Mortal OS Kombat: Microsoft's upstart Windows 7 versus Linux.

Mortal Kombat is a best-selling series of fighting games created by Ed Boon and John Tobias in 1992. Mortal Kombat began as a series of arcade games, which were picked up by Acclaim Entertainment for the home console versions.


Now Midway Games exclusively creates home versions of Mortal Kombat.

It is especially noted for its digitized sprites (which differentiated it from its contemporaries' hand-drawn sprites), and its high levels of blood and gore, including, most notably, its graphic fatalities—finishing moves, requiring a sequence of buttons to perform, which, in part, led to the creation of the ESRB.

The series itself is also known for replacing the rough c sound with the letter "K", thus deliberately misspelling the word "combat," as well as other words with the hard c sound within later games in the series.

Draw the line in the sand! It's the showdown the tech world has feared: Microsoft's upstart Windows 7 versus Linux. We've seen plenty of volleys back and forth from both camps over the past few days, thanks to the beta launch of the Windows 7 operating system. The new OS has a lot going for it--features that directly target the growing Linux base in the mobile PC market coupled with design elements that, honestly, look a lot like what we've seen in Linux desktop environments for some time now. But will that be enough to topple the best the open-source world has to offer? We dig deep into the arguments from both camps to find out whether Windows 7 is The Terminator... or John Conner.

Windows 7.

How could Microsoft pull off a victory and gain foothold against its open-source rival, Linux? It's already got the clear majority, with approximately 88 percent of the desktop market running Microsoft-branded operating systems. But Linux has been growing, with the netbook market helping to drive the platform out to new users. Microsoft is no stranger to this fact, tailoring Windows 7 to work smoothly on your average netbook configuration--we're talking about a 1.6 GHz, 1GB of RAM kind of netbook. Asus seems impressed already, as the company plans to offer Windows 7-branded Eee PCs later this year.

There are also the usual basic arguments as to why any Windows OS could top its Linux alternative: Windows 7 is easier to install, easier to use, simple to configure, compatible with a wide range of devices and software, and is the operating system for PC gaming, period. Windows 7 is also catering to admins with its tough little PowerShell utliity--a souped-up version of the command line that now allows administrators to remotely mess with machines via a powerful console-based scripting environment. 

But really, the fight is in the netbook space. IT World's Preston Gralla puts it clearly: if Linux gains traction on netbooks, people will become more familiar with using the OS (already a significant issue plaguing Linux-based netbooks). If people become more familiar with Linux as a whole, they might consider adopting it on their desktop platform as well. Microsoft intends to nip this threat in the bud and, as the article correctly surmises, you can expect to see a tremendous marketing pushback as Microsoft goes after this developing, mini-notebook base.


The Case for Linux
Proponents of Linux argue that many of Windows 7's eye-catching features--from PowerShell to its Aero-based desktop interface--have been available in the open-source community for years. The Unix shell has had plenty of time to simmer to perfection, and desktop environments like KDE are almost picture-for-picture clones of the new direction Microsoft has taken Windows 7. Linux still enjoys a considerable gain in the server space, and that's putting it lightly. The new features of Windows 7 will not make a dent against the already existing features of the Linux operating system. 

While Microsoft can try to inject itself into the netbook market, it's doing so against an established base. Netbooks are expected to achieve a growth rate of 60 percent up into 2010, reaching 29 million units sold. Of these, Microsoft has reached a base of approximately 70 percent--falling into industry expert predictions that Linux will sustain a market share of nearly 1/3 of all netbooks sold. Compare this to the desktop, where around one percent of users run Linux, and that's quite a difference. The large players don't fear Linux in the slightest -- HP, Dell, Asus, and Acer all ship Linux-branded netbooks.

And there's one qualification that's going to hurt Microsoft no matter what: the price. An open-source platform can be tweaked and modified in innumerable ways, often in parallel by a group of independent developers. The code can be stronger, the estimated development costs less than Microsoft's proprietary OS, and the overall product costs far less to incorporate ($5 to install on a netbook versus $100 for Vista) into a piece of hardware. At roughly $500 a pop for an average netbook, what computer manufacturer is going to want to cut revenues by $95 (or pass $95 on to the consumer) for an operating system whose features can be replicated for far cheaper?



There's no doubt that Windows 7 will make more headway into the netbook market than its failed attempts at capitalizing on this emerging sector in 2008. But the ultimate factor in the netbook space isn't the feature-set of the operating system. It's the cost. When two similar notebooks exist at a hundred dollar price gap, we can't envision a consumer adopting the pricier model just for the Windows 7 experience. The hype can't possibly be that much of a selling point... right? Consumers might be having a trickier time adopting Linux, but in a worsening economy, they might have a more difficult time sacrificing that extra cash.

Screenshots.

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Windows Vista has a different bootup configuration than earlier versions of Windows.

Windows Vista has a different bootup configuration than earlier versions of Windows.

Instead of using a simple Boot.ini file as in Windows XP, Vista has a special Boot Configuration Data (BCD) database to hold all
the relevant bootup parameters, and to allow compatibility with new bootup methods. However this change  also ma kes boot configuration and editing much more tricky.

Editing the boot configuration is particularly
important if you've installed a dual boot setup of Vista as covered in the previous chapter.

For the most part, you should not need to edit or alter the Vista boot configuration unless you're troubleshooting a system problem, attempting to use more than 4GB of RAM, or you want to alter specific parameters or repair a dual boot or multiboot setup. There are several ways you can view and modify your Vista boot configuration, and each is covered in more detail below.

BCDEDIT.

