Software / Operating Systems

It’s been a busy time since Windows 7 launched last week. Many customers who bought systems after June 26 have registered for upgrade kits to move from Vista to the of Windows 7. So many, in fact, that we've had to address performance issues on the Windows 7 upgrade site. We've also recently corrected an issue that was causing incorrect ship date information in some cases.

Update: I heard from customers like Direct2Dell reader johnkett, shf doc and a couple of others that they could not get beyond documenting their current version of Vista during the registration process using the Chrome browser. Switching to Internet Explorer works. Firefox works as well.

Each upgrade kit will consist of two things: the Windows 7 operating system disc and an Upgrade Assistant DVD, which contains Windows 7 drivers and more. In this post, I want to take a few minutes to explain the process of getting your Windows 7 upgrade kit for eligible systems. First, I’ll outline the core steps of the process, then will explain each one further from there.

1. Determine system eligibility
2. Register your eligible system for the upgrade at https://win7.dell.com.
3. Place your order for the version and language of Windows 7 that you want
4. Once you successfully place your order, you can check the order status from the Windows 7 upgrade site at https://win7.dell.com

Checking system eligibility:  You can buy a qualifying machine from June 26 - December 31, 2009. Check the system eligibility link (see image below):

Registering your system:

To register your system, start at https://win7.dell.com. You'll be prompted to enter some information like your name, e-mail address, the date of your purchase, the system type and service tag. In the Tell Us About the OS Purchased section (see below), be sure you choose the right OS version and details like 32 pr 64-bit.  One common issue here is that customers are not choosing an OS language at this point in the registration process. If you do not specify an OS language, Arabic is the default language.

Some customers are running into an issue where either their system is not being recognized or that their system is not eligible for the upgrade even though they meet the eligibility requirements. If this is happening to you, feel free to let me know in the comments of this post or contact me (see the details in the last paragraph below).

Once you get through these details in registration, you'll be asked to create an account user name and password. You should see a screen like this one when you finish the registration process:

Soon after, you will receive an e-mail that confirms that you've registered. Form  there, you will need to place your order.

Placing your order:

First step is to log back into the Windows 7 upgrade site. From there, you will see all the systems you registered in the top row. Assuming your OS language is available (see schedule here), you will be able to place a check in that box, the click the Add Kits to Cart button. Once it is moved down from the Registered section into your Upgrade Cart section, click the Complete Your Order button:

From there, you will be asked to complete details like your shipping address and credit card details (if shipping & handling fees apply). You will then be asked to confirm the order, review the terms and conditions, and complete your order. Soon after you complete your order, you will receive an e-mail that confirms your order details.

Checking Order Status:

At this point, once you log into the upgrade site, you will see an Order Status link. The time it takes to ship the upgrade kit will vary based on lots of factors like volume and where we're shipping to. In some cases, it may take up to 2 - 4 weeks.

If you encounter issues in any of the steps above, you can comment on this post or contact me directly through sending me a private message or you can e-mail me here. If you go that route, please share your service tag or order number, and let me know some details about your specific situation and I will try to help.

Many of the resources are found at the Dell Windows 7 Upgrade Site. That’s where you’ll find things like the FAQ, the System Eligibility List, the Release Schedule. Here’s the main Windows 7 Forum Page. Another main technical support resource is Dell’s Windows 7 Support Center (click on the image below to check it out).

We know there are many customers out there who are looking forward to getting your Windows 7 upgrade kit. We'll be doing everything we can to get them out to you as soon as possible.

Recently on Direct2Dell, we’ve hit you over the head with several consumer-focused Windows 7 blog posts, but the fact is that Windows 7 has a lot of implications for businesses as well.

It’s no secret that many companies are still running Windows XP on client PCs. In a survey we recently with Federal IT decision-makers, 72 percent said they did not adopt Vista. That said, I think Windows 7 will reverse this trend and many businesses will be migrating to the new OS.Take a look at Bruce Eric Anderson’s post on Inside Enterprise IT where he dives into the details and asks about migration plans.

That’s the backdrop for a new information portal we’re launching called IT Expert Voice. It’s a project we’re undertaking with Federated Media. While Dell is sponsoring this site and some of our folks will provide input on topics of interest, editor-in-chief Esther Schindler is responsible both for assigning the insight cases and for selecting what content goes on the site.

From the About section of the site: “IT Expert Voice is a resource for IT professionals who are concerned primarily with making technology work in their organizations, and in particular with deploying Windows 7 in a sane and trouble-free manner.”

