tell, it does NOT store you files online (unlike skydrive). Which is perfectly fine with me, as I would fill up any storage wayyyyy too fast.

Gallery Sync also performs a two way sync, so a photo is updated (edited) on one computer, those changes will be mirrored on the other computers.

Also remember, Live Mesh & Gallery Sync are cousins… and they communicate… unlike some of my cousins.

So if I took a picture using my HTC Touch Pro, which Phonedog.com kindly supplied me with. Live Mesh would kick in, and send the file zipping across the carrier’s network. When it reaches my main computer, it would be picked up by Gallery Sync. Which would promptly send the file across my network to whatever computer I needed.

If you would like to try out Gallery sync for yourself, just check to see if your Live Photo Gallery has that “setup gallery sync” button. Be forewarned, it may not show up right away. MS is rolling this feature out slowly, so as to not overwhelm the servers.

Let me know what you think of this feature… I would love to hear from you.

I am officially “meshed”.

I’ve added the last piece of the live mesh puzzle. My part time job, Phonedog.com. Has supplied me with a Sprint HTC Touch Pro. One of the most up-to-date Windows Mobile devices. 

Now that I have a Windows Mobile device, I can use Live mesh to its fullest extent.  Right now Live mesh for Win-Mo, is more or less a tool for syncing Photo’s  & Doc’s. However in the future it could be used for much much more.

I have about 8-9 computers and devices in my Live Mesh network. It is an awesome way to sync your digital life from one place to another. One of its other use’s, is to send huge files over the internet. I’ve used this process to send the Windows 7 Beta ISO to my entire Mesh network. Which saved me a ton of time, when it came to upgrading  all the computers.  Which happen to be scattered all across the USA. So it would be impossible for me to get to all of them in timely manner.

One the things that impresses me the most about Live Mesh, is its speed.  I’m not 100% sure how they do it… but Mesh is fast. It gets files from here to there very very fast. 

Personally I can not wait until Live Mesh matures into a full featured development platform. Which Microsoft promises is coming.

Anyone else having fun with Mesh? I know I have been.

No matter what Microsoft tells us… Window 7 is a major release.

Vista may have been one “their” major releases….. but my definition of major is different.  The XP to Vista jump was huge, however no one was ready for that. Consumer’s, Manufacture’s, Retailers or even Microsoft itself.

Now that Vista is “behind” us, we can look forward to MS’s next generation OS. Microsoft knows that it is at  a crossroad. It knows that the next OS must be a knockout….. or at least well received. If build 7000 of the beta is any indication, Microsoft has a winner on its hands.  I have been using the beta since build 6801, and I’ve found it to be an very enjoyable beta (when is the last time you could say that about a beta?)

Windows 7 brings many new features and benefits to the Windows environment. The biggest thing however, is Windows 7 will be remembered as the OS’s that saved Microsoft. I look forward to the final version of windows 7 & how the public will warm to it. For now I’m just glad that I’m a part of a community that enjoys Windows as much as I do.    

Microsoft seems to have learned its lessons from Vista

Check out this short video test I did showing how Windows 7 Runs on a pair of older laptops.

It seems like Live Search adds a new feature everytime I log on.

You want know why I switched from Google search to Live Search? Quite simply… I was bored. Google may a great basic search engine… but who really wants that? I love it when a new feature just sort of pops up.

Such is the case with a new feature that I'm going to call “Live Previews” as I can’t find anything  anywhere on the web about it.

As you can see in the screen shot above, MS has quietly rolled a new feature into Live Search.  When you mouse over a result in any given search. A small window pops up to the right and gives you a basic preview of the pages content. This is really helpful if you are speed skimming the results.

If anyone knows about this feature, feel free to send me a message with more info

It is finally here folks…

Wave 3 of MS’s Live services are upon us. The List of updates are staggering to say the least. With just about everything getting an update.  I’m still discovering some of the features and inner workings of  this huge update.

Home

I really like this new home page, as MS adds more partners for the “web activities” portion. It will get even better.

