Posted on 04/24/2009 4:20:39 PM PDT by DevNet
XP Mode consists of the Virtual PC-based virtual environment and a fully licensed copy of Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3). It will be made available, for free, to users of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions via a download from the Microsoft web site. (That is, it will not be included in the box with Windows 7, but is considered an out-of-band update, like Windows Live Essentials.) XPM works much like today’s Virtual PC products, but with one important exception: As with the enterprise-based MED-V (Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization) product, XPM does not require you to run the virtual environment as a separate Windows desktop. Instead, as you install applications inside the virtual XP environment, they are published to the host (Windows 7) OS as well. (With shortcuts placed in the Start Menu.) That way, users can run Windows XP-based applications (like IE 6) alongside Windows 7 applications under a single desktop.
Obviously, XPM has huge ramifications for Windows going forward. By removing the onus of legacy application compatibility from the OS, Microsoft can strip away deadwood technology from future versions of Windows at a speedier clip, because customers who need to run older applications can simply do so with XPM. For Windows 7 specifically, XPM is a huge convenience, especially for Microsoft’s corporate customers, who can of course control XPM behavior via standard Microsoft administration and management technologies like Active Directory (AD) and Group Policy (GP). And it significantly recasts the Windows 7 compatibility picture. Before, Microsoft could claim that Windows 7 would be at least as compatible as Windows Vista. Now, they can claim almost complete Windows XP compatibility, or almost 100 percent compatibility with all currently running Windows applications.
(Excerpt) Read more at withinwindows.com ...
I don’t find the UI changes in 7 gratuitous but rather beneficial when used correctly.
What keyboard shortcuts changed? I have been a touch typest in Word for years and I can still ctrl-whatever with the same outcome as always.
Patently idiotic? What’s patently idiotic is maintaining a legacy platform that continues to bloat and bloat and then allow in place installs to add to the bloat. MS is dead right on this and the tech community, the ones who are actually knowledgeable, have been saying that they needed to do this for years. Apple did the exact same thing when they went OS X and VM software has been around for a while. Besides I highly doubt by the sound of it that you will be changing your OS anytime soon, probably for a decade if you held on to that pile of steaming filth called Windows ME for that long.
Alt/E/C and Alt/E/P to start with - Alt/E pulls down the edit menu, and "c" or "p" copies and pastes. Been using those commands since before I had a mouse. Late 1980's.
The keyboard accelerators for copy and paste have been ctrl+c and ctrl+v for 10 to 15 years.
But they work, in fact I just opened up 2007 and gave it a whirl to make sure so I wouldn’t sound dumb. When you hit Alt-E a drop down says continue with the Windows 2003 key sequence and the copy/past function continues as normal. I personally use a different method like ctrl-c, ctrl-v etc.
If this is seamlessly integrated does that mean the DRM in Windows 7 will downgrade audio and video files in the XPM environment seamlessly?
FMCDH(BITS)
Plenty of memory — it’s in a different city from where I am right now, so I can’t check, but I’m not doing anything that hogs memory — no video games, much less online gaming, just browing the Internet and occasionally using Word or Excel for small personal tasks. And I can’t always tell to what extent bugs are from the operating system or the software, but I’m not using anything but the Microsoft software that came with the machine — not even using a printer with this machine. In Explorer, it’s very inconsistent about whether it will allow me to copy a URL from the address bar with right mouse-click/Copy vs. manually highlighting the URL and then pulling down the “Edit” menu/selecting “Copy” — and often left-clicking in the address bar won’t highlight the URL, but often it does. Another frequent Explorer bug is when I open a new window by right-clicking on a link in an existing window, and the new window comes up with the menu bar missing — but if I close Explorer and re-open it, I can open the same link the same way from the same window, and the new window comes up normally — but the problem often recurs a short time later. Also endless problems with the wireless Internet connection, even though I had no problems with my old Windows 2000 laptop in the same location and the other people in the house, with XP machines, aren’t having these problems.
Frankly I can’t tell if there are any bugs affecting Word, because the interface is such an inscrutable pile of chaos that I really can’t use Word at all, beyond simple typing. I split my time between two cities, and if I need to do anything in Word beyond simple typing, it’s just easier to wait a couple of days until I’m in my other home with my other computer, than to try to untangle this insane interface. And there’s just the plain annoying crap, like if you want to “Shut Down”, you have to figure out that the little multicolored circle where “Start” used to be is the first thing you have to click, and then you’re presented with a long list of things that aren’t “Shut Down”, and you’re supposed to figure out that you’ll find “Shut Down” hidden behind a teensy little non-descript unlabelled arrow. Yeah, I can find it NOW, but it’s just totally irrational to hide a function that people use constantly, behind meaningless symbols. And of course, the machine takes forever to boot up.
Nope, I’ll never buy another machine with Vista, and I’ll try to hang on to XP as long as possible. If Vista was Microsoft’s idea of an “improvement” over XP, I shudder to think what Windows 7 will be like. Linux may be next for me, when XP finally becomes obsolete.
Vista doesn’t downgrade media now so why would 7?
There’s plenty of companies in the US, both software and hardware, doing plenty of research. Microsoft never stood out as being a research heavyweight, such as IBM is.
Are you a Microsoft employee? And are you an engineer?
I don’t discuss who - if anyone - I work for. And the state of Texas has strict rules as to who can call themselves an engineer - I do not current meet their criteria.
Not that any of that has any thing to do with the question at had so please answer my questions.
Bingo! That's the perfect analogy for the insanity of the interface. Fortunately my Vista machine is just my secondary computer that I use in my weekend home, mainly for net surfing, because there's just no way I could deal it for my main computer. The Word interface is absolutely hopeless -- I gave up and just started using Works Word Processor. Trying to find the Edit - Paste Special function was so infuriating I nearly threw the machine out the window. Honestly, I can't recall if I ever found it. I know I tried on at least two occasions, and ending up making a mental note never to try again. It's not like the location of things makes any sense once you've found them (like finding headlights on the back of a car!), so it's impossible to remember.
In Office 2007, the undo and redo keys are next to the round button with the Windows logo in the upper left hand corner. I don’t like the new menus, and it took me forever to find them, but there they are. I’m posting from home on my real computer (a Mac) or I’d do a screen capture for you.
He, he! Found it online. Apparently you aren't the only one that had trouble finding it. I think you can get the paste special function from right clicking. If not, you can usually find the command by clicking on the top menu button and then looking through all the icons that come up across the screen underneath it. The icons have replaced the old pull down menus.
Just looking at that irrational mess is making my blood pressure go up. Getting flashbacks of my urges to throw my laptop out the window.
More over here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2237430/posts
Skin Deep Usability — First Experience with Microsoft’s “Surface” Touch Computer
Most of those companies are doing product development - not pure research. By pure research I am talking like the Bell Labs of old.
High level over view of the interface changes and some of the reasoning behind them
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/HA101679411033.aspx
More technical details of the interface and the reasons why it is like it is.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/aa905530.aspx
If you wish to view the design guide see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/aa973809.aspx
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