Esther's primary areas of focus will include virtualization, mobility, storage, cloud services, and automated management - but you'll also find plenty of other technical overviews (tuned for an enterprise audience, obviously). If you've got other areas you'd like to see them write about, shoot an e-mail to Esther with your suggestion.You can also ping her via Twitter @estherschindler.

If this sounds of interest to you, I’d welcome you to check it out at www.itexpertvoice.com. You can also follow them on Twitter @ExpertVoice.

The whole Dell team is thrilled to help bring Windows 7 to our customers! I am in New York today where there is great excitement and anticipation over the launch of Win 7...happening here and in many other parts of the world including London, Paris, Tokyo, Beijing to name a few global hot spots.  We know we have the coolest products on the planet (and as fans of Alienware would say, in the universe) and today people all over the world usher in a new era with an operating system that makes the most out of our gear...

Simple: Windows 7 is a very stable operating system, which is fast and we believe going to deliver a remarkable customer experience. I have been using Win 7 for a few months and it has changed my life with my laptop. Windows 7 allows you to do more with fewer steps and with many cool features such as Location Aware Printing, Jump Lists to organize and speed up file and application access, file content previews on hover, and ways to get right to the windows you want with Snap/Shake/Peek.

Expressive: Windows 7 brings collaboration and multimedia together with exciting features like Windows Live Essentials, heterogeneous content integration into Media Center, Play To features that will present content stored on your PC to your designated home entertainment device, and HomeGroups that make networking other Windows 7 PCs easy and help people share files and printers among all the PCs in the network. We listen to our customers to understand and provide technology that meets their needs.

Secure: (without the hassle): Windows 7 provides security and user control without interruptions by moving pop up messages to the User Account Control center... so no more pop-ups to interrupt you (or tempt you to ignore them all).

Responsive: Faster boot times:  Boot to desktop times are cut in half with Win 7. Applications launch very quickly. You can put your system to sleep and wake it up faster than before and there are fewer crashes and freezes. Windows 7 has proven to be a much more stable code base (even in beta) so expect to be delighted when you boot-up your Dell laptop or desktop loaded with Win 7.

Powerful: No fear and no limits!  At Dell we "fly our own jetfighters."  Ask the Alienware engineers who have been using Windows 7 on their own machines. Games launch quicker and in-game performance rocks with the combination of DirectX 11 and Windows 7.  Trust us on this: if it's good enough for Area-51, it's good enough for anything!

So go ahead, discover the power of simplicity... we believe Windows 7 nails the fundamentals.  When you couple the benefits of Windows 7 with the award-winning hardware and breadth of products from Dell, we believe our customers are the clear winners.

Almost go time for Windows 7. Planning and Development of the OS began immediately after the release of Windows Vista. We took a broad view on upcoming technology trends, customer pain points, realistic development schedules, etc. We took advantage of our direct relationship with our customers and developed a list of items that needed to be addressed such as speed, hardware resource requirements, and reducing interruptions like the frequent security prompts.

A fundamental change was made in the way we approached the development and launch of Windows 7 with Microsoft. Traditionally the hardware vendors were responsible for their piece of development, Microsoft had responsibility for the operating system and end users were responsible for applications. We partnered together and changed the way we approached Windows 7 and together overhauled the entire experience from bare metal (the system) all the way through to applications. I personally have been using Windows 7 on both my work and home PCs for nine months.

Sharing information was critical and Dell and Microsoft met regularly to address end user input. Out of those meetings Microsoft created a set of powerful tools to analyze all components in our computers and isolate any problem areas. We ran the traces and had the data analyzed to identify and improve performance ranging from system boot time, to stand-by and resume time, to driver loading. We took final code, ran it through a battery of tests and those results were sent through analysis at Microsoft. We caught and corrected several "little issues" that could stack up to become a big issue for our customers.

Dell also worked with all our vendors to deliver highly optimized code that wouldn't cause negative effects like slow boot times or poor performance. Much of that knowledge was put to good use when designing how Windows 7 would operate.

You might say that Windows 7 has all the good parts of Vista plus some, and that those that needed improvement were sent to daily 5am Boot Camp work outs until they could "fly right." Windows 7 is a much leaner operating system than its predecessor. Microsoft did an outstanding job of optimizing Windows 7 to boot faster, go into and resume from Suspend faster, and to Shutdown faster.

Microsoft has optimized the boot process, by taking out unnecessary Services and drivers from automatically loading but instead moving them to a new On-Demand startup category. Services like Bluetooth will not automatically load unless there is demand for it. This is brilliant. Reducing the number of Services that need to load on each boot reduces the Boot time and the OS footprint occupied in memory, leaving more room for applications. Many of the improvements came out of the collaborative effort between Dell and Microsoft, and we're justifiably proud of our contribution in optimizing the user experience with Windows 7.

