Microsoft Windows Mobile 7.0 Preview or Simple Mockup

By: Cosmin Vasile, Communications News Editor

This article is based on a leaked concept, posted by Natahan Weinberg on blognewschannel, although we’re not sure if it’s a fake or Microsoft’s future Windows Mobile 7 will actually include at least some of the features described below. With the iPhone seriously taking the lead on the mobile market, Microsoft intends to ‘clone’ all Apple’s new techs included in their handset, then improve it and add even more of these. That’s no news as both companies, Apple and Microsoft, ‘borrowed’ some of their innovations from one another. How much utility and functionality will bring the new Windows Mobile 7.0, and how fast and stable will it be? These questions will get their answers no later than the next year (2009), when Microsoft intends to launch the 7th sequel of its operating system. Unfortunately, the upcoming version 6.1 that will be officially launched next month is almost an updated version of the 6.0, thus it doesn’t come up with any real changes.

Anyway, what’s Windows Mobile 7.0 after all? Nothing short to an entirely new reshaped operating system that will blow you mind the moment you start using it. At least, that’s what Microsoft intends to do with this new OS that will totally change the way we are using our mobile devices (less iPhone users?:). WM 7 will strongly focus on touch and motion gestures, but to a degree that will not leave too many things to add, keeping it to a certain level of simplicity, just like Apple did with iPhone’s interface. How much they will succeed remains to be seen the moment we have something official and not some photoshop-ed screenshots (even if made by Microsoft’s designers).
It seems that one of the goals of the “mockup” OS is to support devices that doesn’t feature touchscreen and stylus, but also those that feature both or those that are touchscreen dedicated (referred as ‘iPhone compete’:). The new user interface won’t be optional for old applications, but rather the applications will get support for the new interface. There’s also a promising “game mode”, that will make games ‘miss’ UI requirements and use similar movements for different actions, thus allowing user to control the game much easier than a standard application.

Microsoft took it to the next level and intends to make a research that has the size of the ‘average fingertip’ as subject, just to make touchscreen devices without a stylus more easy to control. That way users will be able to scroll up and down with no fear of doing something else. Tap drills down in a list, but some lists will have you tab once to select, once again to drill down the list. Scrollbars, corner elements, icons, title bar and status bar will all be stylized and resized, so it will be easier to tap on them. It seems that, in Windows Mobile 7, scrollbars will rather float as transparent visual elements on top of any application, rather than being part of the screen. They will only be used when necessary.

Furthermore, there will be gestures for scrolling, task and menu access, press and hold controls, list items, press and drag, and launching shortcuts. The device will be able to detect finger velocity, scrolling further if the user’s finger moves faster. Even more motion gestures will be included like those codenamed Pivot and Spinner. In a Spinner, you have a single item with left and right buttons next to it, but instead of hitting the left and right buttons, you can just swipe to change the option. The device will also ‘clone’ the locking feature of the iPhone with slider control. The same motion gestures will be able to start various applications or simply execute a wide range of commands, depending on the number of “shakes”, the track of the movement or simply by the duration of the motion. Some of these commands include: changing a song into the media player or the change of a picture in a slideshow (from left to right or vice versa). You can zoom in or zoom out a picture when in full-screen, by simply moving the device forward or backward.

There are also different motion gestures that are meant to wake up the device. How can that be possible? The new user interface will be able to recognize a specific gesture, which should be kept very simple and very easy to identify, that will wake up your phone from the ’slumber’. The difference stands in the actual transition from the sleep mode to awake mode, which looks like nothing we ever saw before coming from Microsoft.

Other highlights of the supposedly Microsoft Windows Mobile 7 include: a gesture to dismiss an on-screen notification by shaking it off the screen, a gesture to automatically take you to a Smart Search notification panel, turning the phone like turning a key to unlock it, pivoting by gesturing the phone sideways, moving through lists by shaking the phone up or down, switching the camera into black and white or other modes by shaking it down, adjusting the camera aperture and shutter speed by rotating the camera, sending a file by “tossing” it to another device. These seem to be listed as “exploration” by the leaked document, so they may or may not be actually integrated in the final version of the operating system.

For more in-depth coverage of the subject please see Nathan Weinberg’s original post on blognewschannel. Source: Softpedia

Microsoft Releases Four Critical Office Updates

by Larry Seltzer

 

Microsoft released today four security bulletins describing vulnerabilities in various versions of Office and ancillary products, and issued updates to address them. All four updates are termed critical.

