TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

Archive for June, 2009

There are a number of regional themes with multiple unique background images hidden from Windows 7 users.  On a Windows 7 install with United States regional settings only the United States theme is shown but there are actually four more themes hidden from view.  Below are all the regional themes included in Windows 7:

Accessing all the themes is easy to do once you know where to find them.  The trick is to navigate to the C:\\Windows\Globalization\MCT directory.  The MCT directory within the Globalization directory is super hidden so it will not display modify if exhibit hidden files and folders is enabled.  Just utter on the address bar of any folder and manually identify in or copy and paste in C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT and hit Enter.

Once you hit reached the MCT folder you will see five directories as listed below:

* MCT-AU
* MCT-CA
* MCT-GB
* MCT-US
* MCT-ZA

To view and use the theme for each region just navigate into each MCT-Region directory, enter the Theme sub-directory and threefold utter the theme file.

Microsoft issued a draft of the Windows 7 Technical Guarantee Program to their OEM partners on December 10, gift them exactly one month to provide their feedback before Microsoft finalizes the program details. We managed to obtain a double of the draft, which tentatively refers to the program as the “Windows 7 Upgrade Program”. Let’s take a look at the key points distinct in the draft.

We added a newborn Marketing Materials section, and updated the Important Program Dates section with a newborn start date for the program as well as the Editor’s Note for the Eligible Upgrade Paths and Possible Upgrade Options sections to clarify the issue of upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7. We added two newborn pages of Q&As on the Windows 7 Upgrade Option program, as well as two newborn screenshots of the raise process. We also added a newborn Official Name section and a newborn Storage Requirements section.

We added a newborn page of Q&As on the Windows 7 Upgrade Option program.

Microsoft finally made a public announcement on June 2 confirming that the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program will be offered. Of course, we already knew this as far back as November 9, 2008! Back then, it was known as the Tech Guarantee Program. Their OEM partners may publicly acknowledge their participation in the program, but they are still not allowed to market the program or otherwise publicly disclose the program details until June 26, 2009, a date which we announced back in March 19, 2009. Microsoft also revealed the Initial Upgrade Media Fulfillment Date, which we updated in the Important Program Dates section.

We added two newborn pages on the impact of the newborn E & N versions of Windows 7 on the Windows 7 Upgrade Option program, detailing the Eligible Upgrade Paths in Europe, inclusion of a web browser and the Clean Installation Requirement for the upgrade. We added a newborn Marketing Guidance section, which details Microsoft’s marketing plans for the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program. We also updated the Important Program Dates with a reminder on the launch of the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program.

When Microsoft officially releases Windows 7 on October 22, 2009, they module be delivering to the world what they promised Windows Vista would be… with a few nifty extras, of course. So, you can’t blame some folks for skipping Windows Vista and hanging onto Windows XP while Microsoft gets Windows 7 working.

Beta testers have so far been very impressed with Windows 7. It’s fast and it’s stable. One of the reasons is the improved graphics capability in Windows 7. Microsoft seemed hesitant in utilizing the full capabilities of the graphics processor in Windows Vista, which was a real shame. Windows 7 changes all that, and that’s what we module be talking about today.

We recently got our hands on more internal documents on DirectX improvements in Windows 7, or rather how Windows 7 takes better advantage of Direct3D. Although Microsoft has publicly revealed some info on what’s improved, this document reveals the info on what’s improved, as well as the new Direct2D and Direct3D 11 APIs.

Windows 7 & Direct3D 10

The Direct3D 10 API that was free with Windows Vista was a rearchitecture and ground-up code rewrite of earlier Direct3D versions. Direct3D 10.1, which was free with Vista SP1, came with some incremental changes. Windows 7 further builds upon the Direct3D 10 infrastructure in the mass areas :

* Desktop Window Manager (DWM)
* Direct3D 10-level-9
* Remoting changes in Direct3D 10

Microsoft has decided to enhance the End User downgrade facilitation options available to OEMs for downgrading systems with Windows Vista Business or Ultimate editions to Windows XP Professional. In addition, Microsoft will allow limited End User downgrade rights from Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate editions to either Windows Vista Business or Window XP Professional.

Yes, it’s a lowercase confusing, so we are here today to lay it all out for you. As usual, our intrepid maker at Microsoft has given us the full info of the Windows 7 Downgrade Rights. Let’s take a look at what these newborn Downgrade Rights entail. As usual, we will update this article as and when we receive newborn information, so be sure to check back often!

Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate remain the only Windows Vista editions that have End User downgrade rights. However, Microsoft is enhancing the End User downgrade facilitation options for downgrading Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate systems to Windows XP Professional.

OEMs may now choose to install Windows XP Professional or Windows XP Professional Tablet PC or Windows XP Professional X64 editions instead of Windows Vista Business Ultimate, provided they meet the following additional requirements :

* Each system staleness be distributed with a Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate Certificate of Authenticity (COA) and staleness have the appropriate activation markers for both OA (OEM Activation) 2.X and OA 1.0.

* OEMs are required to distribute physical feat media in the system packaging for the Windows Vista Business or Ultimate edition that corresponds to the COA. If the system does not include an optical drive, then the OEM is required to provide a hard drive-based feat solution for that edition of Windows Vista software.

In constituent to the required Windows Vista feat media, OEMs may also choose to provide a feat solution for the preinstalled edition of Windows XP. This may be hard drive-based or on physical feat media provided in the system packaging or to an End User of such systems upon request.a