BCDEdit is a built-in command line tool for altering the boot configuration in Vista. To use it, open an
Administrator Command Prompt (see the Vista Usage Notes chapter). The full list of BCDEdit command line options is in this Microsoft Article. Given it is a more complex tool to use, it is not recommended that you edit the boot configuration this way - I recommend using the tools below at least to start with.

STARTUP AND RECOVERY.

The easiest method to alter your basic bootup options is to go to Control anel>System>Advanced System Settings, or go to Start>Search Box and type "systempropertiesadvanced" (without quotes) and press Enter.

Then click the Settings button under 'Startup and Recovery'.

In the Startup and Recovery box, under System Startup if you want a Boot Menu to be shown when your PC first loads with a list of all installed Operating Systems, tick the 'Time to display list of operating systems' box and in the box next to it choose how many seconds you want the Boot Menu to remain on screen before it automatically loads up the default OS. If on the other hand you don't want a boot menu to be shown at all, and wa nt the default OS to load up straight away, untick the box.

The 'Time to display recovery options when needed' box should be ticked, and a reasonable amount of time entered, such as 15 seconds or more. The recovery options menu will only appear if you run into problems with Vista, and its features (such as Safe Mode) are covered under the Backup & Recovery chapter.

MSCONFIG.
Another way to alter boot configuration is to use the Microsoft Configuration utility (MSConfig). Go to
Start>Search Box and type "msconfig" (without quotes) then press Enter. Go to the Boot tab of MSConfig and you will see under the 'Boot Options' section there are several options for altering the way your PC boots up.

These are primarily used for troubleshooting purposes. Highlight the install of Windows Vista you wish to alter then you can select one of these options to apply to it:

Safe Boot: If selected, the next boot will be into Safe Mode, as covered under the Backup & Recovery chapter.

Default Safe Mode is called Minimal; 'Alternate Shell' is Safe Mode with Command Prompt instead of GUI;

'Active Directory repair' is Safe Mode with GUI and Active Directory; Network is Safe Mode with GUI and Networking features enabled.

No GUI boot: Removes the default Windows Vista 'scrolling bars' startup screen when booting up, replaces it with the Aurora image. See the Graphics & Interface chapter for more details on how to customize the boot screen.

Boot log: Records all bootup information in a logfile stored under your \Windows directory as Ntbtlog.txt.

Base video: Boots up Vista using the standard Windows graphics drivers rather than the specific video driver for your graphics hardware.

OS boot information: Shows the names of all the drivers as they're being loaded during bootup.

The Timeout value in the box on the right is the same as the 'Time to display a list of operating systems'
setting covered under 'Startup and Recovery' further above - it controls how long the boot menu for
multiboot systems is shown.

If you click the 'Advanced Options' button you will see more advanced bootup options for troubleshooting:

Number of processors: If you have a multi-core CPU, you can tick this option and manually force all, some or
only one of the processors (cores) on the CPU be detected and used by Windows.

Maximum Memory: Allows you to manually force Windows to only use a certain amount of RAM on your system, up to and including your full physical RAM amount. Amount entered is in KiloBytes (KB).

PCI Lock: Stops Windows from dynamically assigning system resources to PCI devices. The devices will use the BIOS configuration instead.

Detect HAL: Forces Windows to redetect the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) in case your hardware is incorrectly being detected/reported.

Debug: Starts Windows in debugging mode.

Once done selecting which bootup options you wish to apply to the boot configuration, click the Apply
button then OK, and these option(s) will come into effect on next boot. Should you wish to apply any
permanently, I recommend using BCDEdit or VistaBoot Pro rather than leaving them enabled in MSConfig.

THIRD PARTY TOOLS.

Aside from the built-in tools above, there are a range of third party tools you can use to do what is covered above more easily.

VISTABOOT PRO.

VistaBoot Pro is a tool for editing the boot configuration in Vista using a graphical interface and does not
require detailed knowledge of how the BCD works. Upon installation you will be prompted to make a
backup of your BCD database, which is strongly recommended before you do anything else. Should
anything go wrong with the BCD, you can go to the Backup/Restore Center button and restore your backed up BCD files.

VistaBoot Pro has a wide range of functions, but we'll cover only the major ones here. On the main 'View Settings' screen in VistaBoot Pro you can see a summary of the data held in the BCD. If you have a dual or multiboot setup, you should see all the operating systems listed with the correct drives shown. You can expand this display by clicking the Detailed or All options at the top of the screen. This is useful for troubleshooting, and also gives you some idea of the kind of data held in the BCD.

If you want to alter these entries, click the 'Manage OS Entries'. Here you can set the default OS and the timeout, though these are best altered using the normal Vista Startup and Recovery options as covered further above. Most interestingly, you can rename the OS entries which show up in the Boot Menu. By default, Vista insists on calling your older operating system 'Earlier version of Windows' in the Boot Menu, and it calls Vista simply 'Microsoft Windows'. To help prevent confusion and make things neater, click on each OS listed and tick the 'Rename selected operating system' checkbox - new options will appear allowing you to provide a new name and also change the drive letter if necessary.

For example I've renamed my listed OSes so that one says 'Windows XP' and the other says 'Windows Vista'. You can also add a new (Windows) OS listing here by ticking the 'Add new operating system entry' option and filling in the details. Finally, you can change the order in which the OSes are listed by highlighting the relevant OS and using the up or down arrows to the right.

The 'Advanced Settings' include various advanced features which the MSConfig utility can also accomplish, and these are covered further above. Some useful features you can use VistaBoot Pro for are:

Allow use of Unsigned drivers: By default the 64-bit version of Vista only allows signed drivers to be installed.

