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[ThatObviousUser]

But I already have Linux installed too.

I wasn't talking to you. >:/

Oh well, do you have Chrome OS?

 

[Vanillalite]

I wasn't talking to you. >:/

Oh well, do you have Chrome OS?

I have a CR-48 as well! DUN DUN DUN!

PS: I know you weren't talking to me. I was just messing around with ya Andrex!

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Smiley face!

I know this is a Windows thread but I have to ask how your Cr-48 is holding up, especially with the latest firmware updates and such.

 

[Vanillalite]

Smiley face!

I know this is a Windows thread but I have to ask how your Cr-48 is holding up, especially with the latest firmware updates and such.

110% fine. Only issue was it had a small little screen nick, but that was how it came to me in the box. I wasn't gonna complain.

Most of my issues have been fixed over time. Touch pad was good then wonky then good then wonky then has been good for a while now (they kept fucking with it in patches). I had an issue when I 1st got it that I couldn't sub to the free 2 year verizon 3g stuff so I had to call them and tell them how to fix their own stuff to an extent (no offense to the customer rep but you could tell she was a customer rep).

I had a few firmwares back a couple of random issues of 3g not connecting, but that just resolved itself. Outside of that it's perfect minus the fact that a few sites won't let me play stuff even though it's chrome and has flash because they can't detect the OS.

Best thing about it besides the slick design (can we get some non mac laptops that look as stylish as this? The official for sale Chrome OS laptops don't even look as good) is the battery life is pretty ball'n. I get 6+ hours per charge.

PS: This is disregarding going down the rabbit whole of do I like the OS, does it work, how good is it for what it is, do I feel hamstrung on what it can't do etc...

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Best thing about it besides the slick design (can we get some non mac laptops that look as stylish as this? The official for sale Chrome OS laptops don't even look as good) is the battery life is pretty ball'n. I get 6+ hours per charge.

Nice. And yeah, I love the Cr48's design. Wish all Chrome OS OEMs would go with a subdued look and rubberized feel.

PS: This is disregarding going down the rabbit whole of do I like the OS, does it work, how good is it for what it is, do I feel hamstrung on what it can't do etc...

I would expect you believe in it, right?

 

[Vanillalite]

Nice. And yeah, I love the Cr48's design. Wish all Chrome OS OEMs would go with a subdued look and rubberized feel.



I would expect you believe in it, right?

It works for what it is, and having small access to a little bit of space through their added in system file browser helped me do one or two random things I wanted to do that is more old school local desktop based. It also helps that I have all of my music on Google Music now when I don't want to use my phone (one of my 1st projects was posting and scouring the web on a way to hack a media player install of say Banshee without doing the hardware mod which is impossible). Granted I wish it was faster because playing video that doesn't look like crap is virtually impossible.

It also helps that I already used Chrome in Windows and Ubuntu. Adding in the Chrome Sync + Apps helped me like the system a shit ton more too. Tweetdeck doing a chrome app made me adopt the system faster too!

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Good to hear.

 

[Vanillalite]

Good to hear.

Final thing. The 1st "major" thing I tried to do on my CR-48 was make my Ubuntu 11.04 OT which I did a lot of sitting at Starbucks on free coffee day. I did a good 95% of it on my CR-48. Only thing I couldn't figure out how to do (brain fart at the time) was to link to the wallpaper images being included just by using the thumbnails without linking to the full res. I ended up being dumb and just resizing them to thumbnails in paint.net and uploading them in Win 7.

Still I got all of that OT done on my CR-48 and I had a fuck ton of tabs open too, and had no real performance degradation. I doubt I would have tried to do this on say a tablet to bring this back around more towards this actual thread.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Final thing. The 1st "major" thing I tried to do on my CR-48 was make my Ubuntu 11.04 OT which I did a lot of sitting at Starbucks on free coffee day. I did a good 95% of it on my CR-48. Only thing I couldn't figure out how to do (brain fart at the time) was to link to the wallpaper images being included just by using the thumbnails without linking to the full res. I ended up being dumb and just resizing them to thumbnails in paint.net and uploading them in Win 7.

Still I got all of that OT done on my CR-48 and I had a fuck ton of tabs open too, and had no real performance degradation. I doubt I would have tried to do this on say a tablet to bring this back around more towards this actual thread.

