Microsoft is working with major ARM chip makers like Nvidia and Texas Instruments to design PCs for WOA, but I suspect that the majority of the devices consumers see will be tablets.

The post is very long and offers a huge amount of information, but one thing in particular struck me:

Windows on ARM software will not be sold or distributed independent of a new WOA PC, just as you would expect from a consumer electronics device that relies on unique and integrated pairings of hardware and software.

Really?

Usually a consumer can get Windows as a disk for upgrading or installing on a computer they build themselves. Apparently the company is not up with self-built ARM computers.

Their reasoning for this is two-fold. Further down in the post the author brings up consumer-friendliness:

…you never have to worry about which DVD to install and if it will work on a particular PC.

…

While each WOA PC offered will be unique, the role of Windows is to present a consistent experience to customers while allowing the unique and innovative hardware to shine through…

And he also highlights that a great experience with WOA will depend on a tighter software/hardware integration than regular Windows:

[Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, and NVIDIA have] been working with partners that will bring WOA PCs to market. These PCs have all been designed and manufactured expressly for WOA. From the chipset through the firmware and drivers, the work is optimized to be great for WOA. Partners are working hard on creative industrial designs and form factors that will include more than tablets.

I know from experience that you can’t just slap an OS onto a device and expect it to run well just because it meets the basic specs, even moreso with the chips we’ve seen in tablets and smartphones recently. So I can see the merit in this strategy, especially for mainstream consumers.

I just wonder if this is also to keep hobbyist devs and hackers from putting Windows 8 is places where Microsoft thinks it doesn’t belong. Like on an iPad or a Galaxy Tab. I have no idea if such a thing is even possible, but you know someone is going to try.

Personally, I’d like to see if the Raspberry Pi can handle it.

Perhaps that’s part of it, too. It’s possible to build very inexpensive ARM-based devices like that. If you could get Windows 8 running on it, why buy a computer that costs more? Oop.

Not everything is an evil conspiracy, but I wonder what the end result will be? Can hackers somehow get at WOA enough to port it to another system? Will we see jailbroken WOA PCs shortly after launch?

I’ll be keeping a closer eye on xda developers to find out…

Windows 8 For ARM Devices Won’t Be Sold Separately is a post by K. T. Bradford from Notebooks.com.

What can you do with a Kinect for Windows? Not much right now. This release is more for the developer community (the Kinect Windows SDK and runtime is available for download today). It won’t be long before we start seeing some native apps that work with the Kinect that don’t involve clever hacking.

When Microsoft first introduced the Kinect for Xbox consumers fell in love. Using your body as a controller isn’t so great when moving through menus, but when playing games like Dance Central or the various fitness titles it added a new and fabulous layer to gaming.

Shortly after its introduction hackers and DIYers began poking at the Kinect to see what it was capable of. Since it connects to the Xbox via a standard USB port it could also connect to a regular computer. Within weeks someone had cracked the device and a slew of fun innovations followed. The Kinect was used as a 3D video camera, a sensor on self-driving robots, and to control a computer with gestures.

At first Microsoft appeared appalled by this turn of events, chiding people for appropriating their accessory in this way. Then within days they changed their official stance, embracing the DIYers. And soon after that they went even further and started working on a release version of the SDK, which allows developers to create apps or hook the Kinect’s functions into a program.

While the Kinect for Windows will likely bring the body as game controller thing to PC gaming, I’m more excited for other prospects. Gesture control for Windows isn’t even a far-fetched idea. Last week Josh wrote that there are already prototypes of laptops with a Kinect sensor embedded. That’s a little ways off from being a commercial product, but not that far.

I can’t wait to see what developers create for Kinect on Windows. Windows 8 in particular. Swiping around a computer as if it’s a tablet while not even touching the screen? Yes, please. And that’s a minor implementation. I expect to be wowed.

(Related: Tobii Demos Gaze Interaction For Windows 8)

Kinect For Windows Starts Shipping Today, SDK Ready For Download is a post by K. T. Bradford from Notebooks.com.

A simple ‘reboot without prompting for password’ option when restarting would be an incredibly simple fix to this annoying issue, and would allow one to restart their notebook, walk away to do something else, then return to a fully booted computer rather than come back, only to be required to enter their password, then wait several more minutes while the computers all the way up” — if you will.

