John Peter Petrucci (born July 12, 1967) is an American guitarist and songwriter best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. Along with his bandmate Mike Portnoy, he has produced all Dream Theater albums since their 1999 release, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. Petrucci was named as the third player on the G3 tour six times, more than any other invited guitarist. GuitarOne ranked him as the 9th Greatest Shredder of All Time.

Biography

Petrucci first played guitar at the age of eight when he noticed his sister (who was taking organ lessons at the time) was allowed to stay up past her bed time to practice. He soon dropped it when his plan failed. At age 12, he began playing again when he was invited into the band of his friend Kevin Moore, who would later become the first keyboardist of Dream Theater. Petrucci began to practice in earnest. He was a largely self-taught guitarist who developed his skills through attempts to match the skill of his idols, who included Steve Morse, Steve Howe, Steve Vai, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Al Di Meola, Alex Lifeson and Allan Holdsworth. He has jokingly referred to his guitar idols as "the Steves and the Als".^[1]

Petrucci attended Berklee College of Music in Boston with childhood friend John Myung (bass), where they met future bandmate Mike Portnoy (drums). These three in addition to another childhood friend of Petrucci and Myung, Kevin Moore (Keyboards), formed the band Majesty, which would later become Dream Theater.

While Dream Theater is what Petrucci is most commonly associated with, he is also a part of the project band Liquid Tension Experiment and has appeared as a guest on several records by other artists such as the Age of Impact album by the Explorer's Club.

Petrucci has released a guitar instructional video, "Rock Discipline", which covers warm up exercises, exercises to avoid injury while playing, alternate picking, sweep picking, chords and other techniques for developing one's guitar playing. Petrucci also has a book named "Guitar World presents John Petrucci's Wild Stringdom", which was compiled from columns he wrote for Guitar World magazine, bearing that same title.

In 2001 he was invited by Joe Satriani and Steve Vai to tour with them on the popular G3 guitar tour, which exposed him to a massive number of new fans and inspired him to record a solo album. Suspended Animation was released on March 1, 2005, and made available for order from his web site. He also appeared on the 2005, 2006 and 2007 G3 tours.

Petrucci also wrote and recorded two instrumental soundtrack songs for a Sega Saturn game titled Digital Pinball: Necronomicon. Each track is roughly two minutes long and they are simply titled "Prologue" and "Epilogue". Petrucci is an avid Sega Saturn gamer, and has revealed in interviews that he never tours without one.^{[citation needed]}

In 2007, John Petrucci went on G3 tour again, this time with Joe Satriani and Paul Gilbert.

Dream Theater bandmate Jordan Rudess revealed in an interview that Petrucci is a practicing Catholic. Petrucci is married to Rena Sands, a guitarist in the all-female heavy metal band Meanstreak, and they have 3 children, Samantha and Reny (who are twins), and Kiara. He is also an avid fan of bodybuilding and dedicates much of his off time to weight training.

John Petrucci won the "Guitarist of the Year 2007" award recently in Total Guitar Magazine.

He is a voting member of NARAS.

Musical style

Petrucci is respected for his variety of guitar styles and skills. One of the most notable of these is his high speed alternate picking which, as he himself claims, requires a "strong sense of synchronization between the two [playing] hands." He has performed alongside Joe Satriani and Steve Vai on their annual G3 tour 6 times.

Equipment - Studio Albums

• When Dream and Day Unite
• Images and Words - Triaxis, Marshall JMP1 for Metropolis Pt.1, Roland JC120 for cleans.
• Awake - Only album to be quadruple layered. 2 takes using Dual Rectifier, 2 takes using Mark IIC+
• A Change of Seasons - Mark IIC+, Mark IV, TriAxis
• Falling Into Infinity - Rectifier, Mark IIC+, Mark IV, TriAxis
• Scenes From A Memory - Mark IIC+, Mark IV
• Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - Mark IIC+, Dual Rectifier
• Train Of Thought - Road King Series I
• Octavarium - Road King Series I & II, Lone Star
• Systematic Chaos - Lone Star, Mark IV
• Black Clouds & Silver Linings - Lone Star, Mark IV, Mark IIC+, Mark V
• Suspended Animation (solo cd) - Roadking Series 1, Mark IIC+
• Liquid Tension Experiment - TriAxis, 2:90 power amp
• Liquid Tension Experiment 2 - Mark IIC+, Mark IV

wikipedia.org

The BOSS GT-8 is a powerful multi-effects processor which was preceeded by the GT-6 and followed by the GT-10. Introduced on 20 Jan 2005 at Winter NAMM 2005, it was the first to feature two COSM engines allowing different effects and modulations to be run on two different modeled amplifiers simultaneously.