The most serious of the four—MS08-015—is titled Vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook Could Allow Remote Code Execution. The flaw is in Outlook’s handling of mailto: links, which are HTML links meant to initiate an e-mail session. The user would have to click on a maliciously-crafted link in an Outlook HTML e-mail or in a browser.

Exploitation would allow remote code execution in the context of the logged-in user; the usual protection provided by running HTML e-mail in the Restricted zone does no good in this case, as mailto: links are permitted there, but it is true that these links cannot be made to execute without the user clicking on them.

Almost all supported versions of Outlook are affected, including Office 2000 Service Pack 3, Office XP Service Pack 3, Office 2003 Service Packs 2 and 3, and Office 2007 with no service pack. Office 2007 with Service Pack 1 installed is not affected, indicating that Microsoft silently patched this bug in that service pack. There is no indication that Outlook Express or the Vista Windows Mail program are affected by this vulnerability.

Source: PC Magazine

Internet Explorer 8 Goes a Different Way

Microsoft displays new and welcome restraint in its latest browser beta.

by Lance Ulanoff

I’m not bowled over by Microsoft’s new beta of Internet Explorer 8. First of all, it looks almost exactly the same as Internet Explorer 7.0 (IE7), which was arguably one of the most significant updates in the browser’s roughly 12-year history. The tabs, address bar, Favorites and Home buttons, and RSS and other links are all in the same places as they were in IE7 and appear little changed. Microsoft says that many of the forward-facing consumer features aren’t active in this beta. Maybe they’ll make a bigger impression. For now, however, I contend that it would be more accurate to call this release IE 7.5.

That said, all in all, I’m pleased.

Last year, Microsoft overhauled the interfaces in its tent pole products—Office, IE, and Vista. This time around, the company seems content with taking a measured approach, one that’s clearly more focused on what’s inside the browser than on what’s on the outside.

It took me a while to get used to the IE7 interface. I loved the tabs and knew how to work with them, thanks to Firefox. I hated that Home, Refresh, and Stop had been separated, and I had hoped that Microsoft would consider reuniting them. By now, though, I’ve grown accustomed to IE7’s quirks. I’ve even embraced some, particularly the Favorites panel, which drops down over the left-hand side of your page and allows you to navigate easily through and find all of your stored links, even if they’re nested deep inside multiple folders. The RSS button on the main toolbar is a handy feature, but I often wonder if consumers miss it because there’s no label.

I decided to hop on the beta bandwagon early, because I was actually having some trouble with IE7. It’s been my experience that software updates often automatically fix major problems without much user intervention.

For weeks I’d been running IE7 without add-ons. It’s easy to do: You simply right-click on the IE desktop icon and select Start Without Add-ons. This loads IE as fresh and new as the day you first installed it. This action was necessary because IE had been crashing a lot—often when I was scrolling up or down on a Web page, but not always. Sometimes, I just clicked in the wrong place and the browser would freeze. I noted that, at one point, a reader had a similar problem, and our software expert, Neil J. Rubenking, suggested that an add-on-free load might get around the problem.

An add-on-free IE7 worked like a charm for me, except when I wanted to do things like view Flash video. As a result, I began using Firefox as my primary browser. I like Firefox, but it has its own interface quirks, and with enough tabs running, it’s as much of a resource hog as IE.

Still, I have a soft spot in my heart for IE (I had used it almost exclusively since giving up Netscape Navigator), so I jumped at the chance to install the IE8 Beta. I has high hopes that the add-on problem would be fixed. After install, however, IE8 crashed faster than IE7. I guess that’s progress. Still, it’s a beta, so I wasn’t all that surprised. After a couple more attempts, I loaded IE8 just as I had IE7—without add-ons. Once I got the browser working, I was able to do what I should have done with IE7. I opened Internet Options, navigated to the Programs tab, and selected Manage Add-ons. Then I disabled different ones until I found the culprit—Skype. With that turned off, IE8 launched without a hitch.

There are a couple of minor interface changes I’ve noticed in IE8. The Panning Hand, which lets you grab and drag the page up and down, is gone. Help shows up on the main feature bar (IE7 defaults to hiding it behind a main menu bar drop-down). Under Help, you’ll find the familiar About IE window, but with a nifty added addition: System Info…. Hit the button and you’ll get a complete accounting of your system hardware, components, drivers, Internet settings, Office apps installed, and more. I hope this isn’t just another beta feature, because I love it. IE8 also adds an Emulate IE7 button. This may only be a stop-gap beta feature, but in any case, it’s kind of laughable, since there are few major differences between versions.