Yeah doing any kind of "real" work on a tablet or smartphone is completely counterproductive. It's why I still like (good) netbooks, the ones right on the verge of being full notebooks but still lighter and with better battery life. Basically what the Samsung Series 5 turned out to be, in fact. Although at this point maybe a bit better specs and 13"-ish screen would be my dream Chromebook.

I heard the Chrome OS has its own image editor?

 

[Jasoco]

I predict a quarter of GAF will be shitting on Metro in Windows.

The WP7 group will be loving it.

The PC gaming elitists will hate it.

...and so on.

Well its exactly the same thing that happened with Lion and its iOS features. Haters gonna do that thing that they do so well.

From what I'd seen, MS seems to be going the Fullscreen app emphasis as well with W8. Except that they have a way to put other apps on the screen as well side by side. Kinda wish I could do PIP apps in Lion.

 

[WickedAngel]

Google Docs is better than MS Office. Deal with it.

You're out of your mind.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

You're out of your mind.

That's what they tell me.

 

[Subliminal]

Looking forward to W8, particularly Ribbon in explorer, I hated it when they first added it to office but now I love it!

 

[Vanillalite]

I heard the Chrome OS has its own image editor?

That's true, but it hasn't been implemented yet. Would have fixed my issue at the time because I would have had to use a web app + somehow deal with the file system (which they kept changing so I can't remember how it was when I made my Ubuntu OT). So I sort of had to use other means at the time.

Should be fine for the few limited times I need it though much like the native media player they added it.

Tis another reason sometimes you want something a little more full featured OS wise.

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

I have a CR-48 as well! DUN DUN DUN!

PS: I know you weren't talking to me. I was just messing around with ya Andrex!

That's a happy box

 

[ThatObviousUser]

That's true, but it hasn't been implemented yet. Would have fixed my issue at the time because I would have had to use a web app + somehow deal with the file system (which they kept changing so I can't remember how it was when I made my Ubuntu OT). So I sort of had to use other means at the time.

Should be fine for the few limited times I need it though much like the native media player they added it.

Tis another reason sometimes you want something a little more full featured OS wise.

That's what Citrix is for.

 

[Rur0ni]

Was waiting for this blog to come online.

 

[Sydle]

Excite

Google Docs is better than MS Office. Deal with it.

lmao, not even close

 

[brotkasten]

A new post is online and Sinofsky talks about the teams around Windows 8.

...

I mentioned earlier that Windows contributes code to lots of other products and vice versa, so when you look at this list, keep in mind there are features from other groups (for example, our browser language runtime comes from the development tools group) and some of the work here goes into other products, too. For example, all of our kernel, networking, storage, virtualization, and other fundamental OS work is also part of Windows Server—that’s right, one team delivers the full Windows Client OS and much of the foundation for the Windows Server OS. And some features are built in the core OS but are ultimately only part of the Server product.

Many of the teams listed below describe features or areas that you are familiar with or that you can probably figure out based on the name. As we post more, team members will identify themselves as part of these teams. We also have organized these teams in seven larger groups that pull related teams together—fundamentals, devices and networking, core OS, developer experience, user experience, web services, and our engineering system. The Windows Live group (Hotmail, Messenger, Skydrive, Photos, LiveID, and more) also has a similar structure. Internet Explorer group is also a couple of teams on its own, but obviously contributes across Windows 8.

• App Compatibility and Device Compatibility
• App Store
• Applications and Media Experience
• App Experience
• Core Experience Evolved
• Device Connectivity
• Devices & Networking Experience
• Ecosystem Fundamentals
• Engineer Desktop
• Engineering System
• Enterprise Networking
• Global Experience
• Graphics Platform
• Hardware Developer Experience
• Human Interaction Platform
• Hyper-V
• In Control of Your PC
• Kernel Platform
• Licensing and Deployment
• Media Platform
• Networking Core
• Performance
• Presentation and Composition
• Reliability, Security, and Privacy
• Runtime Experience
• Search, View, and Command
• Security & Identity
• Storage & Files Systems
• Sustained Engineering
• Telemetry
• User-Centered Experience
• Windows Online
• Windows Update
• Wireless and Networking services
• XAML

In addition to these teams made up of development, test, and program management, there are many others that are part of the product development team. Our content development team writes and edits our online assistance, website, deployment documents, and SDKs, to name a few things. Product planning leads customer and market research and also pays very close attention to feedback and telemetry around the pre-release software. Product design develops the overall interaction model, graphical language, and design language for Windows 8. Our research and usability team creates field and lab studies that show how existing products and proposed features perform with all types of customers. Localization brings Windows to over 100 languages (and localizes this blog). Our operations team runs services that are used by hundreds of millions of people and almost a billion PCs. ...