Ticking this option attempts to override that limitation - has no impact on 32-bit Vista editions.

PAE Enabled: If ticked enables Physical Address Extension (PAE) in Vista. This is necessary for correct
memory detection if you have more than 4GB of RAM in the 32-bit version of Vista.

DEP On: Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is on by default, but can be turned off here. DEP is covered in more detail in the PC Security chapter and generally should not be disabled.

Finally, the Bootloader section of VistaBoot Pro allows you to attempt to fix any problems with the Vista
bootloader, or to uninstall it if you've removed Vista from your system and you had a dual boot
configuration. By default, simply deleting/reformatting/removing the Vista drive or partition in a dual boot configuration may cause problems since Vista's bootloader is still resident on the older version of Windows.

This option lets you to remove the bootloader so you can boot into your older OS as normal.

VistaBoot Pro is a very useful tool for BCD editing, however if in doubt do not alter any settings, and if you wind up damaging your BCD or any other Vista boot files, use the Startup Repair functionality of Vista to fix the problem (See the Backup & Recovery chapter), or see the instructions here.

EASYBCD.

EasyBCD is another free automated utility which makes editing the Vista boot configuration much easier.

However it is virtually identical to VistaBoot Pro in terms of its ma jor features and functions, so it will not be covered in detail here. You can use either utility to achieve much the same results.

BOOTDISKS.

As mentioned in this Microsoft Article, Windows Vista does not use Boot Disks any more; the original Vista DVD is effectively a boot disk. If you're having problems booting up Windows, you can boot up using the original Vista DVD then use Startup Repair to automa tically detect and repair any issue preventing proper Windows startup. You can also access the DOS Command Prompt in the Vista Recovery Tools if necessary.

Details of these functions are covered under the Backup & Recovery chapter.

If you still want to create a Vista bootup floppy disk, you can do so according to the details here. If you want to start up your PC in very basic DOS mode and the Command Prompt mode of the Vista Recovery.

Environment is not appropriate for some reason, there are a range of bootdisks you can download here.

Ultimately there really shouldn't be a reason to alter your boot configuration under normal circumstances so I would approach the use of the tools above with caution, and initially rely on the automated Startup Repair feature of the Vista DVD itself to troubleshoot any bootup problems before moving on to other methods of altering the BCD.

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Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts.

Keyboard shortcuts are combinations of two or more keys that, when pressed, can be used to perform a task that would typically require a mouse or other pointing device.

Keyboard shortcuts can make it easier to interact with your computer, saving you time and effort as you work with Windows and other programs. 

Most programs also provide accelerator keys that can make it easier to work with menus and other commands. Check the menus of programs for accelerator keys. 

If a letter is underlined in a menu, that usually means that pressing the Alt key in combination with the underlined key will have the same effect as clicking that menu item.

Pressing the Alt key in some programs, such as Paint and WordPad, shows commands that are labeled with additional keys that you can press to use them.

Dialog box keyboard shortcuts.

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts for use in dialog boxes.

Press this key To do this:

Ctrl+Tab Move forward through tabs
Ctrl+Shift+Tab Move back through tabs
Tab Move forward through options
Shift+Tab Move back through options
Alt+underlined letter Perform the command (or select the option) that goes with that letter
Enter Replaces clicking the mouse for many selected commands
Spacebar Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box
Arrow keys Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons
F1 Display Help
F4 Display the items in the active list
Backspace Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box
Windows logo key keyboard shortcut.

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts that use the Windows logo key.

Press this key To do this:

Windows logo key Open or close the Start menu.
Windows logo key +Pause Display the System Properties dialog box.
Windows logo key +D Display the desktop.
Windows logo key +M Minimize all windows.
Windows logo key +Shift+M Restore minimized windows to the desktop.
Windows logo key +E Open Computer.
Windows logo key +F Search for a file or folder.
Ctrl+Windows logo key +F Search for computers (if you’re on a network).
Windows logo key +L Lock your computer or switch users.
Windows logo key +R Open the Run dialog box.
Windows logo key +T Cycle through programs on the taskbar.
Windows logo key +number Start the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number. If the program is already running, switch to that program.
Shift+Windows logo key +number Start a new instance of the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number.
Ctrl+Windows logo key +number Switch to the last active window of the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number.
Alt+Windows logo key +number Open the Jump List for the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number.
Windows logo key +Tab Cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Aero Flip 3-D.
Ctrl+Windows logo key +Tab Use the arrow keys to cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Aero Flip 3-D.
Ctrl+Windows logo key +B Switch to the program that displayed a message in the notification area.
Windows logo key +Spacebar Preview the desktop.
Windows logo key +Up Arrow Maximize the window.
Windows logo key +Left Arrow Maximize the window to the left side of the screen.
Windows logo key +Right Arrow Maximize the window to the right side of the screen.
Windows logo key +Down Arrow Minimize the window.
Windows logo key +Home Minimize all but the active window.
Windows logo key +Shift+Up Arrow Stretch the window to the top and bottom of the screen.
Windows logo key +Shift+Left Arrow or Right Arrow Move a window from one monitor to another.
Windows logo key +P Choose a presentation display mode.
Windows logo key +G Cycle through gadgets.
Windows logo key +U Open Ease of Access Center.
Windows logo key +X Open Windows Mobility Center.

Windows Explorer keyboard shortcuts. 

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts for working with Windows Explorer windows or folders.