There is one other interesting change that has nothing to do with functionality but could indicate a little bit of a branding shift: The icon next to Microsoft-specific shortcuts, which include Free Hotmail (why not Live mail?) and Windows, is an “M” that looks like the first letter in the Microsoft logo. This is not a new style for Microsoft, but I’ve never seen the company use the single letter in quite this way. Watch for more branding like this in other Microsoft products.

Web Slices, another new feature in the beta, lets you subscribe to content within a page, though it doesn’t appear functional in this beta. It’s an intriguing idea with a decent name, but my guess is that few people will use it.

I like that the focus of this update is simplification and shortcuts. Making it possible to access Activities (e-mail, blogging, translating, and, it seems, dozens of others) with a simple right click and with no cutting and pasting is not huge change, but it’s a smart one.

Using an early beta that works this well (yes, it has crashed, but such is the price of beta use) and seems so familiar is oddly comforting. I wonder, now, if Microsoft might finally be getting the idea that less is more. If that’s the case, it could bode well for Windows 7.

Source: PC Magazine

Windows 7 (Vienna)

Windows 7 (formerly known as Blackcomb and Vienna) is the working name for the next major version of Microsoft Windows as the successor of Windows Vista. Microsoft has announced that it is “scoping Windows 7 development to a three-year timeframe”, and that “the specific release date will ultimately be determined by meeting the quality bar.” The client versions of Windows 7 will ship in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. A server variant, codenamed Windows Server 7, is also under development.

Microsoft is maintaining a policy of silence concerning discussion of plans and aspirations for Windows 7 as they focus on the release and marketing of Windows Vista, stating that Microsoft doesn’t want to promise features and then fail to deliver, though some early details of various core operating system features have emerged. As a result, little is known about the feature set, though public presentations from company officials have disseminated information about some features. Leaked information from people to whom Milestone 1 (M1) of Windows 7 was shipped also provide some insight into the feature set.

History

Circa 2000, Windows XP and its server counterpart Windows Server 2003 (codenamed Whistler) were planned to be followed-up by a major release of Windows that was codenamed Blackcomb (both codenames refer to the Whistler-Blackcomb resort) and scheduled for a 2005 release. Major features were planned for Blackcomb, including an emphasis on searching and querying data and an advanced storage system named WinFS to enable such scenarios. In this context, a feature mentioned by Bill Gates for Blackcomb was “a pervasive typing line that will recognize the sentence that [the user is] typing in.”

Later Blackcomb was delayed and an interim minor release, codenamed “Longhorn”, was announced for a 2003 release. By the middle of 2003, however, Longhorn had acquired some of the features originally intended for Blackcomb, including WinFS, the Desktop Window Manager, and new versions of system components built on the .NET Framework. After the Summer of Worms, where three major viruses exploited flaws in Windows operating systems within a short time period, Microsoft changed their development priorities, putting some of Longhorn’s major development work on hold while new service packs for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 that included a number of new security and safety features. Development of Windows Vista was also “reset” in September 2004 as a result of concerns about the quality of code that was being introduced to the operating system. The eventual result of this was that WinFS, the Next Generation Secure Computing Base, and other features seen in Longhorn builds were deemed “not ready” for wide release, and as such did not appear in Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008.

As major feature work on Windows Vista wound down in early 2006, Blackcomb was renamed Vienna. However, following the release of Windows Vista, it was confirmed by Microsoft on July 20, 2007 that “the internal name for the next version of the Windows Client OS” is Windows 7, a name that had been reported by some sources months before.

Focus

Microsoft’s Ben Fathi claimed on February 9, 2007 that the focus on the operating system was still being worked out, and could merely hint at some possibilities:

We’re going to look at a fundamental piece of enabling technology. Maybe it’s hypervisors. I don’t know what it is” [...] “Maybe it’s a new user interface paradigm for consumers.

Bill Gates, in an interview with Newsweek, suggested that the next version of Windows would “be more user-centric.” When asked to clarify what he meant, Gates said:

That means that right now when you move from one PC to another, you’ve got to install apps on each one, do upgrades on each one. Moving information between them is very painful. We can use Live Services to know what you’re interested in. So even if you drop by a [public] kiosk or somebody else’s PC, we can bring down your home page, your files, your fonts, your favorites and those things. So that’s kind of the user-centric thing that Live Services can enable. [Also,] in Vista, things got a lot better with [digital] ink and speech, but by the next release there will be a much bigger bet. Students won’t need textbooks; they can just use these tablet devices. Parallel computing is pretty important for the next release. We’ll make it so that a lot of the high-level graphics will be just built into the operating system. So we’ve got a pretty good outline.

