Software / Operating Systems

We're all looking to simplify our hectic lives.  Less hassle, fewer "to-dos," less complexity.

When was the last time you actually ordered a simple cup of coffee?  That’s why it is so refreshing to see the improvements in Windows 7.  Now that Windows 7 is available on my Dell PC, things just got a whole lot easier.

 Let’s start at the beginning with boot time.  It’s fast. No longer do I have to take a coffee break while I wait for my system to boot up.  The improvements are noticeable and really enhance the usage experience.   
And what about networking? One of my pet peeves has to be switching printers every time I change networks. With Location Aware printing in the Professional and Ultimate versions of Windows 7, presto! - each printer is associated with a network.  When I connect to a network, the PC automatically knows which printer to use.  No more manual switching of printers when I move from home to work or network to network.  Setting up a home network has also become easier than ever with the new HomeGroup feature found in Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate editions.

When it comes to finding a file or application, I don’t have to go much further than my desktop. I can use Jump Lists or Pinned applications to open a program or get to the file I want.   Jump Lists show recently opened items, such as files, folders, or websites, organized by the program that opened them. I can use a Jump List from the taskbar or Start menu to open items, and also "pin" favorites I use daily.  No more file clutter on my desktop!  Couple this with Dell Dock for easy file access right from the desktop so your PC truly becomes your home base.

Using multiple windows?  No problem.  Shake, Snap and Peek really simplify moving among different windows.  There are times when I need to send an e-mail while working on a file. That means minimizing the window, going to Outlook, referring back to the data, flipping back to Outlook and sending the mail.  A lot of back and forth to say the least.  Today, I adjust the window sizes for both programs then size them to fit both on the screen.  It gets the job done but does take some time.  With the Snap feature in Windows 7, I simply snap the two windows which evenly sizes them to fit the screen.  Amazing!  If I want to see my desktop, I simply drag the icon to the lower right to “peek” through open windows.

Dell has invested countless engineering hours testing its systems for performance and compatibility with Windows 7.   Why is this important?  Because Dell knows that any option offered as a factory install on its system is compatible with Windows 7, avoiding any loss of functionality that would keep you from enjoying your PC. 

Bottom line - Less is More with Windows 7 on Dell:  Fewer interruptions, fewer delays, fewer steps to complete tasks. Embrace the simplicity and love your PC again!

Note from Lionel: It's been a while since I've talked about Linux on Direct2Dell. Shortly after Ubuntu 9.04 was released in April 2009, we had a request from IdeaStorm user Shannon VanWagner to start pre-loading 9.04. Though it's late, we're now offering Ubuntu 9.04 on a few more Dell machines to customers in the United States. Specifically the Studio XPS 13, Inspiron 15, and the Inspiron 537 desktop. The Mini 10 and the 10v are still running a customized version of the 8.04 version of the Ubuntu OS. And the Mini 10v can be ordered with Ubuntu Moblin Remix Developer Edition.

To see all the systems we're offering with Linux, go to www.dell.com/ubuntu.

With that context, I'll turn things over to John Hull so he can shed light on what to expect from Ubunu 9.04.

--Lionel

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I'd like to give a quick update on the technical details for what we have added with our 9.04 release. We have continued to build and improve upon on what we did for our previous Ubuntu offerings, and here are some of the highlights:

• We now provide Cyberlink's PowerDVD application for DVD playback (instead of LinDVD which we previously shipped). We also continue to provide Fluendo GStreamer codecs for mp3, wma, and wmv playback, which will work with your favorite Linux media player.
• We created and provided a new GUI tool for creating recovery/restore media for the OS
• We provide a new method to recover your Ubuntu preload from the hard drive
• We have chosen to use GRUB 2 bootloader instead of the Ubuntu default GRUB 1 (a.k.a. GRUB legacy) bootloader. We have been testing GRUB 2 for over a year now, and feel it is ready for general use. The Ubuntu community has decided to make GRUB 2 the default in Ubuntu 9.10, so our customers will already have that feature enabled.
• A common complaint we heard a few years ago was that there were no Linux drivers for Dell wireless cards. As of the date of this blog post, all currently-shipping Intel- and Dell-branded wireless cards (as well as most from the past several years) are now supported natively in Ubuntu 9.04. These drivers should also be included in most other newer Linux distributions as well.
• Our Ubuntu 9.04 offering is still the 32-bit version and not the 64-bit version ("amd64" architecture). We continue to evaluate when to make the transition, and the main sticking point continues to be solid, stable Adobe Flash support for 64-bit. There are currently options
  available in the community, including a beta of a native 64-bit Flash
  plugin. However, none of these have proven to be reliably stable, so we'll continue working with Adobe until a viable option is available.

