Microsoft launches Office 365, glosses over cloud limitations

Office 365 is available at a variety of price points, starting at $2 per user per month for just basic email, moving up to $6 for a small business package and up to $27 per user per month for an enterprise option that includes all the online offerings plus the non-cloud Office Professional Plus. Microsoft also said 20 service providers worldwide are bringing Office 365 services to customers this year, through a program that lets Microsoft partners sell Microsoft products with extra bells and whistles of their own design.

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Ballmer on Tuesday primarily talked about the benefits to small businesses. Analyst Paul Burns of Neovise, who has been testing the Office 365 small business plan in beta, has previously said he doesn’t believe the service is ready to ditch the beta tag and enter general availability.

In updated comments this week, Burns said he hasn’t hit any outages or disruptions in the past few weeks, but “other limitations still appear to be in place. For instance, if I want to add ‘external contacts’ to be shared among Office 365 users, I still have to do it manually. This involves typing in first name, last name, display name, alias and email address for every contact I want to add. That is a huge time sink since I have a few hundred I'd like to add.”

Using your own domain name for Office 365 email can also be a pain due to instructions that “are confusing and cannot be followed in sequence,” Burns says.

Microsoft didn’t address any of the limitations in Office 365 during public remarks, but both Burns and Cain give the service a fighting chance.

“Office 365 definitely puts Microsoft in the game versus Google Apps and [IBM’s] Lotus Live,” Burns said.

Cain, meanwhile, notes that “Just about everybody is a Microsoft Office customer, and many are Exchange shops.” It’s possible non-Microsoft customers will gravitate to 365, but Cain says the service “is appealing first and foremost to [current] Microsoft customers.”

Forrester analyst Christopher Voce, meanwhile, wrote a blog post saying Office 365 is “one of Microsoft’s most important products in the company’s history,” and that its success will be “driven by the strength of Microsoft’s broader platforms as well as the large partner ecosystem.”

Google Apps is priced at $50 per user per year, and has more than 3 million businesses signed up. But Microsoft claims there are 750 million active users of Office, and 100,000 or so customers have tried out the 365 beta.

Ballmer and colleagues showed some real-world examples of customers using Office 365 to become more efficient. A company called Wise Group is apparently getting rid of 60 servers and saving 30% on travel costs with the help of Microsoft’s cloud service.

Microsoft also showed demos of how the company’s cloud services help business teams collaborate, and how Microsoft software products such as Outlook and Word integrate with the browser-based services. One feature that may be compelling to small businesses is the ability to create and edit websites in the same way one edits Word documents.

A Look At The Piston Air Motor

If one has been to the ubiquitous tyre shop or watched the slick Formula Teams changing tyres in double quick time on the TV , you will have seen the air hammer tools with their staccato hammering action, being used. The tools are driven by compressed air and at their heart are piston air motors. Wikipedia defines the piston air motor (sometimes also known as an air drive, or compressed air engine) as a machine that is powered by compressed air and it converts reciprocating motion into rotary motion.

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How they work is that compressed air is fed continuously into the top of a cylinder and this pushes down a spring-loaded piston until the top of the piston passes the exhaust port(s) and the cylinder then goes back up and the two-stroke cycle begins again. This is the hammering noise that you hear in the tyre workshop. For most applications, the piston air motor comprises between two and six cylinders to smooth out the power generated by overlapping the power pulses. The reciprocating action is converted to rotary motion in a similar fashion to a normal combustion engine. This type is called the radial type and it is the simplest type with the least moving parts. They are commercially available in sizes from fractions of a kilowatt to about 25 kW at 4,500 rpm.

Alternatively, the axial type arranges the cylinders around the shaft and the power is transmitted from the piston con rods using spur gears. This arrangement is often used where a low axial profile is required say as a hand-held drill. The efficiencies of the two types are similar but with the axial type requiring more maintenance on high torque-applications. They do also produce slightly less torque than the equivalent axial type.

The piston air motor has a number of characteristics that make it ideal where an electric motor would not be a good choice. The air motor does not spark and therefore it can be used in potentially explosive atmospheres as found in petro-chemical installations, automotive workshops, mines and fume laden paint spray booths. They can be more compact with a smaller axial cross-section than the equivalent electric motor. They can be run at low speeds (by throttling the compressed air supply) and retain their high efficiency; typically 70%.

The air piston motor drive develops its maximum torque at start up or when stalled and this characteristic makes it eminently suitable for the air spanners used in the tyre shop. If you have ever had to take off a wheel nut after the car has been in the type shop, you can attest to the difficulty of undoing the wheel nut by your car spanner. This high torque at zero rpm would damage an electric motor or cause power circuit trips to operate without some protective clutch arrangement.

Another advantage of the air motor over the electric motor is that adiabatic expansion of the compressed air causes it to cool thus takes heat out of the motor. This is entirely opposite to the electric motor where waste energy is converted to heat and thus electric motors need specific cooling measures like internal axial fans, spur gears and over-temperature cut-off devices. Piston air motors have short-stoke piston action and low-weight parts; thus making then have a low-interia. This characteristic makes the piston air motor start and stop very quickly and as a result, applications of a stepper motor are simple, effective and accurate in positioning. The electronic control of compressed air pulses makes this an ideal industrial machine tool application.

These days, the smaller piston air motors are produced in robust plastics and stainless steel such as the Huco Dynatork motors, which run on oil-free compressed air and these have opened the applications to clean environments such as found in food production and medical applications.

10 Hidden Features in Facebook

Sure, you go there every day to see what your friends and family are up to , but do you really know how to use the most widely used site on earth?

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Facebook is the category-killing social network, makes up a quarter of the earth's Web traffic, and can claim nearly three-quarters of a billion users. But many of them don't dig beneath the skin of what the social network can do. There's a ton of hidden Facebook functionality, most of which the average user will never find. PCMag readers, however, want to go deeper.

Facebook has come a long way since its dorm-room beginnings as portrayed in the fictional hit movie, The Social Network. Along the way, the site has beefed up its messaging, added more photo and video capability, and changed the way groups work. They've also taken some hits along the way, most often for privacy concerns. The latest of these is the sites new use of face-detection to identify people in photos for tagging. We've offered tips in the past for how to protect yourself while using the social network. And we've offered tips on safe social networking in general (in the wake of a local congressman's indiscretions). We've shown you how to use Facebook Places, we've even shown you how you can get the best local deals on mobile Facebook.

This time, we wanted to simply uncover some of the lesser-known fun stuff on Facebook to enhance your interactions. We cover everything from messaging to movies, with some other nifty interface and community features along the way. Read our slideshow to find out Ten cool things you might not know how to do in Facebook. None of them are earth-shattering, but if you spend as much time on Facebook as the average person does, even a little extra knowledge can go a long way.

The T-Engine: Tomorrow Happening Today

The T-Engine platform for embedded systems development is a technology that might make the grand visions of ubiquitous computing a reality—provided society’s mindset also surges ahead as fast as technology does!

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Arguably, technology is now progressing much faster than a decade ago—but how? In more ways than one, this can be attributed to the shift towards openness and standardisation. Today, the time taken to bring a tech product to the market is remarkably low. Designers do not necessarily have to create a product from ground-up. Instead, they can put together existing ‘intellectual property’ components procured from various sources, and within weeks the product is all set to invade the market. Developers can pick and choose from pre-fabricated software modules, ‘mash’ them up, and serve up a lovely application to users within days.

This, however, would not have been possible in the absence of a common platform on which the many components could be built, linked and orchestrated. If this platform is open and standardised, the possibilities get richer—GNU/Linux and the wealth of free and open source software is a quintessential example of the advantages of openness.

The T-Engine platform extends the same logic to the embedded systems world. By providing an open, standardised real-time operating system (the T-Kernel), hardware (the T-Engine board), and object format specifications, the T-Engine project enables the creation, distribution and use of varied middleware—and consequentially, the cost-effective and quick development of embedded systems. As a common platform, the T-Engine syncs the work of chipmakers, hardware manufacturers, and software and systems developers, enabling them to bring products to the market faster than ever before.

With the dual benefits of security and standardisation, the open-sourced T-Engine makes a leap towards ubiquitous computing.

Back to the future
Ubiquitous computing—the very concept is exciting and scary at the same time. Imagine a future where everything, from traffic signals to the microwave oven and air-conditioner in your home, have ‘computers’ in them . These take orders, perform tasks and network with other computers that are ‘always-on’! The moment you cross the last traffic signal on the way back home, a signal is transmitted to your home, and the heater/cooler starts up, so that your living room is cosy when you enter. When you come within a few feet of your house, the gate ‘detects’ you by communicating with your car, your mobile phone or perchance even a chip in your outfit, and opens! When you wish to play music aloud from your mobile digital music player, it connects ad-hoc with the concealed speakers in the room and starts playing. No user-interfaces, menus, set-up, or hassles! The possibilities are endless.