Press this key To do this
Ctrl+N Open a new window
Ctrl+W Close the current window
Ctrl+Shift+N Create a new folder
End Display the bottom of the active window
Home Display the top of the active window
F11 Maximize or minimize the active window
Ctrl+Period (.) Rotate a picture clockwise
Ctrl+Comma (,) Rotate a picture counter-clockwise
Num Lock+Asterisk (*) on numeric keypad Display all subfolders under the selected folder
Num Lock+Plus Sign (+) on numeric keypad Display the contents of the selected folder
Num Lock+Minus Sign (-) on numeric keypad Collapse the selected folder
Left Arrow Collapse the current selection (if it’s expanded), or select the parent folder
Alt+Enter Open the Properties dialog box for the selected item
Alt+P Display the preview pane
Alt+Left Arrow View the previous folder
Backspace View the previous folder
Right Arrow Display the current selection (if it’s collapsed), or select the first subfolder
Alt+Right Arrow View the next folder
Alt+Up Arrow View the parent folder
Ctrl+Shift+E Display all folders above the selected folder
Ctrl+Mouse scroll wheel Change the size and appearance of file and folder icons
Alt+D Select the address bar
Ctrl+E Select the search box
Ctrl+F Select the search box
Taskbar keyboard shortcuts

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts for working with items on the taskbar.

Press this key To do this:

Shift+Click on a taskbar button Open a program or quickly open another instance of a program
Ctrl+Shift+Click on a taskbar button Open a program as an administrator
Shift+Right-click on a taskbar button Show the window menu for the program
Shift+Right-click on a grouped taskbar button Show the window menu for the group
Ctrl+Click on a grouped taskbar button Cycle through the windows of the group
Magnifier keyboard shortcuts 

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts for working with Magnifier.

Press this key To do this:

Windows logo key + Plus Sign or Minus Sign Zoom in or out

Ctrl+Alt+Spacebar Preview the desktop in full-screen mode

Ctrl+Alt+F Switch to full-screen mode

Ctrl+Alt+L Switch to lens mode

Ctrl+Alt+D Switch to docked mode

Ctrl+Alt+I Invert colors

Ctrl+Alt+arrow keys Pan in the direction of the arrow keys

Ctrl+Alt+R Resize the lens

Windows logo key + Esc Exit Magnifier

Remote Desktop Connection keyboard shortcuts 

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts for working with Remote Desktop Connection.
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Press this key To do this:

Alt+Page Up Move between programs from left to right.
Alt+Page Down Move between programs from right to left.
Alt+Insert Cycle through programs in the order that they were started in.
Alt+Home Display the Start menu.
Ctrl+Alt+Break Switch between a window and full screen.
Ctrl+Alt+End Display the Windows Security dialog box.
Alt+Delete Display the system menu.
Ctrl+Alt+Minus Sign (-) on the numeric keypad Place a copy of the active window, within the client, on the Terminal server clipboard (provides the same functionality as pressing Alt+PrtScn on a local computer).
Ctrl+Alt+Plus Sign (+) on the numeric keypad Place a copy of the entire client window area on the Terminal server clipboard (provides the same functionality as pressing PrtScn on a local computer).
Ctrl+Alt+Right Arrow “Tab” out of the Remote Desktop controls to a control in the host program (for example, a button or a text box). Useful when the Remote Desktop controls are embedded in another (host) program.
Ctrl+Alt+Left Arrow “Tab” out of the Remote Desktop controls to a control in the host program (for example, a button or a text box). Useful when the Remote Desktop controls are embedded in another (host) program.
Note
Ctrl+Alt+Break and Ctrl+Alt+End are available in all Remote Desktop sessions, even when you’ve set up the remote computer to recognize Windows keyboard shortcuts.

Paint keyboard shortcuts.

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts for working with Paint.

Press this key To do this:

Ctrl+N Create a new picture
Ctrl+O Open an existing picture
Ctrl+S Save changes to a picture
F12 Save the picture as a new file
Ctrl+P Print a picture
Alt+F4 Close a picture and its Paint window
Ctrl+Z Undo a change
Ctrl+Y Redo a change
Ctrl+A Select the entire picture
Ctrl+X Cut a selection
Ctrl+C Copy a selection to the Clipboard
Ctrl+V Paste a selection from the Clipboard
Right Arrow Move the selection or active shape right by one pixel
Left Arrow Move the selection or active shape left by one pixel
Down Arrow Move the selection or active shape down by one pixel
Up Arrow Move the selection or active shape up by one pixel
Esc Cancel a selection
Delete Delete a selection
Ctrl+B Bold selected text
Ctrl++ Increase the width of a brush, line, or shape outline by one pixel
Ctrl+- Decrease the width of a brush, line, or shape outline by one pixel
Ctrl+I Italicize selected text
Ctrl+U Underline selected text
Ctrl+E Open the Properties dialog box
Ctrl+W Open the Resize and Skew dialog box
Ctrl+Page Up Zoom in
Ctrl+Page Down Zoom out
F11 View a picture in full-screen mode
Ctrl+R Show or hide the ruler
Ctrl+G Show or hide gridlines
F10 or Alt Display keytips
Shift+F10 Show the current shortcut menu
F1 Open Paint Help

WordPad keyboard shortcuts.

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts for working with WordPad.