Appearance

The GT-8 is framed in a black and grey, sturdy metal box. It has 5 footswitches, expression pedal, 15 knobs, 32 buttons and one dial. It has green, backlit 2×16 character LCD for texts and two digit 7 segment LED display for bank number.

The construction is robust and solid. The device weights 4.8kg.

Features

Dual amplifiers

One of the most notable features in the device is the dual COSM amplifier emulation. Which allows the user to combine the sounds of two different guitar amplifiers in several different methods.

• Single - Only one amp is audible, but can be switched with a footswitch or by other method. Because there is two separate chips for processing, the switch is fast and doesn't have any audible glitch.
• Dual Mono - The signal from both amps is mixed and the mix level can be controlled for best blend.
• Dual Stereo - Each amp is sent to different stereo channel. Either channel can have time delay applied for deeper stereo effect.
• Picking Dynamics - The mix ratio is decided by how hard player picks guitar strings. When picking softly the amp A is used and when picking hard, the amp B is used.

Effects

The processor has 13 effect blocks which can be set in any order, using the "effect chain" feature. Each effect block can be disabled.

The effect blocks are:

• Compressor
• Wah-Wah
• Overdrive/Distortion
• Preamp/Speaker
• Equalizer
• Noise suppressor
• Delay
• Chorus
• Reverb
• Effect 1
• Effect 2
• Foot volume
• External loop

The Effect 1 and 2 blocks have 16 shared effects which can be used in both blocks. and Effect 2 block has 11 additional effects which can be used only on the second block.

The external loop effect relays the signal out of the processor, so external effect pedals can be used. Because the effect blocks can be freely arranged some artists have found it a good idea to use external loop for real guitar amplifier head.

Wikipedia.org

Print quality is impressive for a model this inexpensive, but its ink costs are high.

HP's Photosmart C4680 color inkjet multifunction printer (MFP)--$100 at this writing--is priced to look like a bargain. Given its costly inks and slow speeds, however, it's best suited for low-volume use.

The C4680 covers just the basics. It has a USB connector but no ethernet or media-card slots. Its single input tray maxes out at 80 sheets. It has no output tray: Prints or copies simply drop on top of the input stack-to a maximum of 15 sheets, according to HP. The input-tray panel unfolds awkwardly and noisily; HP says this is normal, but I thought it made the unit feel badly constructed. Manual duplexing is available with on-screen prompts from the printer driver.

The Photosmart C4680's best attributes are its control panel and support software. A 1.5-inch LCD displays menu options. You select your choices using touch-sensitive, backlit LCD "buttons." HP's excellent Solution Center software, which loads automatically during the standard installation, provides a simple and streamlined interface for printer status, tasks, and projects.

The Photosmart C4680's output quality is better than its speed. Plain, black text looked crisp. Color photos showed a small degree of banding and graininess but otherwise varied from washed-out fleshtones to precise contours and shadowing in inanimate objects. Scanned output showed sharp detail and colors that were a little dark.

But it's just not very fast: In our tests, using the printer's default ("normal") mode, the machine managed just 7.4 pages per minute (ppm) printing plain-black text and 2.3 ppm printing graphics--below the average of other inkjet MFPs we've tested, and far short of HP's claims of 29 ppm using just black ink and 23 ppm using all four colors.

The Photosmart C4680's biggest drawback by far, though, is the cost of its ink. Using standard-sized black and tricolor cartridges (lasting 200 and 165 pages, respectively), the C4680 costs more than nearly every other color inkjet MFP we've reviewed to date: 7.5 cents per page for black and 19.6 cents per page for a four-color printout. The high-yield supplies are small consolation: A 600-page black costs $35 or 5.8 cents per page; a 440-page tricolor costs $42 or 9.3 cents per page, making a four-color page cost 15.1 cents.

The Photosmart C4680 would be a decent choice for a light-duty home MFP, given its nice output and friendly controls. However, if you print or copy a lot, look for a faster machine with much lower ink prices.

pcworld.com

• 

A lush display, unmatched upgradability, and extras such as an HDTV tuner, a four-in-one remote, and a 2-megapixel Webcam make the A600 all-in-one hard to resist.

