On the Subject of Something

Just a brief post on Windows 7 and why I intend to upgrade or better yet, do a clean install.



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Win7 has several built in features that increase productivity for me and make getting around much easier.

Below is a list of features I could think off of the top of my head that are useful:

+The jumplist for the explorer icon is extremely useful when you put shortcuts there.
+The ability to open a new window on a program by middle-clicking the icon on the taskbar.
+The search now takes up the entire start menu, easier for long items. Aero peek has turned out to be surprisingly useful. As well as the show desktop with a click feature.
+Also, Win7 on the same exact machine (on an even smaller hdd partition) is faster than Vista hands down and runs into less 'momentary slowdowns' (i.e. opening up an explorer window and waiting for contents to load).
+Win7 has been able to find drivers automatically and install them for all my hardware except an obscure audio driver, which it found but didn't install the software that makes it more useful. It even found the drivers for my IR reader and gave the correct and up to date download link from the company's website. All in all, the driver and other update experience has been greatly streamlined and more reliable.
+The thumbnail preview that you can actually highlight over to bring up the window (forget the official name). Very useful, especially when having many word, pdfs or other files open. Plus, the little close button is incredibly useful.
+Recently install program on bottom of MRU list.
+Little flyout menu to drag notification area icons to.
+Bigger taskbar buttons (I don't care if it is supposed to be for touch screen or that you can do something kind of similar in Vista (regedit, though it looks nasty)) helps a ton for quick switching, less a change of missing.
+Devices and Printers is useful, as are some improvements to the PC monitoring tools.
+WiFi menu saves time, two clicks without needing to open a separate dialog.
+If a program is pinned to the taskbar, always opens in the same location spatially to other programs. Especially useful since I had the taskbar set to auto hide.
+Homegroup, great addition, haven't tested it out as much as I would like.
+Jumplist, especially for programs like Excel, Word, E-Prime, Opera, or basically any program where I open many files and need to go back and access one, don't need to wait for the program to open to select a recent file or navigate to the file. Also, loading up inPrivate browsing from jumplist.
-Once devs start using it more, going to be amazing.
+Ditto to the explorer jumplist and its MRU folders.
[EDIT]
+How could I forget, Dragging a window to the edge and it fills half the screen, perfect (yeah, there is a Vista program to do this, but not as quickly and is buggy). Wish they would add the same feature for horizontal (top or bottom) or quarter screen (drag to an edge) stuff.
[/EDIT]
+I'll add more as I think of them.

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So yeah, there are a lot of small things in Win7 that may not look like big improvements, but which I have assimilated so much into my actions of getting around that there are many I don't notice (or forget they are in Vista until I switch back to test some stuff and find myself stifled).

The 'on the taskbar looks like the dock, bad UI decision' crowd need to navigate the taskbar properties menu and turn off 'Always combine, hide labels' to 'Never combine' or 'Combine when full'. Once that is done, the taskbar is much more useful.

Some people say that this could have been an SP, I would not agree. Furthermore, one of the main reasons they kept the kernel model 6.x was to make it so that a ton of compatibility issues didn't appear (as some programs search for the kernel number before doing stuff), if I remember correctly. Win7 has a lot under the hood as well, but I wish Microsoft had decided to drop the price, but the quality of the OS so far is astounding.

Those who say that the launch may go bad, I wonder where they are getting the data from. I am unsure how the RTM will suddenly not support everything the RC has been supporting quite smoothly. Microsoft is being smart this time around, less talk and more delivery, though I want Expose-like feature built in rather than having to use a 3rd party, same with multiple desktops, they had a powertoys in xp (if I remember correctly).

All in all, at least for me, this is easily a worthy upgrade. The $50 (or depending, may go Pro or Ultimate) will easily be made up for in increased productivity, the RC has already saved me tons of time.

Here is a basic design I submitted for the EDGE Design Challenge #4.