Press this key To do this:

Ctrl+N Create a new document
Ctrl+O Open an existing document
Ctrl+S Save changes to a document
F12 Save the document as a new file
Ctrl+P Print a document
Alt+F4 Close WordPad
Ctrl+Z Undo a change
Ctrl+Y Redo a change
Ctrl+A Select the entire document
Ctrl+X Cut a selection
Ctrl+C Copy a selection to the Clipboard
Ctrl+V Paste a selection from the Clipboard
Ctrl+B Make selected text bold
Ctrl+I Italicize selected text
Ctrl+U Underline selected text
Ctrl+= Make selected text subscript
Ctrl+Shift+= Make selected text superscript
Ctrl+L Align text left
Ctrl+E Align text center
Ctrl+R Align text right
Ctrl+J Justify text
Ctrl+1 Set single line spacing
Ctrl+2 Set double line spacing
Ctrl+5 Set line spacing to 1.5
Ctrl+Shift+> Increase the font size
Ctrl+Shift+< Decrease the font size
Ctrl+Shift+A Change characters to all capitals
Ctrl+Shift+L Change the bullet style
Ctrl+D Insert a Microsoft Paint drawing
Ctrl+F Find text in a document
F3 Find the next instance of the text in the Find dialog box
Ctrl+H Replace text in a document
Ctrl+Left Arrow Move the cursor one word to the left
Ctrl+Right Arrow Move the cursor one word to the right
Ctrl+Up Arrow Move the cursor to the line above
Ctrl+Down Arrow Move the cursor to the line below
Ctrl+Home Move to the beginning of the document
Ctrl+End Move to the end of the document
Ctrl+Page Up Move up one page
Ctrl+Page Down Move down one page
Ctrl+Delete Delete the next word
F10 Display keytips
Shift+F10 Show the current shortcut menu
F1 Open WordPad Help
Calculator keyboard shortcuts

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts for working with Calculator. 

Press this key To do this:

Alt+1 Switch to Standard mode
Alt+2 Switch to Scientific mode
Alt+3 Switch to Programmer mode
Alt+4 Switch to Statistics mode
Ctrl+E Open date calculations
Ctrl+H Turn calculation history on or off
Ctrl+U Open unit conversion
Alt+C Calculate or solve date calculations and worksheets
F1 Open Calculator Help
Ctrl+Q Press the M- button
Ctrl+P Press the M+ button
Ctrl+M Press the MS button
Ctrl+R Press the MR button
Ctrl+L Press the MC button
% Press the % button
F9 Press the +/– button
/ Press the / button
* Press the * button
+ Press the + button
- Press the – button
R Press the 1/× button
@ Press the square root button
0-9 Press the number buttons (0-9)
= Press the = button
. Press the . (decimal point) button
Backspace Press the backspace button
Esc Press the C button
Del Press the CE button
Ctrl+Shift+D Clear the calculation history
F2 Edit the calculation history
Up Arrow key Navigate up in the calculation history
Down Arrow key Navigate down in the calculation history
Esc Cancel editing the calculation history
Enter Recalculate the calculation history after editing
F3 Select Degrees in Scientific mode
F4 Select Radians in Scientific mode
F5 Select Grads in Scientific mode
I Press the Inv button in Scientific mode
D Press the Mod button in Scientific mode
Ctrl+S Press the sinh button in Scientific mode
Ctrl+O Press the cosh button in Scientific mode
Ctrl+T Press the tanh button in Scientific mode
( Press the ( button in Scientific mode
) Press the ) button in Scientific mode
N Press the ln button in Scientific mode
; Press the Int button in Scientific mode
S Press the sin button in Scientific mode
O Press the cos button in Scientific mode
T Press the tan button in Scientific mode
M Press the dms button in Scientific mode
P Press the pi button in Scientific mode
V Press the F-E button in Scientific mode
X Press the Exp button in Scientific mode
Q Press the x^2 button in Scientific mode
Y Press the x^y button in Scientific mode
# Press the x^3 button in Scientific mode
L Press the log button in Scientific mode
! Press the n! button in Scientific mode
Ctrl+Y Press the y√x button in Scientific mode
Ctrl+B Press the 3√x button in Scientific mode
Ctrl+G Press the 10x button in Scientific mode
F5 Select Hex in Programmer mode
F6 Select Dec in Programmer mode
F7 Select Oct in Programmer mode
F8 Select Bin in Programmer mode
F12 Select Qword in Programmer mode
F2 Select Dword in Programmer mode
F3 Select Word in Programmer mode
F4 Select Byte in Programmer mode
K Press the RoR button in Programmer mode
J Press the RoL button in Programmer mode
< Press the Lsh button in Programmer mode
> Press the Rsh button in Programmer mode
% Press the Mod button in Programmer mode
( Press the ( button in Programmer mode
) Press the ) button in Programmer mode
| Press the Or button in Programmer mode
^ Press the Xor button in Programmer mode
~ Press the Not button in Programmer mode
& Press the And button in Programmer mode
A-F Press the A-F buttons in Programmer mode
Spacebar Toggles the bit value in Programmer mode
A Press the Average button in Statistics mode
Ctrl+A Press the Average Sq button in Statistics mode
S Press the Sum button in Statistics mode
Ctrl+S Press the Sum Sq button in Statistics mode
T Press the S.D. button in Statistics mode
Ctrl+T Press the Inv S.D. button in Statistics mode
D Press the CAD button in Statistics mode

Windows Journal keyboard shortcuts.

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts for working with Windows Journal.

Press this key To do this:

Ctrl+N Start a new note
Ctrl+O Open a recently used note
Ctrl+S Save changes to a note
Ctrl+Shift+V Move a note to a specific folder
Ctrl+P Print a note
Alt+F4 Close a note and its Journal window
Ctrl+Z Undo a change
Ctrl+Y Redo a change
Ctrl+A Select all items on a page
Ctrl+X Cut a selection
Ctrl+C Copy a selection to the Clipboard
Ctrl+V Paste a selection from the Clipboard
Esc Cancel a selection
Delete Delete a selection
Ctrl+F Start a basic find
Ctrl+G Go to a page
F5 Refresh find results
F5 Refresh the note list
F6 Toggle between a note list and a note
Ctrl+Shift+C Display a shortcut menu for column headings in a note list
F11 View a note in full-screen mode
F1 Open Journal Help

Windows Help viewer keyboard shortcuts.

