Chris123NT's Blog

Well after a few weeks of downtime due to an untimely server crash that took my database with it, we’re back!  I found a backup from July 25, 2009 and restored it.  I think I lost one post but that’s not a big deal.

I apologize to everyone for not getting to this sooner, but I’m just glad to have it running again.  When the crash first happened I was really worried about the amount of information that was lost, but thankfully 95% of it was recovered.  I will be posting here regularly now so you can check back every so often and feel free to re-subscribe to my RSS feed .

-Chris123NT

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Paul.

Before I kick off this editorial let me just state that I am no big-time tester and I haven’t even participated in a Windows beta (yet), but I do have some knowledge about such beta programs, I have people who may be considered “big-time” testers that I regularly talk to, and at the moment I’m participating in both the Microsoft Office 2010 Technical Beta and the Office 2010 Technical Preview, which is really the catalyst for me writing this article.

To me, it seems as though the quality of Microsoft beta programs is really starting to decrease with every program they run. In some cases, testers feel as though they’re picking the worst feature suggestions and not implementing the ones that the majority want, and in other cases beta programs seriously lack build drops that would allow the testers to see the progress of their bug reports and iron out any new bugs that may surface from new feature additions and any under the hood code changes.

I don’t know who here remembers, but I participated in the Windows Live Messenger 9 beta last year or so, and an overwhelming amount of suggestions were marked as “Won’t Fix”. It seemed as though the WLM team jumped with joy when a suggestion to make winks even more annoying then they already are came about, but features that would really make WLM better such as tabbed browsing were left in the dark and not implemented.

More recently, with the Windows 7 beta and now the Office 2010 Technical Beta (not the preview, but the beta), people aren’t all too happy about the lack of build drops. Back in the Vista days, testers got CTP builds to play around with whereas this time around Windows 7 testers only got the Beta and RC builds—the same builds that were given out to the public. And now, with the Office 2010 betas, the team seems uptight and closed-minded to the very thought of handing out additional build drops. The build given out is 4006, while the build that leaked recently is build 4302, meaning that there’s a gap of 296 builds!

Now I understand where Microsoft is coming from, as getting builds ready for release to testers is a time-consuming task that will prolong the development time, which is the case with the Windows 7 as we clarified a few months ago, but it’s seriously worth it, especially when more and more changes are made to the software causing more bugs to be present. Perhaps if testers got more builds to examine and squash bugs in, more features could be implemented smoothly as well.

If connect testers in programs for Microsoft’s two most important pieces of software, Office and Windows don’t get any builds the public doesn’t get, then what’s the point in having such an exclusive program to begin with? You guys might as well shut down Connect and just get public feedback if this approach to the betas spread to more and more programs. Microsoft Connect has a great member base with many skilled people in the field, so please utilize them to their full potential and benefit from what they have to offer.

Now don’t get me wrong, I know that Microsoft is inundated with feedback and suggestions from all fronts whenever a product is being developed, and I’m not asking them to view every single submission and personally reply to the person thanking them, but I’m just saying that the Connect betas are deteriorating and they can really be MUCH better—I mean isn’t the point Connect exists is to gather feedback and suggestions mainly from a good number of IT Pros, enthusiasts, and others that are skilled in the field and passionate about Windows and Microsoft software?

Does anyone have anything to add to this, or do you disagree? I’d definitely like to hear from other Connect testers regarding my opinions stated in this article, and I’d seriously like to hear how this new approach to the Connect betas is good. Better yet, I’d like to see comments from program managers, etc. on this.

Digg this story!

As many of you know, I published an article a few years back telling everyone how to make WMP x64 the default in Windows Vista x64.  I had hoped at that time that Microsoft would have the sense to make the x64 player the default one in Windows 7.

Well not only did they fail to see why the 64 bit player should be the default, they also locked the user’s ability to switch the default player.  They locked the registry keys that the old Vista command altered.  Their excuse for this is that it “adds security” so that malicious code cannot modify the WMP play/enqueue commands.  Fine, I can buy that, but then alter the tool so that it can change those keys.  Well apparently this wasn’t on the timetable, and I decided to find a way around this, because after all, who wants to have to install TWO sets of codecs to watch stuff in Media Player (x86 player used by default) and also watch stuff in Media Center (which is x64).

