Windows 7 Ultimate A month on

When does Windows 7 SP1 arrive?? Now Windows 7 is a major improvement for the windows platform. It leaves Vista for dead (which I have only used for 2 days in total). Now I don’t know if it is because I have a DET copy, but my version of Windows 7 is extremely buggy as is my Office 2007 suite. Windows 7 as with my first PC in 2002 on XP does not like some older or computer specific third party applications. My Toshiba has finger print recognition software for login and passwords. There is no problem logging in to the machine, but when you use an application that requires a username and password one day it works the next day it needs a shut down and re-boot. A simple restart does not work with this.

Some popular third party applications still do not support the AERO features of Windows 7. Personally this does not bother me as I find most of the Aero features useless. The only one I like is the window resizing for multiple windows of one application. The shake to show only one open window, drag to the top or side to make full screen width etc are of no use to me while the features that have always been in previous Windows OS are still there such as the maximise button, alt + tab, show desktop etc.

Windows 7 itself has little problems also. The self changing backgrounds slow the system, when there changing in the middle of an action in multiple applications it also disrupts podcast play back. Notification sounds disappear and reappear at will. Occasionally applications do not start by clicking on their icon, after a restart all’s good again but those restarts are a pain. Also I am not big on how the folder directory works in both Vista and Windows 7. It is simply too complicated compared to XP and all other OS’s on the market.

One of the best improvements I have found is the codec support out of the box in Media Player. It supports all the Apple file types and more.

Office 2007 for non-commercial use (from the SIGroup) can act very strange at times. Word works like normal as you would expect and has many improvements many of which I will never use. The weird thing is when you download a document and open it. The Word window opens twice. You get the first window which is blank, not even a white page, and then you get the second window which has the document. PowerPoint supports QuickTime movies right? Wrong, when viewed in presentation mode you get the start image and the machine locks up requiring a forced shut down of PowerPoint.

But my biggest beef is if I had to buy Windows 7 retail, is that there are too many versions of the OS available. They should all be the ultimate version and a hell of a lot cheaper.

Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade vs MacBookPro

Back on October 28th I turned 40. To celebrate I decided that I should by the computer which I have always wanted but could never justify the price. The Apple MacBook Pro 17″. I jumped on the Apple store website and half an hour later had ordered an Apple computer. Slowly over the next few days the bits n pieces arrived, I was so excited to finally see what all the fuss of a Mac was about.

15 minutes after start up I was exploring my Mac and all its crazy gadgets. I was so amazed at how easy the transition was for a person who had only used PC’s since 2003. I tweeted my joy, asking where had this been all my life. Over the ensuing week I purchased the dept. software and with in an hour had a Mac with Microsoft office 2008 for Mac and the full Adobe suite loaded, all my preferences sorted and working on new ideas.

At the around this time the Windows 7 Upgrade was officially made available to DET staff through the supplier. It is a steal at $50 delivered compared to the $500 odd dollars you would pay at a retailer. Reading the fine print, the upgrade required that Windows Vista be installed. No big deal I thought I have a copy of Vista that came with my Toshiba, I will just load it up and be ready for the new and exciting Windows 7 OS.

How wrong I was. Vista from a recovery disk took an easy 3/4 of an hour before it asked me who I was and was at least another 15 minutes before I could use the computer for what it was meant for. Then there were the driver issues!! At least 7 drivers required replacing for it to even start (the important graphics driver being the hardest). Having completed this I thought all would be ok, well wrong again. 2 days later and 160 to 170 updates later I could use my windows computer as a computer. Knowing I was going to upgrade to Windows 7 there was no need to add software or files, because I thought this would only slow the upgrade process.

Now we come to today 1pm. My Windows 7 arrived at work and I had senior Multimedia straight after lunch, perfect I thought, add Windows 7 and use it as a lesson at the same time.

Right on 1:15pm the bell went, I was in the room computer running, disc at the ready. The students arrived and I explained what was going to happen and that they were free to have a look at the process. I new I was in trouble 20 minutes in to the 75 minute period when Windows 7 was still deciding if it was compatible. After this there was an install screen which had 4 sections of progress and that it would restart several times as it went, normal practice for a windows install.

When the bell went for the end of the day the score was 1 and 1/2 sections installed and 2 reboots. I went away for 20 minutes came back hoping it had finished. When I looked the screen had not changed. Suddenly it said 100% and rebooted, I thought this might be the end. Unfortunately no, I was asked if I could leave by the head cleaner at 4 pm. So I kept the machine running on battery in my car on the way home fingers crossed it would be all over before I got home and run out of battery. 20 minutes later I entered the codes and a reboot was required.

On start up I received a little message stating that the system required another reboot to remove Vista data from the system. I obliged, after the reboot I shut the lid and headed home again.

On reaching home I fitted the charger, lifted the lid all was sweet, Windows 7 is quite attractive looking system. I set the background, window chrome style etc. made sure everything worked. Soon after the dreaded windows update appeared. This new OS which only arrived on October 22nd required 8 major security updates.

Any body want to buy an 8 month old Toshiba Satellite Pro??

I am going away from windows after this. Next month I’m buying an IMac.

Any one else have an opinion??

Help out Sue Waters PLN survey

Sue Waters is conducting a survey into PLN’s asking “A Year Later And Are We Using Different Tools To Connect To Our PLNs?“  You can take the survey here.

It is a relevant question, I know I have already changed they way I use my own. While your there check out Sue’s blog and other projects.

DERNSW classroom rules

Having had my first in class experience with year 9 armed with laptops I decided that I needed a new set of class rules to remind the stragglers of what they were intended for.

I run a fairly open class structure which normally the students stay with in the bounds of. But on Friday it was like a free for all.

I was fully prepared to go through every aspect of the hardware and software, answer all the questions from personalization to what is this for in class. All but the best of students were off trying to find ways around the DET’s laptop structure and one of them suceeded in breaking his, being extremely annoyed to find out that it would not be repaired until sometime next term and that he would have even more restrictions when he got the laptop back yet funnily enough he showed no signs of remorse.

So after thinking about it over the weekend this presentation is what I came up with. Please look at it and provide your feedback. Also feel free to download it for yourself.

DER roll out A day at the beach

Well it was actually day 2 of our roll out. Came across some pitfalls though.

• First one is pre-commission as many machines as possible to speed up the process
• Have all of year 9 change their internet passwords the day before. Un like staff students are not forced to update their passwords every 60 days. The process requires that their passwords are freshly updated.
• Have as many tech useful staff with your TSO as is possible.

As you can understand the kids are excited and impatient. Many have already told me that their teachers don’t want to see them in class. I guess this is because they go straight back to class and get them out ready to work. A group of keen boy’s has sussed out the best hot spot for breaks under the English staff room so they can play games.

Now we know the best approach they should all go out tomorrow and line up on Monday with all the faults.