Windows Blue - the next Windows

It seems like we just got Windows 8 a few months ago. Folks at Microsoft are already working on the next version of Windows called Windows Blue. I guess Windows 9 isn't coming.

I admit that it took me a while to get used to Windows 8 because it feels like there are two operating systems living on a single device. When do you choose one operating system vs. the other? I generally default to the traditional desktop, but I find myself using the Windows 8 apps more. I can't even call these "metro style apps" since the term metro isn't being used or isn't recognized by Microsoft.

Windows Blue is going to be an improvement over Windows 8 and will also be optimized for even better battery life. So, all-day computing will be a reality for those who are always on and computing.

Remember Windows Vista? It launched in 2007. Then, Windows 7 launched in 2009.
Windows 8 launched in 2012.

I predict that we'll see Windows Blue launch in 2014.

Operating system upgrades are a huge headache for IT departments, but we're living in an era where the technology is changing so rapidly that you'll be left behind in a hurry if you can't keep up.

Use VMware Virtualization Software to run your legacy applications

Are you running Windows Vista or Windows 7? Maybe you're run into the problem where you can't run your legacy applications. Or, maybe your old peripheral (e.g., printer, scanner, etc.) isn't working. Fortunately, VMware allows you to run a virtual Windows XP machine on your computer that's running Vista or 7. This way, you can still run those legacy applications and peripherals. That's what I'm doing. I have an old HP LaserJet printer that doesn't work on Windows 7. It's a good printer, so I don't want to throw it away. I'm now printing to that printer using a virtual Windows XP machine.

VMware gives you much more flexibility over the "Windows XP mode" feature that is built into Windows 7.

Testing Windows 7 Service Pack 1 beta and the results are...

The results are actually quite unimpressive. I think that's a good thing and it reflects the fact that Windows 7 is built as a very solid operating system. They took Vista and "fixed it." That's how I look at Windows 7. It's considered a minor upgrade from Windows Vista, but in my mind it's what Windows Vista should have been.

In any case, I'm testing Windows 7 Service Pack 1 beta and I'm finding no significant problems or issues with it. I'm doing this on a PC that's not a mission-critical computer, so I can afford to load the system to see how I might make it crash.

If you're still running Windows XP on your computers, get ready to lose Microsoft support in 2014. That may not seem too far away, but it feels like it's right around the corner when I think about how quickly 2010 is going by. 

Are you still running Windows XP in your office?

If you're still running Windows XP, you should know that Support for Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) will end on July 13, 2010. You really ought to have Service Pack 3 (SP3) if you're running Windows XP. On April 8, 2014, support for all versions of Windows XP will end.

Do you think you'll still be running Windows XP in 2014?

Installing Windows 7 is a breeze

Installing Windows 7 on a relatively new machine is so simple. I can run the DVD, then once I'm done, I simply run Windows Update to find the rest of the drivers I need. Compared to Windows XP, Windows 7 is so much easier to install (as long as you're dealing with a relatively modern computer).

This holiday season, many of you will probably get a new computer. Before you throw out your old one, you may want to run a little experiment. Try installing Windows 7 and see how your old PC runs. You may be pleasantly surprised. That old machine could be used as a server, a backup PC, and much more. It's also a good idea to have an old PC running Windows XP in case you need to use an old peripheral device (although you can use XP Mode in Windows 7, it may simply be easier to use an old PC).

Some of my favorite Windows 7 features

Let me highlight a few of my favorite Windows 7 features. Let me start by explaining that I usually work with two monitors side-by-side when I'm in the office. However, when I'm on the road, I only have a single monitor (which is my laptop screen). How can I get two windows perfectly aligned side-by-side?

• In Windows 7, dragging a window to the right or left edge of your screen resizes the windows so that you can effectively work with two windows side-by-side. (dragging a window to the top edge of the screen maximizes that window)
  
• Preview and close your windows using Aero Peek. In Vista, you can preview, but you can't close your windows using Aero Peek. In Windows 7, you can close those windows. If you hover your mouse over the taskbar, you'll see a few preview windows pop up that show you miniature views of your windows. If you move your mouse into one of these windows, you'll see a tiny red "X" appear at the upper right corner of that mini window. You can effectively close your windows using this feature within Aero Peek.
• When you have multiple applications and windows open, you can rearrange the order of those apps within your taskbar. In the past, the first application you open would be on the far left. Then, the next app would appear to the right of the first one. 

Now, are these features enough to persuade people to upgrade from Vista to Windows 7? Probably not. However, the performance improvement should be the biggest driver for people who are not satisfied with the sluggish performance of Vista.