So for those of you who recognize that the 64 bit media player SHOULD be the default in Windows 7, I have made a script with the help of Kristan Kenney that automates the entire process for you.  It unlocks the necessary registry keys, and then uses the old vista command to make the switch.  We have also included a script that allows you to switch back to the 32 bit player if you choose to do so.

So Microsoft, specifically the WMP team, you guys didn’t want to fix it, so we did it for you.  Now users can have some consistency in their 64 bit user experience.

NOTE: After changing the default Media Player to x64, remove the media player shortcut from the taskbar, start media player via the start menu and then re-pin it.  If you don’t do this you will see 2 WMP icons on your taskbar.

If anyone has any other questions or comments, either post in the comments section or contact me privately and I will answer them.

Download: Windows Media Player x64 Switch Script

So as we all know, Microsoft announced the pricing details for Windows 7 yesterday, and some people are already waving the Snow Leopard 29.99 upgrade price around.

ZDNet Blogger Ed Bott had taken the time to read the fine print on the Apple upgrade offer and has come to an interesting conclusion.  Windows 7 is CHEAPER than Snow Leopard for the majority of the market.

You see, you can only actually get Snow Leopard for that 29.99 price if you’ve bought an Intel based Mac AFTER October 2007.  Anything before that will cost you $169 and anything before 2006, well you’re SOL, no upgrade for you.  Kind of puts things in perspective doesn’t it?  At the end of the day the Microsoft offer is actually pretty darn good, at least it’s cheaper than Vista right?

Here’s a chart Ed made that breaks things down nicely:

Full Story: Ed Bott’s ZDNet Blog

So as we have all seen, the Windows 7 retail packaging is nice and simple, and easy to open.  What we haven’t see is the retail packaging for Anytime Upgrades if people choose to move up to a higher SKU of Windows 7.  Bryant over at AeroXP has posted some pictures of the packaging.

From AeroXP:

Just about everyone has seen the shots of the new Windows 7 retail packaging, but pictures of the new Anytime Upgrade packaging are much harder to come by. Nearly impossible to find are any current examples of the packaging besides press shots and renders, so having said that, here are a few good hands-on shots I managed to take.

(There’s nothing relevant inside the boxes themselves; just a fake key and a CD of Visio inside the retail box of which I was also taking some pictures.)

Have at it:

Source: AeroXperience

So today Brandon Leblanc over at the Windows Team Blog has officially revealed the packaging for Windows 7.  It looks exactly like the images that have been floating around for a while now, but the post also outlines how this new design is sleeker, lighter and easier to open.

From the Windows Team Blog:

Simple, Clean and Easy To Open…

We approached the packaging for Windows 7 the same way we approached the product – by listening to what our customers told us they wanted: make it a simple clean design, easy to open, and reduce waste.

Simple Design

Customers told us they liked the big bold Windows logo and how it clearly communicates that it’s Windows 7. They like larger typefaces to make it easy to read and they like background colors for each edition to make it easier to differentiate between Windows 7 Home Premium all the way to Windows 7 Ultimate. In their own words, the “clean” design gives off a “fresh” feel.

Make It Easy To Open

We’ve reduced the number of elements in the package down to three: the plastic case, the paper sleeve, and a simple Getting Started Guide. The plastic case opens easily like a standard DVD case and it will have a single easy-to-remove seal at the top – And that’s it!

Reduce Waste

The plastic case protecting the Windows 7 disk is lighter and is recyclable. The packaging itself has a 37% weight reduction and a 50% improvement on it’s econometrics score over the predecessor.

Essentially, this packaging is what customers told us they were most interested in picking up to learn more about Windows 7. We hope you do the same.

Look for the new Windows 7 packaging to hit this fall!

View: Original Post @ Windows Team Blog

So a reader e-mailed me a link to this new blog that has springed up.  It has a very interesting name.  The author calls it “Windows 7 Nightmares”.  The point he is trying to drive with this blog is how and why the Windows 7 Beta has been mis-managed and goes into some detail about how Microsoft is managing things currently.  Anyway I suggest you all read it if you want to know what’s going on.