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/08/17/introducing-the-team.aspx

I was hoping they'd do this for W8. I loved Engineering 7 and everything around it. To think that you had the chance to influence the development with the feedback you left in the comments, that was pretty awesome.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

They're dead in the water if they release fall 2012.

lol.

 

[giga]

Google Docs is better than MS Office. Deal with it.

 

[Mecha_Infantry]

Wow, where is the new buzz word "app" coming from? We're talkig about the PC version of Win8 right?

And no, Apple aren't heading the direction of merging iOS and OS X together, some elements yes, but not the whole OS. Also, why on earth do people still want a full blown OS on a tablet. It's NEVER worked, ask MS themselves

 

[clav]

edit: Beaten down by brokasten.

App store + other features announced. Shocker!

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/08/17/introducing-the-team.aspx

Introducing the team
Steven Sinofsky 17 Aug 2011 1:00 PM

Thanks for the comments and the flood of email we received (and to the number of folks now following us on Twitter, too). It is definitely humbling to see all the enthusiasm and interest. There are clearly already few important threads in the initial comments, some of which are based on the previews of the Windows 8 user experience. We’re definitely gearing up to discuss these issues, the design, and tradeoffs. Windows 8 has new features across the full breadth of the product. It takes quite a team to build Windows 8, and so I thought it would be a good idea to talk about the team structure—sometimes the “how” can help folks to understand the “what” and the “why.” This will give you an outline of the places we added features to Windows 8. It will also serve as a bit of a guide as we talk about the product.

It is tempting for some to think of Windows as one entity or group, or for some to think of Windows as just a set of specific people. Sometimes someone speaks at a conference or has a blog, and that comes to represent the product for you. In reality, Windows is always a product of the whole team and much of Microsoft. Nearly every development group contributes to building Windows 8 in some form or another. And Windows contributes efforts to most other groups as well.

Windows is a fairly broad project made up of a set of coordinated smaller projects. When we started building Windows 8 we had a clear sense of the direction we were heading and so we built a team structure to support that direction. Many of the teams work together while at the same time we try to break the work down into fairly independent groups—obviously as a customer you want things to work together, but as an engineer, you also want to be able to work independently. That’s a fine balance we work to maintain.

A lot goes into building a team structure to get all the work of Windows done. The most important first step is deciding “what” we plan to get done, so that we can make sure we have the best teams in place and the best structure to do that work. At the same time we have to make sure all the engineering processes—like daily builds, integration, quality, security, and all the fundamentals—are integral from the start (lots to talk about on these topics!).

We have several engineering roles, or disciplines, that make up our team. The implementation work on Windows happens when developers write code. This code implements features that come from specifications written by program management along with interaction designs from our product designers. Testers are responsible for making sure the spec is complete and the code does what the spec says it should do. This is a simplified view of the relationship between roles, since we routinely walk a bit in each other’s shoes. There are several other equally important roles on the team, but we tend to think of our engineering effort as development, test, and program management working together in lockstep throughout the entire release—each role has an equal voice in the outcome and choices we make.

We organize the work of Windows into “feature teams,” groups of developers who own a combination of architectural elements and scenarios across Windows. We have about 35 feature teams in the Windows 8 organization. Each feature team has anywhere from 25-40 developers, plus test and program management, all working together. Our teams are all focused on building a global product, and so some of our teams are located outside the US and are also delivering globally.