No question about it: Lenovo's IdeaCentre A600 looks unique. The combination of a sharp and angular design, an ultrathin chassis, and a 21.5-inch display definitely stands out against the more traditional "one big flat panel" look that competing all-in-one desktops offer. And at $1149 (as of 7/2/09), the A600 is seriously competitive, especially since it's the most upgradable all-in-one PC we've seen.

The Lenovo's 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7450 processor has one of the slower clock speeds for all-in-ones larger than 20 inches. Surprisingly, that doesn't have as big of an impact on overall performance as you would think when comparing it with, say, the 3.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 processor of the 24-inch Sony VAIO VGC-LV180J. As for its other main components, the Lenovo's 4GB of DDR3-1066 memory is a step above the DDR2-800 average in PCs of this class, while the 1TB hard drive is among the best you'll find in an all-in-one, matched here only by the 22-inch HP TouchSmart IQ500t and the 24-inch Apple iMac.

The A600's score of 87 in our WorldBench 6 test suite isn't the best we've seen, but it puts the machine in fine company. It ties the IQ500t and beats the 24-inch TouchSmart IQ816 (which scored an 81), but lands 28 percent shy of our all-in-one performance leader, Apple's 24-inch iMac (which earned a mark of 111). Given that the Apple system is nearly twice the price of the A600, however, that's not a bad showing at all.

The A600's ATI Radeon HD3650 graphics helped it achieve above-average graphics scores. The A600 had a solid average of about 60 frames per second in both our Enemy Territory: Wars and Unreal Tournament 3 tests (at 1024 by 768, and at normal and medium settings, respectively). Results fell to about 35 fps in each test when we bumped up the resolution to 1680 by 1050. The A600's HDTV-centric native resolution of 1920 by 1080 prevented it from running our tests at 1920 by 1200 or higher.

The A600 lacks touchscreen functionality--perhaps, in part, to keep the price so low. The display is otherwise strong: It delivers powerful saturation and pretty good contrast levels for gaming and Blu-ray movie watching (a built-in Blu-ray player is a common feature for all-in-ones with screens of this size). In my testing, I found that other all-in-ones offer a bit more contrast and richer black levels. Darker scenes on the A600 seemed slightly brighter than they should be.

On the side of the system you get two USB ports, one FireWire 400 miniport, and a six-in-one media card reader. Four more USB ports are on the A600's rear, alongside the system's gigabit ethernet port and HDTV tuner input. I would have liked to see some kind of next-generation connectivity on the system, be it an eSATA port, an HDMI port, an optical-out, or integrated 5.1 surround sound. As it stands, you can transform the A600 into a quasitelevision, but you have no way of fully integrating this all-in-one into a fancier entertainment-center setup. At least you'll be able to stream files off your network quickly using the A600's gigabit ethernet or 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi connectivity.

Surprisingly, you can upgrade nearly every part of the A600's insides. Typical all-in-one upgradability--if any exists--is restricted to the memory or the hard drive. If you have determination and a screwdriver, and if you've read the provided upgrade guide, you can really get inside the A600 to make whatever customizations (or replacements) you desire. It's a wonderful "above and beyond" move by Lenovo, although it's not the only one.

Since has no touchscreen, the A600 doesn't need any additional software beyond the standard 64-bit Windows Vista Home Premium installation. Lenovo nevertheless throws in a number of extra programs that are surprisingly useful. The Bright Vision utility, for instance, uses the system's 2-megapixel Webcam to gauge the luminosity of your surroundings and adjust the display for optimal, no-eyestrain conditions. It also factors in the position of your face relative to the frame and warns you if you're getting too close (or conversely, slouching backward too much).

The keyboard and mouse on our test A600 were integrated into a single, flat device. Standard keys reside on the left, additional function and illuminated touch-sensitive media controls rest beneath a layer of black plastic in the upper right, and the laptop-style touchpad sits on the keyboard's lower right. The touchpad is a space-saver if you have the PC in the lounge, but you'd want to plug your own mouse in back at your desk. Lenovo also bundles a combination VoIP handset, air mouse, motion game controller (with games included on a version-by-version basis), and media center remote that's awesome in its functionality--it reminds me of a Wii Remote, albeit uglier.

If you can deal with the loss of superhigh resolution and the lack of a touchscreen, Lenovo's IdeaCentre A600 all-in-one is a compelling addition to the field. It comes at just the right price to appeal to people who have no interest in spending a fortune just to watch America's Next Top Model in the kitchen. Its drawbacks are few, and they're more than offset by Lenovo's willingness to give you as much for your dollar as it can pack into this uniquely designed system.

Marilyn Manson threatened to 'rape' a rival rocker’s face.