But the moment you picture such an environment, several basic requirements and issues immediately surface. If embedded systems are to be spawned at a rate capable of filling every significant object in this world, there should be easily-reusable components and extreme cooperation between all players in the electronics and computing value chain. This, in turn, needs an open, standardised platform to develop these embedded system components. Plus, if there are networked computers everywhere, the chances of identity theft are high—for instance, if somebody is able to electronically ‘disguise’ themselves as you, all your property falls within their control! So, embedded systems have to be crack-proof. The T-Engine platform, spun off from the legendary TRON project, is a potential means of overcoming these concerns.

Windows 7 Engineering Guidance for Slate PCs

Foreword -- Contributed by Microsoft's Windows 7 team, this whitepaper is aimed at OEMs, providing them pointers for creating the best possible tablet PCs. It should be interesting reading for anyone who wants to put the Windows 7-based Windows Embedded Standard 7 on a tablet PC, too. Enjoy!

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Abstract
This paper describes the touch investments in Windows 7 and provides guidance for OEMs that want to take full advantage of Windows on slate PCs.This information applies to the Windows 7 operating system.

References and resources discussed here are listed at the end of this paper.The current version of this paper is maintained on the Web at http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/input/slate-pc-design.mspx.
Introduction

Windows 7 introduced Windows Touch, making PCs more intuitive, natural, and fun. By supporting multitouch technology, Windows 7 opened up a world of possibilities for hardware and software developers. The PC ecosystem has adopted multitouch rapidly, with a myriad of touch implementations for notebooks, all-in-one devices, touch-enabled monitors, and now slate PCs.

Touch enhancements make Windows 7 a compelling operating system for slate PCs. Windows 7, Windows Live, and Windows Internet Explorer 8 feature significant investments in optimizing touch experiences. Beyond native platform support for multitouch applications, the new taskbar in Windows 7 simplifies launching and switching between programs and touch gestures enhance overall user experience and web browsing.

Slate PCs are primarily recommended for consumption of information, services, and content available on the Internet. Windows 7 supports core usage scenarios for slate PCs including web browsing, communication, social networking, media consumption (including music, video, and TV), casual gaming, location-based services, and reading.

Success in delivering these scenarios requires a product that meets customer expectations for ease of use, performance, battery life, weight, screen size, resolution, security, and reliability. The combination of Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows Live, and innovative PC designs at competitive price points delivers the best experience for customers.

This document provides guidance for OEMs that want to take full advantage of Windows on slate PCs, by addressing the following topics:

* Touch Investments -- Windows 7, Windows Live, Internet Explorer 8
* Fundamentals -- Hardware and Windows Logo Requirements
* Design Principles -- Recommendations on hardware and application design
* Windows assets -- Windows Live, Touch Pack for Windows 7, Windows Media Center

Introduction

When a compatible digitizer is available to the Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate editions, the operating system detects the digitizer and automatically adjusts its settings to provide a better touch experience for the user. Table 1 summarizes the extensive touch capabilities in Windows 7.
Table 1: Touch capabilities in Windows

Feature


Touch Capability


Description

Platform


Tap/DoubleTap


Tap/DoubleTap to select and open.

Platform


Panning/Scrolling


Panning/scrolling withinertia in applications with scroll bars (one or two fingerpanning).

Platform


Zoom


Zoomin any application that supports zoom, by using CTRL + scrollwheel.

Platform


Right-click


Pressand Tap and Press and Hold to right-click an item.

Platform


HighDPI


Changeto High DPI (120 pixels per inch) to display user interfaceelements that are easier to see and touch accurately. This isconfigurable by OEMs and end users.

Platform


Flicks


Flickto move forward or backward (navigational flicks); alsocustomizable for other uses (for example, copy, paste, and undo).

Taskbar


Drag


Dragup on taskbar icons to open Jump Lists; increased spacing betweenlines for touch.

Taskbar


Pressand Drag


Pressand Drag on preview thumbnails to Peek into the windows (same ashovering over thumbnails with the mouse pointer).

Taskbar


Largerbutton


ShowDesktop button is larger ontouch-enabled PCs.

Taskbar


Pressand Hold


Pressand Hold on the Show Desktop button to Peek at the desktop (same as hovering with the mousepointer).

Touchkeyboard (Tablet PC Input Panel)


Textprediction and multitouch input


Resizablesoft keyboard that supports text prediction and multitouch input.

Touchkeyboard (Tablet PC Input Panel)


Discoverable


TheTouch keyboard sits on the left side of the screen; tap or dragout over the icon to reveal the keyboard. An in-place launchtarget also appears next to the text box when you set focus withtouch.

WindowManagement


AeroSnap


Easierwith touch; no need to go all the way to the edge of the window toactivate.

WindowManagement


AeroShake


Touchthe window's title bar and shake the window to minimize all otheropen windows behind it.

WindowManagement


Window-boundaryfeedback


Contentof window bounce when you reach the end of the scrollable pagewhile panning.

WindowsPhoto Viewer and Windows Live Photo Gallery


Gesturesupport


Zoom,Rotate, and Pan. Photo Gallery editor and date view havehigh-quality touch experiences, such as rotate animations.

WindowsExplorer


Gesturesupport


Gesturesupport in preview pane, and zoom through views and thumbnails.

Calculator


Largebuttons


Touch-friendlybutton size.

SnippingTool


Snipping


Usefingertips to select area to snip.

Magnifier


Navigation


Touch-enablednavigation controls for all modes.

Paint


Touch-friendlyRibbon user interface (UI)


RibbonUI includes more touch-friendly control and buttons sizes.

Paint


Touch-friendlycolor picker


Touch-friendlycolor picker enables easier color selection.

Paint


Multitouch


Multitouchbrush support enables all brushes support multitouch painting.

WindowsInternet Explorer 8


Tap tomagnify


It isdifficult to tap a link on a webpage accurately, especially if thelink is surrounded by many other links. You can use two fingertipsto tap anywhere on the page to instantly zoom in on that spot.Next, tap the link with one fingertip, which is easier when thelink is magnified. When the new webpage opens, it automaticallydisplays in normal size.

InternetExplorer 8


Choosehow much to zoom


Toincrease the zoom level, place two fingertips on the screen andmove them apart. The page appears increasingly larger as youseparate your fingers. To shrink the page, place two fingertipsapart on the screen and pinch them together.

InternetExplorer 8


Closetabs


It isdifficult to precisely tap the CloseTab button with your fingertip,to close a browser tab. On a touchscreen, the active area aroundthe button is larger and more forgiving.

InternetExplorer 8


Flickforward or back


Navigateback: Place fingertip on the page and flick it to the right, as ifflipping backward through the pages of a book.

Navigateforward: Flick the page to the left, as if you are brushing it offthe left side of your screen.

Whenyou flick forward or back, Internet Explorer momentarily shows asmall preview of the page that is about to open before the pageopens to the full-sized view.

InternetExplorer 8


Spacebetween links


InternetExplorer detects when the user uses a fingertip instead of a trackpad or mouse. If you tap the AddressBar or open your Favorites listwith a fingertip, Internet Explorer widens the spacing between thelinks. Wider spacing makes it easier to tap the desired link.

InternetExplorer 8


Open alink in a new tab


Toopen a link in a background tab, you can place your finger on alink, drag it off of its home spot, and release it.

InternetExplorer 8


Panning


Youcan place one fingertip on a long webpage and flick to scroll upor down quickly; or keep your fingertip on the screen and slowlypush the page up or down to move the page slowly.

InternetExplorer 8


Panning


If awebpage is too wide to fit in your browser window, you can placetwo fingertips on a webpage, hold them there, and drag the pageright or left.

WindowsMedia Center


Panning


Directpanning in Start menu and galleries (Pictures, Movies, Music, and more).

WindowsMedia Center


Touchseek-bar


Largecontrol with thumbnail peek into the video that is playing.

WindowsMedia Center


Largercontrols


Touch-sensitivecontrols with larger targets for touch.

WindowsMedia Player


Scrolling


Smoothscrolling through albums, artists, and song lists.

WindowsMedia Player


Dragand drop


Dragand drop to create playlists.

WindowsMedia Player


Largertouch targets


Largertouch targets for shuttle controls (volume slider, stop, play)make them easier to interact with using touch.

XPSViewer


Smoothgestures


Smoothzoom response to pinch and stretch gestures.

XPSViewer


TwoFinger Tap


Smart zoom,which enlarges text as a result of a two-finger tap.

XPSViewer


Thumbnailview


Thumbnailview is touch interface enabled, with zoom support.

WindowsGames


Increasedresponsiveness


Increasedresponsiveness for moving cards and tiles with touch.

Windows Games


Increased spacing


Increased spacing of cards.