As for who the author is, I have no Idea, but whoever it is, they definitely know what they’re talking about because their information is accurate.

Read: Windows 7 Nightmares

So with the recent leaks of various Windows 7 builds leaking in VHD form, I thought it would be a good time to dust off my guide writing skills and do one to inform everyone just how easy it is to make an install DVD out of your freshly downloaded VHD of Windows 7.

So firstly I should answer the million dollar question that some of you may have.  What is a VHD?  Well to put it simply, a VHD is the image file format used by Microsoft VirtualPC and Microsoft Hyper-V virtualization technologies.  Some of these builds leak in these forms because internally Microsoft does a lot of their staging/testing in Hyper-V environments.  One cool thing to note, is that these images are already staged, so all we have to do is capture the contents to a WIM file.

What you will need to follow this guide:

• Windows 7 Ultimate (we’re using the built in VHD mount utility)
• Windows 7 AIK RC
• UltraISO (Or another Utility to edit ISO Files)
• Windows 7 ISO (Any build 7100 or newer will work)

So, the first thing you need to do is obviously make sure you have your VHD downloaded to the desired location. Once you have done that, do the following:

1. Go to start and type compmgmt.msc and press enter.
2. Click on “Disk Management”
3. Go to the Action Menu and click “Attach VHD”
4. Browse to the location of your VHD, select it and click OK.
5. It will install a drive to your system, take note of the drive letter, you will need this later.
6. Install the Windows AIK and take note of the installation path.
7. Now start an instance of command prompt as administrator.
8. Navigate to X:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\x86 or X:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\amd64 depending on your architecture. (X being the drive you installed the AIK to)
9. now type imagex.exe /compress maximum /flags “Ultimate” /capture L: D:\install.wim “Windows 7 Ultimate”
10. Let that process run (should take a few minutes) and you will have your WIM.

Now we need to put this shiny new WIM into an ISO.  For this do the following:

1. Open your ISO in UltraISO (make sure your ISO is the same architecture as what you downloaded)
2. navigate to the sources folder and delete install.wim
3. Drag your new install.wim into the sources folder.
4. Save the ISO with a new name.
5. Burn the ISO and install.

And that’s it, using the above method you can quickly convert a VHD into a WIM and insert it into an ISO and install it like any normal build of Windows.  The above can be accomplished in under 10 minutes, so it’s a pretty quick process as well.

The technical preview of the much anticipated Office 2010 has finally hit the web in both the x86 and x64 flavors of the product.  Office 2010 brings many improvements over Office 2007 and also introduces the ribbon to outlook which is a MUCH welcome change.  I decided to install it and try it out quick, and I have to say, it feels very polished and the apps are VERY FAST on Windows 7 x64 (using the 64 bit office naturally).  Below you can see a couple of screenshots I snapped quickly of word and outlook.  I’ll post some more shots later as I play with it more.

You may recall a couple of months ago I made a post outlining the fact that Internet Explorer 8 is a removable component in Windows 7.  What I didn’t mention though, is that there are many other components that can be removed by the user.  Microsoft listened to user feedback, and the users made it clear that they wanted more control over the in box applications.  They wanted to be able to remove and add things at will, as needed.  Users can add/remove the following components:

•   Windows Media Player
•   Windows Media Center
•   Windows DVD Maker
•   Internet Explorer 8
•   Windows Search
•   Handwriting Recognition
•   Windows Gadget Platform
•   Fax and Scan
•   XPS Viewer and Services

To turn features on or off you go to the Control Panel, open the Programs and Features applet, and select the link ‘Turn Windows features on or off’.  Here you will see all of the features you have control over.

One other thing I want to post for your viewing pleasure, is a guide by Infoworld blogger J. Peter Bruzzese.  You may also remember him as the author of the book “Tricks of the Microsoft Windows Vista Masters”.  He has prepared this free ClipStart guide to quickly outline some of the new things in Windows 7 that you may or may not already be aware of.

View: Windows 7 ClipStart Guide