There are four editions of Windows 7 of interest to consumers.

1. Starter, comes pre-loaded on netbooks
2. Business, people who need to get remote access
3. Home Premium, most of the features from the other editions
4. Ultimate, full features of all other editions

Here are some of the key features of Windows 7.

• New Taskbar: In Windows 7, the taskbar is taller and is now a place where you can permanently “pin” the icons of frequently used programs anywhere along its length, and in any arrangement you choose, similar to Apple’s dock feature. Windows 7 takes the concept further; for each running program, hovering over its taskbar icon pops up a small preview screen showing a mini view of that program and every one of its open windows. If you mouse over a window in the preview screen, it appears at full size on your desktop and all other windows on the desktop become transparent—part of a feature called Aero Peek. Click on the window and it comes up, ready for use. You can even close windows from these previews, or play media in them.
• Use Aero Peek any time to see your empty desktop, with open windows reduced to virtual panes of glass. To do this, you just hover over a small rectangle at the right edge of the taskbar.
• Taskbar icons also provide Jump Lists—pop-up menus listing frequent actions or recent files used.
• Desktop: A feature called Snap allows you to expand windows to full-screen size by just dragging them to the top of the screen, or to half-screen size by dragging them to the left or right edges of the screen. Another feature, called Shake, allows you to make all other windows but the one you’re working on disappear by simply grabbing its title bar with the mouse and shaking it several times.
• File organization: In Windows Explorer, the left-hand column now includes a feature called Libraries. Each library—Documents, Music, Pictures and Videos—consolidates all files of those types regardless of which folder, or even which hard disk, they live in.
• Networking: Windows 7 allows you to see all available wireless networks by clicking on an icon in the taskbar. Home Groups allow you to easily share files among Windows 7 PCs on your home network.
• Touch: Some of the same kinds of multitouch gestures made popular on the iPhone are now built into Windows 7. But these features need a special type of touch screen that goes beyond what are on most desktops today.
• Speed: Properly configured, Windows 7 runs faster than Vista. Start-up and restart times are improved.
• Nagging: Microsoft has consolidated most of the security alerts from the lower-right system tray into one icon.
• System Requirements: Needs newer or beefier hardware than traditional XP machines. The netbooks can run Starter Edition, which lacks some of the powerful graphics effects. A 32-bit PC will need at least one gigabyte of memory, 16 gigabytes of free hard-disk space and a graphics system that can support Microsoft technologies called “DirectX 9 with WDDM 1.0″ and a processor with a speed of at least one gigahertz. A 64-bit PC will require at least two gigabytes of memory and 20 gigabytes of free hard disk space. In either case, you should double the minimum memory specification.

John Boyd

On Oct. 22, Microsoft will release Windows 7. Touted to be a faster and much better operating system than the much-maligned Windows Vista, it is seen as the OS whose time has finally come!

After October’s release nearly all new computers will be pre-loaded with Windows 7, and the rest of us will need to determine if it is time to upgrade from Vista or XP.

Windows XP is still the most popular version of Windows, despite having its initial release in 2001. Having done the job for these nine years, it’s now showing its age when it comes to security, networking and other interface features more important today.

Windows 7 boosts productivity and is easy to use. Fandotech is ready to recommend Windows 7 to our client base. Windows 7 has fixed the flaws in Vista and has finally given Microsoft customers a reason to move up from XP. And Windows 7 is packed with features that create an easier, richer user experience.

Windows 7 Summary

• Introduces real advances in organizing your programs and files, arranging your taskbar and desktop.
• Allows quick viewing and launching of a page or document.
• Built-in touch-screen features.
• Removes organizational clutter.
• It is more efficient than Vista and is not sluggish.
• Compatible with most third-party software and hardware.
• Fits in a reasonable hardware configuration.
• Limits the constant, annoying security warnings present with Vista.
• Works on a broad range of hardware platforms – the WSJ tested Windows 7 on 11 different computers, ranging from netbooks to standard laptops to desktops. These included machines from Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Acer, Asus, Toshiba and Sony, and yes – wait for it… even on an Apple Macintosh laptop.

The Upgrade
Windows 7 will come pre-loaded on most new purchases. For those with existing equipment, the upgrade path will vary.

1. Vista to Windows 7: This upgrade is doable but lengthy. It can take from an hour to several hours. The system for upgrading is complicated, but Vista migrates keeping all files, settings and programs in place.

Some upgrades may result in:

• Slow start-up and reboot times.
• Some features, like the display or touchpad may not work properly.
• Some drivers may need to be restored.
• Requires add-on security software re-install.

2. XP to Windows 7: The transition for XP is just plain hard. It requires wiping out the hard drive (after backing up their files offline!), then going forward from scratch.

Note that the Windows 7 Transfer wizard moves only personal files, not programs. Therefore it has limited use in the XP to Windows 7 upgrade which is long and painful. Also, Windows 7 no longer has several built-in applications, such as email, photo organizing, address book, calendar and video-editing programs.

All in all, these are exciting times. The industry is clamoring that Windows has hit the nail on the head with this release…just 2 more days and we’ll be able to see for ourselves!