In addition to the capabilities listed in Table 1, slate PC manufacturers can use and customize the following Windows assets to optimize the user experience:

* Taskbar -- Pin touch-optimized applications to the taskbar, so that users can launch them with one touch instead of navigating through menus.

* Touch keyboard -- Use the default settings for the touch keyboard. The touch keyboard detects touch and pen-digitizer hardware and displays either the keyboard layout or the ink layout, depending on the hardware detected. If the digitizer device supports both touch and pen, the touch keyboard defaults to keyboard for touch and handwriting for pen.


Figure 1: Windows 7 touch keyboard

* Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows 7 -- The Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows 7 contains six multitouch-optimized applications and games that are great examples of immersive experiences in Windows 7. The pack includes three casual games and three Microsoft Surface applications.


Figure 2: Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows 7

* Device Stage -- Device Stage is a new Windows 7 feature that OEMs can use to highlight their brand and their system attributes, and to aggregate applications, tools, and utilities so that the user can find them quickly and easily. Device Stage also helps to improve system performance by migrating application services out of the boot path and by grouping them in a logical manner.

We recommend that OEMs use Device Stage to emphasize the PC's capabilities and to expose custom, conditional tasks that enable the user to access features, support, and accessories that are specific to their PC and that best represent your brand.


Figure 3: Sample Device Stage Experience

Windows Live Essentials completes the Windows 7 consumer experience by providing a suite of software for communications, photo and video editing, and online family safety. Preinstalling Windows Live on a new PC yields the following benefits:

* Meets consumers expectations for pre-installed software that delivers the most desired end-to-end PC experiences.Recent Microsoft consumer research indicates that the scenarios addressed by Windows Live are so pervasive that many consumers expect a new PC to include such software out of the box.

Windows Live delivers a variety of satisfying consumer scenarios in a single package that includes:

o Windows Live Mail (email)
o Windows Live Messenger (instant messaging, voice and video communication)
o Windows Live Photo Gallery (photo editing and organization)
o Windows Live Movie Maker (video editing)
o Windows Live Family Safety (parental controls for online activity)
o Windows Live Writer (blog composition)
o Windows Live Toolbar (browser toolbar)

* Provides marketable software and services that compete effectively with other consumer offerings.Windows Live delivers complete end-to-end experiences that are easy to use. The unified Windows Live suite, which is integrated with Windows Live online services such as Windows Live SkyDrive storage, brings seamless cloud experiences to life. For example, Windows Live provides a complete photo experience that includes importing photos, editing photos, organizing photos in an album, and sharing photos by using email or an online network.

* Lowers overall software planning and configuration cost through a single OEM preinstallation kit (OPK). Using the single Windows Live OPK reduces configuration and testing cost versus the alternative of assembling an alternative suite of individual applications.

* Enhances the slate PC experience with touch-optimized applications.Windows Live Photo Gallery supports a number of touch gestures including zoom, rotate, and pan. Photo Gallery editor and date view have high-quality touch experiences, such as rotate animations. Windows Live Photo Gallery, Windows Live Movie Maker, Windows Live Writer and Windows Live Mail support the ribbon user interface, making commands more touch friendly.

In Internet Explorer 8, the user can optimize the touch experience by switching to large icons. This setting can be changed by the user, but they may not realize it is possible, or find the feature on their own.

Figure 4: Default icons in Internet Explorer 8


Figure 5: Large icons in Internet Explorer 8
Fundamentals

This section describes hardware requirements for slate PCs that OEMs must consider in addition to the Windows 7 PC requirements.

Hardware requirements

To deliver a high-quality product that will delight customers, you need to select the right hardware components and software image.

The digitizer technologies that enable natural and intuitive gestures are revolutionizing human-computer interaction and heralding a new era of natural user interfaces. Consumers expect the multitouch experience to be effortless, intuitive, and consistent.

For this to occur, every component in the technology stack must be responsive, robust, and tuned to work in the ways that real people interact with touch screens. The strict and sometimes complex demands of the user experience affect the hardware level the most, because the user interacts first with the digitizer. Behind every touch that the digitizer detects is a user who has very high expectations and a very low tolerance for dubious quality.

The Windows Logo program for Windows 7 ensures that solutions on the market meet the minimum expectations of users and provide a successful touch experience across applications and environments of use. The logo requirements that are relevant to slate PCs are listed later in this document.
Design Principles

In addition to the Windows Logo requirements, OEMs can provide a differentiated experience through hardware and software design, as listed in the following sections.

Human factors and ergonomics

To increase the usability and comfort of slate PCs, we recommend the following guidelines:

* Design bezel and chassis plastics so that they do not interfere with touch targeting along edges and in the corners of the screen.
* Ensure the enclosure has smooth edges near any handgrip area.
* Ensure handgrip regions are designed away from heat dispersion and venting.
* Design chassis buttons to protect against accidental activation.
* Consider the center of gravity of any handheld device (for example, heavier items such as batteries should be placed near the handhold area, when possible).
* Enumerate computer buttons (for example, those located on the bezel) as physical devices and not virtual devices.
* Consider using haptic feedback to increase user confidence in activating a touch event.
* Utilize glass and/or glass coatings designed to reduce fingerprints. Consider anti-glare materials and LED-based illumination to ensure screen readability in outdoor and brightly lit environments.

Digitizer logo requirements

To ensure a high-quality user experience, digitizer devices must meet the following logo requirements:

* Human Interface Device (HID) Compliance -- For the Windows 7 operating system to respond appropriately to device and driver input, your device must adhere to HID protocols for Windows Touch.
* Resolution -- The screen resolution must be at least 25 pixels per inch and at least display resolution to enable Windows Touch to accurately detect touch and multitouch actions. Display-level resolution is important for graphical applications and many other scenarios.
* Sampling Rate -- Sampling rate should be at least 50 hertz per finger. A high sampling rate contributes to higher performance, perceived responsiveness of the system, and data integrity for contacts in fast motion.
* Ghost Noise -- Do not report data for locations where contact is not made. Random input can have a significant destructive effect on user workflow, and can quickly reduce the trust that users have in the Windows Touch experience. You should tune contact detection to recognize valid finger contact, rather than other non-human contamination.
* Contact Accuracy -- For a single touch on a stationary contact point, the contact position reported must be within 2.5 millimeters (mm) of the target point. For a single touch that traces a line, circle or other predetermined pattern, the contact data reported must be within 2.5 mm of the target pattern, with an offset from the pattern that varies no more than 1 mm for every 10 mm of travel, and without interruption to the pattern.

For additional touches on a stationary contact point, the contact position reported must be within .5 mm of the target point. For additional touches that trace a line, circle or other predetermined pattern, the contact data reported must be within .5 mm of the target pattern, with an offset from the pattern that varies no more than 2 mm for every 10 mm of travel, and without interruption to the pattern.

Recognition of gestures for pinch and rotate relies on fast and accurate location reporting. This also applies to the standard interaction gestures, such as panning, scrolling, and dragging. Applications will develop new customized gestures and movements that depend on high accuracy and response rates.

Digitizer implementation guidance

Follow these guidelines for a digitizer device:

* Screen coverage -- Ensure that there are no blind spots or dead areas anywhere on the screen. Some digitizer technologies work better than other technologies to recognize input consistently across all touchable areas of the screen. Some technologies encounter problems, especially at the edges and corners. Poor casing and bezel placement can also cause screen coverage issues for otherwise well-performing digitizers when they are integrated into systems during the manufacturing process.

* Digitizer screen size -- Ensure that your digitizer device reports accurate physical dimensions of the display. Windows can provide greater gesture accuracy when the digitizer reports the exact physical dimensions of the display.

* Performance -- Ensure optimum responsiveness of the digitizer. The responsiveness of the touch digitizer is a primary factor in determining the success of any given PC or device. Therefore, it is important that you build and test for performance from the beginning. You should not include any firmware or driver processing that is not dedicated exclusively to providing Windows Touch processes with correct human interface device (HID) packets.

* Battery Power -- Ensure the digitizer performs consistently, regardless of the power source. It is important that you maintain consistency of the touch experience whether touch PCs are plugged in or are running on battery power.

* Jitter -- Report a stationary contact as stationary and without jitter. If the digitizer reports movement when the contact remains in the same location, Windows can misrecognize the interaction as a drag action or other unintended movement.

* Separate and Simultaneous Contact -- Maintain minimal offset whether users make multiple touches simultaneously or in sequence, with or without an overlap or in other scenarios. Digitizers should distinguish and correlate x and y coordinates for points of contact with a high degree of accuracy, and this should not depend on sequential placement or other factors.

* Contact Width and Height -- Report contact width and height. Supporting the HID usages for height and width of contact (digitizer page 0x0D, with proposed usages 0x48 and 0x49) enables applications to provide richer touch support. This includes applications that have different functionality for finger-tip versus finger-pad gestures, or graphics applications that use the dimensions of the contact for brush sizing.

