Analyst: Microsoft Windows 7 'Anytime Upgrade' prices won't tempt netbook users | Windows - InfoWorld

People keep worrying about upgrading these netbooks with a more capable version. I know I am running Ultimate on mine right now but for the things that I am using it for, I really don’t need any of the features that Ultimate is giving me. Most people are using netbooks in addition to their current PC’s not as their main computer so they really don’t need much more capability than being able to write a letter, send and receive email and do research on the web. All of these functions don’t need anything that the higher end operating system packages would give them. I may be wrong but I really don’t see it.

Analyst: Microsoft Windows 7 'Anytime Upgrade' prices won't tempt netbook users | Windows - InfoWorld

More Windows 7 pricing leaks…

There are several reports discussing sightings of Microsoft upgrade pricing and also several listing the Windows 7 Family Pack/Home Premium Upgrade as well. While this is all still speculation, there is no officially released pricing as of yet, there appears to be some really aggressive pricing for these upgrades.

Ed Bott reported in his Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report column today that there have been several sightings and even showed a screen capture of one of them:

He also went on to report that Expercom listed in their catalog pricing for the anytime upgrades for several products.

• UPG WINDOWS ANYTIME/W7 STARTER TO HOME PREMIUM UPGRADE Microsoft - Model 4WC-00040 $81.95
• UPG WINDOWS ANYTIME/W7 HOME PREMIUM TO PROFESSIONAL UPGRADE Microsoft - Model 7KC-00040 $90.95
• UPG WINDOWS ANYTIME/W7 HOME PRE TO ULTIMATE UPGRADE Microsoft - Model 39C-00040 $137.95

This all seems like good news to me. I’m looking forward to seeing the real pricing pretty soon as our sources start to pass it along. So add me on as another source for the rumor mongering.

"Windows 7 is the same as Ubuntu" | Education IT | ZDNet.com

The author makes several good points about how the younger generation is becoming operating system independent. But, as he comments, if you are a Windows Application dependent person, then you will definitely see some benefits from the new operating system. 

"Windows 7 is the same as Ubuntu" | Education IT | ZDNet.com

Microsoft to offer Family Pack for Windows 7 Home Premium | Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report | ZDNet.com

Ed Bott is reporting that there is some mention in the EULA agreement for Windows 7 Home Premium that suggests that there might be a Family pack available in the near future. I haven’t seen anything else in our manufacturer releases yet that would confirm this so I sitting back and waiting patiently to see how it pans out.  It would be nice to have that as a choice for families that want to upgrade their equipment.

Microsoft to offer Family Pack for Windows 7 Home Premium | Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report | ZDNet.com

Windows 7 Delivery for Netbooks

There is a lot of worry about how Microsoft is going to deliver Windows 7 to Netbooks that don’t have built-in optical drives. I personally question why this is such a problem. If the operating system is delivered on an optical drive, just take the DVD to  a machine that has a DVD player on it and copy the contents of the disk to a USB Flash Drive. I have made complete article available on how to make a USB drive bootable and to install Windows 7 from a Flash Drive. My experience so far with our customers is that the NetBook is usually not their only computer and that they have another computer available to them. If not try going to your local library. They have computers and they will probably let you do the transfer from the optical disk to a USB Drive if you explain what you need to do.

I know this is an extra step that you probably wish you didn’t have to take, but let’s be reasonable. If you own a NetBook you are either computer savvy already, or, who ever set it up for you is, and will be able to accomplish this for you. This is not the end of the world as some people would have you believe or a very big deal at that… Come on people get real…

Microsoft sets Windows 7 pricing, upgrade programs | Beyond Binary - CNET News

Microsoft has released information on the pricing for Windows 7 this past Wednesday.  As reported by CNET, the pricing is comparably to Windows Vista pricing.  If you preorder your copy between now and July 11 you will get a substantial discount for the operating system off your choice.  These upgrades will be available at many of the major retailers like OfficeMax Costco and Staples. Be sure to read the full story at the link listed below.