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts for working with the Help viewer.

Press this key To do this
Alt+C Display the Table of Contents
Alt+N Display the Connection Settings menu
F10 Display the Options menu
Alt+Left Arrow Move back to the previously viewed topic
Alt+Right Arrow Move forward to the next (previously viewed) topic
Alt+A Display the customer support page
Alt+Home Display the Help and Support home page
Home Move to the beginning of a topic
End Move to the end of a topic
Ctrl+F Search the current topic
Ctrl+P Print a topic
F3 Move the cursor to the search box

Windows Media Center in Windows 7, Chapter 2.

Turbo Scroll also puts in an appearance for Pictures for a nice enhancement in large libraries – hold down the left or right buttons on the remote to transition into a user experience which allow you to fast forward through pictures – let go of the button to move to that point in the gallery.

I’ll take a moment to note the static screen captures here don’t really do Turbo Scroll justice – the animations are quite nice.

Picture Details bubbles up many of the simple photo editing features in Windows Media Center as well as allows you to rate the picture.

In prior versions the slideshow disappeared from view when you pressed the Green Button and the only way to return was to use the back button (if the slideshow was still on the backstack) or go back through the library to start fresh.

Now the slideshow is persisted as an experience in Now Playing including picture transitions – you can select to easily return back to the full screen slideshow. [That’s me taking on Ruby Beach taking pictures – shameless self-promotion, sorry.]

Videos.

I've elected to not take any screenshots for this section -- not much has changed visually for this feature, so I'll just enumerate what's new from a functionality perspective.

• The Video Library, like Pictures, Music and Recorded TV gets the Shared Library feature so you can enjoy content from other computers on your network.
• H.264 playback is now supported out of the box with Windows 7 -- including on Media Center Extenders – both standalone hardware implementations AND on the XBox 360 when in Extender mode. I know a few people on http://www.thegreenbutton.com who will rejoice.
• Video Play All allows you to play all of the videos in a specific gallery in a continuous play list – you can now easily excite the neighbors with your vacation and home videos one after the other!
• Videos now have parity with Recorded TV in the area of bookmarks – you can now resume previously played videos where you left off.

TV.

For starters, you get all of the enhancements made available with the TV Pack (including those for United States customers). For more information on the TV Pack check out this post at The Green Button: http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/282555.aspx. If you recall, the TV Pack was designed to enable TV standards in Asia and Europe. There are some nice additions in this area for Windows 7...

When you move your mouse you will notice the seek bar looks a little different. It's now 'clickable' which will take you to that relative position in the content. Many folks use the mouse with Windows Media Center and this feature has been wanted by that group for a while. [Note: This also works for content in the Video Library.]

When Recorded TV (or video) is playing and you press the right or left arrow buttons you get the Now Playing experience which bubbles up features and functionality previously buried behind the More Information button (like Zoom) or Settings (Captions) as well as information and details (like related content) from the guide. (Those of you with access to Internet TV in the United States may find this familiar -- an earlier incarnation of this approach was used for that experience.)

Not much has changed in the Recorded TV gallery from a look and feel standpoint, but this screen capture does show the new 'All Content' view available with Shared Libraries. If you have multiple Windows Media Center enabled PCs in the house you can now enjoy that content across the network on those computers without going to great lengths to hack registries and apply folder sharing voodoo.

Selecting a Recorded TV show will bring up the new Details experience -- as with other experiences in this shared feature, go left and right to switch between panes.

Here is the guide in Turbo Scroll mode (hold down the left or right arrow button on your remote control or keyboard). Note the correct high definition channel mapping from the TV Pack as well as the [ HD ] logo embedded in the grid entries.

Selecting an item in the guide also brings up the new details. Note the new [ HD ] logo which helps you identify high definition content. The slide and pane metaphor really begins to shine with TV (and movies) because it does such a great job of putting resources once buried across many screens 'closer' to you.

Movies.

You'll notice the Movies experience has now been given a strip of its own with a few enhancements.

The improved Movies Guide has an [ HD ] pivot which makes finding that visual fidelity much easier.

Movie Details again brings many layers of pages into a single location -- it's now much easier to jump around and find related content.

Extras.

 We've listened to our developers and I'm happy to announce a new feature called 'Extras' which will be replacing Online Media. I'll have a post out in the next couple of days with more information on this 'still in the planning phase' feature. As part of the rethinking of this area of the produce we've greatly simplified the gallery to make it much more user friendly. Gone are the myriad of [seemingly random] pivots (which were really filters).

Now this gallery behaves much like the others in the product whereby the pivots are sorts and all of your applications are represented in each view.

I don’t really have a screen capture of this next one but it’s worth noting: Application developers (more for you folks in a separate post) will be happy to know we’ve increased the number of custom Start Menu strips to a maximum of 20 (up from only 2 in Windows Vista).

On Screen Keyboard.

Any time you need to perform text entry we've got a new on screen keyboard for your enjoyment. This feature alone will bring much 'Spousal Acceptance Factor' to your Windows Media Center experience. [Bonus: This same exact on screen keyboard is available for developers to invoke from their applications.]

Gadget.

This is the gadget in its default configuration allow you to play your favorite music, slideshow (3 stars or better) or both. You can click the green button to launch Windows Media Center.

If you've configured TV and recorded shows they will appear in the order they are recorded. The gadget can also include content from the Internet TV feature.

