Bits & Bytes

Here’s the podcast for this evening’s show.  Tonight we discussed the Windows 7 release date, Microsoft’s new search engine: Bing, I give a brief review of my new Blackberry Storm, and we discuss Prawo Jazdy, which is hilarious!  Check it out!

 

 Bits and Bytes - June 3rd, 2009: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Microsoft announced that the release date for Windows 7 is going to be October 22, 2009.  Just in time for those Christmas computers!

As I’ve talked about on the show, I’ve been using Windows 7 Beta for some time now at home on our media center computer.  I started with the first public beta, then upgraded to a leaked release, and then “whacked and reloaded” to the release candidate.  Here are a few notes about my experience so far.  You can get more details from our show tonight at 6pm!

Media Center

• The Media Center experience has been terrific.  Since upgrading to the release candidate I’ve had very few issues.
• We record off of two DirecTV STBs connected to a WinTV-HVR 2250 by Hauppauge and have never once had an issue with recording.
• When the same system was loaded with Vista, we had all kinds of issues with failed recordings and a BSOD every so often.  Not one BSOD with Win7.
• The biggest issue we’ve had is that for some reason the Media Center built-in screen saver is not working after being turned on.  I have not messed with it too much to try to correct it, however.
• Now if we can just get some sort of out-of-the-box HD over DirecTV working, it’d be perfect!
• I have not installed any other applications on this machine as it is for media only.

Office Computer

• My office computer is a custom built (of course!) computer with an Asus system board, Intel dual-core processor, and 4GB of memory.  It has been running Vista since it’s release.  I constantly install software to try out or various tools for many purposes.  I decided to “whack and reload” my system after purchasing a new, larger hard drive and not wanting to carry over all the “junk” along with the Vista install.  My plan was to install Win7 RC, try it out, then “whack and reload” back to Vista.
• The install again went smoothly.  No issues whatsoever.
• So far these applications have worked without issues:
  • Firefox
  • Quickbooks Pro 2008 (in network mode with data on the server)
  • Office 2007 Enterprise
  • FoxIt Reader
  • Visual Studio 2008 (I have not used this extensively since installing on Win7)
• These applications work, but with some issues:
  • CommitCRM (software we use to track service calls) - it works but I get a weird error every once in awhile that doesn’t seem to effect its functionality.  I think it’s related to resizing the window, but I’m not 100% sure.
  • Trend-Micro Client Security Agent (Part of a network security suite, not the consumer version) - I’ve gotten a couple of BSODs since installing this and I’m about 90% sure this is the culprit.  No BSOD’s so far this week though.
• I LOVE the new taskbar at the bottom of the screen.  It sort of combines the quick start toolbar and the taskbar all in one.  Once programs start coding for it, it will be even better because you can right click and launch certain aspects of the programs, i.e. you can play playlists from the media center by choosing it from the menu.
• It seems faster to me, but that could just be because I had TONS of things running on my Vista install.
• I like that the gadgets aren’t bound to the sidebar.  I have only a couple of gadgets installed, but I can place them around my desktop wherever I want.
• Speaking of the desktop, I have my desktop set to rotate new images every 30 minutes using my pictures library.  It’s fun to see new pictures of my family every time I see my desktop!

If you’ve tried Windows 7, what are your thoughts?

We talked about Windows 7 today on the air.  Make sure to listen to our podcast for more details.  Here’s also some of the articles we used for info:

http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10234111-12.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Windows-7-RC-To-Run-or-Not-to-Run-66989.html?wlc=1241640538

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=922

Hey, Bits and Bytes listeners!  We’ve got a great show lined up for you tonight.  Be sure to tune in at 6pm to WHBU 1240AM in Anderson, IN.  If you are out of the area or can’t listen, be sure to check back here later this evening for our podcast!

Tonight we’ll be talking about identity theft, Windows 7, and Mother’s Day gadget gift ideas.

Apparently bowing down to antitrust pressure in the latest builds of Windows 7 Beta you can disable IE 8.  Check out the blog post here:

MS Blog Post