VIEWPOINT: With the release of Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system yesterday, we thought it apt to unveil an interview and demo sessions we did with executives from both Microsoft and Apple (which released the Mac OS X Snow Leopard update in August).

Basically the objective of this interview is to understand what are the new directions and features each operating software has in the areas of security, functionality, aesthetics and user needs.

If you want a comprehensive breakdown of both operating systems, refer to the Windows 7 review and Mac OS X Snow Leopard summary by the HardwareZone Singapore team. Alternatively, you can refer to your past issues of HWM for our comprehensive coverage of both operating systems.

Here’s the ViewPoint video of the interview with both executives:

This video comes with English captions. To change caption language, click on Translate in the bottom corner option of the video.

Hit the jump to watch actual demo sessions on both Windows 7 and Mac OS X Snow Leopard. For the Windows 7 demos, we had the pleasure of having Mr. Matthew Hardman, Group Manager, Business & Marketing Organization, Microsoft show us its features.

Navin Danapal, Technical Editor, HWM Malaysia

Navin (HWM Malaysia): Apple lost a good chance to position their latest Mac OS 10.6, Snow Leopard, as an idol in the land of the Otaku (geeks) of Japan, when Microsoft Japan beat the Cupertino company in coolness by coming out with an official OS-Tan (OS personification), Nanami Madobe, voiced by Nana Mizuki, a Japanese anime voice actress, to represent Windows 7.

Limited to only the first 7777 copies of Windows 7 Ultimate in Japan, the unique Windows 7 theme was quickly leaked out and distributed to other Windows 7 users.

While OS-Tans have long been invented by devoted Japanese fans for previous versions of Windows, Microsoft coming out with an official character showed their commitment to making Windows 7 become really appealing to all levels of their target markets.

If this link is anything to go by, Apple should have done the same instead of resorting to tactics like hijacking Google search results for Windows 7 and directing people to consider a Mac instead.

(more…)

SHOWCASE: Our team is currently in Computex Taipei and they’ve been busy covering the event here and putting videos up for this post.

The first video shows Mr. Drew Henry, General Manager, Desktop GPU Business Unit from NVIDIA and Mr. Murray Vince, General Manager OEM Division, Microsoft, demonstrating video encoding speeds of Windows 7 using DirectX Compute. Of course, there’s a tidbit segment where Mr. Jen-Hsun Huang, NVIDIA CEO went on stage to solve a slight wardrobe malfunction. For additional coverage of the conference, including videos, go here.

(more videos after the break)

(more…)

"Low cost small notebook PCs" might not have the ring we want but if it sticks, Microsoft might reap ready benefits from it.

CORP TALK: Considering that Psion has decided to give the all-clear for the usage of the netbook term as reported by The New York Times here, we hear news that Microsoft wants to redefine mini-notebooks with a new term – low cost small notebook PC.

This was expressed by Mr. Steven Guggenheimer, General Manager for the Application Platform and Development Marketing Division for Microsoft at Computex 2009, as reported by DigiTimes.com here.

According to Guggenheimer, the term netbook is misleading, because these mini-notebooks have feature capabilities that allow a user to not just surf the Internet but do a great many other things. According to the DigiTimes report, market watchers are speculating that this renaming strategy by Microsoft is aimed at distinguishing mini-notebooks/netbooks from regular notebooks, so that the company can reduce the number of low-end Windows shipments.

This way, mid- to high-end mini-notebooks can benefit from the adoption of higher-end versions of Windows 7, recently announced for launch on October 22. In addition to this, Microsoft has also lifted the 3-app restriction on Windows 7 Starter Edition when there were plans to originally allow only three concurrent apps to run on the PC at any one time.

CORP TALK: Microsoft has finally made available the Release Candidate (RC) of Windows 7 operating system in downloadable form to MSDN and TechNet subscribers yesterday. The public will have access to it by May 5 from the Microsoft Download Center. The RC download, interestingly set with an expiry date for June, 2010, indicates that the Windows 7 operating system is entering its final phases of development and will be ready for partners to develop new apps, device drivers and services.

According to Microsoft, Windows 7 has garnered strong industry support. The beta of Windows 7 showed significant promise but Forrester Research released an independent report in April 2009 recommending that IT professionals within the enterprise deploy Windows Vista first in order to prepare for a smoother transition into Windows 7.

According to an online report by The National Business Review, Windows 7 official launch date is still set on January 2010 but a separate report today indicates that Acer might release their notebooks with Windows 7 earlier in October 2009. The buzz on everyone’s lips seem to steer towards an October 23, 2009 launch date, if the early release of the RC download yesterday was any indication that Windows 7 is on track and done. (Editor opinions: 1) (more…)

Windows 7 will probably support Windows Touch, but only if your monitor supports touch-screen capabilities. Whether that would spur new monitor upgrades and convince manufacturers remain to be seen.

T&A: DigiTimes.com published a report where Taiwan-based PC vendors and motherboard manufacturers expressed doubt on whether Microsoft’s Windows 7 would really help stimulate demand for replacement PC parts and upgrades.

As a follow-up to Vista, Windows 7 aims to keep hardware demands low so that adoption rates for the operating system would go up when it is launched (targeted sometime late this year or early next year). This would mean a lesser need for consumers and corporate customers to spend on hardware upgrades, a situation worsened further by the current crisis as customers tighten their belts.

While there is widespread belief that Microsoft might be bringing forward the launch of Windows 7, several key people interviewed by the site believed that the economy needs to recover first with appropriate assimilation of both hardware and software before Windows 7 can jumpstart the much needed PC replacement economy. (Editor opinions: 2)

Navin Danapal, Technical Editor, HWM Malaysia

Navin (HWM MY): If Taiwanese computer hardware makers are hoping Windows 7 will encourage customers to upgrade their PCs and thereby increase product sales, then they’re in for a rough ride. Windows 7 is Microsoft’s attempt to convert older Windows XP users who didn’t upgrade to Windows Vista, positioning it as an optimized ‘Windows Vista’, which in essence, is what Windows 7 really is. (more…)