Here are the gadget settings. Turning off Internet TV and New Recorded TV will return the gadget to it's default, out of box configuration.

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Windows Media Center in Windows 7, Chapter 1

Windows Media Center (codenamed "Freestyle" during development) is an application with a 10-foot user interface design to serve as a home-entertainment hub for the living-room TV.

It is included in Windows XP Media Center Edition, premium editions of Windows Vista (Vista Home Premium and Vista Ultimate), and Windows 7 (Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate).

It is designed to be controlled by special remote controls which prominently feature the Green Button (similar to the logo to the right), but can also be operated with a mouse and/or keyboard.

This button is used to either launch Media Center from Windows or to return to the Start Menu from within the application. Media Center plays the computer user's pictures, videos, and music from local hard drives, optical drives, and network locations. It then categorizes them by name, date, tags, and other file attributes. Media managed through Media Center can also be relayed via a home network to standard TV sets via the specially designed Windows Media Center Extender or the Xbox 360.

Start Menu

The Start Menu gets a subtle refresh both in text treatment and iconography size. You can now see more items at any given time without feeling cluttered, and the readability has really improved. The new Start Menu is also designed to always overlay the current playing experience so it stays in one place. Another thing you will notice is it now remembers your last location strip between sessions (prior versions always launched to the TV + Movies strip).

We got a lot of complaints about the postage stamp size of the video thumbnail for Now Playing in Windows Vista. You’ll be pleased to note it has returned to its larger size in Windows 7 -- no more squinting! Another thing you will notice in this screen capture is the tile title has been moved out of the focusable rectangle -- we can now do much longer names as a result (a great usability enhancement for international versions of Windows Media Center where the languages make for really long titles).

Music.

The user friendliness and design ethos really moves a notch up, especially for those with large libraries. [Note: Some of the user experience enhancements transcend any singular Windows Media Center area – I’ll introduce them throughout this post and try to note when the feature is shared.]

Do you have obscure albums with no album art available? In prior versions all of these would have a blue background + white text. With Windows 7 we mix it up a bit with random colors for these which makes them ‘blend in’ with your other album art for the Music Library gallery.

Details is another shared feature throughout the product. You can think of details as a slide deck which puts much used features closer to your fingertips compared to prior versions. You move left and right to switch between panes and up and down to select items on that pane. This really bubbles up features which have been less than discoverable in the past.

Music Now Playing received a large makeover and I think you are really going to like it. When you start playback of music you navigate to the Now Playing page as in prior versions. After a while we fade out the action items and animate your album art into a slowly scrolling wall of covers and occasionally switch the currently playing album cover and metadata. When you press a button on the remote or move the mouse we bring back the action items and keep the wall of covers up in the background.

Rating your content has never been easier in Windows Media Center. By enabling Rating Shortcuts you can press the 1 through 5 buttons on the remote or keyboard to rate the music (or picture as this is one of the shared features) in real time.

Those folks with large music libraries will *really* like what we call ‘Turbo Scroll’ – another shared feature. When you hold down the left or right remote control buttons for a while we transition into an interface which presents the content in alphabetical chunks. Letting go of the button when you see the letter combination you want will immediately take you to that position in your library.

Shared Libraries are built on top of the Home Group features in Windows 7 and is a shared feature across Music, Pictures, Videos and Recorded TV. Folks who have been clamoring for ‘Softsled’ will very much enjoy this feature as it allows you to peruse and enjoy content from multiple computers on your home network. In this screen capture I’m demonstrating how I can select my local music library or that shared by another user on my network named ‘Ethel’ on a computer named ‘Laptop’. Once selected, I can browse Ethels content in Windows Media Center.

Pictures.

Photo enthusiasts have much to enjoy in Windows 7 in Windows Media Center – like music, the usability goes up a notch or two.

There is a new Ambient Slideshow which will launch as a screen saver as well as when you invoke the new Play Favorites on the Start Menu. This pulls from your pictures rated 3 stars or higher. This slideshow features some nice zoom out (first screenshot) and zoom in animations (second screenshot) as well as slideshows within slideshows (kind of hard to explain -- it makes sense once you watch this new feature in action). If you are a photography fan and want to enjoy your pictures in an unstructured way you are going to really like this feature.

Here is a view of the enhanced Picture Library. I'll draw your attention to the Ratings, Slide Shows and Shared pivots -- all new for Windows 7. Ratings allow you to sort by rating (0-5 stars) like you can with tags we added in Windows Vista. Shared inherits the Shared Library in common with Music, Videos and Recorded TV. On the Slide Shows pivot you can play back slideshows...

...created with the new Slideshow Creator -- one of my favorite features. You can choose pictures or music in the creator and save the results for later playback.

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7 of the world’s most powerful tech companies have been accused of forming an antitrust conspiracy.

7 of the world’s most powerful tech companies have been accused of forming an antitrust conspiracy to suppress the compensation of their employees by entering into “no poach” agreements. Today, a San Jose judge heard a motion to dismiss a class action civil lawsuit in which former employees seek damages from defendants Apple, Google, Adobe, Intel, Intuit, Pixar, and Lucasfilm.

The damning evidence against the defendants from a 2010 Department of Justice investigation that I first uncovered last week, as well as the plaintiffs’ opposition statement indicate there is more than sufficient evidence for the dismissal to be denied and the case to proceed towards trial. If the defendants lose to or settle, tens of thousands of full-time employees with the companies between 2006 and 2009 could be compensated.