John Boyd

Yes I am aware Microsoft Open License users are already eligible for Windows 7, so many of you may have already upgraded, but all consumers will have the chance to upgrade on October 22. We have been using Windows 7 in our offices and the tech team loves it, all employees at Fandotech are slated to have it on their PC’s and laptops by October 30. Why is this exciting? Unlike most previous Windows product launches we are not waiting for Service Pack 1.

After all of the negative publicity that surrounded Windows Vista, Microsoft truly planned out the release of Windows 7 and included the software developers creating the applications and hardware vendors that provide the device drivers in the process of testing the Operating System. Another reason for potential success in this launch was that Microsoft combined the Windows 2008 Server and Windows 7 development team to create code that tightly tied the two products together.

So why move to 7?

1. XP Mode: Many of the challenges that faced Windows Vista users were application incompatibilities. Due to the delays in the Vista project application developers did not have sufficient time to test their products against Vista. Thus many common applications failed to run on Vista when the product was made public.

Windows 7 has worked with the development community providing access to the SDK’s much earlier for testing and listening to the developers feedback on the OS to quickly resolve bugs. But the biggest enhancement for end-users is XP Mode which will allow users that have incompatible apps to run them in a virtualized XP instance. The end user will either run a separate XP desktop or “stream” the application to the desktop with only an icon to click. This alone will allow users to move to Windows & faster than previous versions of Windows.

2. Hardware requirements: Vista required major hardware upgrades to operate, Windows 7 has been developed with a leaner, meaner code base. Windows 7 needs only 512 MB of RAM to operate (although the more the better to run individual applications) and is designed to run using minimal resources. It is a safe bet that the hottest holiday gift will be Windows 7 Netbooks that run the full Windows 7 OS and are corporate network ready.

3. Direct Access: This service allows end users to access the corporate network without needing Virtual Private Network (VPN) software. Windows 7 boots up and finds the internet connection, then securely connects to the corporate network. If signal is lost it reconnects when Internet is restored. This eliminates the need for many 3rd party products and off-hours VPN support for your users. (Required Windows Server 2008)

4. Branch Cache: A big step for supporting remote offices centrally from a core customer datacenter (or data room). A caching server is setup in a remote location (for more sizable customers) or using Peer to Peer caching (in smaller offices) to keep cached copies of data available locally without having to make calls to the home server for repeated file requests. This reduces bandwidth consumption and improves performance at the remote location.

This also allows the most current copy of all critical data to be protected in the corporate standard manner without concern for data loss at the remote. Branch caching has been unaffordable for many clients as hardware solutions can be significantly priced. This option might bring it closer to reality for SMB’s. (required Windows Server 2008)

5. Security: Windows XP was released nearly 9 years ago. Since that time there have been enormous changes have occurred to the computing world in terms of security threats, application delivery, and Internet content. Mainstream support for XP ended in April. Scaled back support (security patches) will be available until 2014, but downgrade rights will end in April 2011.

Microsoft is sending a bit of a mixed message here in allowing support for an extended period of time, but what becomes obvious is that companies need a plan for migration to insure a smooth transition to Windows 7. What is certain is that inside Microsoft resources will shift from XP to 7 rapidly.

Let me know your thoughts on Windows 7 and what your plans for migration might be. I can be reached at bdoyle@fandotech.com.

Brian Doyle

I should have better things to do than blog about games, again and again, right? This is a professional blog for an IT company, after all. But, I just couldn’t let my last review stand without reporting in on how the real game plays in comparison to the demo I reviewed a couple weeks back. There are a few differences that affect gameplay.

Cities XLis a new city simulation game and MMO from Monte Cristo. As a longtime avid SimCity player, I just couldn’t wait for this new game to come out, especially given the incredibly disappointing experience of SimCity Societies (the last version of the SimCity franchise). Cities XL lets me build the city of my dreams (or nightmares, in some cases) in a more realistic fashion than any previous city simulator.

Cities XL logo

As with the demo, you begin your Cities XL experience by creating your avatar. The avatar is what “you” look like in the program and on the Cities XL website. Once your avatar is complete, you are presented with the application’s main menu.

From the main menu, you can work through tutorials, set program options, and play in solo mode (by yourself on your computer) or in planet mode (your city is online amongst many others on planets). The solo mode is free, in the sense that once you’ve bought the program, you can play at no additional cost in solo mode. The so-called “Planet Offer” is a subscription-based online mode where your cities can buy and sell resources with other player’s cities. You can also visit other player’s cities as if they were your own.

You get five days of the Planet Offer free when you first install the program. I’ve decided to hold off a while, though, and see how I like the solo mode before I consider investing in the Planet Offer.

The on-screen tools have been modified since the demo, and these changes are improvements. There is less screen clutter and better control of game features. For instance, you can now easily pause the game (which may have been possible in the demo, but I didn’t find that feature, so I’m not sure); you can also play it at normal speed or twice normal speed if you’re impatient.

You still begin your cities by selecting a map, of which there are about 25 to choose from. Each map has various resources and difficulty levels. Then, you place a road connection (or if your city is on an island, a seaport) to enable intercity commerce. This road connection is just a road that connects to an edge of the map. Somewhere on this road you place your Town Hall. And then you place a Utility Center that gets your city started with resources such as power and water.