Microsoft sets Windows 7 pricing, upgrade programs | Beyond Binary - CNET News

Windows 7 Task Bar

I created a quick video showing the task bar and how it shows you what applications are open and how many instances where views are available to you to access.  In this case what I have is one Internet Explorer window in my Live writer open.  During this demonstration I will open up another tab window in Internet Explorer and you will see that the taskbar will show you a representation of both of those windows.

Windows 7 and Speech Recognition

I thought I had a pretty decent headset and I'm using it with Windows Live Writer and it seems to work OK.  I'm using a Plantronics headset that that has a USB connection. I probably should train the windows speech recognition software several different times to make sure that it has a good sense of my voice to work with. I seem to be spending a lot of time correcting misrecognized words as I am speaking initially.  I'm wondering if there's too much hiss or if I don't have the microphone placed just exactly right.  Well, as in all projects they seem to be ongoing, and ongoing.  I was hoping that I would be able to speak at a normal speed it not have two very carefully enunciated each and every word but if I do slowed down what I am saying it has quite a bit more accuracy.  So, that is obviously the best way to work with it.  You need to speak up slow down your speech and concentrate on not slurring your words and pronouncing them clearly. As I've made some slight adjustments in the way I am speaking to the speech recognition software, the accuracy has increased considerably.  I'm having to make fewer and fewer changes and I am beginning to speed up slightly and still maintain the accuracy as long as I work on enunciating my words as clearly as I can.  So much for this test you can see the accuracy has turned up pretty well.  I still like the fact that windows still has included the speech recognition software right in the operating system so that it can be used in all windows based applications.

Windows 7 – Connecting to the Home Network

I did not have any problems getting connected to my Home Network which consists of several Windows Vista machines.  Without loading and the software was able to directly connect to the NAS drive on the network and access all of the picture files I have stored there.  Very slick and simple, I like when it is that easy.

I have also set up speech recognition using a USB headset and that seems to be working out fairly well.  Of course of the speech recognition has to be trained but out of the gate you can see by this blog entry it seems to be working fairly well.  Of course you can't see how many corrections I might have had to make, but they were far and few between. We'll have to see if it gets better as time goes by.  I was hoping that there would be a big difference but there doesn't seem to be at this time.  I guess Microsoft had their hands full with the operating system and didn't spend much time updating speech recognition this time around.  It is still a decent program, and for free what can you expect?

Windows 7 RC – So far I’m really impressed!

Sometimes we are so used to the ways things were that when we run up against something brand new that is truly wonderful we don’t even realize it right away. My installation today of Windows 7 on a newly acquired Acer Aspire One went so smoothly that I didn’t realize at the end of the initial load that it was ready for me to continue on and have the finish its install with a reboot. So… I reinstalled the initial load three time before I caught what was going on. It’s so fast that if you don’t pay attention you don’t realize you are as far along as you were.

So far I have been able to run everything we use internally except Connectwise (this is our service application) in native Windows 7 mode. I installed Connectwise and setup the launch icon in XP Pro w SP3 and it seems to working just fine. It even works with IE 8.0 which surprised us as well.

I haven’t started fine tuning the device drivers but most everything was found automatically without any problem. Skype found and used the webcam and microphone without a problem, and everything but the high def streaming video seems to be working. Had a little problem with media center and the TV sample program so this will be a project I will need to look into.

I have been busy all day loading applications we will see how well all of this works. I will be interested in the Speech to Text functions to see if this has gotten any better. I really do like using that when I sit back and start composing on the weekends and evenings. This is the first day that I have really pushed Windows 7 so I will get back to you this coming weekend to add to my findings.

Gizmodo-How to install Windows 7 On Almost and Netbook

If you are interested in trying out Windows 7 and just happen to have a Netbook laying around here is an article showing you the step by step procedure for doing so. I found this posting originally through Veronica Belmont’s Friendsfeed page this morning when I began playing with the site.

http://gizmodo.com/5257386/how-to-install-windows-7-on-almost-any-netbook

Bob