The only thing I don’t like is the mandatory MSN feed, I don’t use MSN so it does me no good (note to MS, let users pick their news provider)

Profile

This sorta reminds me of Facebook… That's a good thing though. This service allows you to bring your Online\Digital together under one roof.

Now just add a Zune option to the profile and I will be happy.

Photos

I haven’t had much of  chance to try this out yet, but it looks like something I will often.

So far this update looks great, Now I’ve just got to get out there and play around with it, I’ll post more as I dig deeper.

I’ve been using the “Wave 3” since the day they came out. I’ve come across a few bugs that I think the team should be aware of.

Windows Messenger

When you boot up Windows & Messenger is set to start automatically. When the Messenger windows pops up ( along with the “today” screen. It freezes for about 20-30 seconds. I know its not just me, because I’ve installed it on many of my family & friends computers & it does the same thing.

Windows Live Mail

I’ve never gotten Photo mail to work in live mail beta, when I go to add the picture to the message it shows up as a big white blank space.

More recently I’ve been having a crippling problem with Windows Live mail. It refuses to send or receive any mail from my hotmail account. The error message is below, I have also tested this on a few of my personal computers.

Unable to send or receive messages for the Live (volvoshine) account. To send and receive messages in your Hotmail account, go to http://hotmail.live.com on the Web, or try again later. To get help from Windows Live Customer Support, go to http://support.live.com and click Windows Live Mail in the list of services. Server Error: 0x80004005 Server: 'http://mail.services.live.com/DeltaSync_v2.0.0/Sync.aspx' Windows Live Mail Error ID: 0x80004005

Keep up the good work guys…

A great game comes around a few times a year.. An amazing game comes around once or twice.

The blinding light burns my eyes as I race across the top of glittering skyscraper. Far far below a city bustles and goes about its day unaware of my race for life. Roofs become pathways, Walls morph into springboards  and vaults. Not far behind I can hear the angry  shouts of the blues. They won’t catch me… I’m a runner and this is my city.

Sound a little strange to you?

That's the concept for the new Xbox 360 game Mirrors Edge, a 1st person platformer . In Mirrors Edge you play as Faith a “runner”. Set in a dystopian future where the government controls every form of electronic information. Runners are the only way to move information from one place to the other. Loosely based on the French sport of parkor, where players attempt to do the most gravity-deifying stunts possible. Most of the game involves you running for your life, from your enemies. However you do this a way only mirrors edge could do. You swing off skyscrapers, vault off walls and hang on for dear life on zip-lines. The entire game can be played with out shooting a single shot, guns are available to the player if they wish however. 

So what do I think of Mirrors Edge?

I love it!! To me it is the same kind of genre bending game play that Bioshock offered. You have never played a game like this before. Gameplay aside your jaw will drop when you see Mirrors Edge graphics… They are in a word, Insane. Brilliant primary colors clashing with stark white. I’ll you decide for yourself…

See what I mean, the pictures above are all in game screen shots. You really have to play the game to get the full effect of the graphics. if you get vertigo from just looking at the last picture….bring your seasick pills with you.

I’ll update this review when I finish the game, stay tuned…

How many times have you wished that you had your own personal geek?

Remember that time when you had a network problem in Windows Vista? It popped up a little icon on the taskbar that said something like “Do You want Windows to try and fix this problem?”. That was all well and good, but how often did actually work?  Most of the time sadly no….

Digging around in the control panel of Windows 7 build 6801, I found something very interesting.

It seems that Microsoft has learned that even the best OS has problems from time to time. All of the menu choices above, when clicked on take the user to a troubleshooting prompt.

After the user clicks on the prompt, everything is done automatically… yes automatically.  No crazy menu options to jump through or advanced settings to change.

You can even drill down to a more exact problem if needs be.

I’ve found that 70%-80% time that this troubleshooter was able to fix the issues I was having. That's a huge improvement over the 15-20% when using Vista. This is just the tool that people like my grandparents need, Its very powerful. But also very user friendly. On the very odd occasion that anyone would want to turn this tool off, Microsoft has even provided for that 

So thats troubleshooting in Windows 7, This release of Windows is getting my more excited everyday. I don’t know how much I can take.