The 'Dope Show’ singer became involved in a fracas with Trevor Strnad, frontman of Black Dahlia Murder, after Strnad insulted him.

The incident erupted as Marilyn was signing autographs for fans at a meet-and-greet in Florida, US, when Strnad shouted: 'Welcome to the freak show,' prompting Marilyn to write 'I hate those ****s' on the tablecloth in front of a fan.'

The self-styled 'Antichrist Superstar’ made a comment about wanting to 'rape' Trevor’s face before swinging a punch at him. Security then intervened to break the fight up.

This is not the first time Manson has issued threats in the last few weeks. Last month, he said he would 'murder' journalists who write falsities about him, after US blogger Buddyhead alleged he was addicted to cocaine.

Marilyn wrote on his blog: 'I can, but do not need to defend myself and the absurd accusations that the average press has clinged onto.

'If we need a nude photo of me to prove that I am far different than what the soon-to-be-murdered-in-their-home press have decided to fabricate, that is easy.

"But if one more 'journalist' makes a cavalier statement about me and my band, I will personally, or with my fans’ help, greet them at their home and discover just how much they believe in their freedom of speech.

"I dare you all to write one more thing that you won't say to my face. Because I will make you say it. In that manner. That is a threat."

*Form: http://www.music-news.com/ShowNews.asp?nCID=0&H=Marilyn-Manson-rape-threat&nItemID=28617

This isn’t quite RANCID – more green around the edges. Rancid are supposed to be shambolic and hardcore punk rebellion with edges and jagged bits but this has the sharp bits smoothed off and the holocaust of sound reduced to a bit of a rumble.

There are a few real Rancid numbers – 'Up To No Good’ has echoes of their ska-punk origins and a great keyboard line, 'Damnation’ kicks ass like The Damned and 'The Bravest Kids’ has a real Pogue-ish feel to it while the single 'Last One To Die’ is classic dumb-ass punk – and they have got a feeling of real energy at times but, and this is the big but, there were times I thought I was listening to Blink 182 and that is close to a crime in my book.

I really wanted this to be classic West Coast hardcore and to live up to all that Rancid mean but it falls short while still being better than most – nearly but not the real deal.

Britney Spears will receive a special award at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards.

The ‘Womanizer’ singer - who is due to perform at the annual event tomorrow night (09.08.09) - will be presented with the Ultimate Choice Award for her “extraordinary contributions to the entertainment industry”.

The 27-year-old star is also nominated in three categories, Choice Music Single, Choice Female Artist and Choice Music Tour.

She will be up against stars including Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Kelly Clarkson.

Britney’s performance will mark 10 years since the first Teen Choice Awards in 1999, where Britney - who is currently on a break from her world tour - was one of the performers.

The ceremony - which will be held at Universal City’s Gibson Amphitheatre in California - will also feature appearances from Black Eyed Peas, The Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus and Cobra Starship with Leighton Meester.

Source : http://www.music-news.com/ShowNews.asp?nCID=0&H=Britney-Spears-to-be-given-teen-award&nItemID=28524

Sony Vaio VGN-NW125J/T Review,Aug 13, 2009 by Darren Gladstone, PC World.

Forget playing games, how about a semi-stylish 15.5-inch widescreen notebook that's built with movies in mind? If this sounds appealing to you, then check out the Sony VAIO VGN-NW125J. For $800, this model offers up a decent experience--and a whole lot of software (some of it even useful).

The big selling points on the stickers scream: "HDMI-output (cable sold separately)!" and "A Stunning LCD!" That's as good a cue as any to tackle some of the multimedia claims for the VGN-NW125J. The 1366-by-768-pixel panel delivers good results on the 15.5-inch screen. Blue colors popped a little when you set the brightness to full blast (and tilt the screen back to a 45-degree viewing angle), but at midlevel brightness and contrast settings, the machine seems a little muted. Its glossy coating doesn't really help matters because it picks up a glare. Trying to watch episodes of Lost streamed over Hulu requires a little more monkeying with contrast than I'm accustomed to, but at least the effort pays off in the end.

Plug the NW125J into an HDTV set through the HDMI port and you can actually get a decent picture from the on-board DVD-ROM drive. Yeah, and that'd be one of my complaints. I know that Sony is trying to keep prices down, but for less than 100 bucks more, you can invest in Sony's VGN-NW180J/S that comes with a Blu-ray drive. Y'know, Sony's own home video format that the company is desperately trying to push on consumers.