* Confidence Usage -- Apply confidence usage for palm rejection. Digitizers should implement palm rejection to reduce accidental touch events caused by the hand or other objects. Confidence usage (page 0x0D, usage 0x47) is a value that signals the digitizers confidence that the contact is valid and intentionally interactive. Set this value to 0 when the contact does not include interactive input, such as a palm resting on the screen or an accidental contact.

* Calibration -- Perform device calibration in the factory, to ensure a positive out-of-the-box experience. If calibration linearity is not performed during the manufacturing process, the user experience will be poor until the user performs their own calibration. This negatively impacts the out-of-box experience. The issue may be exacerbated if calibration is difficult for the user to discover.

Hardware design recommendations

For the best user experience, consider the following items when you design your slate PC hardware:

* Screen

o Touch interfaces work best when the Windows DPI setting is configured to match the physical display DPI. Since slate PCs have smaller screens, OEMs are encouraged to configure the Windows DPI value to match the physical display size, and to test the applications delivered on the PC to ensure that they work properly in this configuration. For information on configuring DPI value, see DPI Configuration for Small PCs.

o Consider effective screen resolution, which accounts for physical resolution and the DPI setting of the display. Effective screen resolution should not be lower than 1024 x 768. For example, a screen size of 8 inches with a resolution of 800x600 has an effective screen resolution of 640 x 480, which is not acceptable. Choose the appropriate DPI setting as follows:
o Support angled viewing by using wide-view LCD technology.

o Use glass surfaces and glass coatings designed to reduce fingerprints.

o Consider anti-glare materials and light-emitting diode (LED)-based illumination

* Sensors

o Enable rotation with a manual hardware button or enable auto-rotation with an accelerometer. Ensure that auto-rotation is responsive and behaves as a user would expect. Sensors should be exposed by using the sensor platform, as documented in the Sensor Devices Design Guide.

o Include one or more ambient light sensors to enable the adaptive brightness feature in Windows, which automatically dims and brightens the display for better readability across varying lighting conditions. Multiple sensors help reduce shadow effects and improve usability.

* Biometric logon -- Consider including a fingerprint reader for improved ease of access for logon and security scenarios.

* Web camera -- Enable video conferencing with Windows Live Messenger. Also consider adding more than one microphone to allow for acoustic echo cancelation, which greatly improves voice communication with Windows Live.

* Peripherals -- Provide peripherals that are complementary to the slate PC form factor and usage scenarios. For example, provide protective sleeves for screen protection and provide power supplies that are compact and easy to transport.

System architecture recommendations

Consider the following items when you design the system architecture of your slate PC:

* Chipset and memory

o Balance the CPU, GPU, and media acceleration, memory capacity and performance.
o Determine the levels of chipset and memory resource utilization required for key scenarios with a full software load.
o Provide extra resource allotment to accommodate the additional software that end-users will install.
o Provide 2 gigabytes of memory on CPU-constrained and GPU-constrained systems.

* Power Management

o USB devices should support selective suspend.
o Battery life should exceed 4 hours under normal operating conditions.
o The PC should have sufficient battery to support standby time of at least 72 hours.
o The system should resume from an idle state (for example, S3) in less than 2 seconds.

* Storage

o Slate PCs should use solid-state drives (SSDs) to enable lower power consumption and high reliability in a mobile environment. SSDs also have greater performance than most traditional platter drives. Many Windows performance optimizers do not need to operate on SSDs.

o Windows 7 disables selected optimizations on an SSD, if the SSD meets certain requirements:
+ Disk defragmentation is turned off when at least one of the following is true:
# ATA Word 127 is set to 1 (zero-latency device).
# Windows System Assessment Test (WinSAT) random read performance value exceeds 8.0.
# The disk is a dynamic disk or a child virtual hard disk.
+ SuperFetch is disabled when the WinSAT Random Write (primary disk) score exceeds 6.5.
+ ReadyBoost is disabled when at least one of the following is true:
# The ReadyBoost score does not meet the performance threshold.
# SuperFetch is disabled.

o Windows 7 supports the TRIM function, which can improve the lifetime of a flash drive. This feature operates when the SSD firmware and driver supports TRIM, and the ATA function is enabled.

Touch application design recommendations

This section provides background and guidance for designing touch applications for slate PCs.

Touch optimization principles

Touch experiences must appear inviting and simple, while behaving in a way that is forgiving and responsive. As with any user experience, aesthetics are critical, but touch experiences combine both aesthetic and practical requirements.

These additional requirements present design challenges that can be addressed by the following touch optimization principles:

* Increase Confidence and Efficiency

In an inviting experience, the user feels confident about trying new things without fear of making mistakes or causing errors. If the user interface (UI) is simple, the user can focus on exploring and learning without being inundated with demanding tasks or overly complex designs. In many cases, touch support is added to an existing user experience and the UI contains legacy elements, such as scroll bars, that are not optimized for touch experiences. In the worst-case scenario, the scroll bars do not support touch. In the best case scenario there are no scroll bars, which invite the user to try panning instead.

A forgiving UI is one that lowers the need for precision and makes tasks easier. Touch makes it difficult to target small items, which are commonplace in traditional mouse and keyboard scenarios. The fingertip obscures the target, unlike a small, unobtrusive cursor. If a task is too difficult to perform with touch, the user becomes frustrated.

Responsiveness is critical in a touch environment, because touch must feel direct. When the user touches the screen to make something happen, there must be an immediate visual response. Without feedback, the user is likely to believe that they missed the target, so they touch it again, or repeatedly touch it until it responds.
* Direct Manipulation

Direct manipulation occurs when touch contacts directly manipulate on-screen content. Users control the user interface with their fingers to move content (panning), adjust scale (pinch/stretch), or rotate content. Users expect to touch what is displayed on-screen and control it easily, similar to picking up an object and moving it; because of this user expectation, the visual interface must present an immediate, precise response that is authentic.

As obvious as this may seem, direct manipulation presents several challenges, such as the need for smooth animations and physics, and visual considerations for the challenges that result from using a hand and fingers that cover large parts of the screen.

GesturesGestures are touch actions that are one step removed from direct manipulations. Typically, gestures are mapped to common operations like keyboard shortcuts. Gestures are ideal to invoke secondary actions and functionality on content. Touch in Windows 7 is designed for consistency throughout the experience. This requires the use of consistent gestures across Windows applications. The user would become confused and frustrated if a commonly used gesture did not work as they expected.

Windows 7 design principles

We believe the strength of Windows is in the openness as a platform, and success relies on the richness and variety of the software that runs on Windows. At the same time, various feedback channels tell us that the overall experience of using a PC can be perceived as complex and inconsistent, for a wide variety of reasons. The Windows 7 Design Principles describe our approach for designing the user model and experience for Windows 7. OEMs can also apply these principles to their decision-making process for the software that they distribute with slate PCs.

This section describes the key Windows 7 Design Principles that apply to slate PCs. We placed special emphasis on full-screen applications and design considerations for how these applications interact with Windows.

* Reduce concepts to increase confidence

Good applications provide innovative, clearly purposed, well-designed experiences that leverage what Windows does best: launching, switching, configuring, and servicing the breadth of scenarios that people expect from a Windows PC. The Windows UI provides users with access to a wide variety of objects necessary for running applications and managing the operating system.

The Shell Developer's Guide provides conceptual material about how the Shell works and how to use the Shell's API in your application. The Shell Reference section documents programming elements that make up the various Shell APIs. Shell SDK Samples provides links to Shell samples. Most samples can be downloaded from MSDN Code Gallery. All samples are included in the Windows SDK.

Telemetry research has shown that PC users spend as much as 19% of their time in the Windows shell. This includes time in the Start menu, browsing files, and in the Control Panel. Replicating even a small subset of that functionality in a Shell application does not provide an enhanced experience for customers. Consumers are typically required to do many tasks in Windows, and it is hard to define clear boundaries between the Shell application and Windows. This approach tends to create frustrating experiences by introducing new concepts and making usage more complicated.

Building great applications for Windows is the best way to showcase slate PCs.
* Small things matter: good and bad

Small aspects of touch experiences have a major impact, when they are critical to primary tasks or used frequently. If done well, small things can create touch experiences that delight the user. Windows 7 includes many new features that enable OEMs to differentiate their touch applications.

The Tablet PC Input Panel has different modes, and the Tablet PC Input Panel APIs enable customization of launch and placement settings, as follows:
o When the Input Panel is launched from the in-place target (next to the textbox), it is in in-place mode. When using touch to launch in-place mode, the Input Panel is launched at the bottom of the screen, or at the top of the screen if necessary, to avoid covering the text box. The user can move the Input Panel around, and it will automatically close if the focus is changed.

o The Tablet PC Input Panel APIs can be used to customize the Input Panel when it is in in-place mode. This gives developers control of launching and positioning the touch keyboard. Developers can use these APIs to optimize the experience, such as auto-launching the touch keyboard when touch is used to set focus in a text box (without showing the in-place launch target), which is convenient for slate PCs. Developers can also specify the position of the touch keyboard.

o When the Input Panel is launched from the taskbar or the edge target, it is in floating mode. In this mode, the Input Panel remains open until the user closes it, and the user is in full control of the Input Panel. The Input Panels default docking setting is floating mode, which displays the touch keyboard based on the location of the text box being tapped: at the top or bottom of the screen.