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Space-Time: Possibilities

-Outline-

Space-Time: Possibilities splits the screen in half. The top screen will have the character moving through space (Space-World), while the bottom screen has the character moving through time (Time-World). The game would allow players to experience a single player adventure to explore both space and time to find events, locations, and clues as to how this ability was formed and how it might be extended (more dimensions of time possibly) for the race that controls it.

At the same time the game will offer 4 player wireless competition, allowing for fast paced multiplayer that allows the players to use cerebral methods to trap and take out other players in both space and time. The use of the music in a player’s library to set the time limit for matches (and add background music) is possible, while calendar events can be use to cause automatic Time-Walls to be erected on other players. The iPhone can be used for chat during game sessions with team-mates or in the lobby, but limited to converse battery, also phone can be used to leave messages – both spoken and SMS - in both Space-World and Time-World for others, such as advising a partner to plant a Time-Bomb at a certain point in time.

-iPhone screen representation of design-


-Concept-
The player will control the action on two planes. The upper plane would be a 3D representation of the world. The bottom screen would be a 2D representation of time (the people in the world of this game only know how to use the 2D realm of time . . . for now).

Upper Screen, Space-World:

The upper screen utilizes the multi-touch to control the speed of the character, click on locations in the 3D world to move to them, pick up items, attack enemies, etc. By combining movements of both thumbs (or other fingers), players can also activate tools and other features.

Lower Screen, Time-World:

Utilizing multi-touch, the accelerometer, and the six axis, the player navigates the ball, known as Time, through the level on the lower screen. The player can flick any part of the lower screen up to make Time jump, while tilting the phone side to side will move Time forward and back. The accelerometer can alternately be used for the flick feature, by flicking the iPhone upwards.

In Time-World the player does not have to progress to the end in a linear manner as is the usual case with time, and the obstacles in Time-World represent events in Space-World. Players can make events pass in Space-World without actually being in the correct place by utilizing the objects in Time-World.

-Goals/Objectives-

Single Player:
There will be a general story exploring how this race of beings came to hold the power to move about in both time and space. Then you will attempt to move forward and back, up and down in Time-World in an attempt to find events while in Space-World you will try to find clues around those particular events and around different locations.

Multiplayer:
Four player, wireless multiplayer between iPhones. The music in each players iPhone can be used to set the time limit (average of all players music selected) if wanted, and that music will play in the background. Players can move about the map (due to memory constraints not the whole world like in single player) in both Space-World and Time-World.

The purpose will be to find and eliminate the other players. The main mode will be Deathmatch or Team Deathmatch, with other modes like Puzzle, Speed Run available.

-Multiplayer Tools-
These are either powerups or features that are part of the multiplayer.
*Time-Wall: The ability to erect walls or barriers in Time-World around other players, either in the future or the past, trapping the player in time and effectively placing time limits on what other players can do before they have to do the opposite direction in time.
*Time-Bomb: Plant this bomb in Time-World to have other player run into in either world, depending if they are in the right time. Example, if a player wanders around Space-World and ignores Time-World, they can run into the bomb regardless of location in Space-World due to time continuing to pass in Time-World.
*Time-Mine: Other players cannot see the weapon, can only feel how close it is by the strength of the iPhone vibration. Works the same as a Time-Bomb otherwise.
*Space-Bomb: Plant this bomb in Space-World to have other player run into in either world, depending if they are in the right location in Space-World.
*Time-Event: Play someone right before they have an appointment scheduled on the calendar (whether they have to go or not), so this creates Time-Walls in effect for the opposing player. Allows other players time to hide and rest in the future, during the event.
*Space-Time: Switches for the opposing players for a time which screen is Space-World and which is Time-World, e.g. Space-World now controls like Time-World and vis-versa.
*Space-Time, Message: Utilizes iPhone’s mic to leave a message either in Time-World or in Space-World or utilizing a combination of both to make it harder to find for people who are not your partners.
*Space-Time, Rewind/Fast-forward: This allows the player to move back or forward in Time-World and have their Space-World avatar retrace their exact steps (including jumps, gun fire, etc.).
-Other tools planned, not enough space to detail them all. Most of these tools will be available in the single player mode as well.