On the audio side, the sound isn't exactly full--or cubemate-annoyingly loud. But it is crisp enough and even throws in some of that psuedo-spatial-sound tomfoolery to make it seem more "3D." However, the absence of good bass makes it a little hollow when you listen to Jack caterwauling about wanting to get off, and then back, on the island. In short, it's good for a base-level all-purpose machine, but not great.

For such a big notebook, I found myself hitting the wrong keys a disproportionate amount of the time. Are the keys comfortable? Yes, the cut-out buttons feel springy enough when you're typing--they are plenty large as well. It's even hard to find fault with the function buttons and the few shortcut keys that line the top row (buttons for quick Web launching, muting, and display toggling). I think the problem lies in the spacing of the keys. Though the NW125J is big and wide, the keys feel scrunched a little too tightly. About one and a half inches are on either side of the keypad--not a major gripe, more an observation.

Sony scores back a couple of brownie points by loading this laptop up with every major port or slot you're likely to want: three for USB and one each for HDMI-out (as mentioned earlier), VGA-out, FireWire, PC Express, and Memory Stick and SD cards.

Deeper in the guts, the 2.GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6500 CPU and 4GB of RAM should be enough to muscle through basic tasks and provide a little extra oomph, but they won't break any land-speed records. The NW125J winds up with a WorldBench 6 score of 80; a similarly loaded, and similarly priced, Gateway U7807u scored 84 in WorldBench 6 a while back, so the new Sony's score is a little disappointing. The lackluster, integrated GPU ensures that you won't be aiming much higher than casual games on this laptop (not a bad thing). As for its endurance, it's able to last 4 hours, 13 minutes in our battery drain tests. In other words it's a fairly average machine, able to last as long as most all-purpose machines already out there--the NW125J just tries doing it for less.

The software bundle looks promising for the most part, with only a couple of dogs in the mix. On the utilitarian side, you have the fairly vanilla VAIO Control Center that parks everything you'd need to tweak on the PC in one place. The SmartWi (for wizards) utility is a little goofy and caused more confusion than help. (Let me interject a little anecdote: I'm trying to set up a wireless connection and the Wireless wizard asks me to....plug in....an ethernet cable! Really?)

The boatload of multimedia-minded apps range from the not-bad to the not-needed. On the positive side: Roxio Easy CD Creator 10 and a couple of basic video- and photo-editing apps are the headliners, but here's something that had potential: the VAIO Content Exporter. Of course, it's only optimized to export content to three settings: PSP, Memory Stick, and Mylo. Would it kill Sony to acknowledge that other devices exist? Another dark-horse app worth noting is the PMB. It lets you manage and organize videos and pictures. A handy calendar view lets you put all your pictures in perspective. The biggest disappointment: The basic MusicBox is a prime example of trying to remake the wheel without rounding the edges. (I know that Sony wants to put its stamp on music software, but do we really need it at this point?)

The NW125J is an oversized and promising machine that does what it says: That is, give your kids the basics they need for the new school year along with a mild multimedia boot in the keister. But with limitations like the lack of a discrete GPU, I'm wondering if Sony could have made a couple of smarter moves to keep the price down at the $800 level.

New York, NY:

Progressive metal veterans DREAM THEATER have announced BLACK CLOUDS & SILVER LININGS as the title of their tenth studio album. The band commenced work on the album – their second for Roadrunner Records, following up 2007's Systematic Chaos — in October of last year.

Roadrunner will release the record on June 23. In addition to the standard version CD, the album will also be available on vinyl LP, as well as a three-disc Special Edition CD that will include the full album, a CD of instrumental mixes of the album and a CD of six cover songs, the titles of which will be revealed at a later date.

Six weeks prior to the June 23 street date, Roadrunner will release one cover song per week through digital retailers.

Drummer Mike Portnoy and guitarist John Petrucci are once again at the helm as producers, while Paul Northfield mixed the record.

The band will embark on a world tour in support of the album beginning in Europe throughout June which will be followed by the second edition of the band’s PROGRESSIVE NATION tour featuring Zappa Plays Zappa, Pain Of Salvation and Beardfish throughout North America in July/August.

A video for the first single, "A Rite of Passage" will be shot in late March.

The track listing for BLACK CLOUDS & SILVER LININGS is as follows:

1. A Nightmare to Remember
2. A Rite of Passage
3. Wither
4. The Shattered Fortress
5. The Best of Times
6. The Count of Tuscany

*form IDTFC

Windows 7 (formerly codenamed Blackcomb and Vienna) is the latest version of Microsoft Windows, a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs and media center PCs.[2] Windows 7 was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009,[3] with general retail availability set for October 22, 2009,[4] less than three years after the release of its predecessor, Windows Vista. Windows 7's server counterpart, Windows Server 2008 R2, is slated for release at about the same time.