Milestone 1

The first known build of Windows 7 was identified as a “Milestone 1 (M1) code drop” according to TG Daily with a version number of 6.1.6519.1. It was sent to key Microsoft partners by January 2008 in both x86 and x64 versions. Though not yet commented on by Microsoft, reviews and screenshots have been published by various sources. The M1 code drop installation requires Windows Vista with Service Pack 1, and creates a dual-boot system with Windows Vista.

Later builds

According to TG Daily, the Milestone 2 (M2) code drop is scheduled for April or May 2008. UI changes are expected to appear in later builds of Windows 7. Milestone 3 (M3) is listed as coming in the third quarter, with the release to manufacturing in the second half of 2009. The release dates of a beta version and a release candidate are “to be determined”.

Features

Windows 7 has reached the Milestone 1 (M1) stage and has been made available to key partners. According to reports sent to TG Daily, the build adds support for systems using multiple heterogeneous graphics cards and a new version of Windows Media Center. New features in Milestone 1 also reportedly include Gadgets being integrated into Windows Explorer, a Gadget for Windows Media Center, the ability to visually pin and unpin items from the Start Menu and Recycle Bin, improved media features, a new XPS Viewer, and the Calculator accessory featuring Programmer and Statistics modes along with unit conversion.

Reports indictate that a feedback tool included in Milestone 1 lists some coming features: the ability to store Internet Explorer settings on a Windows Live account, updated versions of Paint and WordPad, and a 10 minute install process. In addition, improved network connection tools might be included.

MinWin

A minimalistic variation of the Windows kernel, known as MinWin, is being developed for use in Windows 7. The MinWin development efforts are aimed towards componentizing the Windows kernel and reducing the dependencies with a view to carving out the minimal set of components required to build a self-contained kernel as well as reducing the disk footprint and memory usage. MinWin takes up about 25 MB on disk and has a working set (memory usage) of 40 MB. It lacks a graphical user interface and is interfaced using a full-screen command line interface. It includes the I/O and networking subsystems. MinWin was first publicly demonstrated on October 13, 2007 by Eric Traut. The demo system included an OS image, made up of about 100 files, on which a basic HTTP server was running.

Incidentally, the name MinWin was also used earlier to refer to what is currently known as Server Core in Windows Server 2008. However, the two are quite different. While both efforts are to consolidate and componentize the core of Windows, with server core, the functionality of the OS is constrained according to server roles, and unneeded components (which will never be used as the role isn’t supported) are removed from the binary image. However, the dependencies still exist in code, and the code cannot compile without the components. In contrast, with MinWin, the dependencies are consolidated into MinWin and what is not needed is removed at the code level itself. As a result, the code compiles even without any extraneous components and builds a stripped-down self-contained OS kernel image.

Methods of input

On December 11, 2007, Hilton Locke, who worked on the Tablet PC team at Microsoft reported that Windows 7 will have new touch features.

I will say that if you are impressed by the “touch features” in the iPhone, you’ll be blown away by what’s coming in Windows 7. Now if only we could convince more OEMs that Windows Touch Technology is going to drive their sales.

Also, Bill Gates has said that Windows 7 is also “a big step forward” for speech technology and handwriting recognition

Source: Wikipedia Encyclopedia

Windows 1 Commercial

The Search for the Killer iPhone App

Many developers are hard at work building tools for Apple’s popular phone, despite what some consider limits on their ability to collaborate

by Olga Kharif

Executives at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers had a running bet as they announced a $100 million fund to encourage developers to build tools for Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone. The wager was over how many business plans they’d receive in the first 30 days after the Mar. 6 announcement. Kleiner Perkins partner Matt Murphy won’t divulge the number, but says it was exceeded within 36 hours.

So great is the interest among developers in creating a software-based tool, or application, for Apple’s popular iPhone or iPod Touch that on the same day Apple announced the release of the software developer’s kit, or SDK, Apple’s Web site crashed. Many developers resorted to grabbing the file using BitTorrent file-sharing technology.

Nondisclosure agreement

At stake not only is a slice of funding from storied Kleiner Perkins, an early investor in such companies as Amazon (AMZN), Genentech (DNA), and Sun Microsystems (JAVA), but potential bragging rights to building the next killer app for the iPhone. Programmers are generally pleased with the kit, but many are already running up against a lack of guidance from Apple on thorny questions, as well as limits on their ability to compare notes with other developers.

