The Windows 8 Consumer Preview review on BYTE was an interesting journey for me. There’s a lot to like, and there’s a lot of stuff that will likely make you scratch your head.  It was clear, however as I was going through the review process that there was more than could be comfortably put in one of our reviews.  I still wanted to share it with everyone, though.

Windows 8, while very stable and quite likely able to handle its own in a production desktop setting, isn’t feature complete, and there are issues still left to resolve. Not every app ran for me on my Asus Eee PC T101MT netbook. Once released, however, I would assume and expect any piece of mainstream hardware and software to either work, indicate the required steps to get it to work, or state that it will not work. Example: my Asus Eee PC T101MT netbook’s camera wouldn’t work under Windows 8. The driver activated the camera, but the Windows 8 Camera app consistently crashed and wouldn’t run. There’s no reason why the 0.3MP camera in the T101MT shouldn’t work. This is clearly a beta OS driver or camera app issue.

The following software tour is of Windows 8′s Lock, Login and Start Menu screens. You’ll notice that they’re completely redesigned and totally new to Windows 8. They also make a large contribution to Windows 8′s new MetroUI.  Let’s take a quick look at some of the new stuff you’ll find in Windows 8 in this brief Software Tour.

Lock & Login Screens

The Windows 8 Lock Screen has been completely redesigned. The icons on the bottom of the screen, in the Metro Apps Notification Area, will change as system events trigger notifications, in real time.

The standard Login Screen has been redesigned too. During initial login, you enter your Windows 8 user account password. Each time you restart or login to Windows 8, you will log into your Windows Live Account, as Windows 8 will use it to sync your key account attributes (settings, favorites, etc.) so that any Windows 8 computer you log into will have your consistent look and feel.

Start Menu

Those familiar with Windows Phone will recognize the new Start Menu and Windows Live Tiles. Each tile is a shortcut to the associated program and is updated with notification information as new/updated data is received by the connected program. Notice the weather information on the Weather Live Tile.

Getting Metro Apps to run can be a bit of a challenge on legacy equipment, especially if you’re using a netbook, or a display that isn’t setup for at least 1024×768 resolution. Metro App screens are static and not resizable below 1024×768, so if your screen is smaller than that and you can’t force the resolution change, as I did, you may be out of luck. (The Start Menu above is displaying 1024×768. The one immediately below is 1024×600.)

If you’re looking for the rest of your installed programs, and you don’t see them in a Live Tile, don’t worry. The Start Menu can still get you there. Simply bring up the Start Menu and start typing the name of the program you wish to run. Windows 8 will search your entire computer, matching all the executables to the character’s you’ve typed. The count of the different matches will be displayed on the categories under the search field.

Start Menu and other related settings can be found by dropping your mouse cursor to the lower right corner while the Start Menu is displayed. From here, you can get access to Start Menu specific settings, help, screen and volume settings as well as the power button. The Metro App styled Control Panel is also accessible by clicking the More PC Settings link.

In this second of two software tours, we’re going to take a quick look at MetroUI and some of the key Metro Apps, which make up the new Windows Live Essentials for Windows 8.  The OS, while very stable and quite likely able to handle its own in a production desktop setting, isn’t feature complete, and there are issues still left to resolve. Not every app ran for me on my Asus Eee PC T101MT netbook. Once released, however, I would expect them to run on any Windows 8 capable PC.

MetroUI – Hot Corners

As part of the touch-motif of Windows 8, Microsoft has removed the Start Button and replaced it with a Hot Corner. All four corners of the screen provide some level of new functionality. The bottom left corner displays the start menu. The only bad thing about all of this is that the mouse pointer seems to need to be buried in the corner before it will display.

Windows 8′s new task switcher is for Metro Apps only. Move the mouse pointer to the upper left corner and the most recent app will appear. Pulling the mouse pointer down the left edge of the screen will cause the edge to turn black and reveal additional running Metro Apps.

Legacy as well as Metro apps can still be switched to with an ALT-Tab key press, so you don’t lose the ability to switch through running legacy applications. Like their smartphone equivalents, Metro Apps never leave memory. They stay resident (or leave behind a stub) and reactivate as needed when called upon. If too much time has passed, they will auto-quit on their own. Pressing Alt-F4 also closes Metro apps.

When you need to get at computer settings outside of the Start Menu, simply slide the mouse cursor up to the top left corner. This will cause the Windows 8 Charms to appear. Windows recognizes that you may not necessarily wish to activate them when you push the mouse cursor to the right, as its default, “more information/data” action is to scroll to the right. If you wish to activate Charms, simply side the mouse down the right side of the screen after they are activated. Their background will turn black, like the Metro Task Switcher, and then you can click on them.

Metro Apps – Stocks & Mail

The Finance app does not pull the stock symbols from your MSN Money account; or if it does, it didn’t for me. The background that I got when viewing the standard Finance start screen was quite stunning. After this displayed, it auto quit. I couldn’t get it to display any other symbols or other detailed information about any specific symbol.

Windows 8′s new Mail app replaces Windows Live Mail. You can use it to send and receive not only Hotmail, but just about any other POP3 compatible web mail account, including Gmail and Yahoo! Mail, as well as connecting to Exchange servers. The first thing you’ll need to do is retype the password for your Windows Live account.

The Mail app has messages down the left side and the message body on the right. It’s very similar to Apple’s Mail app, in structure, but still very much a 1.0 app. As you can see, it doesn’t make very good use of screen real estate and the design is a bit flat.

Right-clicking the mouse button will bring up the context menu, visible along the bottom. Here you can view Folders or change accounts, as well as perform other mail actions – move messages, mark them read/unread or sync your account.

