Tag: microsoft

Xbox 360 Dashboard Update

Post ImageMake sure you’ve got your 360 turned on tomorrow fellow Xboxers, because there’s a big update on the way. Here are some of the most interesting new features (via Engadget):

  • Xbox 360™ HD DVD Player support.
  • Set up automatic downloads of newly released Xbox Live Arcade trial games. (I am such an Arcade junkie…)
  • Support for upcoming release of XNA Game Studio Express. (w00t for developers!)
  • Stream music, pictures and video from a Zune device.

There’s a ton of other stuff coming too. Check out the full list of features here. The update will be available starting tomorrow morning.

Read: Xbox News

Internet Explorer 7

Post ImageLate yesterday afternoon, Microsoft released the final version of Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP. I have updated my desktop and tablet, so I am now running the latest and greatest of the IE family. And I really do like IE7, I think it’s a great browser. Today the IE team announced that starting November 1st, IE7 will be rolled out via auomatic updates:

Of course we want to make sure you are ready to upgrade, so AU will notify you when IE7 is ready to install by presenting a welcome screen. You can choose whether or not to install it; IE7 will not install without your consent.

I also want to remind you that IE7 setup will preserve your current toolbars, home page, search settings, and favorites and will not change your choice of default browser. You will also be able to roll back to IE6 by using Add/Remove Programs. Only a user who is a local administrator will be offered the update.

Not everyone wants the update of course (mainly because it may break proprietary applications inside a company) so Microsoft has a free Blocker Toolkit which organizations can use to block the automatic update. This is a good strategy – companies that really want to block IE7 will use the tool, and those that don’t won’t bother with the toolkit and they’ll be much safer as a result of having a better browser installed.

As much as I like IE7, there are definitely some areas that Microsoft needs to work on (and apparently they have already begun work on IE8):

  • The setup experience needs work. It takes too long and requires two restarts (if you have old versions of IE7 installed, not sure about IE6 users which may require only one). The goal should be to have a setup similar to Firefox or Opera – short and sweet, no restarts required.
  • It may not be as bad as Firefox, but IE7 is still a memory hog. And I think the Firefox team have done some work on this in the 2.0 version, so Microsoft needs to keep up and make IE7 less resource-hungry.
  • There’s just no comparison between IE7 and earlier versions when it comes to standards support, but there’s still room for improvement.
  • It would be great to see something in the way of extensions, a la Firefox. The search builder in Opera is cool too.
  • Inline search! Dammit, I really hate that IE7 still has that archaic find box.

All of that side, I wouldn’t wait for the automatic updates if I were you – download IE7 from Microsoft now!

Read: IE Blog

Integrated Launch Day for Vista, Office, Exchange?

Post ImageMicrosoft sure seems to like integrated launch dates! I guess it works for them though – my recollection of the Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005 launch day is that went very well and generated good press coverage for both applications (and not surprisingly, highlighted how well they work together).

There’s a story floating around today that Microsoft will ship Windows Vista, Office 2007, and Exchange 2007 on December 5th. Apparently ZDNet have since taken down the article, and it isn’t clear why. Hence the question mark in the title of this post. I do think an integrated launch for the applications would be a smart idea though!

Here are some related news articles from today:

The switch to Live Search is on

Post ImageRobert Scoble posted today that he thinks Microsoft’s Live Search has really improved and has closed the gap with Google. Despite that, he doesn’t think anyone is going to switch away from Google. He says he won’t because of the trust he’s built over the years using Google. I think he’ll revisit that strategy at some point.

Over the last couple weeks, I have been using both Google and Live Search. More and more frequently, I have found that the Live Search results are better than Google’s search results. Most of the time they are almost identical. This is really important. The quality of results has to be on par with Google before people will consider switching. Now that the quality is there, here are the main reasons I am switching:

  1. Switching is easy – there’s really nothing keeping you at Google except habit.
  2. Live.com is shorter than Google.com – sounds dumb, but it makes a difference! I’ve never been a big user of the search boxes in the browser.
  3. Live Search looks so much nicer than Google! Both are simple, but the extra color that Live Search does have makes it look better.
  4. The speed difference is no longer noticable. The main thing I liked about Google was its speed. Live Search is just as fast now though.

I am not saying Live Search is perfect, but neither is Google. Both have their quirks and both have room for improvement. For example, Google’s results seem to be extremely out of date at times, but their image search is far better than Live.com’s. Both Google and Live suck at feed searches – Ask seems to have the lead there.

I think most people will agree with Robert on the trust thing though. When I first started using both engines, I would always do a search with Live Search first, and then do the search in Google. The reason was basically to make sure Live Search wasn’t giving me crap. I trusted Google more. I probably still trust Google more, simply because I’ve been using it for so long. But that doesn’t mean I am not willing to give Live Search a chance.