From there, you begin building your city by placing residential, industrial, and retail zones. Initially, there aren’t many choices for zoning or building, but this changes as your population grows. Over time, the various zone types offer up to three levels of increasing density. Your citizens also begin to demand city services such as health, education, security, and fire protection (which cost money every budget cycle to maintain).

As your city becomes more sophisticated, it needs various levels of industrial buildings, from farms, heavy industry, offices, manufacturing, and eventually high tech. These industries require citizens. The simpler industries need unqualified workers, and then qualified workers, then executives, and eventually elites, as they are called. Each citizen type is harder to satisfy in terms of city services, employment, and commercial needs.

Residential, retail, and industrial buildings all require a regular supply of reasonably priced resources. You can expect to build or buy additional electrical, water, fuel, and waste resources as your city grows. All of these things cost money and are charged every cycle against your city budget.

Your city benefits from additional road connections to the edge of the map, as well as the presence of seaports and airports. Parks, landmark buildings, and leisure buildings keep citizens entertained and the wheels of commerce turning.

Oh, and watch out for the pervasive problem of pollution, which kills everything according to warnings I’ve been “sent” in the program. Place your dirty industries and resources far from residential areas, but no so far as to make the daily commute intolerable. Good luck with all this!

So, how have my cities been doing? Hartnell, Troughton, and Pertwee were the first cities I built. Each one has grown bigger than the last, but reached an unstable limit when my patience ran out and I moved on. Hartnell grew to about 150,000 citizens before problems became nearly insurmountable. I moved on to Troughton and grew that city to nearly 250,000 before different problems severely plagued it. Learning from previous mistakes, I then built Pertwee, and it’s currently hovering around 600,000 citizens, but struggling with budget problems. Again, I’ve learned some things and have some new ideas, so I’m about ready to move onto Baker and see if I can grow it to 1,000,000 citizens.

(My fellow science fiction geeks may recognize where I got the names for my cities: each is the last name of an actor who played Doctor Who in the British science fiction series of the same name.)

I’m going to again rank this product 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Craig Samson

Once again, this month’s topic is about Search Engine Marketing and how to make your website be your best salesperson. Treat your website like a salesperson, holding it accountable just as you would a human salesperson.

After determining your expectations for your website it’s time to implement the changes necessary to meet those goals. A typical scenario for search engine marketing:

1. Your current site is reviewed and evaluated for a number of important factors.
2. The site is redesigned using Search Engine Marketing best practices.
3. Monitoring and measuring tools are also implemented so that progress can be better tracked.

Monitoring your site’s statistics is key. Based on the site’s performance, keywords, hierarchy, and content will be further tweaked in an attempt to continuously improve the site. Continually measure your ROI and analyze your specific goals, just as you would a salesperson.

Driving Site Visits
Here are a few things you can do on your path to search engine nirvana, as well as a few tools to make the trip a little more comfortable:

• Use social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and others to drive traffic to your site and build an online network. Remember, though, from last month’s article, that these services use code that prevents a search engine from following a link to your site from these social media sites. This means that links from social media sites will not improve your search engine rankings, but may increase direct traffic to your site. Twitter is one of the fastest growing of these services, and the next couple tools will help you stay on top of Twitter traffic. Free informational webinar registration now open!
• Twuffer. Use this free web-based tool (www.twuffer.com) that lets you schedule tweets in advance so there’s no need to be at your PC when the tweets are sent out (perhaps a few times a day, if you keep up with it). This tool lets you plan out your tweets in advance, schedule them, and then frees you up for the rest of the day.
• TweetDeck. Use this free downloadable application (www.tweetdeck.com) to sort and categorize your incoming tweets. This tool lets you monitor Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. You can have it watch for mentions of your company and any other keywords so that you will know right away when somebody is looking for a service or product that you sell. This is a definite must-have tool for Twitter!
• Bit.ly. Use this tool (www.bitly.com) to shorten web addresses and track how many people click the links. Since your messages on Twitter, for instance, can only be 140 characters maximum, a hyperlink might chew up much of that space if you tweet a link. This, for instance, is a link to last month’s Solutions Development newsletter: http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs020/1101120269844/archive/1102668641227.html (82 characters, leaving you a mere 52 to finish your tweet). Bit.ly lets you shorten these links to a more manageable size. This link: http://bit.ly/Tdg4y also takes you to the newsletter, but it’s much shorter (20 characters). Bit.ly will also track the number of clicks the link gets.
• SeoQuake for Firefox. You do look at your site in Firefox, right? It’s a good idea to have at least two web browsers on your computer. Firefox (free, and downloadable from www.mozilla.com) is a good second browser, especially since it offers the SeoQuake toolbar add-on (free Firefox add-ons are available from addons.mozilla.org) . This add-on adds a toolbar to Firefox that displays at a glance a series of useful measurements to aid with search engine optimization.

I hope you find this article helpful and informative. It is said that nothing worth doing is easy, and search engine marketing is a perfect example of that.

Craig Samson