Unlike its predecessor, which introduced a large number of new features, Windows 7 is intended to be a more focused, incremental upgrade to the Windows line, with the goal of being fully compatible with applications and hardware with which Windows Vista is already compatible.[5] Presentations given by the company in 2008 focused on multi-touch support, a redesigned Windows Shell with a new taskbar, a home networking system called HomeGroup,[6] and performance improvements. Some applications that have been included with prior releases of Microsoft Windows, including Windows Calendar, Windows Mail, Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Photo Gallery, will not be included in Windows 7;[7][8] some will instead be offered separately as part of the free Windows Live Essentials suite.[9

Development
Main article: Development of Windows 7

Originally, a version of Windows codenamed Blackcomb was planned as the successor to Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Major features were planned for Blackcomb, including an emphasis on searching and querying data and an advanced storage system named WinFS to enable such scenarios. However, an interim, minor release, codenamed "Longhorn" was announced for 2003, delaying the development of Blackcomb.[10] By the middle of 2003, however, Longhorn had acquired some of the features originally intended for Blackcomb. After three major viruses exploited flaws in Windows operating systems within a short time period in 2003, Microsoft changed its development priorities, putting some of Longhorn's major development work on hold while developing new service packs for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Development of Longhorn (Windows Vista) was also "reset," or delayed, in August 2004. A number of features were cut from Longhorn.[11]

Blackcomb was renamed Vienna in early 2006,[12] and again to Windows 7 in 2007.[13] In 2008, it was announced that Windows 7 would also be the official name of the operating system.[14][15]

The first external release to select Microsoft partners came in January 2008 with Milestone 1, build 6519.[16] At PDC 2008, Microsoft demonstrated Windows 7 with its reworked taskbar. Copies of Windows 7 build 6801 were distributed out at the end of the conference, but the demonstrated taskbar was disabled in this build.

On December 27, 2008, Windows 7 Beta was leaked onto the Internet via BitTorrent.[17] According to a performance test by ZDNet,[18] Windows 7 Beta beat both Windows XP and Vista in several key areas, including boot and shut down time, working with files such as loading documents; other areas did not beat XP, including PC Pro benchmarks for typical office activities and video-editing, remain identical to Vista and slower than XP.[19] On January 7, 2009, the 64-bit version of the Windows 7 Beta (build 7000) was leaked onto the web, with some torrents being infected with a trojan.[20][21] At CES 2009, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced the Windows 7 Beta, build 7000, had been made available for download to MSDN and TechNet subscribers in the format of an ISO image.[22] The Beta was to be publicly released January 9, 2009 and Microsoft initially planned for the download to be made available to 2.5 million people on this date. However, access to the downloads was delayed due to high traffic.[23] The download limit was also extended, initially until January 24, then again to February 10. People who did not complete downloading the beta had two extra days to complete the download. After February 12, unfinished downloads became unable to complete. Users could still obtain product keys from Microsoft to activate their copy of Windows 7 Beta which expired on August 1, 2009. The release candidate, build 7100, has been available for MSDN and TechNet subscribers and Connect Program participants since April 30 and became available to the general public on May 5, 2009. It has also been leaked onto the Internet via BitTorrent.[24] The release candidate is available in five languages and will expire on June 1, 2010, with shutdowns every two hours starting March 1, 2010.[25] Microsoft has stated that Windows 7 will be released to the general public on October 22, 2009. Microsoft released Windows 7 to MSDN and Technet subscribers on August 6, 2009 at 10:00am PDT.[26] Microsoft announced that Windows 7, along with Windows Server 2008 R2 were released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009. Windows 7 RTM is build 7600.16385 which was compiled on July 13, 2009, and was declared the final RTM build after passing all Microsoft's tests internally.[3]

Goals

Bill Gates, in an interview with Newsweek, suggested that the next version of Windows would "be more user-centric".[27] Gates later said that Windows 7 will also focus on performance improvements.[28] Steven Sinofsky later expanded on this point, explaining in the Engineering Windows 7 blog that the company was using a variety of new tracing tools to measure the performance of many areas of the operating system on an ongoing basis, to help locate inefficient code paths and to help prevent performance regressions.[29]