[Update 4:30pm PST 1/26/2011: Judge Lucy Koh says "This case is moving forward...this case is going to survive the motion to dismiss." That means the defendants' motion to dismiss the case will almost surely be denied when the judge files her official ruling soon. Koh said she may dismiss some specific claims but the plaintiffs will be allowed to amend their complaint. She mentioned "It's hard to make the inference that there was no conspiracy". Read on to find out why and what that means for the companies. More details from the hearing at the end.]

Specifically, the senior executives of the defendants, including Apple’s Steve Jobs and Google’s Eric Schmidt, are accused of entering into a network of identical, interconnected illegal agreements not to recruit each other’s employees. Each agreement by itself may be a violation of antitrust laws including the Sherman Act, the Cartwright Act, and other California laws.

The plaintiffs also claim the agreements constitute an overarching antitrust conspiracy because each was made with knowledge of the other agreements, and relied on the other agreements to achieve a common goal of reducing compensation and mobility for highly sought-after skilled tech employees.

According to the plaintiffs’ statement (PDF), the chronology of some of the agreements is as follows:

• January 2005 – Pixar senior executives (which include Steve Jobs) draft written terms for a no-poach agreement and send them to Lucasfilm

• May 2005 – Apple and Adobe make agreements

• 2006 – Apple and Google make agreements shortly after Eric Schmidt joined Apple’s board of directors

• April 2007 – Apple and Pixar make agreements

• June and September 2007 – Google enters into agreements with Intuit and Intel that are identical to the agreements between Apple and Google, Apple and Adobe, and Apple and Pixar

Additionally, Steve Jobs personally contacted Palm’s CEO Edward T. Colligan to propose an unlawful agreement, writing “We must do whatever we can” to stop competitive recruiting efforts between the companies.” Colligan declined Jobs’ offer, writing “Your proposal that we agree that neither company will hire the other’s employees, regardless of the individual’s desires, is not only wrong, it is likely illegal.”

The plaintiffs request “The Court should deny the motion, lift the stay of discovery, and permit Plaintiffs ‘to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination’ of this action.”

The defendants claim that the agreements were isolated and not interconnected. They claim the agreements were pro-competitive parts of legitimate collaborations between the companies, many of which had executives on each other’s boards or started as the same company as with Pixar and Lucasfilm.

The defendants also claim “The alleged bilateral arrangement provide no support for the overall conspiracy that plaintiffs have alleged in order to name the defendants in a class action”. They motion for continuation of the partial stay of discovery and for the case to be dismissed.

However, my research and sources indicate the defendants’ claims are false, the plaintiffs case is plausible, and so there are no grounds for dismissal. Furthermore, the only reason more evidence about the interconnection between the agreements isn’t available is because they were made so secretively.

The case should be allowed to proceed because the plaintiffs have produced “smoking guns” indicating a deep conspiracy. Specifically, “Do Not Cold Call” lists which defendants used to implement the agreements, and the written terms of Pixar’s agreement with Lucasfilm. These signal that today’s joint motion to dismiss the case should be denied because if discovery is permitted to continue, there’s a reasonable expectation that evidence of illegal activity will be revealed.

Finally, the precedent is that motions to dismiss are “viewed with disfavor and are properly granted only in exceptional cases…A complaint satisfies Twombly [is only eligible for dismissal] if the allegations, taken as a whole, are not ‘facially implausible’” according to the plaintiffs’ statement. Therefore, it would take a very strong presentation by the defense for Judge Lucy Koh to dismiss the case.

If the defendants’ motion to dismiss the case is denied, the case will move towards a trial by jury in June 2013. Rather than leave an assessment of damages to the judge and jury, the defendants may try to settle the case, similar to how they settled with the Department of Justice’s federal case in 2010. In the defendants lose or settle, full-time employees of the defendants could be compensated for the 10-15% of lost wages estimated by the plaintiffs’ law firm Lieff Cabraser.

Update 4:30pm PST 1/26/2012: The judge has lifted the stay of discovery, saying “This case is moving forward…this case is going to survive the motion to dismiss.” Though her official statement hasn’t been filed, she’s likely to deny the defendants motion to dismiss the case. She also ordered Google to produce draft emails in addition to sent emails, and designate which are drafts and which were sent.

During the hearing, the defense argued against the conspiracy accusation and joint liability. It stated that plaintiffs don’t deserve compensation from companies they never worked for and that their employers didn’t have agreements with just because they were part of the so-called conspiracy.

The judge seemed somewhat sympathetic to this, and asked if the plaintiffs would consider breaking up the case to focus on each unlawful agreement separately. The plaintiffs maintained that the agreements were all interconnected.

Afterwards, The head attorney representing the plaintiffs, Joseph R. Saveri of Lieff Cabraser, told me the plaintiffs were comfortable moving forward with their single, joint antitrust conspiracy complaint. The plaintiffs will file an amended complaint that removes any claims dismissed by the forthcoming judge’s statement.

Next, another Case Management Conference is set for April 18th, where that amended complaint from the plaintiff will be reviewed. On June 28th, the court will convene to hear class certification to define what employees are eligible to be represented by the class action lawsuit. The plaintiffs plan to assess evidence surfaced during discovery and determine if only software engineers, software engineers and scientists, or all of the defendants’ employees will be represented by the class action lawsuit.

Following the hearing, Saveri gave reporters a conservative calculation of the possible damages that employees could be compensated for. He said software engineers make $100,000 a year (they make more), their compensation was “suppressed between 5 and 10%” and “tens of thousands of employees were affected”. That means for each year an entry-level full-time software engineer worked at one of these companies, they might be entitled to damages of $5,000 to $10,000. Higher paid veteran engineers could be entitled to much more. The total damages could therefore be at least $150 million if just 10,000 entry-level engineers were affected.

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