Dell was very passionate about certain features because we knew they were critical to the overall experience of Windows 7:

• XP Mode - there are several business customers that need a way to deal with legacy applications that aren't compatible with Vista or Windows 7. We pushed this as critical functionality.
• Wireless performance - Dell and Microsoft teams worked closely to improve the performance of mobility features in Windows 7, like wireless connectivity, like reducing the time to locate and connect to a network. The wireless user experience is also much more streamlined and easier to use.
• Integrated touch functionality - We knew that Windows 7 would have integrated touch, opening up an entirely different way to approach input. Microsoft used the Latitude XT2 and Studio One 19 during the development of multi-touch functionality in Windows 7 and the functionality was given as much attention as other input devices (keyboard, mouse, etc). The integrated functionality creates a common API - or programming language - so that application providers now have a standard way to tweak their applications to take advantage of multi-touch for activities such as photo editing, digital content creation, etc. Paul Thurrot posted an in-depth review (scroll down) on Windows Touch on his Supersite for Windows

A final observation - now that Windows 7 has been optimized to use as little memory as possible and to operate as efficiently as possible it is even possible to run it on a netbook like our Mini 10. Previously, the best choice for a Mini 10 might have been XP. Win7 starter absolutely flies on a netbook. Now, users can confidently expect great results from Windows 7 up and down our entire product line from the most powerful desktop to the most convenient netbook. That just goes to show the amount of optimization made in this OS, and how much more you'll enjoy our products with Windows 7 on them.

If you’re interested in Windows 7, you’ve probably seen lots of positive blog posts and reviews about its overall functionality. Gizmodo’s  Windows 7: The Complete Guide is a good example. In my experience, Windows 7 works well. The clean install process was painless. All my devices just worked. Performance-wise, it seems snappier than Vista on just about everything. It’s been rock-solid for a while now. There’s a lot to like—especially on the Media Center front.

I’ve been using Media Center on Dell PCs for years now, starting with Windows XP on my Dimension 8400. I agree with the folks at EngadgetHD said in their Win 7 MCE review (see the Conclusion section): Media Center on Windows 7 is simply in a class by itself. Media Center functionality is built into Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate versions.

I’ve been running Win 7 on my current rig, an XPS 720 with a two-year old 3.0GHz Extreme Edition processor and 2GB RAM. I have it connected to an Xbox 360 over Ethernet. TV Tuner-wise, I’ve been running my Cat’s Eye 150 HDTV tuner that’s connected to an over the air antenna. The Windows 7 install recognized all of devices so setup was pretty easy. And the little things just work as well. Just before writing this post, I downloaded the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack from Amazon. Even before my PC had finished downloading all the songs, I was able to see them in Media Center without doing anything.

One thing that's improved over Vista is the channel guide. In the Windows 7 version, several thing make it easier to find things you're looking for. Microsoft's Ben Reed, who's the product manager on the Windows Media Center Team walks you through featurees like Turbo Scroll, color coding of programs by type, creating customized guide views and more in the video below. Thanks to Brandon LeBlanc over at the Windows Team Blog for the video.

As a little experiment, I pulled up a live HD signal on my PC, streamed an HD recording of a football game to the Xbox 360 and streamed MP3s to a Mini 10 that I also installed Windows 7 on. The result… CPU utilization that hovered below 15% and memory stayed below 1.65GB.

Another killer feature… Remote Media Streaming. It gives you the ability to stream media content (music pictures and video) from your home PC to a laptop or other Windows 7 device via the Internet in another location. Only downside is that both machines need to be running Windows 7. Still very cool though, and it works beautifully. ZDNet has a bit more detail on Remote Media Streaming. The Play To function is also cool (Faith Chenault mentioned it in her recent post). It allows you to kick off a playlist from one Windows 7 device to another on your HomeGroup. Take a look at the video in Windows Media Center section of Paul Miller’s Windows 7 review to see how it works. It's worth noting that Play To works with music, photos and video—even recorded TV.

A couple of things I didn’t get to try out yet that I’m looking forward to:

• Netflix streaming: it worked well in Vista, and is supposed to get even better in Windows 7.
• Zune HD integration: I don’t have one of these yet, but hopefully, Santa Claus can change that.

Bottom line: if you use your PC for multimedia these days, an upgrade to Windows 7 is a no-brainer.

Update: Noticed earlier this afternoon that Netflix streaming has been added to the Movie section in Media Center from my PC. Watched an episode of Calliou with my son... it worked well.