The vertical launch location of the Input Panel is based on the location of the edge-tab, and the user can drag the edge-tab up and down as desired. If the user moves the edge-tab toward the bottom of the screen, the Input Panel launches at the bottom of the screen. Most importantly, the user can reposition the touch keyboard easily at all times, as they switch between applications and change display orientation.

A consideration for third-party keyboard usage is that the Input Panel can be disabled within an application, but not at the system level, including the Windows log-on experience.

In Windows 7, the Input Panel provides a fully localized experience, which should be taken into consideration when adding an additional on-screen keyboard solution to an application.

If you are designing software using full-screen DirectX graphics, the Input Panel cannot be launched; rather, you must provide your own on-screen keyboard in the application, as needed.

For more information on enabling and extending the soft keyboard in applications, see the following API documentation:
+ Text Input Panel Interfaces
+ ITextInputPanel Interface

* Be great at "look" and "do"

Delivering on the promise of enticing visual experiences is critical with touch. Regardless of the aesthetic appeal, it is detrimental to present visual experiences that do not respond to touch. Ideally, the user is presented with a UI that invites them to touch, and with contextual tasks that are optimized for touch input.

The Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows 7 includes sample touch applications and games that embody these principles. For example, the Surface Globe application is immersive and designed for touch exploration. The UI anticipates what the user wants to do next, and the user's direct manipulation and gestures enable quick and easy navigation.

Windows 7 also includes native support for sensors to create environmental awareness in Windows applications. Such sensors include location sensors (such as GPS devices), ambient light sensor, and temperature gauge. Location sensors can unlock new opportunities for location-based services. For more information on working with sensors, see the Sensor API.

The new Windows Touch APIs support rich gestures, such as pan, zoom, and rotate. All gestures should provide direct visual feedback, and enable interaction with underlying content in a natural and intuitive manner.

The Windows 7 Touch guidelines offer detailed information on how to develop a touch-optimized application, as well as how to make the most of existing applications. An application is considered touch-optimized when it has been specifically designed for touch, which means:
o Tasks are optimized for touch by placing the most frequently performed commands directly on the UI or content instead of within drop-down menus.
o The application's experiences have an immersive touch experience with real-world physical properties, such as momentum and friction.
o Tasks are forgiving, allowing users to correct mistakes easily and accommodate inaccuracy that arises from touching and dragging.
o Tasks avoid or reduce the need for heavy text input or precise selection.

Smaller screen size limits the available screen real estate; as a result, it is important to consider rendering and how the application looks on a variety of screen sizes. Additionally, ensure that the application adapts well to different screen orientations. Another issue that often affects applications in the lack of support for high-DPI settings. This may be the case if the application is not originally designed to support touch, or designers are not aware that DPI settings can be changed in Windows.

By using built-in Windows controls and APIs, applications can comply with these guidelines with minimum effort. The controls in Windows respect scaling, accessibility, and are designed for touch. For instance, the Windows Ribbon framework is a rich command-presentation system that provides a modern alternative to the layered menus, toolbars, and task panes of traditional Windows applications.

To provide a highly accessible UI, the Ribbon framework implements Microsoft Active Accessibility. By automatically populating relevant Microsoft Active Accessibility properties with valid and helpful information, the framework reduces the burden on developers to provide an inclusive experience for all users. In addition, the Ribbon framework is a Windows feature and, as such, is localized for all languages that Windows supports. Developers, however, are responsible for localizing their own specific application resources.

Another key benefit of using built-in Windows functionality is evident in web browsing. Windows Internet Explorer 8 provides a number of security features in a touch-optimized browser. Among the security features are protected mode, anti-phishing safeguards, malware protection, tab isolation, and regular security updates. Replicating this functionality on top of Internet Explorer's rendering engine, WebOC, can be very costly. The WebOC rendering engine provides the basics for rendering Web pages, but it is not designed to be an all-inclusive platform for a modern, trustworthy browsing experience.

For more information about security in WebOC, please see the MSHTML Host Security FAQ: Part I and Part II.
* Time matters: Build for people on the go

Value-added applications are an important aspect of OEM differentiation. However, poor application performance can have a negative perception of the system. It is important to thoroughly test each application against the specific hardware and software configuration of any given system. In addition to the system fundamentals, follow these application-performance recommendations:
o Avoid using managed code for applications on the critical boot path.
o Ensure that all applications respond quickly to shutdown notifications (WM_QUERYENDSESSION and WM_ENDSESSION messages).
o Reduce delays in the shutdown path of services and applications by minimizing CPU, disk, and network activity in response to shutdown notifications.
o Avoid delays in processing the suspend notification (WM_POWERBROADCAST message).
o Respond quickly to resume events and minimize post-resume CPU, disk, and network usage.
o Reduce application-resource consumption post-boot.
o Be consistent in technology platform choice to benefit from cross-application code sharing. For example, .NET code will be loaded only once when used by multiple applications.
o Do not start applications from the RunOnce key on every boot.

* Value the full lifecycle of the experience

Windows incorporates a single, coherent design that accommodates the range of things that people need to do on a PC, including configuration, launching and switching between programs, browsing for and managing files, device management, logon, account management, and task management. Out of the box, customers expect things like customization, personalization, and multiple-language support. It is important that applications do not insulate users from those important activities by jumping straight into a full-screen application experience.

In the design of each of these areas of Windows, we put significant thought into the design of the overall experience. For example, if a critical update is available for Windows or a driver, the Action Center notifies the user through the notification area. This is the same way that Windows notifies the user of other important information: power status, network status, current volume, and so forth. These notifications and the UI used to present them ensure that a range of frequent and important tasks are never more than a few clicks away. The Windows desktop UI is optimized to support rich, interconnected scenarios like this.

Presenting users with full-screen applications can disrupt many of these user scenarios. It is important to recognize that users will have a need to get back to Windows to perform additional tasks. Full-screen applications that do not provide standard controls such as close buttons are prone to creating user confusion and dissatisfaction. For example, Windows 7 includes Windows Media Center, which offers a great touch-enabled experience for media consumption. Windows Media Center can be launched and switched to just like a standard application, but it can also be configured to temporarily operate in full-screen mode.

While Windows Media Center offers an immersive experience in its full screen mode, it allows users to easily go back to the Windows desktop for required operating system tasks such as connecting to a wireless network or installing updates. It is important to recognize that these immersive experiences can never accomplish all user tasks and should not lock users away from the Windows desktop.
* System performance guidance

Consumers will buy slate PCs based on how they look as well as what they are capable of doing. In order to deliver the full range of scenarios that a customer expects, it is important that applications leave enough system capacity available for users and their applications. Give careful consideration to the impact that an application has on the boot experience, power efficiency, and system responsiveness. OEMs should test systems with all preinstalled software and ensure that:
o CPU utilization is less than 2% at idle state.
o CPU is at the lowest P-state for at least 98% of idle time.
o CPU is at the highest C-state for at least 98% of idle time.
o Disk utilization is at less than 1% during idle time.
o Disk access is tuned for AC and DC power, minimizing non-critical activity when the PC is on DC power.
o BIOS implements Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) functions to natively support Windows 7s LCD auto-dimming feature.

Additional logo considerations

Windows Touch is an If Implemented logo requirement. It requires that the digitizer pass the Windows Touch logo requirements (Logo input-0006 for pen/single touch and Logo input-0046 for multitouch) as a standalone device as well as within system logo. Testing at both the device and system levels helps ensure that performance is not compromised during integration into a PC system.

The following hardware logo requirements represent additional considerations for slate PC form factors. This is a summary list, based on the current logo requirements, and may not be all inclusive.

Requirement ID


Requirement title


Notes

GRAPHICS-0020


Displayadapter or chipset complies with Direct3D 10 and DXGIFeature sets


DirectX 10is required for mobile devices with screens larger than10.2 inches. DirectX 9 is required for systems with ascreen size up to 10.2 inches.

INPUT-0012


Tabletsystems implement buttons using a HID-compliant mini-port driverand include a dedicated security button.




SYSFUND-0003


Systemexposes a debug interface that complies with Debug Portspecification.




SYSFUND-0043


Systemshave user-accessible, fully powered USB 2.0 ports.


Notrequired for systems with screen sizes up to 10.2 inches.

SYSFUND-0046


Systemsare capable of starting the Aero theme.




SYSFUND-0062




System is capable of playing High-Definitioncontent with no perceivable glitch during playback.