Senior Vice President Bill Veghte stated that Windows Vista users migrating to Windows 7 would not find the kind of device compatibility issues they encountered migrating from Windows XP.[30] Speaking about Windows 7 on October 16, 2008, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer confirmed compatibility between Vista and Windows 7,[31] indicating that Windows 7 will be a refined version of Windows Vista.[31]

Features

New and changed features
Main article: Features new to Windows 7
The new Action Center which replaces Windows Security Center

Windows 7 includes a number of new features, such as advances in touch and handwriting recognition, support for virtual hard disks, improved performance on multi-core processors,[32][33][34][35] improved boot performance, DirectAccess, and kernel improvements. Windows 7 adds support for systems using multiple heterogeneous graphics cards from different vendors (Heterogeneous Multi-adapter), a new version of Windows Media Center,[36] a Gadget for Windows Media Center, improved media features, the XPS Essentials Pack and Windows PowerShell being included, and a redesigned Calculator with multiline capabilities including Programmer and Statistics modes along with unit conversion. Many new items have been added to the Control Panel, including ClearType Text Tuner, Display Color Calibration Wizard, Gadgets, Recovery, Troubleshooting, Workspaces Center, Location and Other Sensors, Credential Manager, Biometric Devices, System Icons, and Display.[37] Windows Security Center has been renamed to Windows Action Center (Windows Health Center and Windows Solution Center in earlier builds) which encompasses both security and maintenance of the computer. The default setting for User Account Control in Windows 7 has been criticized for allowing untrusted software to be launched with elevated privileges by exploiting a trusted application.[38] Microsoft's Windows kernel engineer Mark Russinovich acknowledged the problem, but noted that there are other vulnerabilities that do not rely on the new setting.[39]

The taskbar has seen the biggest visual changes, where the Quick Launch toolbar has been replaced with pinning applications to the taskbar. Buttons for pinned applications are integrated with the task buttons. These buttons also enable the Jump Lists feature to allow easy access to common tasks.[40] The revamped taskbar also allows the reordering of taskbar buttons. To the far right of the system clock is a small rectangular button that serves as the Show desktop icon. This button is part of the new feature in Windows 7 called Aero Peek. Hovering over this button makes all visible windows transparent for a quick look at the desktop.[41] In touch-enabled displays such as touch screens, tablet PCs, etc., this button is slightly wider to accommodate being pressed with a finger.[42] Clicking this button minimizes all windows, and clicking it a second time restores them. Additionally, there is a feature named Aero Snap, that automatically maximizes a window when it is dragged to either the top or left/right edges of the screen.[43] This also allows users to snap documents or files on either side of the screen to compare them. When a user moves windows that are maximized, the system restores their previous state automatically. This functionality is also accomplished with keyboard shortcuts. Unlike in Windows Vista, window borders and the taskbar do not turn opaque when a window is maximized with Windows Aero applied. Instead, they remain transparent.
The Windows 7 taskbar, with the Desktop Window Manager disabled.

For developers, Windows 7 includes a new networking API with support for building SOAP-based web services in native code (as opposed to .NET based WCF web services),[44] new features to shorten application install times, reduced UAC prompts, simplified development of installation packages,[45] and improved globalization support through a new Extended Linguistic Services API.[46] At WinHEC 2008 Microsoft announced that color depths of 30-bit and 48-bit would be supported in Windows 7 along with the wide color gamut scRGB (which for HDMI 1.3 can be converted and output as xvYCC). The video modes supported in Windows 7 are 16-bit sRGB, 24-bit sRGB, 30-bit sRGB, 30-bit with extended color gamut sRGB, and 48-bit scRGB.[47][48] Microsoft is also implementing better support for Solid State Drives[49], including the new TRIM command, and Windows 7 will be able to identify a Solid State Drive uniquely.

Internet Spades, Internet Backgammon and Internet Checkers, which were removed from Windows Vista, were restored in Windows 7. Windows 7 will include Internet Explorer 8 and Windows Media Player 12.
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: Windows 7 will allow users to disable Internet Explorer