In general a feature team owns and builds what that most folks would identify as an area or component of Windows. “Feature” is always a tricky word—some folks think a feature is a broad architectural component like the "user interface” or networking, and other folks might think a feature is something more specific, like the “start menu” or IPv6. So the term is a bit overloaded. When we set up different feature teams, we pair the architecture (code, subsystems, components) with the scenarios (user experience) in which users will encounter it, while also working to make sure we keep teams small and manageable. We long ago stopped trying to count new features because of the difficulty in defining a feature. We do count work items, which do map to the work and specs that we build (but that is a pretty long list).

When folks do the math and come up with the number of developers on the team, we usually hear one of two reactions: “wow, that is a lot, and there is no way that can work,” or “wow, you build a product for a billion people with a pretty small number folks.” It is to our benefit to have the smallest number of people on the team possible, but it is to your benefit to have the largest number of people adding all the things that folks might want. So, we find a place in the middle. We want the team to be manageable and able to produce high quality, full-featured code.

I mentioned earlier that Windows contributes code to lots of other products and vice versa, so when you look at this list, keep in mind there are features from other groups (for example, our browser language runtime comes from the development tools group) and some of the work here goes into other products, too. For example, all of our kernel, networking, storage, virtualization, and other fundamental OS work is also part of Windows Server—that’s right, one team delivers the full Windows Client OS and much of the foundation for the Windows Server OS. And some features are built in the core OS but are ultimately only part of the Server product.

Many of the teams listed below describe features or areas that you are familiar with or that you can probably figure out based on the name. As we post more, team members will identify themselves as part of these teams. We also have organized these teams in seven larger groups that pull related teams together—fundamentals, devices and networking, core OS, developer experience, user experience, web services, and our engineering system. The Windows Live group (Hotmail, Messenger, Skydrive, Photos, LiveID, and more) also has a similar structure. Internet Explorer group is also a couple of teams on its own, but obviously contributes across Windows 8.

• App Compatibility and Device Compatibility
• App Store
• Applications and Media Experience
• App Experience
• Core Experience Evolved
• Device Connectivity
• Devices & Networking Experience
• Ecosystem Fundamentals
• Engineer Desktop
• Engineering System
• Enterprise Networking
• Global Experience
• Graphics Platform
• Hardware Developer Experience
• Human Interaction Platform
• Hyper-V
• In Control of Your PC
• Kernel Platform
• Licensing and Deployment
• Media Platform
• Networking Core
• Performance
• Presentation and Composition
• Reliability, Security, and Privacy
• Runtime Experience
• Search, View, and Command
• Security & Identity
• Storage & Files Systems
• Sustained Engineering
• Telemetry
• User-Centered Experience
• Windows Online
• Windows Update
• Wireless and Networking services
• XAML

In addition to these teams made up of development, test, and program management, there are many others that are part of the product development team. Our content development team writes and edits our online assistance, website, deployment documents, and SDKs, to name a few things. Product planning leads customer and market research and also pays very close attention to feedback and telemetry around the pre-release software. Product design develops the overall interaction model, graphical language, and design language for Windows 8. Our research and usability team creates field and lab studies that show how existing products and proposed features perform with all types of customers. Localization brings Windows to over 100 languages (and localizes this blog). Our operations team runs services that are used by hundreds of millions of people and almost a billion PCs. Just to name a few..

When we started Windows 7 some people told us that the Windows team was too big and had reached a size that caused more engineering problems than it solved. At the same time, you can look at all the comments and see the incredible demand for new features across a very wide range of scenarios.

Folks want new things, and changes to existing things; they want features to be available globally, to be accessible, and to be super high quality; they want things to work on existing hardware, and to take advantage of the latest new hardware. Our job is to get as much done in as short a time as possible, at a very significant scale. That's all a pretty significant engineering effort.

For folks who are counting my words, I am still under 1,500 words, so I think I will call this an introduction to the team. Keep the comments coming, as they are helping us get ideas for posts and shape the dialog. I hope this post helps to develop some shared context in terms of talking about Windows 8.

--Steven

 

[Dreams-Visions]

my body is ready.

 

[brotkasten]

App store + other features announced. Shocker!

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/08/17/introducing-the-team.aspx

Look, I'm usually not that guy, but you don't read threads before you post in them, right?

 

[clav]

Look, I'm usually not that guy, but you don't read threads before you post in them, right?

:LOL beaten.

I'll edit.

 

[kehs]

Hey guys they announce an appstore and more!