But wouldn’t this sacrifice security? In the unlikely situation that someone steals your computer while it is turned on, couldn’t they use this option to never be prompted for a password? Nope. An easy fix to this potential breach in security is to prompt for the password when the ‘restart without prompting for password on boot’ is selected. This way, the same security is retained by requiring the same credentials, only the order in which the boot/password prompt is rearranged to be more accommodating, when the user so chooses.

I wish that this feature would have been included in Windows 7, its inclusion alone would been a new feature that I’d actually use.

‘Restart Without Prompting for Password on Boot’ Option Would be Awesome is a post by Ben from Notebooks.com.

Over the Microsoft Ultimate Steal website that brings students a great discount on Microsoft Office 2007, you can get Windows 7 Professional which includes all of the Home Premium features, and then some for the same great price of $30. Just look toward the bottom of the page for the blue box.Windows 7 Professional is targeted toward businesses and offers additional features (over Home Premium) such as remote desktop management, location aware printing, Encrypting File System, Presentation mode, as well as a few others. The most compelling addition though is Windows XP Mode which will virtualize a Windows XP environment (as long as your hardware is capable of virtualization) to ensure compatibility with XP applications.

I see no reason not to go the Windows 7 Professional route over Home Premium if they are the same price, so have at it! But be warned, some people have had issues with the Home Premium student discount (Microsoft is working on it this). No word yet if the same issues still apply to the Professional student discount, but we have some articles that may help.

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional — $30 for Students is a post by Ben from Notebooks.com.

I checked out the ‘What’s New‘ section to find out if there were any appealing new features. They have a series of 7 second video demos which are admittedly funny, but absolutely fail to show me anything that is worth the price of the upgrade, or even the time it would take. They demo Aero Shake: hides other windows when you shake one, Aero Snap: let’s you more easily organize windows side by side, and they also show that Windows 7 has good sleep speeds. But seriously, these are some pathetic improvements over XP or even Vista. What am I actually paying for? And I’m talking about paying just $30 for a upgrade, if I wasn’t a student, the price would be $200 (for Windows 7 Pro Upgrade) and I wouldn’t even consider that given the features they are showing me.

A lot of this is making me realize how I hardly rely on an operating system at all these days. The OS for me is just a medium that get’s me to the internet, and there is a huge selection of free operating systems out there to choose from, so why pay $30 (or $200 for some people!) for a new one? People are starting to call web based productivity/computing ‘cloud computing’ as one uses applications that aren’t stored locally on a computer, and can thus be access anywhere that there is a connection to the web, and I’m feeling like I’ve fully moved to cloud computing. Give me a computer, and an internet connection, and I can get work done. There is barely anything that I use that is Windows specific anyway. The only actual programs that I use anymore are iTunes, Windows Live Writer and perhaps a simple image editor. Aside from these, everything I do is on the web all I need is a fast browser.

The only appealing thing, for me, about Windows 7 is that reports have indicated that it is generally faster than Vista. But why not go with a free alternative like Linux? I could easily download and install a Linux distribution today, for free, and it would probably run just as fast, if not faster than Windows 7. So what am I really paying for with a Windows 7 upgrade? Speed over Microsoft’s previous OS? Why not just go back to XP, which I already own, and is just as fast for the most part?

If you have or are planning on upgrading to Windows 7, how did you justify it? Was there any ‘killer feature’ that you wanted? Let us know in the comments.

I Can’t Think of a Good Reason to Upgrade to Windows 7 — Maybe I’ve Migrated Completely to the Cloud? is a post by Ben from Notebooks.com.

I’m a Computer Science major, and yet I didn’t hear a single word about Windows 7 today, and haven’t really heard anything prior to the launch. Maybe this is a side effect of living in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but still, I’ve seen Mac and Dell booths set up on campus before, and they had no issue getting out here.

Maybe there is good reason for the complete and utter lack of Windows 7 recognition or excitement. While I could pick up a copy of Windows 7 for a very reasonable $30 (as a university student), I can’t really think of any reason to do so. I feel as though the only people who were aware of the Window 7 launch here were folks like these.

On-Campus Windows 7 Presence is Nonexistent on Launch Day is a post by Ben from Notebooks.com.