For more information, our Dell wiki page for 9.04 can be found at the previous link.  If you would like to download and install 9.04 with our custom Ubuntu ISO, it can be downloaded here.

As always, please report any OS issues in Launchpad, or you can always ask any general questions to our linux-desktops mailing list..

Update: Fixed broken links

I was checking Techmeme a little while ago, and saw Walt Mossberg’s review of Windows 7. Though you have to read past the lead paragraph to get to the positive stuff, he writes a pretty glowing review of Windows 7.

I have to agree with Walt’s assessment: it’s the best version of Windows I have ever used as well (and I’ve used every one of them since Windows 3.0—I was a DOS guy before that). I’ve been putting Windows 7 through its paces as my full-time OS on my home systems for several months since the beta… It’s run really well on two main systems I use just about every day: my XPS 720 and a Mini 10.

We’ll have much more to say about Windows 7 here on Direct2Dell leading up to the launch on October 22 and beyond.

Update: I thought @artfuldodga pinged me with a good idea via Twitter: to ask folks what machine(s) are you running Windows 7 on? Let me know in the comments or at @LionelatDell on Twitter.

Update: I've closed comments on this thread to centralize them under my new post about the Windows 7 Upgrade Kit Process. If you have questions or concerns about it, I encourage you to leave a comment there.

For those of you who are waiting for Windows 7 to arrive, Dell has a deal for you. We are expanding our upgrade program (see Daniel Judd's post for details about the original program) with a new option - the Windows 7 Free and Easy upgrade program - which takes the hassle out of upgrading a PC to Windows 7 because Dell will do it for you. Now you can purchase popular PCs like the Inspiron 15 or 17 laptop, Studio 15 laptop, Inspiron 546 or Studio desktop and we will install Windows 7 Premium on it before shipping it to you.

As the program name implies, there are no additional charges associated with this. The goal is to make it as easy as possible for you to order a new PC powered by Windows 7 and get on with your daily business, and around Oct. 22, or soon after your new PC will arrive. Of course for you do-it-yourselfers, we are still offering the Windows 7 Technical Upgrade program, in which a customer buys a qualifying PC with Vista Home Premium, Vista Business Pro or Vista Ultimate, and registers for the Windows 7 upgrade kit, which then ships within a few weeks of Oct 22.

We are looking forward to your feedback on this new option in our upgrade program, and depending on customer response we will investigate adding additional PC models as well as expanding it on a global basis. So head over to www.dell.com/windows7easyupgrade, customize and order your PC and we’ll take care of things on the Windows 7 front.

Latitude ON is a concept we've mentioned during the introduction of our Latitude E family of business laptops last year. You may have seen posts from sites like Engadget that discussed it in more detail. We figured the introduction of the Latitude Z was a good reason to start shipping the full hardware plus software version of Latitude ON.

Latitude ON is basically a system on a system. It's based on a dedicated low-voltage ARM processor (Texas Instrument's OMAP 3430 processor) that runs a slimmed-down version of a Linux OS. It allows a user to boot into the contained OS environment to give you always-on access to an Firefox-based Internet browser (without Flash support) and critical business information while using a fraction of the battery power your laptop uses when it's running a full OS. Essentially, you can quickly access all the information you're used to accessing on a smartphone using the larger screen and keyboard that your laptop provides.

To see what I mean by quick access, take a look at this boot comparison video:

Here's a more detailed look at the features:

• Instant access (about  2 seconds) to business information
  (E-mail, calendar, contacts, Internet browser & Citrix Receiver client)
• MS Exchange integration or POP e-mail Access
• Always on/connected - the module continues to run regardless of the state of the main OS
• Ability to view MS Office and .pdf document attachments
• Long battery life (about 17 hours on a 6-cell battery)
• Designed for the future with upgradable infrastructure (flash-based software updates)

Here's another StudioDell video which features a good overview about how the full version of Latitude ON works:

Latitude ON allows you to connect via Wi-Fi or embedded mobile broadband. I say embedded because in Latitude ON mode, the external ports aren't active. We've been shipping Latitude ON-ready Latitude E4200 and E4300 systems for a while now. Essentially, that means they can run the Latitude ON Reader software. In contrast to the full version, the Reader software resides on the main partition of the hard drive and provides access to e-mail, calendar and contacts from the last synched version of your Outlook data.

We will offer the hardware upgrade option to existing Latitude E4200 and E4300 customers via a customer kit for purchase. I'll update this post with more details about the kit when I have them. All Latitude Z systems will feature the full version of Latitude ON, complete with the processor hardware.