Craig Hockenberry is a principal at developer Iconfactory who hopes to create a tool that would make it easier for iPhone users to use microblogging site Twitter. “They’ve done an absolutely fantastic job,” Hockenberry says of Apple. “The problem that Apple has right now is, there’s too much interest in the iPhone SDK.” Several iPhone developers contacted by BusinessWeek.com say they’ve already sent Apple questions or reported concerns via phone or e-mail. Most don’t expect to get a response back for several weeks. The company didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment on this story.

Many programmers feel inhibited from turning to one another for help because of the confidentiality agreement they need to sign before downloading the free kit. Among the stipulations in the 2,700-word document: “You agree not to disclose, publish, or disseminate any confidential information to anyone other than to other registered iPhone developers” who work for the same firm. The restriction hasn’t stopped some developers from using public forums to answer each other’s questions—though it has given some pause. “Apple considers the SDK to be covered under an NDA [nondisclosure agreement] by developers,” wrote a participant in a discussion on Apple’s site who identified himself as Scott. “They don’t want people discussing it.”

Fat Fund

Apple is not the only company to impose NDAs on developers, notes Richard Doherty, director of consultancy Envisioneering Group. Yet the cell-phone software disseminated by Google (GOOG) contains language that appears to be less restrictive than Apple’s.

Erica Sadun had hoped to publish a book on the iPhone SDK within days of the publication of the beta, or test, version. Now she’s concerned she’ll have to wait until June, when the kit is released officially. “Apple is not clarifying what comes under the NDA,” she says. She’s particularly leery of language like this: “You agree not to use Confidential Information in any way, including, without limitation, for your own or any third party’s benefit without the prior written approval of an authorized representative of Apple in each instance.”

Meantime, programmers are muddling through. Chris Sloop is chief technology officer at WeatherBug, which provides weather updates to cell-phone users. He wants to know whether the iPhone will eventually be able to run several applications simultaneously, something the device can’t do today. That would enable WeatherBug, for example, to send an inclement weather alert while also providing alternate travel routes.

When Sloop and others like him come up with their cool new features, they may find a ready reception at Kleiner Perkins, which views the iPhone as more than just another cell-phone software platform competing with Nokia-led Symbian, Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows Mobile, and various flavors of mobile Linux. “Amazon, eBay, Netscape, Google—we’d like to find the peer group of those companies on the mobile Internet,” says Murphy, who says his fund could swell to more than $100 million. “A lot of the pillars, foundational applications for the mobile Internet, will grow up on the iPhone.” Doherty believes that rivals Nokia (NOK) and Google might start similar funds, encouraging application innovation for their cell phones and software.

Plenty of Ideas

Indeed, several developers are pressing ahead, seemingly undeterred by disclosure restrictions. “We are really trying to think big thoughts about what’s the right advertising solution for the iPhone,” says John SanGiovanni, founder of Seattle-based Zumobi, a Microsoft spin-off that lets advertisers publish mobile widgets offering snippets of content as well as ads. Today’s mobile ads tend to consist of boring text messages or unattractive banners; SanGiovanni wants to make mobile advertising more interactive. After all, the new kit lets programmers tie their software to iPhone hardware, such as its accelerometer, a feature that could, potentially, gift the iPhone with capabilities of Nintendo’s Wii: Users might be able to “play” through ads by waving their phones around.

Another startup, Jajah, plans to take advantage of the access Apple provides to the iPhone’s microphone, speakers, and a Wi-Fi wireless broadband connection to build a highly capable Web-calling application. The application would allow frequent travelers to place calls via airport and coffee shop Wi-Fi and avoid expensive international roaming, which has left many an iPhone owner with a hefty wireless bill. This software would also allow users to look up phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and schedules of contacts from a corporate Microsoft Exchange address book. “If things like this are available, companies will give employees a choice of an iPhone vs. the BlackBerry,” says Frederik Hermann, director of global marketing at Jajah.

And even those awaiting guidance, Hockenberry says, are confident Apple will lend a hand eventually.

Source: Business Week

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Microsoft oPhone

Microsoft Surface Computer

Microsoft Releases Internet Explorer 8 beta Edition

Microsoft releases the first beta edition of Internet Explorer 8 on Wednesday the 5th of March 2008 for developers and web designers for testing proposes. It is available for download on this site

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/ie8/default.mspx