Not required for systems with scre

Microsoft announces device management for Windows Phone 7, embedded PCs

Microsoft announced new tools designed to simplify management of embedded devices and smartphones. Windows Embedded Device Manager 2011 targets hardware such as thin clients, digital signs, point of service products, and kiosks, while the Beta 2 version of System Configuration Manager 2012 previews control over phones running Windows Phone 7, iOS, Android, and Symbian operating systems.

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The ongoing MMS (Microsoft Management Summit) in Las Vegas has already showcased a variety of new products from Redmond, including the cloud-oriented System Center 2012 and Windows InTune products covered by our sister publication eWEEK. Now, Redmond is getting around to more earthbound issues, tackling the issue of managing smartphones and embedded devices.

On March 23, the company released a downloadable Beta 2 version of its System Center Configuration Manager 2012 product, designed to run on Windows Server 2008. Noting that "consumerization is a growing challenge for IT organizations," Microsoft said the upgraded tool will let enterprises manage "the wide range of devices that connect to Exchange ActiveSync" -- including iPhones, iPads, Android devices, Symbian devices, and Windows Phone 7 handsets.

The expanded operating system support is key, since the currently offered System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2007 only manages Windows Mobile. (It appears, however, that SCCM 2012 will be able to exert its most granular control only via a device enrollment process for Windows Phone 7 and Windows Mobile; other devices will reportedly be controlled only by a default ActiveSync policy.)

Microsoft has posted a lengthy list of differences between SCCM 2007 and SCCM 2012. In addition to the expanded mobile operating system support, SCCM 2012 gets a new Configuration Manager 2012 console, said to have the following benefits:

* Logical grouping of operations into the following workspaces: Administration, Software Library, Monitoring, and Assets and Compliance
* A ribbon to help you more efficiently use the console
* An administrative user sees only the objects that she is allowed to see, as defined by role-based administration
* Search capabilities throughout the console, to help you find your data more quickly

Embedded Device Management

In addition to expanding enterprises' control over smartphones and tablets, Microsoft is also providing the ability to "deploy, assess, update, and integrate Windows Embedded devices from a single management solution." The company says its newly announced Windows Embedded Device Manager 2011 can provide a detailed inventory of embedded devices and distribute software to them -- even when their disk drives have been protected by write filters.

If we read the Windows Embedded Device Manager 2011 data sheet correctly, it is not an additional piece of software enterprises need to buy. Rather, Windows Embedded Device Manager 2011 refers to a set of inventory extensions and plug-ins manufacturers can code into their devices -- thin clients, point of service products, digital signs, and more -- allowing them to be managed by the existing SCCM 2007 product.

According to Microsoft, the Windows Embedded Device Manager 2011 technologies are relevant to devices built with Windows XP Embedded, Windows Embedded Standard 2009, Windows Embedded Standard 7, Windows Embedded for Point of Service, and Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 operating systems. Those running Windows CE or Windows Embedded Compact 7 are apparently not supported, however.

Wyse announced that it has embarked on "Project Seattle," through which its Windows Embedded thin clients will become compatible with Windows Embedded Device Manager 2011. The technology will be available at the end of June, the company added.

Kevin Dallas, general manager for Windows Embedded at Microsoft, stated:

With the addition of Windows Embedded Device Manager to Microsoft's extensive management portfolio, we're in a unique position to make the lives of IT managers a lot easier across PCs, servers and embedded devices. Previously, enterprises were forced to implement several management solutions to meet their needs, at a significant time and financial cost. We've made it simple for IT professionals to make simultaneous system updates across the enterprise with the familiarity of System Center Configuration Manager.

In response to a question by Microsoft watcher Mary-Jo Foley, the company clarified that Windows Embedded Device Manager 2011 only works with SCCM 2007, not the SCCM 2011 beta. "However, our roadmaps are closely aligned, and moving forward we will coordinate our future product releases,"a spokesperson was said to have explained.

Windows Phone 7 will beat iOS, IDC claims

Microsoft's Windows Phone will overcome both Apple's iOS and Research In Motion's BlackBerry by 2015, an IDC report claims. If its Nokia deal works out, that is.

Microsoft's Windows Phone is going to trample Apple's iOS by 2015, according to a new estimate by research firm IDC. However, Google Android will continue to command the lion's share of the smartphone market.

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"Until Nokia begins introducing Windows Phone-powered smartphones in large volumes in 2012, Windows Phone 7/Windows Mobile will only capture a small share of the market," reads the firm's June 9 research note, "as the release of Mango-powered smartphones are not expected to reach the market until late 2011."

IDC claims Windows Phone will take some 20 percent of the smartphone market by 2015. That surpasses the firm's market share estimates for Apple's iOS (16.9 percent), Research In Motion's BlackBerry OS (13.4 percent), undefined "Others" (5.5 percent), and Nokia's soon-to-be-defunct Symbian (0.1 percent). Google Android will continue to rule the roost, however, with an estimated 43.8 percent.

"Underpinning smartphone growth is the rapidly shifting operating system landscape," Ramon Llamas, an analyst with IDC, wrote in a statement accompanying the research note. "End-users are becoming more sophisticated about what kinds of experiences are offered by the different operating systems. Taking this as their cue, operating system developers will strive for more intuitive and seamless experiences, but will also look to differentiate themselves along key features and characteristics."

Of course, IDC's estimates hinge on Nokia transitioning smoothly to Windows Phone, something a few analysts perceive as easier said than done. Once the news emerged that Nokia planned on abandoning its Symbian platform, sales of Symbian devices began a precipitous drop -- and Nokia's Windows Phone devices aren't expected to hit the market before the end of 2011.

"We would continue to avoid the stock as Symbian smartphone sales are falling off faster than expected and we are skeptical that new Windows Phone (WP) models will be able to replace lost profits," Stephen Patel, an analyst with Gleacher & Company, wrote in a May 31 research note. "Our checks suggest mixed carrier support for Nokia's transition to WP."

Just to add to Nokia's headwinds, Android sales are supposedly eating into market share once occupied by Symbian. "We think sub-$200 Android handsets, including those from new entrants such as ZTE and Huawei," he added, "are hurting Symbian units, which largely target the same price range."

Patel's other big question centers on whether Windows Phone can pick up Nokia's existing smartphone share without too much attrition: "We remain concerned that WP industry sales remain below 2mil units/quarter and that [Nokia's] scale will not be enough to offset a faster than expected drop-off in Symbian phone sales."

Other analysts seem to be concurring with Patel's assessment.

"While we maintain our belief the Nokia-Microsoft partnership is best positioned to potentially create a third viable smartphone ecosystem," Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley wrote in a June 1 research note, "we are increasingly concerned about sales for Nokia's Symbian devices during the transition period."

Whether or not the Nokia transition ultimately succeeds, Microsoft is moving forward with its plans to buttress Windows Phone's capabilities.

During a May 24 press event in New York City, Microsoft executives demonstrated some of the top-line features of the upcoming "Mango" update, including multitasking, a redesigned Xbox Live Hub, visual voicemail, the ability to consolidate friends and colleagues into groups within the platform's "People" Hub, and Local Scout, which offers a view of everything to see and do in a particular neighborhood. The "People" Hub will also include data from Twitter and LinkedIn, as well as the ability to share and tag photos.

For enterprise users, Mango will offer the ability to search a server for email items no longer stored on the device, and share and save Office documents via Office 365 and Windows SkyDrive. There's also an upgraded Internet experience, one that tightly bakes Microsoft's Bing search engine into the interface.

But if IDC is to be believed, it'll be Nokia -- and not all those nifty features -- that eventually makes Windows Phone a true smartphone force.

Nicholas Kolakowski is a writer for eWEEK.

Windows 8 will ship fall 2012, Microsoft exec suggests

A senior Microsoft executive has suggested the company's Windows 8 operating system will hit the market in September 2012. "Let's make that assumption," Dan Lewin, corporate vice president for Strategic and Emerging Business Development, reportedly said at a recent event held at the company's Silicon Valley campus.

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Lewin's remarks apparently occurred June 7 at the Launch: Silicon Valley 2011 event, hosted by Microsoft at its Mountain View, Calif. campus to help showcase new startups. According to his corporate bio, Lewin (pictured) has executive responsibility for that campus and is responsible for Microsoft's global relationships with startups and venture capitalists.

The revelation wasn't reported until earlier today, however, when Mary Branscombe of U.K. website TechRadar.com quoted Levin as saying the following:

"We will be in market -- if you look at the crystal ball and just say what happened in the past is a reasonable indicator of what our forward looking timelines will be and just speculate -- we've made the point about having a developer conference later this year, and then typically we enter a beta phase, and then in 12 months we're in the market, so let's make that assumption."

The developer conference Levin referred to is Build, scheduled to run from Sept. 13 to Sept. 16 in Anaheim, Calif. If Windows 8 does ship a year later, it should be on the market for the 2012 holiday season.