 

[brotkasten]

Hey guys they announce an appstore and more!

Source?

 

[dragonelite]

Hey guys they announce an appstore and more!

I before apple sues them.

 

[The Albatross]

Win7 was so boss out of the box IMO that I'm really looking forward to Windows 8

 

[Nero3000]

Google Docs is better than MS Office. Deal with it.

Absolutely nothing compares to MS Office.

Google docs is like a small matchbox car compared to a MS Office's fully loaded utility car. That is not even counting SharePoint, Exchange and Lync.

Windows 8?

I JUST got windows 7!

Won't be out for at least 6 months, likely a year, and you don't have to update straight away.

 

[clav]

Windows 8 to support USB 3.0

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/08/22/building-robust-usb-3-0-support.aspx

Video in link.

One of the important roles Windows plays as part of a broad ecosystem is developing support for new hardware. This is a pretty involved process and so for this post we wanted to take a look at supporting USB 3.0, something we know everyone is anxious to be using because of the improvements it brings. This is also our first video post – we aimed for "engineering" videos and not high production values but I think we make our point (note videos are embedded in HTML5 and available for download). If you're like me when looking at the video, you might think that those file copy progress indicators are looking a bit dated…stay tuned. This post was authored by Dennis Flanagan, the Director of Program Management for the Devices and Networking group. –Steven

With throughput up to 10 times faster than USB 2.0 and improved power management that results in longer battery life, USB 3.0 introduces compelling reasons to improve the world’s most popular PC interface. By 2015, all new PCs are expected to offer USB 3.0 ports, and over 2 billion new "SuperSpeed" USB devices will be sold in that year alone.

The decision to invest in USB 3.0 was an easy one to make, but doing so without compromising the existing USB ecosystem was a big challenge to overcome. Our design had to follow the revised 3.0 specification precisely in order to enable emerging USB 3.0 hardware. There are also billions of older USB devices that Windows must remain compatible with. How do you write a single piece of software to enable the latest technology on evolving hardware, while making sure it still works with 10 billion existing devices in homes and offices across the world?

First, a bit of history
In 1996, the USB standards organization released the first USB specification, which defined two speeds for USB devices: low speed (1.5 Mbps) and full speed (12 Mbps). At the time, the idea of “hot plugging” a device (plugging in and unplugging without needing to reboot), was revolutionary. USB also supported different ways to transfer data: bulk, for devices like printers that send a lot of data and forget about it; isochronous, for devices like speakers that continuously receive data in a specific order; and interrupt, for devices like keyboards that only send data once in a while.

The 1996 specification also moved the complexity from the USB device into the PC, making devices cheaper and simpler to implement. These features made USB the most attractive external device connector. As a result, device makers adopted USB and joined the standards body to define common interfaces between software and hardware for different classes of devices. These common interfaces allow a single software driver, a class driver, to support an entire type of device. From the beginning, Microsoft embraced the USB technology and the standards organization, contributing to many specifications over the years. We introduced USB 1.1 support in Windows 95 OSR 2.

In 2000, the USB 2.0 specification came to light with a new, high speed (480 Mbps). Unfortunately, the host controller, the hardware used to connect a PC to devices, was not compatible with earlier versions. High speed devices worked with all controllers, but low and full speed devices could not work with USB 2.0 controllers. PCs needed to ship with two different controllers, or embed a USB 2.0 hub, in order to support all types of devices. In Windows XP SP1, we enhanced our existing software driver stack by adding USB 2.0 functionally.

The path to USB 3: start with a solid specification
By actively participating in the USB standards organization, we helped create a specification that was both compelling and interoperable. Like other members of the USB Implementer’s Forum, we wanted to see a faster, more power-efficient version of USB, where, unlike USB 2.0, a single combination of hardware and software could work with all USB devices.

In 2008 the USB Standards organization released the new USB 3.0 specification, which included a new host controller and defined the new “SuperSpeed” USB device (5 Gbps). Together, the controller and device could operate at theoretical speeds of up to 10 times faster than USB 2.0. With this new standard, you’d be able to copy a high definition movie from a USB storage drive in about 80 seconds instead of the 15 minutes it takes with USB 2.0. The specification also introduced a new transfer type —streams — which allows the storage drives to process reads and writes more efficiently.

