Steve Ballmer Directing "House Party 7"

theodp writes "What are you doing on Oct. 22? Microsoft is putting a Tupperware-style twist on the upcoming Windows 7 rollout, launching a new initiative to encourage thousands of employees, partners and technology enthusiasts to throw parties in their homes and communities to demonstrate and help spread the word about its new OS. People accepted as official launch party hosts will get their own copy of Windows 7 Ultimate Edition, and a chance to win a computer. Host spaces are very limited, so apply now, kids. Hey, what could possibly go wrong?"

Party here!

[NoYob]

There's a BIG PARTY at this address: 835 73rd Ave NE, Medina, WA 98039 [blogspot.com]

Not yet

[davidwr]

But as soon as insert-MLM-company-name-here* starts selling Windows 7 it will be.

*My lawyer recommended I not use any actual company name here.

Re:What Could Possibly Go Wrong

[Xaositecte]

You actually read the article, and you still can't figure out why it was illegal?

Idiot.

Re:You have to be pretty nerdy

[TheBilgeRat]

Really? It would have to be an all weekend bender if it were Gentoo.

\I'll bring the keg

There is a lot new in Windows 7

[PhrostyMcByte]

Is Windows 7 revolutionary? No, not at all. But it has a lot more than TCP improvements. Off the top of my head:

• Direct2D gives acceleration (via DX10 video cards) for 2D drawing and text rendering. Text rendering now supports more advanced OpenType stuff and implements vertical antialiasing for ClearType rendering, to further improve the quality of text.
• GDI (what most desktop apps use) now uses Direct2D under the hood where possible, and has improved concurrency between processes.
• User Mode Scheduling improves performance by vastly reducing the cost of context switching in highly-threaded apps.
• The DWM's memory usage has been reduced by 40-50%, and has got some optimizations that should affect all apps including games.
• Power management has been greatly improved, you should notice an increase in battery life on portables.
• Native Wireless has been implemented with dual-band and some awesome fault-tolerant roaming support. Bluetooth 2.1 support is there too.
• AVC/AAC support along with MP4/M4A/etc. has been included.
• Some basic mouse gestures have been added which I've found incredibly useful, like dragging a window to the side of the screen to have it resize and take up that half of the screen. There has also been a big focus on making the OS work fantastic with touchscreens and multi-touch gestures.
• The general feeling of responsiveness has been improved by performing work as late as possible (like starting some services on demand instead of on boot), giving visual feedback earlier, reducing stalls in the UI, etc. -- this doesn't actually make it run faster, but it makes it feel like it is, and that actually helps a lot when you're sitting in front of a PC all day.
• Media Center is a lot better, and supports some new DRM crap (via BDA+) that should be enough for CableCard to finally let PC hardware be sold retail.

Re:I have another word for that

[DoofusOfDeath]

You have to be pretty nerdy to consider installing windows on 15-20 of your closest friends laptops a "party."

More like pretty sadistic

You see those as mutually exclusive? Sounds like someone doesn't read the Boston Phoenix classified ads.

Re:They still don't get it

[Achromatic1978]

a) $200-$300? The most expensive upgrade is $219. The Home Premium upgrade, which 95%+ (conservatively) of people will use would be a $119 upgrade. b) "what is essentially an improved TCP stack and a bunch of new drivers"? Yeah, I guess that's the main thing. It's not like extensive UI revision (I for one love the new taskbar), Aero Peek, new networking APIs, improved color depth support for HD video and digital cameras, virtual XP for compatibility, video support for remote desktop, multi-PC integrated libraries for media would have absolutely any interest to anyone, right?

But no, you go ahead claiming that people will be paying $300 for an improved TCP stack, and get modded Insightful by the drones...

Re:There is a lot new in Windows 7

[geekoid]

All of which I would call SP3.

This crap should ahve been in Vista, instead they sell us incomlpete stuff, then push the completed stuff into a 'new OS'; which isn't a new OS.

This is what was supposed to be in Vista.

Re:Linux Install fest anyone??

[InsertWittyNameHere]

If you're in Toronto there are install parties at the Linux Cafe. [linuxcaffe.ca]

Re:You have to be pretty nerdy

[jpmorgan]

Unfortunately, when I tried out Windows 7 RC earlier this year it downloaded and installed the correct video drivers automatically. In fact, I don't think I had to manually install any drivers at all...