As we review later in this story, Microsoft already used the June 1 AllThingsD conference to show off features of an operating system it coyly described as being "code-named" Windows 8. The new goodies include a tile-based start screen that's easily customized, the ability to run both legacy apps and new full-screen ones written using HTML and JavaScript, and compatibility with devices ranging from "small slates to classroom-sized displays."

According to Branscombe, Levin also addressed the issue of why -- to the surprise of some -- Microsoft's tablet strategy isn't being based on adaptation of the existing (Windows CE-based) Windows Phone 7 or Windows Embedded Compact 7. "Our strategy is a statement about phones and tablets being more or less the same thing. I think tablets are big phones, more or less and I think they will want, over time, some of the capabilities that PC architectures have," she quotes him as saying.

"They want the security, they want the manageability -- especially if you are an enterprise buying large volumes of these things, but I think consumers over time want to know about those things as well. Our approach with the tablet play being based on PC architecture, rather than [adding to] the phone architecture, I think is the right one," Levin is said to have added.

Background

At the AllThings D conference, held by The Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. Steve Sinofsky, president of the company's Windows and Windows Live division, promised his audience Windows 8 will run on all types of device, including those using either x86 or AMD processors, and hardware requirements won't be any more stringent than Windows 7.

The x86 version of the operating system will run just about every legacy Windows program, but the ARM version won't -- an emulation layer "turns out to be technically really challenging," he added.

Windows 8's start screen
(Click to enlarge)

Notably, Windows 8 will feature a tile-based Start screen, as pictured above. This replaces the Windows Start menu with a customizable, scalable full-screen view of applications. It will also provide fully touch-optimized browsing, with "all the power of hardware-accelerated Internet Explorer 10," according to Microsoft.

Following the All Things D event, Microsoft staged a followup event a few hours later on the morning of June 2 at the Computex show in Tapei. According to a report from Taiwan by Engadget, Foxconn, Quanta, and Wistron have all developed reference systems -- with chips from Nvidia, Qualcomm, and TI -- for the ARM version of Windows 8.

Engadget's Vlad Savov reported that the ARM prototypes came in both tablet and notebook configurations, were shown to resume from sleep "immediately," and were demonstrated with an ARM version of Microsoft Office. While ARM Windows won't run legacy apps written for Windows 7 on x86, Windows 8 apps developed using JavaScript and HTML (see later) will all be cross-platform, officials were said to have noted.

While it clearly draws on the "Metro" user interface employed by Windows Phone 7, Windows 8 also derives from work Microsoft did earlier for Windows Media Center Editions and for the Zune HD. The upgrade has been in the works ever since Windows 7 shipped in July 2009 -- several months before Apple's iPad was first shown -- wrote Ina Fried in a story All Things D posted to coincide with the operating system demo.


Windows 8 will be able to run old and new apps side by side
(Click either to enlarge)

According to Sinofsky and Larson-Green, Windows 8 will run traditional Windows applications with their standard user interfaces. Users will be able to snap and resize apps to the side of the screen or shrink them into a live tile using their fingers -- or, if they're wrinkly enough to insist -- a mouse or keyboard, the company adds.

New apps created specifically for Windows 8 will run full-screen, and have "access to the full power of the PC," though they'll be built using HTML5 and JavaScript, according to Microsoft. Silverlight wasn't touted as a development tool (though Sinofsky noted that Internet Explorer 10 will run it), which has caused some developer angst. However, the Within Windows blog has plausibly reported that Silverlight will be supported in Windows 8's .appx application packages.

A future version of Internet Explorer running full-screen
Source: Within Windows
(Click to enlarge)

According to Microsoft, Windows 8 will offer "effortless movement between existing Windows programs and new Windows 8 apps. The full capabilities of Windows continue to be available to you, including the Windows Explorer and Desktop, as does compatibility with all Windows 7 logo PCs, software and peripherals."

Larson-Green reportedly added that Windows 8's new tile-based interface can't be turned off, though users can choose not to use it if they don't want to. Users or enterprises will be able to customize exactly how the screen appears, she's said to have promised.

iCloud: 10 Things You Need to Know

There’s a lot up in the air about iCloud. Here are 10 things you need to know about Apple’s new synchronization service.

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iCloud, Apple's new synchronization service, sounds too good to be a true: Apple claims it will make your content available to all of your devices by "seamlessly" integrating into your apps. The fact that it's free, taking the spot of the $100/year MobileMe, only sweetens the pot. And of course there's the "one more thing:" For $25/year, iTunes Match will scan your iTunes library, locate your tunes in Apple's 18-million song library, and let you take your songs to go as pitch-perfect, DRM-free versions.

Despite a surprising number of lingering questions, there's plenty of fine print that isn't getting nearly as much attention as Steve's black turtleneck. What features will require Wi-Fi connectivity, as opposed to cellular 3G? What are the data caps and to what features do they apply? And how does Photo Stream work?

Equipped with a re-examined wish list and hands-on experience, we take you through the broad strokes and brush strokes so that you know what to expect—and what not to—from Apple's fall release of iCloud. In the following slideshow, we walk through the ten things you need to know about Apple's fast-approaching iCloud.

Some points are general. (For example, what's happening to MobileMe?) Others are specific. (What version of iTunes will you need to be running?). But once you've clicked through this slideshow, you'll be able to bring this cloud down to earth, knowing what it entails, where its limitations lie, and how you can use it come fall. Click on for the full story and share your thoughts by commenting below.

8 Twitter Facts You May Not Know

Think you know Twitter? These little tidbits may redefine the way you regard the micro-blogging service.

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Twitter is an enigma. It's a relatively simple publishing service built initially on the SMS backbone that has grown into something of a world-wide phenomenon. Over 300 million people around the world use it, and many millions of them live their lives out loud on the service. I'm a dedicated member and somewhat obsessive Tweeter. As such, I thought I knew and understood the service. Yet, even I learned something last week when Twitter CEO Dick Costolo and Founder Jack Dorsey each sat down with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at All Things Digital's D9 conference in southern California. Both described a vibrant service, with a network of connected services generating billions of API requests every single day. At the same time, roughly 50 percent of Twitter access is now coming through Twitter.com, a shift that must please Twitter. Here are some key takeaways from the two Twitter-centric chats MCITP Training .

You Own the Photos
Any photo you post via Twitter's new photo service is, according to Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, yours and yours alone (just like your Tweets). This is much like other Twitter photos services, such as TwitPic and Yfrog. Each of them, though, reserves the right to redistribute the content you supposedly own. By the way, Mark Zuckerberg can rest easy. Costolo sees no overlap between Twitter photos and the photo albums in Facebook. In fact, the services are apparently not even looking at the same time frame. There are no albums in Twitter's Photobucket-hosted photo service, and while you could go back and view all the photos posted in a Facebook account, Twitter's photo stream will be somewhat more limited. As Costolo put it, "Twitter's past tense is much shorter than other services' past tense."

The Innovation Bracket

ROUND 2, MATCH 5: Marc Andreessen showed that his legacy could not be bought out like Cisco acquires companies. He defeated Chambers with 64% of the vote. John Chambers got byEd Whitacre in the first round with 70% of the vote. Andreessen had little trouble with Red Hat's Matthew Szulik by garnering 86% of the vote.

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ROUND 2, MATCHUP 4: Apparently two against one is still not enough as Tim Berners-Lee garnered 81% of the vote in taking down Google's kings. When you are the creator of the World Wide Web I suppose opponents need to gang up on you. Berners-Lee creamed his first round opponent, HP's Leo Apotheker, who garnered no votes. Page and Brin got a battle from former VMware head Diane Greene, but prevailed with 65% of the vote.

ROUND 2, MATCHUP 3: It appears Ray Ozzie is selected for his innovative prowess and not because people just don't like Steve Ballmer. It was neck and neck with Yahoo's Jerry Yang until the very end when Ozzie pulled away with 60% of the vote.

ROUND 2, MATCHUP 2: The open source world came in with full force to see Linus Torvalds off to the quarterfinals with more than 75% of the vote to defeat Google's Eric Schmidt. Both competitors had little problems getting by their first round opponents as Torvalds took down Mark Hurd, adding to his disastrous year. Schmidt had little trouble with Meg Whitman in giving her another defeat to match her gubernatorial loss in California.

ROUND 2: In what can only be thought of as a gigantic upset to the casual fan, Vint Cerf took out the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates. The father of the Internet vs. the father of the monopolistic company that set out to rule the technology world. Vint Cerf took out Scott Kriens in the first round and looks to do the same with Gates as some believe Microsoft wouldn't be anywhere without the Internet. But if not for the antitrust suit, maybe Microsoft would have gone after the Internet too.