Are you going to switch?

Read: Robert Scoble

Zune – it's what I want for Christmas!

Post ImageMicrosoft officially launched the Zune today with a press release, and a bunch of photos. All of the specifications are pretty much what Engadget and others have been reporting for weeks, but the one big surprise is the color lineup: white, black, and brown. Yes brown. Engadget has some more details:

They also finally let slip the screen res — an unsurprising QVGA — and some better news on the codec front: the Zune supports h.264, MP3, AAC and WMA. As for ballyhoo, wireless Zune-to-Zune sharing is where the real action is at, and it works pretty much like we’ve been hearing: you can share a full-length track with a friend, and they’ve got three times to listen to it over a three day period, after which they can flag the song for purchase on the Zune Marketplace — unless they’re an unlimited “Zune Pass” subscriber, of course. You can also share playlists and pictures with your buddies, along with what we suppose are “unprotected” homemade recordings.

You might remember that I got the Creative Zen Touch for Christmas two years ago, and it has worked great for me ever since. I still use it every day. But two years is a long time in the world of technology! A brand new Zune, with it’s color screen (my Zen is just blue), video, and wireless capabilities (among other things) might be in order don’t you think?

The white one would match my Xbox 360 quite nicely!

Read: Engadget

Comparing Windows Live Search and Google

Post ImageAfter less than a year in beta, Microsoft is set to release the final version of Windows Live Search tonight (actually it’s no longer marked beta for me). The search engine will now power MSN Search too. With this in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to compare Live Search and Google (currently my default search engine). How does it stack up? Could it possibly be my new default search engine? Let’s find out.

First off, please note I am focusing only on the basic search functionality – load up the site, type something in the box, and press enter. Both Live Search and Google have a bunch of other options (and Live Search’s macros and other things are especially neat) but right now I am just interested in the search results I get. I will say however that I really like the look of Live Search. And that it loads just as fast as Google does.

1. hello world
First search is for what else but hello world (Live, Google)! This is a hard one. While the results are similar, I like Google’s better. Why? The top result is for a .edu site, talking about “hello world” program examples. The second result is for the Wikipedia entry on “hello world” programs. Live on the other hand, returns HelloWorld.com (which appears to be a streaming video site) for the top two results. Google has this one too, but at #3.
# of identical results in top 10: 5
winner: Google

2. mastermaq
Next up is a little vanity search, for mastermaq (Live, Google). I keep track of this search at Google fairly often, and it usually alternates between some Brazilian company and my blog as #1 (oddly enough my blog is down at #6 today). There’s a clear winner here, and it’s Live Search. Why? Well because all of the results but two are created by me. Google lists my profiles at other sites far higher than it does my own sites. Something created by me is far more important don’t you think?
# of identical results in top 10: 4
winner: Live

3. podcast spot
How about a search for Podcast Spot, since we’ll be releasing it soon enough (Live, Google). So these results suck on both sites, but that’s probably because you can’t actually get to Podcast Spot right now without a password. Despite that, Google delivers much better results. I don’t know how the first two results in Live even matched (some random color video and an article on GM podcasting). Google is at least smart enough to put our login page at #1. The category for Podcast Spot at the Paramagnus blog is #3 on both sites.
# of identical results in top 10: 2
winner: Google

4. britney spears
She used to be one of the most frequently searched for celebrities (Live, Google). The results start out almost identical on both sites, then Google goes downhill. “The Mystery of Britney’s Breats”, some crappy fan sites, and a Google page at #10 pretty give Live the win. With the exception of only the #9 result, everything Live returns is appropriate.
# of identical results in top 10: 6
winner: Live

And now for a tie-break!

5. ventureprize
Let’s see what turns up for the business plan competiton we competed in this year (Live, Google). What a terrible query for the tie-break! Anyway, it seems that Live is really showing Paramagnus the love, with five of the top ten results from sites belonging to us (I include my Flickr page here). Google seems to prefer the University of Alberta and City of Edmonton sites. While I love being higher in the search engines, I have to give this one to Google, for having the most relevant first result.
# of identical results in top 10: 4
winner: Google

So there you go, a very unscientific comparison of Google and Live. I am impressed enough by Windows Live that I’m going to try and use it for a week or so, to see if I feel anything is missing. The thought of not using Google does seem strange though! I am really happy with the speed of Live, because one of the main reasons I started using Google was that it is damn fast. The Live Search team was wise not to ignore this.

What has your experience been with these two search engines?

Will Zune Actually PodCatch?

Post ImageThat’s the question Paul Colligan asked in his latest post at Zune Luv, and it appears the answer is yes. Well, at least it looks more likely to be a yes than a no. He says:

Fact: Yesterday, September 10, 2006, Microsoft Zune(firmware 0.9 beta) hit 200+ Podcast feeds.