Windows 7 coming out this month

This month, I should be getting my pre-ordered copy of Windows 7. I've been running the Release Candidate (RC) version of Windows 7 on many of my computers and I'm looking forward to having a permanent operating system so that I don't have to reinstall all my applications, copy my files, etc.

I don't have any computers running Vista anymore. Moving forward, I'll simply run either Windows 7 or XP on all my computers. I wonder how long XP will survive. It's certainly had the longest lifespan in the history of Microsoft's operating systems. I wouldn't be surprised if many computers are still running XP in 5 years.

Over the short term, most hospitals and physician offices using electronic health record (EHR) solutions on PCs running XP will probably stick with XP. If you're starting from scratch and you're about to implement your first EHR, then I would suggest that you run Windows 7.

Windows 7 for only $30 (students only)

If you're a hungry medical student (or college student), then you can get Windows 7 for $30! That's quite a bargain, considering that the rest of us will be paying over $119 for the new Microsoft operating system. To learn more about this deal, visit: http://www.win741.com/

Should you upgrade to Windows 7 if you're currently using Vista? YES!!!

Battery life to increase on Windows 7

I've been testing Windows 7 on several mobile computers, but I'm using the release candidate (RC) version and not the final version. According to some circulating reports, battery life is supposed to increase on laptops/tablets running Windows 7. Based on what I've seen and experienced, I think we'll see an increase compared to Vista. Will Windows 7 really improve battery life compared to XP? I'm not so sure.

It's quite disappointing, but we have not seen significant improvements in mobile battery technology over the past decade. You would think that by now, we'd have devices that have much longer battery life. How will this change over the next 5 to 10 years? We're seeing more efficient processors and better screen technology. When will we see batteries that triple our current run times?

Have you tried Windows 7 yet?

Like many of you, I used to have a PC running Windows Vista. Now, I'm using Windows 7 (Release Candidate version) and eagerly awaiting the public release of Windows 7 this fall. October doesn't seem too far away since we're already half-way through August.

For me, the greatest benefit will be in system efficiency. I'm a multitasker, so I have many windows and applications open at the same time. Vista was simply too slow for my needs, even when I was using a very fast computer. Now with Windows 7, I can be much more productive.

If you haven't tried Windows 7, you really should give it a try. If you're running Vista, you'll definitely want to upgrade this fall.

PC World Magazine

I recently got a free subscription to PC World, so I'll be sharing some of my opinions about the articles I read in the August issue. The cover caught my attention:

How to get the best of Windows 7 without upgrading: coax new life out of Vista and XP

I think that you can still get a lot of good life out of Windows XP, but I would encourage anyone currently using Vista to spend the money and upgrade to Windows 7. It just isn't worth the headache of dealing with all the Vista. Unless Microsoft comes up with a 3rd service pack for Vista that fixes many of the remaining bugs (which won't happen because they now have Windows 7), Vista will suffer a similar fate as Windows ME (remember that operating system?). Windows ME was quickly replaced by Windows XP, a solid OS. Well, Vista is going to get replaced by Windows 7.

Confused about Windows 7 upgrade options?

If you're thinking about performing an upgrade to Windows 7, make sure you understand your options. A few upgrade charts have recently emerged and they may not be too helpful unless you understand what the chart is trying to explain. The bottom line is that you can't directly upgrade from XP to Windows 7 (unless you upgrade to Vista with SP 1, and then upgrade again to Windows 7).

• "In-Place Upgrade" - you can "upgrade" directly on top of your existing operating system. You won't have to reinstall your applications and you keep all your files.
  
• "Custom Install" - clean installation where you'll have to reinstall all your applications.
  

If you're running Vista, then you can easily upgrade to Windows 7. However, you must upgrade to the same version (Home/Basic, Business/Professional, and Ultimate) if you want to use the "in-place upgrade" option. Otherwise, you have to perform a custom install (clean install) and you have to reinstall all your applications.

I'm a big fan of clean installations over upgrades. That's what I'll be doing when I get my disks.

Windows 7 Released To Manufacturing (RTM)

According to multiple sources, Windows 7 has been Released To Manufacturing (RTM) as scheduled. This means that I probably will see my Windows 7 upgrade sometime in October. I've essentially stopped running Vista on all my machines and I'm now running Windows 7 RC. I also have XP on a few of my older machines, but I wonder how long that will last. Since Windows 7 runs fairly well on older machines, I may simply end up switching all my XP machines to Windows 7 (assuming that I can find some good deals on the family pack).

Windows 7: upgrade over Vista or clean install?