MATCHUP 16: In less than 140 characters, the voters easily told Biz Stone that he doesn't quite measure up to Lou Gerstner. Gerstner saw to it that even though IBM faded in the PC market, it remained relevant with Big Blue's mainframes. Biz Stone had plenty of naysayers when Twitter was rolled out. What can you say in 140 characters, many asked. Perhaps riding the coattails of Facebook, Twitter became an integral part of social networking to the point of now saying it has 105 million users.

MATCHUP 15: In what was a shocker in this social networking world, Paul Otellini knocked off the social networking king Mark Zuckerberg. This was one of Zuckerberg's rare losses this year after earning, $19.8 billion, was named this year as Time's Person of the Year and has his own comic book. Otellini has led Intel through a constant battle with AMD, as each tries to position themselves to be king of the processors. Last month Otellini outlined Intel's shift in an attempt to stay ahead of competitors.

MATCHUP 14: Apparently voters like Apple's over Dell computers. Steve Wozniak garnered 71% of the vote to knock off Dell CEO Michael Dell. Dell does not fear the gigantic shift to smartphones as central processing devices. Instead he believes there is a time and a place for smartphones and desktops to play harmoniously thanks to the cloud. He believes that each user will have many devices, each geared for a specific task. Wozniak recently flopped when he took out his dancing frustrations on the "Dancing with the Stars" judges. But aside from that failed attempt, Wozniak's main claim to fame was his partnership with Steve Jobs in starting up Apple.

MATCHUP 13: In admitting he would be the first one in line to get a new iPad 2, Miguel de Icaza pretty much talked his way out of his contest against Steve Jobs in a 70% to 30% defeat. Jobs and Apple have pretty much re-revoluntionized PCs as well as portable music players, smartphones and now tablets. It was no coincidence that Apple's resurgence came when Jobs got back into the day-to-day operations. De Icaza, who has been prominent in the open source world since creating GNOME, seems to care at least as much about usability as he does the principles behind the free software movement. De Icaza gets his share of criticism because of his occasional support for Microsoft software and other proprietary projects, but he says that, in some cases, usability should trump openness.

MATCHUP 12: Larry Ellison squeaked past Randall Stephenson 65% to 35%. Stephenson's most recent public bout has been with Congress, as he argues for the approval of AT&T's buyout of T-Mobile. He joined Southwestern Bell in 1982, rose up through the ranks, and in 2007 was named CEO to succeed Ed Whitacre. Oracle's Larry Ellison has been consistently deemed the bad boy of the tech industry for his lavish lifestyle and blunt, in your face persona. He consistently ranks among the highest-paid tech CEOs and 2010 was no exception. He raked in $70.1 million, which is 17% less than the $84.5 million he netted in 2009 but still enough to top all the other pay packages we examined.

MATCHUP 11:In what is the closest result so far, Scott McNealy edged out Joe Tucci 60% to 40%. EMC's performance in 2010 was the "best in company history," said Joe Tucci, who saw his own compensation climb 37% during the same timeframe. The straight-shooting Tucci has been recrafting EMC into one of the industry's megaplayers. He has expanded EMC beyond enterprise storage into a systems management company, as demonstrated by his smart, hands-off approach to the ever more-successful VMware and his acquisition of network management vendor Smarts. Despite his quiet public life since he left Oracle after Sun was bought, his body of work at Sun pulled him through to victory.

MATCHUP 10: Marc Andreessen's trail of success in starting up companies that provide an impact to the industry got him the victory over Red Hat's Matthew Szulik. Andreessen co-founded Netscape with Jim Clark in 1994 to market Andreessen's creation, the Netscape web browser. Overnight, the young Andreessen was a tech superstar. After public scrapes with Microsoft, Netscape was bought by AOL in 1999 for $4.2 billion. Szulik had his first exposure to freeware, or open source software, when living in Cambridge and attending several lectures by Richard Stallman, the founder of the free software movement and author of the GNU Public License. Szulik became CEO of Red Hat in 1999, shortly after the company went public. He was relieved of his CEO duties in 2007.

MATCHUP 9: As we head into the second half of the first round, Cisco CEO John Chambers garnered 70% of the vote in defeating Ed Whitacre. During Chambers' time at the helm, Cisco has grown into many markets, which has left the company vulnerable to criticism that it is stretching itself too thin. He has recently talked of refocusing the company. Back in 1999, SBC CEO Whitacre was called "one of the savviest leaders in this new age of networks and one of the toughest competitors in the business." He saw the buyout of AT&T in 2005 and retired in 2007.

MATCHUP 8: Diane Greene was the figurehead for the fledgling VMware as it grew into the market, highlighted by a buyout by EMC. She put up a good fight against Google's Larry Page and Sergey Brin but fell to the dynamic duo 65% to 35%. Larry Page and Sergey Brin are the next generation of college students who turned an idea into a mega billion dollar enterprise, taking the baton from Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Page recently took over as CEO in hopes of taking Google to the next level. PC World named them one of the top 50 visionaries.

MATCHUP 7: Tim Berners-Lee wiped the floor with Leo Apotheker as the HP boss garnered no votes. Berners-Lee watches as the Web will officially hit adulthood this coming Christmas, which will mark 21 years since the computer scientist first initiated communications between an HTTP client and a Web server. Apotheker came into an unstable situation at HP when he took over as CEO. With Mark Hurd's departure for questionable activity, Apotheker has been a calming influence. Hurd should be given credit for turning HP around and so the pressure is on Apotheker to keep that momentum going. When it comes to the server market, Apotheker isn't shy about assessing Cisco's prospects, saying John Chambers and company are neither a threat nor an annoyance: HP simply doesn't see Cisco in sales situations.

MATCHUP 6: The voters found the power of search more important than the power of protection in picking Yahoo's Jerry Yang over Symantec's John Thompson. During Thompson's 10-year tenure, he led the firm beyond a consumer-focused antivirus company through a broader enterprise-security strategy that entailed acquiring storage, management and security firms to expand Symantec's portfolio and customer base. The jury is still out on whether Yahoo's rejection of a deal with Microsoft was a good business move a few years ago. Yang was at the forefront and despite calls for his dismissal after the deal fell through, he remains at the helm.

MATCHUP 5: In what was a stunner to only those outside the tech industry, Ray Ozzie easily took down Steve Ballmer, who garnered only 10% of the votes. It has long been thought that Ballmer was not a technology innovator but just Bill Gates' righthand man. And it seems the votes bear this out. Ozzie created Lotus Notes and in an an extensive interview with Network World's Paul McNamara, Ozzie comes off as a more candid type than one typically encounters in the upper echelons of the business world. While Ballmer has been called "monkey boy" because of his on stage antics.

MATCHUP 4: Like in the race for governor in California, Meg Whitman had a good showing but didn't quite muster enough support for the win. Eric Schmidt's greatest career move ever vaulted him into the win.

MATCHUP 3: Linux golden boy Linus Torvalds crushed Oracle/HP bad boy Mark Hurd. Hurd collected only two votes (must have been his vote and boss Larry Ellison) in going down in a crushing defeat. He is perhaps best known for his scandalous departure from HP, amid alleged accusations of sexual and expense-report misconduct. Torvalds, on the other hand, is the beloved creator of the Linux kernel and the buck-stops-here caretaker of the Linux kernel. Torvalds is known for his dry wit, programming brilliance and, like Hurd, his ego. According to the many writings on the man, he once began a speaking engagement by pronouncing, "My name is Linus, and I am your God."

How Microsoft And Skype Embarrassed Google

That means Bing, through Skype, could be in front of hundreds of millions of eyeballs that would otherwise default to Google (NSDQ:GOOG) for search and search advertising. And, as we all know, search advertising is the secret sauce that keeps Google hot.

Until today, Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) could never really obtain beachhead in search. The operative phrase, here, is “until today.”

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Ballmer and Skype CEO Tony Bates emphasized, repeatedly, during a press conference Tuesday morning that they intend to leverage the Microsoft-Skype marriage to score big with advertising – including video- and rich-media-based ads.

Ballmer and Bates also made it clear that the real bullseye for them in this deal is the commercial IT space -- where the marriage of VoIP and video have at times been pricey and integration with multiple platforms has at times been complex.

A Microsoft-Skype bundle for communications -- if executed correctly with Microsoft’s solution provider channel, which must sell and deliver the deal to the IT marketplace -- will be a game-changer. It would enable text, voice, video, collaboration and communication from the smart phone to the back office to the cloud.

In other words, for $8.5 billion, Microsoft gets its money’s worth. And Google and Page get a choice. They can respond with aggressive R&D, marketing and vision, or they can call the anti-trust lawyers and hope the courts can save them from a Microsoft-Skype union. Microsoft executives say they expect the regulatory process to finish up by year’s end. (It’s safe to say they are somewhat familiar with the process. MCTS Online Training - MCITP Online Training)

Microsoft and Skype, together, are each stronger and leave Google much weaker. From a solutions perspective, MicroSkype comes at the perfect time with the perfect weapons in its arsenal.