Where do I get this stat? Rick Klau, VP Business Development at Feedburner.

And yes, I have permission to quote him.

This still isn’t proof, but it’s a heck of a lot better than nothing. I mean if the Zune has wifi, there’s no reason it shouldn’t be a podcatcher too! I guess we’ll find out soon enough (November 14th).

Read: Zune Luv?

REVIEW: Windows Media Player 11 Beta 2

Post ImageThe second beta version of Windows Media Player 11 has been released. I downloaded and installed the update yesterday, expecting to see something amazing! I was thinking, “ah beta 2, let’s see some great new features!” Alas, I got nothing.

With the exception of a few minor UI details, beta 2 looks a heck of a lot like beta 1. I can only hope this release contains some under-the-hood improvements to justify it’s existence. Performance seems pretty much the same as beta 1. Features look pretty much the same as beta 1. And beta 2 is still missing the things I want most:

  • Why can’t I add a single file without playing it? Give me a damn “Add file to library” menu option that lets me select a specific file! Sometimes the folder monitoring takes a while (especially when you have as many songs as I do) and I just want to add a file. Why this was removed from version 11 is beyond me (it existed in v10).
  • My favorite visualization, Plenoptic Vox, is still missing.
  • Statistics! I liked how in v10 I could click “All Music” and eventually it would show the total number of tracks in my library. That feature is now gone (or if it does exist, I can’t find it). Why not give us a great statistics view that tells me everything about my library?! It can’t be that hard, seriously.

Podcasting is also nowhere to be found, as a few people have noted.

If you’d like, you can read my review of beta 1 here. My advice remains the same – despite the fact that I am running beta 2 pretty much 24/7, I still recommend you wait for the final version (or at least a release candidate).

Read: WMP11 Beta2

Windows Vista RC1 Released

Post ImageWell so much for beta 3 – Microsoft announced today the release of Windows Vista Release Candidate 1, a “near-final” test version of the oft-delayed operating system. I am not planning to download or install it, so I’ll be watching the usual suspects to see what they think of the release. Apparently it contains lots of improvements:

Youll notice a lot of improvements since Beta 2. Weve made some UI adjustments, added more device drivers, and enhanced performance. Were not done yet, however quality will continue to improve. Well keep plugging away on application compatibility, as well as fit and finish, until RTM. If you are an ISV, RC1 is the build you should use for certifying your application.

I hope they have fixed all or at least most of the big problems that testers were citing during the beta 2 phase. I have always said to delay if required, but still, I really want Vista!

Read: Windows Vista

Internet Explorer 7 RC1

Post ImageInternet Explorer 7 Release Candidate 1 was released today by Microsoft. This is supposed to be the last test release before the final version of IE7 is made public, though more release candidates could be added depending on the feedback Microsoft recieves. I hope someone from Microsoft reads this post.

I just installed the browser, and had nothing but problems. Compared to beta 3, the installation for RC1 was a total nightmare. I downloaded the setup, closed all my programs (knowing I’d have to restart), and launched the setup. It did its thing for a while, then said I needed to restart, so I did. Upon restarting, Windows XP did something in the DOS-like blue window before the login screen, then booted normally. Right after logging in, the setup opened again (which required me to click Yes on the security box because the file came from the Internet). Almost immediately, svchost and the Generic Process Service crashed. I had to kill the setup as it was then stalled (no CPU activity whatsoever), and launch it again. After a second restart, the browser was installed properly.

After the first restart, when the processes crashed, my audio didn’t load (I only noticed because Skype popped up an error message). That was fine after the second restart. Worse though, is that something happened to my external hard drive. Maybe it was just a coincidence that it happened at the same time as the install, maybe not, but Windows thinks the drive needs to be formatted. I am currently running chkdsk on it now, and it’s found a bunch of unreadable segments. I can’t imagine that the IE setup would have touched the drive, but you never know. I didn’t have anything on the drive that I couldn’t afford to lose, but still, it’s very annoying. I’m hoping chkdsk will fix it (it’s fixed a ton of errors so far it appears…and as I type this, I see that chkdsk just encountered an unspecified error…so much for fixing it…).

Other than that, I really like IE7. It does a great job of rendering CSS and the other standards (in my opinion) and RC1 feels much faster at loading pages than beta 3. Perhaps my only complaint right now is the find feature (CRTL-F). Why doesn’t IE7 have the inline search that Firefox and Opera have? That stupid, useless little find box feels so 1996.

Overall though, I quite like IE7.

UPDATE: I ran chkdsk one more time, just for kicks, and it seems to have fixed everything! As I said I didn’t need anything on the drive, but there were a few things I wouldn’t have minded keeping. I am now copying them to network storage, just in case the drive dies again.