I realize that my copy of Windows 7 is only the Release Candidate (RC) version, but I can't imagine that the upgrading feature will improve that much in the final version of Windows 7. If you've been following my blogs, you know that I have a Lenovo Thinkpad X200 Tablet PC. I also have 2 different hard drives, so I decided to do a little experiment. On the first HD, I did a clean install of Windows 7. On the second HD, I loaded Vista, and then upgraded to Windows 7. How can I afford to do all this and maintain my productivity? I can do this at home because I have a few other computers that I can use while I'm running my little experiments.

If you've done many operating system upgrades, you know that you always get better system performance (speed, efficiency, stability, etc.) when you do a clean install. However, if you do a clean install, you have to reinstall all your applications, customize your settings, etc. It can be a real hassle. At the end of the day, you're always better if you do a clean install. An upgrade can cause its share of problems. According to Microsoft, Windows 7 is only considered a "minor upgrade" from Windows Vista. So, you'd think that an upgrade should be relatively straight-forward, no? Perhaps that's the case if you hardly have any applications installed. In my case, I have quite a few and here's what I found:

• Slower overall system performance on the "upgrade" vs. the clean install. Not a surprise.
• Slower boot-up times on the the "upgrade" vs. the clean install. It still boots faster than Vista, but it's about 20 seconds slower compared to the clean install.
• Some funny things happening with the fingerprint reader and touch screen calibration. More to come as I experiment. I realize that many of the drivers may not be ready for this machine. Plus, some of the ThinkVantage utilities are probably not compatible with Win7 at this point.

So, one again: perform a clean install if you can afford to spend the time. Alternatively, you can try the upgrade from Vista and experiment for a few weeks. If you're pleased with the results, you may not know what you're missing. Since ignorance is bliss, don't fix something that's not broken.

Upgrading from XP to Windows 7

If you wish to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7, be prepared to back up all your data, wipe out your hard drive, install a clean version of Windows 7, and reinstall all your applications. You can't "upgrade" directly from XP to Win7 and keep all your files/applications/etc. You can do this from Vista (as long as you have Service Pack 1), but not from XP. So, is it worth upgrading to Win7 if you're using XP? If you're using a mobile computer or a tablet PC, I would say "yes." If you're using a desktop, then I would advise that you stick with XP.

If you're running Windows Vista, you'll definitely want to upgrade to Windows 7 - regardless of whether you're using a laptop or desktop. Just my opinions based on my tests and experiments on over 10 different types of computers ranging from older to newer PCs.

If you're on XP and you don't want to reinstall everything, here's one alternative:

• Upgrade to Vista (you just need a Vista DVD - no key is required (you can leave that field blank when it prompts you for a key) and you can use Vista for 30 days before activating it. Make sure you select the "upgrade" option - otherwise you will have to reinstall all your applications.
  
• After you upgrade to Vista, make sure you install Service Pack 1. You can download this file directly from Microsoft.
  
• Once you're running Vista, there's no need to activate Vista. Simply insert the Windows 7 upgrade disk and proceed to upgrade the OS to Win7. After you do that, you'll need the activation key for Win7.
  

I used this method with the RC disk and it worked fine on an old HP laptop. I was able to retain the applications and files that were originally there when it was running XP.

What's the best feature of Windows 7?

To me, the best feature of Windows 7 is the rapid boot time. On my Lenovo Thinkpad X200 Tablet PC (which originally came with Windows Vista), I get to the log-in screen in 50 seconds from a cold boot! Then it only takes another 10 seconds for the desktop to appear. These are amazing boot-up times! Win7 has many other nice features, but I think this is an amazing improvement. Like Vista, the resuming from sleep is instantaneous. Resuming from hibernate takes only 25 seconds!

Here are the specs on my Thinkpad X200 Tablet PC:

• Intel Core 2 Duo CPU L9400 running @1.86GHz
• Processor score of 5.2 on the Windows Experience Index
  
• 4 GB of RAM
• 32-bit Windows 7 Ultimate
• Hard drive spinning at 5400 RPM (imagine what would happen if you had an SSD!)
  

So, I repeated this experiment on an older machine. I took an HP dv1550 laptop that is a few years old. This machine originally came with Windows XP. Here are the specs:

• Intel Pentium M processor running @1.60GHz
• Processor score of 3.0 on the Windows Experience Index
  
• 2 GB of RAM
• 32-bit Windows 7 Ultimate
• Hard drive spinning at 4200 RPM
  

The cold boot time was 1 min 10 sec (before I saw the desktop). I am very impressed at how well Win7 runs on older machines.