Users will also be able to disable many more Windows components than was possible in Windows Vista. New additions to this list of components include Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center, Windows Search, and the Windows Gadget Platform.[50] Windows 7 includes 13 additional sound schemes, entitled Afternoon, Calligraphy, Characters, Cityscape, Delta, Festival, Garden, Heritage, Landscape, Quirky, Raga, Savanna, and Sonata.[51] A new version of Virtual PC, Windows Virtual PC Beta is available for Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions.[52] It allows multiple Windows environments, including Windows XP Mode, to run on the same machine, requiring the use of Intel VT-x or AMD-V. Windows XP Mode runs Windows XP in a virtual machine and redirects displayed applications running in Windows XP to the Windows 7 desktop.[53] Furthermore Windows 7 supports the mounting of a virtual hard disk (VHD) as a normal data storage, and the bootloader delivered with Windows 7 can boot the Windows system from a VHD.[54] The Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) of Windows 7 is also enhanced to support real-time multimedia application including video playback and 3D games. That means that Direct X 10 can be used in a remote desktop environment.[55] The three application limit will be removed from Windows 7 Starter.[56]
Removed features
Main article: Features removed from Windows 7

A number of capabilities and certain programs that were a part of Windows Vista are no longer present or have changed, resulting in the removal of certain functionality. Some notable Windows Vista features and components have been replaced or removed in Windows 7, including the classic Start Menu user interface, Windows Ultimate Extras, InkBall, and Windows Calendar. Three applications bundled with Windows Vista — Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Mail — are not included with Windows 7, but are instead available for free in a separate package called Windows Live Essentials. Additionally, it is no longer possible to eliminate anti-aliased text from the user interface.

Antitrust regulatory attention

As with other Microsoft operating systems, Windows 7 is being studied by United States federal regulators who oversee the company's operations following the 2001 United States v. Microsoft settlement. According to status reports filed, the three-member panel began assessing prototypes of the new operating system in February 2008. Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Jupiter Research said that, "[Microsoft's] challenge for Windows 7 will be how can they continue to add features that consumers will want that also don't run afoul of regulators."[57]

Editions

In Europe, due to regulations imposed on Microsoft, the company had announced that Windows 7 would not ship with the company's own Internet Explorer in Europe because of allegations that Microsoft was restricting choice to European consumers. It was also announced that the upgrade versions of Windows 7 would also not be available in Europe due to the possibility of needing additional testing for how upgrades would react to the versions without Internet Explorer.[58]

Microsoft also proposed to the European Commission allowing users to download a competing browser from a "ballot" screen instead of providing a version of Windows completely without Internet Explorer installed at all.[59] In response to criticism involving Windows 7 E and concerns from manufacturers about possible consumer confusion if a version of Windows 7 with Internet Explorer were shipped later after one without Internet Explorer, Microsoft announced that it would scrap the separate version for Europe and ship the standard upgrade and full packages worldwide.[60]

Reception

Figures released by Amazon.co.uk in the UK shows that sales of Windows 7 in the first eight hours of trading surpassed demand of what took Windows Vista 17 weeks to achieve.[61]

Editions
Main article: Windows 7 editions

Windows 7 will be available in six different editions, but only Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate will be available for retail sale in most countries.[62] The other editions are focused at other markets, such as the developing world or enterprise use.[62] Each edition of Windows 7 will include all of the capabilities and features of the edition below it.[62][63][64][65][66] With the exception of Windows 7 Starter, all editions will support both 32-bit (IA-32) and 64-bit (x86-64) processor architectures.[67] According to Microsoft, the features for all editions of Windows 7 will be stored on the machine, regardless of what edition is in use.[68] Users who wish to upgrade to an edition of Windows 7 with more features can then use Windows Anytime Upgrade to purchase the upgrade, and unlock the features of those editions.[63][68][69]

Microsoft announced Tuesday, July 21, 2009 that they will be offering a family pack of Windows 7 Home Premium (in select markets) which will allow installation on up to 3 PCs.[70] The "Family Pack" will cost USD 149.99 in the United States.[70]

Hardware requirements

Microsoft has published their minimum specifications for a system running Windows 7.[71] Requirements for the 32-bit version are much the same as recommendations for premium editions of Vista, but the 64-bit version's are considerably higher. Microsoft has released a beta version of an upgrade advisor that scans a computer to see if it is compatible with Windows 7. [72]
Minimum hardware requirements for Windows 7[71] Architecture 32-bit 64-bit
Processor speed 1 GHz processor
Memory (RAM) 1 GB of RAM 2 GB of RAM
Graphics card Support for DirectX 9 graphics device with 128MB of graphics memory (for Windows Aero)
HDD free space 16 GB of available disk space 20 GB of available disk space
Optical drive DVD drive (only to install from DVD/CD Media)

Additional requirements to use certain features:[71]

* BitLocker requires Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2 and requires a USB flash drive to use BitLocker To Go.
* Windows XP Mode requires an additional 1 GB of RAM, an additional 15 GB of available hard disk space, and a processor capable of hardware virtualization with Intel VT or AMD-V enabled.