Besides Windows Classic, another popular question when a new version of Windows is announced is whether or not the “Add Fonts” dialog is there. In fact this is such a quirk it’s the first and one of the top problems on Aero Taskforce. Well, I’m both glad and proud to say that the “Add Fonts” dialog is no longer there. In addition, there are also a number of font management improvements in Windows 7 worth mentioning.

As you see from above, the fonts folder now actually previews font live from the thumbnails. Each font’s thumbnail has 3 characters of it’s alphabet displayed on the icon. This is a great way to quickly glance through the styles of fonts available without resorting to furiously scrolling through Photoshop.

Fonts in a combined set will also no longer take up five different slots, instead, appearing as one font (for example Calibri) which you can double click to dive into.

Windows 7 is also intelligent about toggling off and on fonts when required. By “hiding” fonts, they are still technically installed in your OS but not enabled to applications, this reduces the number of fonts to scroll through and also memory. First, Windows 7 will automatically hide fonts based on regional settings, but it will also allow you to show and hide them manually.

There’s also a new font in the pre-beta build of Windows 7. It’s called Gabriola and it’s a beautiful script font with support for a wide variety of advanced OpenType functionalities.

Technologically, with the introduction of DirectWrite there is also better support for text rendering in terms of non-pixel-bound fonts and YDirection antialiasing.

Once in a while, we all leave our lairs to use the laptop in alien environments commonly known as the “outdoors”. One of the forces of evil we face outdoors is of course the sun who wrecks havoc on our fragile LCD displays.

One of the new subsystems Windows 7 adds are sensors, creatively called “Windows Sensors”. Through this, Windows 7 will add native support for light sensors where it can help optimize the user experience based on the amount of ambient light in both the operating system and third-party applications.

The cornerstone of this new subsystem is native support for ambient light sensors (ALS) through a generic class driver. Many laptops today already ship with ALS, for example the new Dell Latitude E-series, however all of them require a manufacturer-specific driver. The new class driver in Windows 7 will enable OEMs to just connect the ALS and not worry about drivers.

At the most basic level, Windows 7 has the “adaptive brightness” feature built into the operating system. Whereas Dell ships its own application today for Vista, Windows 7 can automatically control the brightness of the screen backlight based on the available ambient brightness detected.

Where this reaches a whole new level is building “light aware applications”. Imagine an application interface that changes based on how bright or dark the environment is, making it easier to read and use. Microsoft recently published a whitepaper “Implementing Light-Aware UI by Using the Windows Sensor and Location Platform” which explains a few methods developers can make their applications light-aware.

One way applications can become more usable under extreme light is via scaling. By enlarging text and the user interface, content can be more legible and interactable without users having to squint to see through the glare.

An example of this in practice is Outlook scaled up when under sunlight. This of course is not an accurate comparison as the the display brightness is maximized in the right photo.

The other way applications can adapt is changing color. Above is the default color scheme for this mapping application.

Under direct sunlight, the application could change its user-interface to minimize detail and use only heavy contrasted colors so it can be easily differentiated.

On the other hand if the user is in a dark environment at night, then the application can adjust its interface not to blind the user with a second sun.

In practice, this is what the map looks light in a real world direct sunlight environment without and with the color optimizations. Pretty effective heh.

If you’ve never seen Hillel Cooperman’s presentation “Getting Users to Fall in Love with Your Software” from PDC 2003 for what was then Windows Longhorn, then you’re missing out. Fast forward five years to PDC 2008, Samuel Moreau gave an updated but very similar presentation in motive but today titled “Design principles for Windows 7“.

In summary, Samuel argues people don’t buy Windows for Windows but for the rich variety of software. Therefore it is a shared responsibility between third party developers to ensure the overall experience of Windows is all about making people successful.

The first principle when designing for Windows 7 is to “reduce concepts to increase confidence”. What users shouldn’t do is blame themselves when they don’t feel confident about Windows. The solution is to reduce the number of duplicate “concepts”.

For example in this Windows Vista screenshot, there are 6 Outlook items on the screen. Desktop, start menu, quick launch, taskbar, system tray (twice).

In this Windows 7 example, it has been reduced to just one item. Of course, the desktop and start menu are arguably customized but it is also recommended developers don’t artificially place their icons there.

The second principle is “small things matter, good and bad”. Basically, lots of small things, seen by lots of people a lot of the time builds up. This of course can be either good or bad.

The examples he gave includes this Windows Vista window of a folder of picture. Here, the command (blue) bar draws a lot of attention and the border around photos take up a lot of valuable screen estate.