The new specification provided 80% more power than USB 2.0. This meant faster charging and removed the need for odd “Y” cables used by external DVD drives and other high power devices. But charging isn’t the only power consideration. With mobile computing, people want PCs that conserve battery life. By also introducing new low power states, finishing tasks more quickly, and powering down at every opportunity, USB 3.0 is more power efficient than its predecessors. This translates to longer battery life for notebooks and less power consumption for desktops.

Most importantly, the specification promises to enable a new generation of USB while maintaining compatibility with full, low, and high speed devices. Even the plugs are backwards compatible.

Close partnership with the hardware industry
As the specification began to solidify, we started to design Windows and faced our first difficult decision. Do we update our existing USB software, which we’ve gradually modified since Windows 95 OSR2, or, do we write new software following modern design principles? Countless devices and their drivers rely on the behavior of our existing software, so we couldn’t simply jump into a brand new design. The solution? Don’t jump in. Instead, meticulously design a new USB software stack for the new controller while maintaining existing interfaces and behaviors, ensuring every device and driver will work. For older controllers, we retained our existing software stack.

To create a brand new USB software stack, we had to start work early. If we waited for hardware to be available we would be too late to support the budding USB 3.0 ecosystem. We decided to start before there were any USB 3.0 devices by building "virtual” devices. Virtual devices are software representations of real, physical USB hardware: the ports, the hubs, and other devices.

With virtual device development underway, we started designing and prototyping. USB software is complex because it has to manage hubs and devices while still dealing with any errors. To create something with longevity we needed to visualize and document the flow. We designed three massive flow charts and a code generator to automatically convert a Visio diagram into software. Together with Microsoft Research, we refined a tool called Zing, which could validate every aspect of this software model.

Once we finished some initial development, the first USB host controllers arrived. We recognized that simulation provided a great starting point, but it wasn’t enough. With hardware, we identified incorrect assumptions, timing issues, and other problems unique to real-world scenarios. The path forward also required us to help foster a new ecosystem that would require a strong collaboration with our hardware partners. We needed to work together to prototype, exchange ideas, have deep technical discussions, and report bugs in both directions. We had to build a shared commitment to work together closely so we could identify issues before designs were final.

As USB 3.0 development progressed, so did a sense of community. Software is only as successful as the hardware it enables. Together with our partners in the hardware industry, we were finding issues, developing solutions, and creating the foundation for a new USB ecosystem.

I test, therefore I am
While we were focused on building support for USB 3.0 chips inside the PC, we couldn’t ignore the world of devices. We had to think outside the box – literally. There are over 10 billion USB devices worldwide. Some are in use daily and some are tucked away collecting dust, but all were originally designed to work with Windows PCs. Compatibility is the Windows promise. Our customers have grown accustomed to expecting new versions of Windows to work with their existing devices and drivers. This commitment to compatibility remains a high priority for Windows 8 across the whole product.

For USB compatibility testing, the “brute force” approach does not work because there are so many devices, with new ones appearing every day, and many old devices that can no longer be purchased. We needed to develop a smart device test strategy. After analyzing the device statistics, we broke devices into three main categories:

1. Device popularity

When looking at the telemetry sources for the most popular devices, we noticed a pattern. Each device class (keyboard, webcam, printers, storage, etc.) had a handful of prevalent manufacturers with just a few main product lines. After projecting these findings, we could represent 70-80% of devices with a few hundred devices. Testers use the mathematic term "equivalence classing" to describe this work.

2. Chipset

We still had a significant percentage of devices that would go untested if we just settled for popularity data, so we looked deeper at the actual circuit design. Just like humans, devices that appear very different on the outside are pretty similar on the inside. If we could ensure all USB chipsets worked, then it’s highly likely the devices that contained them would work as well. A relatively small number of chipset makers are embedded in devices, so we chose to represent their USB IP with development boards.

3.High-profile and challenging devices

It’s not often a USB device tops the support call lines. When it does, we want to make sure Windows will work with it going forward.

