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As you know, Microsoft has put a great deal of effort into making sure that Windows 7 is extremely compatible with new and existing hardware and software. The most evident piece of this compatibility push was Microsoft’s establishment of the Windows Ecosystem Readiness Program, which was officially announced in February 2009 and designed to help Independent Hardware Vendors (IHVs), Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), developers, Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), and Original Device Manufacturers (ODMs) ensure that their products were compatible with Windows 7 by providing them with access to all kinds of resources.

(You can read more about the Windows Ecosystem Readiness Program along with an interview with Mike Nash, who is the Corporate Vice President of Windows Product Management, in an article on the Microsoft PressPass site.)

Another big piece of Microsoft’s compatibility push was the inclusion of Windows XP Mode in Windows 7. Being able to download and install a free version of Windows XP SP3 to run virtually inside of Windows 7 to allow people and organizations to be able to make the move to Windows 7 and still be able to use older applications designed specifically for Windows XP is definitely a big step in the right direction.

Are you getting “Driver not installed” errors when you try to print after updating to Windows 7 when your printer was working fine while you had Windows Vista? The cause of this problem is your drivers are out of date, and it is easily remedied by downloading and installing the latest printer drivers. In this piece, we will explain these drivers, then walk you through the process of downloading, and installing new ones.

Printer Drivers 101

Windows needs a specific type of software to talk to your printer; this software is your drivers. Without the correct ones, Windows can’t talk to your printer. Sometimes when you have a lot of updates or you have upgraded to a newer version of Windows, you may need to upgrade to a newer version of the printer drivers for your printer to work properly.

Initial reactions to the iPad earlier this year may have been mixed, but Apple's elegant tablet PC has since caught fire, racking up a devoted following and monster sales.

Between March and June, over 3 million iPads were sold worldwide, and new data from market research firm iSuppli shows that the iPad will dominate the tablet market by almost three to one until 2012.

Meanwhile, all the major computer vendors are working on a tablet. Some are running Google's Android mobile OS; some are running a proprietary OS such as RIM's rumored BlackPad and Hewlett-Packard's planned consumer tablet running WebOS.

And then there's Windows 7. Microsoft's successful client OS is currently running on a few tablet PCs, and according to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will be on a variety of tablets "over the next several months." Two of the most anticipated Windows 7 tablets scheduled for 2011 are the MSI WindPad and the HP Slate.

But can a Windows 7 tablet really break ground against the mighty iPad? In a recent report titled "The Windows 7 Tablet Imperative", Forrester research analysts J.P. Gownder and Sarah Rotman Epps write that Microsoft can compete with the iPad, but it must make an impact quickly and work with hardware partners to match the iPad on design and price.

Businesses rushing to upgrade their computers from Microsoft’s Windows XP and Windows 2000 to Windows 7 can expect their budget purse to swell in 2011-2012, IT analyst house Gartner warned yesterday.

“Corporate IT departments typically prefer to migrate PC operating systems (OSs) via hardware attrition, which means bringing in the new OS as they replace hardware through a normal refresh cycle,” said Gartner managing veep Charles Smulders.

More @ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/...

Switching operating systems may not be the first thing you think of when brainstorming ways to reduce your carbon emissions, but Microsoft wants to change that and has announced that it's latest baby, Windows 7, will help you cut carbon emissions significantly. IT accounts for only 3-5% of global carbon emissions, according to the press release, but of that percent, Microsoft wants to lead the way to a brighter future for our planet.

According to the press release: "Microsoft has revealed that it is working on a major project with Reading University designed to highlight the energy savings that companies can realise by switching to its latest Windows 7 operating system. Windows 7 operates using about 30% less energy that its previous operating system Windows XP--savings that when multiplied globally are likely to lead to significant cuts in carbon emissions."

None the less, there are thousands of businesses still running older versions of Windows, including Vista and XP, but even older and largely unsupported systems including NT and even Windows 98.

Microsoft recently announced that it was ending support for Windows XP with all but the latest service pack, SP3, as well as the Release to Manufacture (RTM) version of Windows Vista.

With Windows 7 upon us, many of you are probably seeking a way to make the leap to the new Microsoft OS, but don't want to sacrifice all your settings, data, shortcuts, and familiar functions.  Parallels has provided a tool called simply what it does — Upgrade to Windows 7 — to alleviate your worries, and can move your XP or Vista system into the realm of Windows 7 on the same machine, or replicate your settings to another machine already running 7.

The software install is pretty straightforward, and checks for updates as soon as you fire it up.  If you choose to download the updates, it will take at least a few minutes for it to retrieve and install the updated content.  From there, the process continues seamlessly.  In fact, UtW7 monopolizes your screen from then on, blocking out the taskbar and any other windows you have open, presumably to prevent you from starting up other tasks that will conflict or otherwise draw out the process more than it already is.

Nearly a year after its launch, Windows 7 has accomplished what Microsoft and its PC manufacturing partners had hoped it would: Make users forget about its much-maligned predecessor Vista. In fact, customer satisfaction among personal computer users is at or near all-time highs, according to a new report by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).

The ACSI is an economic indicator based on customer evaluations of the quality of goods and services bought in the U.S. Founded at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, the Index is updated quarterly and factors in scores from more than 225 companies in 45 industries, and from government agencies.

Thank You, Win 7

On the ACSI's 0-to-100 scale, customer satisfaction with PCs jumped 4 percent to 78, matching an all-time industry high. No Windows-based machines declined in popularity, a factor the ACSI attributes to the industry's migration from Windows Vista to Windows 7 late last year.

More @ http://www.pcworld.com/article/205905...

Are you a real klutz that you have dropped your netbook or notebook for more times than you care to remember? If that is the case, then you might want to check out a more durable device which can withstand such punishment – we’re talking about the Panasonic Toughbook U1 Ultra. What makes Panasonic’s offering so different from the rest? Well, it not only delivers improved sunlight visibility, it also runs off Windows 7 and boasts some pretty decent performance figures for a device in its cass. For its display, the Toughbook U1 Ultra is equipped with a TransflectivePlus display for up to 6000 nit viewability in direct sunlight, while being accompanied by a 64GB solid state drive, 2GB RAM, an Intel Atom Z530 1.6GHz processor and Windows 7 as the operating system of choice. It’s target market? Those who are involved in highly mobile jobs including direct store delivery (DSD), eCitation and vegetation management in markets like supply chain management, public safety and utilities.

More @ http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/201009...