In Windows 7, more focus are placed on pictures rather than the chrome. To do this, the command bar is lightly colored. Borders are removed but the padding has actually been increased. The result is a fraction more pictures displayed for the same window size.

Samuel also talks about “delights” in the user experience. The example he gives is “color hot-track” in the new superbar. This was such a delight that in their usability study they received this type of feedback.

The third principle is “solve distractions, not discoverability”. Samuel draws a connection between software and kids, always calling for attention and don’t have any manners.

For example, in Windows 7, jump lists are activated by right clicking the icons in the taskbar.

However in early prototypes, they had a split button which activated jump lists. The problem with this alternative is that it displayed too many arrows on the taskbar area. The small hit area was also difficult to target. To switch to the right-click solution, the designers had to overcome their fears and be confident in users being able to discover the functionality.

The fourth principle is “time matters: build for people on the go”. It doesn’t matter how beautiful your application is, but if it’s dog slow, it doesn’t really matter.

In contrast, to change shared printers in Windows Vista took as many as 30 to 40 steps whereas they focused on this scenario in Windows 7 to reduce this to 3 to 5 steps.

The fifth principle is “value the full lifecycle of the experience”.

This principle states the entire experience, not just when using the application but from install to uninstall or upgrade should be looked at.

The last but not least principle is “be great at look and do”.

The example Samuel provides is that when connecting a phone to the computer, it shouldn’t be just another “generic device”. In Windows 7, the product icon shines through the interface to make users proud of their device.

Now let’s hope the developers will listen.

For everyone who hasn’t seen Boku before, this is a Microsoft Research developed game for the XBOX 360 (and presumably PC too) aimed at kids to teach them about programming via a entertaining and casual manner.

The last time this was shown was at TechFest in 2007 where it was still in pre-beta. Today at the last keynote of PDC 2008, Boku was shown again in a more advanced state. It looks several folds better and seemed to be a lot of fun. Check out this gallery of screenshots I took.

The hardware required to run Ubuntu depends on what kind of system you want to set up. A very minimal system that runs a textual (command line) interface and has very few software packages installed requires very different hardware from a system that runs a GUI, has many installed packages, and supports visual effects. Use the Alternate CD if you are installing Ubuntu on a system with less than 320 megabytes of RAM. If you want to run visual effects on the system, see gentoowiki.com/HARDWARE_Video_Card_Support_Under_XGL for a list of supported graphics cards.

A network connection is invaluable for keeping Ubuntu up-to-date. A sound card is nice to have for multimedia applications. If you are installing Ubuntu on old or minimal hardware and want to run a GUI, consider installing Xubuntu (www.xubuntu.org), as it provides a lightweight desktop and uses system resources more efficiently than Ubuntu does.

RAM (memory). An extremely minimal textual (command line) system requires 32 megabytes of RAM. A standard desktop system requires 320 megabytes, although you may be able to use less if you install Xubuntu. Installing Ubuntu from a live session requires 320 megabytes. Use the textual installer if the system has less than 320 megabytes of RAM. Linux makes good use of extra memory: The more memory a system has, the faster it runs. Adding memory is one of the most cost-effective ways you can speed up a Linux system.

CPU. Ubuntu Linux requires a minimum of a 200-megahertz Pentium-class processor or the equivalent AMD or other processor for textual mode and at least a 400-megahertz Pentium II processor or the equivalent for graphical mode.

Hard disk space. The amount of hard disk space Ubuntu requires depends on which edition of Ubuntu Linux you install, which packages you install, how many languages you install, and how much space you need for user data (your files). The operating system typically requires 2–8 gigabytes, although a minimal system can make due with much less space. Installing Ubuntu from a live session requires 4 gigabytes of space on a hard disk.

BIOS setup. Modern computers can be set to boot from a CD/DVD or hard disk. The BIOS determines the order in which the system tries to boot from each device. You may need to change this order: Make sure the BIOS is set up to try booting from the CD/DVD before it tries to boot from the hard disk.

CMOS. CMOS is the persistent memory that stores hardware configuration information. To change the BIOS setup, you need to edit the information stored in CMOS. When the system boots, it displays a brief message about how to enter System Setup or CMOS Setup mode. Usually you need to press Del or F2 while the system is booting. Press the key that is called for and move the cursor to the screen and line that deal with booting the system. Generally there is a list of three or four devices that the system tries to boot from; if the first attempt fails, the system tries the second device, and so on. Manipulate the list so that the CD/DVD is the first choice, save the list, and reboot.

Source of Information : A Practical Guide to Ubuntu Linux