After 10 years of USB experience, a dozen telemetry sources, and tons of research and brainstorming, we were able to reduce the USB compatibility effort to roughly 1000 unique devices that we regularly test in the Windows labs. We ensure the devices get recognized correctly when connected to PCs, that they sleep and resume appropriately to conserve power, and that they are able to withstand various stress conditions. Our telemetry data indicates that over 90% of devices rely on the 16 class drivers in Windows, but for the more customized devices, we verify that their drivers get seamlessly downloaded from Windows Update whenever possible (the device maker needs to cooperate to support this scenario). With USB 3.0 providing full backwards compatibility, older drivers will still work without any changes.

We also made a heavy investment in building a custom tool - the Microsoft USB Test Tool (MUTT) to simulate a full range of device behaviors that we’d observed over the years. We built the MUTTs from the ground up, in house. Our software test engineers laid out the circuit design with the help of fancy design tools (MS Paint … seriously). They then developed the firmware and generated new test content to run internally. The MUTT was born – think of it as 1,000 devices on a USB thumb drive. Over time, we shared the MUTT with our hardware partners and they’ve used it to find and correct problems in their devices before releasing.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Yay I guess. USB 3.0 is pretty great but it's hard finding stuff that uses it.

 

[clav]

I won't be building my next desktop until USB 3.0 is fully embraced. My current desktop built in 2007 works fine still.

Isn't Intel pushing for Thunderbolt?

 

[Vanillalite]

I won't be building my next desktop until USB 3.0 is fully embraced. My current desktop built in 2007 works fine still.

Isn't Intel pushing for Thunderbolt?

Yeah quite honestly I bet they support both. They just want to make sure they have drivers that support both out of the box with the Win 8 kernel so they aren't trying to patch something in post launch.

 

[twinturbo2]

So, Windows 7 is still going to be the desktop OS, and Windows 8 is going to be for tablets? Is that right?

 

[Vanillalite]

So, Windows 7 is still going to be the desktop OS, and Windows 8 is going to be for tablets? Is that right?

No Win 8 is gonna work for both. You just might only use the desktop side of things in Win 8 if you don't have a touch screen. Though you could still just use a mouse with it.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

So, Windows 7 is still going to be the desktop OS, and Windows 8 is going to be for tablets? Is that right?

Windows 8 is for everything except smartphones.

I imagine Windows 9 will merge with Windows Phone so they can have one platform to cover everything.

 

[brotkasten]

Windows 8 is for everything except smartphones.

I imagine Windows 9 will merge with Windows Phone so they can have one platform to cover everything.

What makes you think that it won't happen with Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8?

 

[kehs]

What makes you think that it won't happen with Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8?

.

 

[VertPin]

Man, I am so pumped for Windows 8. I really hope at the BUILD conference that they're unveil a lot more information.

 

[Archer]

I just got Windows 7 last week, after enjoying XP for years. Why do I need 8?

 

[ThatObviousUser]

What makes you think that it won't happen with Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8?

Because we haven't heard anything like that yet, all their talk is of putting Windows on tablets (take #3?) WinPho is too independent right now.

 

[teh_pwn]

Windows 8?

I JUST got windows 7!

Windows 7 will get updates/support for at least 10 more years.

 

[twinturbo2]

No Win 8 is gonna work for both. You just might only use the desktop side of things in Win 8 if you don't have a touch screen. Though you could still just use a mouse with it.

I guess I gotta plan for it, then. It just seems so soon after Windows 7...

 

[Vanillalite]

I guess I gotta plan for it, then. It just seems so soon after Windows 7...

Why Win 7 will be 3 years old by time it releases roughly.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

I just got Windows 7 last week, after enjoying XP for years. Why do I need 8?

Few details have been revealed at this point.

As for why you "need" it, you probably won't, the architecture will probably be the same as Vista and 7, but with more emphasis on touch and "apps."

Also you really only have yourself to blame for waiting to upgrade for this long.

 

[DarkFlow]

I want a motorcycle with the horsepower and controls of a monster truck!

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_Tomahawk
Done

 

[teh_pwn]

I guess I gotta plan for it, then. It just seems so soon after Windows 7...

Lots of people still use XP. You don't need to upgrade unless it's got DX12 and you're a high end PC gamer (most games take 1-2 years to use new DX).

 

[Jayayess1190]

Improving our file management basics: copy, move, rename, and delete