I finally ran this experiment on my Samsung Q1 Ultra UMPC (ultra-mobile PC). This guy has a really slow processor (800 MHz). Here are the specs:

• Intel processor running @800MHz (roughly 1/2 the speed of the old HP above)
  
• Processor score of 1.5 on the Windows Experience Index
  
• 2 GB of RAM (yes, I upgraded the RAM to 2 GB)
  
• 32-bit Windows 7 Ultimate
• Hard drive spinning at 4200 RPM

Cold boot to desktop was 55 seconds! I've also installed it on a few older desktops and the cold startup times all seem to be very similar - roughly around 60 seconds. Way to go Microsoft!

Why use a tablet PC in the medical world?

A physician friend asked me the other day, "Why do you use a tablet PC? What do you find so appealing about them?" This is a loaded question. After all, why would anyone spend extra cash to purchase a tablet PC if you can get a much less expensive laptop that has virtually the same (or better) capabilities?

Let me try to answer this with a few bullet points:

• I've been a pen-based computer user since the late 90's when the Apple Newton was around. Keep that in perspective as you read these next points.
• I love to "ink" or write on the screen and draw figures and diagrams when I'm taking notes. I use different color pens and I can easily circle things and draw arrows to indicate relationships and to mock up flow diagrams. You can't do that on a laptop.
• When in the hospital/clinic/office setting, the tablet interface is much more personable and less intrusive. I can comfortably hold the tablet in my hand/arm and I can look at the person in the face. People who use a keyboard are often fixated on looking at the screen.
  
• I can use the tablet when I'm standing, so it provides tremendous flexibility. With the tablet, you can take notes while you're standing at the bedside.
  
• Convertible tablets are notebooks, so I get a full keyboard when I need it. Or, I can swivel the screen and draw/ink on the screen.
• When you're in a corporate meeting, you can easily get away with a tablet. It's much more difficult to get away with a laptop.
• You can be much more efficient when you're navigating an electronic health record (EHR) that's optimized for pen-based computing. You can click on a number of points/buttons so much faster with the pen compared to the mouse. Try it and you'll see what I'm talking about.
• By using handwriting recognition, I'm forced to constantly improve and maintain a certain quality of handwriting clarity. I can't afford to let my writing deteriorate since I depend on the handwriting recognition that's built into Windows Vista or Windows 7. (XP also has recognition, but it doesn't compare to Vista or 7).
• You can use your tablet PC to show patients diagrams, pictures, etc. It's so easy to view something on a slate - which is why e-readers like the Amazon Kindle are so popular.
  
• I do a lot of reading on my tablet PC. It's so natural to use the pen to scroll and "flip" through pages. I can comfortably hold the tablet in my hands and read it like a book. Who needs the Amazon Kindle when you have a full PC in your hands?
• I don't travel very much these days, but a tablet PC can be invaluable if you're on a plane and the person in front of you reclines and diminishes your workspace. You can either place the laptop directly on your lap and do your best to continue working, or you can pick up a convertible tablet and hold it in your hands and continue working in pen-mode.
  

So, there are some of the reasons why I use a tablet PC. We see drug representatives using tablet PCs to detail physicians with drug charts, animations, graphs, and other sources of multimedia. The tablet PC is a powerful interface and when you get a convertible tablet, you combine the best of two worlds.

Pre-Order Windows 7 for $50 and $100

You can pre-order Windows 7 upgrades for $50 (Home Premium) and $100 (Professional). These prices won't last long and availability is limited to a finite quantity. After July 11, these upgrade prices will double! Home Premium will be $120 and Professional will be $200.

There are no early-bird discounts for Windows 7 Ultimate, so if that's the version you'll have to wait. Not sure about which version to get? Click on this chart and you'll see what each version offers. For my needs, Home Premium will suffice since I can do most of the rest via other means.

If you're fed up with Vista-related headaches like I am, get these upgrades now! I'm placing my order from Amazon.com

Free upgrades to Windows 7 for HP customers

HP Offers Customers Free Upgrade to Microsoft Windows 7.

Customers who purchase an HP PC starting today (June 25) may be eligible for the upgrade program. Following general availability of Windows 7 on Oct. 22, qualifying customers will receive the Windows 7 upgrade and an upgrade utility disk with a step-by-step guide for installation at their convenience.

If you don't want to be stuck with Vista, then go for the upgrade to Windows 7. I don't think you'll have any regrets. Want to read the HP press release? Click here.

Growing headaches with Microsoft Vista

I'm having more and more problems with Microsoft Vista these days. I've been running XP and Windows 7 on most of my machines, but my Thinkpad X200 tablet is mainly running Vista Business. I was running Windows 7 earlier, but I had too many problems with the ThinkVantage utilities. Until Lenovo releases Windows 7 drivers and utilities, I will stay with Vista.