WPF and extreme user interfaces like StreetSmart edge™

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), introduced with Windows Vista, is an state-of-the-art presentation system for building Windows client and web-hosted applications with visually stunning user experiences. Curiously enough, the encyclopedic books about Vista and Windows 7, like the traditional Resource Kits, mention this technology in passing, mainly because it is part of the .Net Framework and intended mostly for developers, as its cousin Silverlight. One of these developers, Projekt202, an Austin, Texas, company, which without a doubt knows a great deal of usability and UI design, used WPF controls in the design of Charles Schwab's StreetSmart edge™, a very intuitive online trading application that has received good reviews since its release at the end of 2010. It runs in Windows 2000 and up and also in Mac 10.3 or higher.

Time to upgrade to Internet Explorer 8

That is, to IE RC1 (release candidate 1), a step ahead of the Beta version we installed back in the summer of 2008 and a step behind of the final, "gold" version. Already good reviews are coming out specially in the area of protection against malware. While still a big user of Firefox, I believe I will be using both intensely specially for their great developer add-ons. On the other hand, I will consider to completely remove my copy of Safari, apparently not fairing well in the 'browser wars.'

UAC in Windows Vista: simply a non-issue

It sounds already like a broken record. Users and IT "experts" whining and complaining about one of the key security features of Windows Vista: User Account Control (UAC). And over this subject there's considerable contention: some are in favor and many "don't like it". My opinion regarding this is clear: UAC is a non-issue. I know users have to use UAC to protect themselves from malware (spyware, Trojan horses and viruses), and the objective of UAC is simple: to ask for elevated privileges to install software or hardware, change system settings, etc. not always legit, but triggered precisely by malware. In Windows Vista everybody runs as a standard user, including members of the Administrators groups and that's why even when your are logged as Administrator you will still get the UAC prompt. At any rate, much ado about nothing! (UAC is however, from a technical viewpoint, a very interesting and crucial subject in bringing out the best of Windows Vista and 7).

2008 Summer Olympics streaming over the Internet. Easy.

Who's in charge of the 2008 world’s largest sports-related IT contract? Who takes care of 17 days of competition, 28 sports with 38 disciplines and 302 events in 7 cities? That was the original idea of this post but I ended up instead learning about how Internet TV is in full bloom as seen in the NBC Olympics Web site (run by Microsoft), which rivals The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games (in 5 languages). For the NBC Olympics site Microsoft passed over the ubiquitous Adobe's Flash to run its own Silverlight technology in a sort of "coming out party" (see how video is streamed from China to your PC). In addition, you can download and watch full length Olympic events through Windows Media Center as shown here, also available for 64-bit Vista. [Atos Origin is the company in charge of the whole IT operation of these and previous Summer Games. Microsoft has a strategic global alliance agreement with them. I did not find out to what extent Microsoft is part of this huge IT operation, though].

All work and no play makes anybody dull

Try your hand at some of the games included included in Vista. There are four new games (not sure if all Vista versions include them): Chess Titans, Mahjong Titans, InkBall and Purble Place. And, exclusively for Vista Ultimate, Hold'Em. The other five classic games have been updated with new graphics and sounds: Solitaire, FreeCell, Minesweeper, Spider Solitaire, and Hearts. And for each game, in the Games Explorer window (press WinKey and then type games, to get there), the performance requirements are shown. Apparently, they're not too demanding when it comes to resources judging by the recommended ratings of the Windows Experience Index. These games are a far cry from the games you found in previous versions of Windows. Go to Games for Windows Vista, if you want to learn more. (By the way, I should upgrade my game skills from the '90s... )

Windows Mobile Device Center

For many years I was an avid Palm user (7 years, to be exact) and owner of at least 5 of those cool gadgets mostly because of an impressive screen resolution. Only when I found a handheld device running Windows with a decent screen, like the Dell Axim (this one is three years old) with an amazing 640 x 480 screen hard to find anywhere else, even today, I made the move. Windows Mobile, the OS that used to be called Windows CE and then PocketPC, is way more interesting and useful than the non-multitasking Palm OS. On the other hand, in Windows XP the synchronization process, usually linked to Outlook, is made through a kind of moody and always bland application called ActiveSync. In Windows Vista, ActiveSync is gone for good and replaced by Windows Mobile Device Center, a nicer, more useful, feature-rich application. Do I want to use ActiveSync again? Not if I can help it.

The SideBar and its Gadgets

Who doesn't like convenience? When you are in the middle of work, creating a Web site, while replying to your e-mail or being creative in Photoshop, with many windows open at a time, the last thing you need to do is to click the Start button and try to find some application you need right away. Windows SideBar to the rescue. This Vista feature and its mini-applications called Gadgets can do the trick for you. You choose from the selection of Gadgets that comes with the operating system: Calendar, Clock, Contacts, CPU meter (shown), Currency, Feed Headlines, Puzzle, Slide Show, Stocks or Weather (shown). Or you can go to the online gallery and get a cool "launcher" like the one shown, where I have quick links to my favorite tools and programs. And by the way, another tip: take advantage of the Windows key (WinKey, shown above). Since the times of Windows 95 we use WinKey + E = Explorer, WinKey + F = Find, WinkKey + D = Show Desktop, etc. And of course, pressing WinKey by itself is the equivalent of clicking on Start/Windows logo, from wherever, regardless, even if the Taskbar is hidden. But in Windows Vista you have an additional feature: All the Quick Launch items in the Taskbar, from left to right, are assigned a consecutive number from 1 to 9. If you have the Quick Launch activated now, press the WinKey and, say, 2. What do you see? Try it. It's different for any computer configuration. Do you understand now what I mean by convenience?

Want to see what's under the hood?

Then, try the "Windows Reliability and Performance Monitor" that provides tools for analyzing system performance. This monitor is one of the many features that make me love Windows Vista and give power users (all right, PC geeks) more power and control, although regular users will seldom have to use this Monitor. The Monitor consists of three great tools: 1) the Resource Overiew (which is the home page, by default, shown here), 2) the Performance Monitor, and 3) the Reliability Monitor. The latter offers a System Stability Report with detailed accounts of Software (Un)installs, Application Failures, Hardware Failures, Windows Failures, and Miscellaneous Failures. All of which will help you pinpoint whatever is not right with your system. How do you get there? Open a DOS prompt and type the command "perfmon", or better yet, press the Windows Key and the R (run) and type "perfmon", or if you definitely don't like to type commands, the old-fashioned way, go to Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Performance Information and Tools > Advanced Tools (on the left column) > Open Reliability and Performance Monitor. Enjoy! [This or a similar feature, under another name, I'm sure, I always saw and admired in Linux (which I used for the first time in the sumer of 2002) and MAC OS].