Metro Apps – Maps, People, Photos & Weather

Windows 8 includes a mapping application. Its implementation of Bing Maps is actually very good. With it, and Windows 8′s built-in Location Services, you can get directions from your current location to just about any location in the country.

Windows 8′s address book is maintained in its People application. Like Mail, it supports multiple accounts including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Hotmail, Google and Exchange. A unified address book is new to Windows, as it previously only supported contacts from its own services and/or applications.

Clicking on any individual contact card will display the details you have maintained on that individual, as well as a larger version of the picture you have for that contact. You can interact with that contact directly from their contact card.

Managing photos in Windows 8 is a lot easier than it used to be. The Photos app is much nicer than Windows Live Photo Gallery. You can pull in photos from a local library, SkyDrive, Facebook or Flickr, and it’s easy to connect your different accounts.

Windows Weather is perhaps my favorite Metro App in the bunch, although I had trouble at first getting it to use Windows 8′s Location Services, as I think it was down the first time I tried. Here, you see weather for Naperville, IL. (Weather finally decided to fetch data while I was on the train on my way into the office.)

Oddly, Weather only displays information for your “home” city on its Live Tile; it doesn’t cycle through your favorite places, like the way the Mail app tile cycles through all the messages in your inbox.

I am declaring 2012 the Year of the OS Update. Apple is on track to deliver Mountain Lion OS X 10.8 to its Mac users late Summer/early Fall of this year; and Microsoft is on track to deliver Windows 8 by the end of the calendar year.

Windows 8 was released at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on 29-Feb-12 in the form of a “consumer preview.” Everyone knows that this is just a repackaged way for Microsoft to say that its what everyone would consider a “beta” release. As I understand things, while Microsoft’s Technical Testing Team (or those that have specifically been invited by Redmond to be part of their formal, external testing and release cycle) will likely have access to more frequent releases and updates, this will likely be the last release that is made available to the general public before the software is released to manufacturing and made available for purchase at retail. Users of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview should be able to use the software until January 2013.

Tablets; smartphones; mobility. These are the tenets that Microsoft is attempting to address with the latest version of their flagship operating system. With the release of Windows 8, Microsoft is clearly taking aim at Apple and their iPad and Google and (pick a tablet manufacturer). The big question is: have they made the impact that they were hoping for, and will Windows 8 draw people away from iOS and Android and place Microsoft back in the limelight?

Target Devices & Computers

First: Most everyone using Windows 7 will not upgrade to Windows 8. Windows 8 is clearly targeted at tablets and touch-enabled PCs. Windows 8 will be mainly sold on new tablets, new touch-enabled PCs or new conventional laptops or desktop PC’s. Most users won’t rush out and buy an upgrade to Windows 8.

After using Windows 8 for most of the weekend, it became clear how it’s not meant for a traditional desktop or laptop computer. It’s touch-centric — meaning that while you can use a mouse and a keyboard on a computer running Windows 8′s MetroUI, the default interface really wants to be manipulated with a finger and not a mouse pointer or keyboard. I can see users becoming very frustrated with MetroUI on a traditional computer vs. a tablet or touch enabled PC as they try to emulate finger touches, swipes, etc.

Example: the removal of the Start button and Start Panel and replacing it with Windows 8 hot corners, Charms and Live Tiles. Moving your mouse to the lower-left hot corner and clicking, or tapping the Windows key on your keyboard, will bring up the new MetroUI-styled Start Menu and its Live Tiles. This is more easily done with your finger or a stylus/pen than with a mouse, though you can obviously still do this with a mouse. Moving horizontally through the Start Menu and its live tiles is more easily accomplished with a finger slide or flick than with a click and drag of a mouse. The latter isn’t as natural a motion as you might think. Without touch, Windows 8 is functional — but also very frustrating.

Installation via Upgrade

Microsoft has made the download of this new beta-class operating system available in both executable and ISO forms, for those that would like to have the software on a bootable DVD. Those that choose the ISO route will initially need to have an extra 2.5GB of bandwidth available to them.

The download severs have been pretty busy over that last few days, and initially, I had a great deal of trouble grabbing the software. However patience and regular (not mobile) broadband won out, and I was able to successfully download the software by late Thursday night (March 1st, 2012). At that point, most everyone that was looking to get it either had it, or I simply got lucky.

I used the 5MB executable install file and method. After installing the install stub, the complete installation of Windows 8 was downloaded and placed in the root of my C:\ drive in a folder called WindowsESD.

I installed Windows 8 Consumer Preview on an Asus Eee PC T101MT netbook. The interesting thing about this particular netbook is that it’s really a traditional tablet PC with netbook specs.

Some notes about the device itself:

1. The netbook came with 1GB of RAM. I upgraded to 2GB using an extra RAM stick I had in the house. I instantly doubled my memory without adding any cost.
2. RAM is the only easy upgrade available. I intended to upgrade the HDD to a 128GB SSD I also had sitting around the house, but in order to get to the hard drive, you have to, almost literally, disassemble the entire netbook. Its not easy to get apart, and with a smaller device like this, I didn’t want to chance breaking something, so I passed on that.
3. The netbook’s screen defaults to 1024×600 resolution, but under Windows 7, it would also display at 1024×768.

The display issue was crucial. Windows 8 will function at resolutions below 1024×768, but Metro apps require a minimum 1024×768 screen resolution to run.

I knew that my T101MT would display 1024×768. It did it in Windows 7 without issue, so when it couldn’t in Windows 8 I thought it was a driver related problem and went back to the device’s download page, pulled down the Windows 7 drivers and reinstalled them in Windows 8. No luck.

Turns out BYTE’s Todd Ogasawara had a similar problem and wrote an informative article relating the solution to a similar issue he was having with his Asus Eee PC T91MT, an earlier version of the same Asus netbook. Unfortunately, that didn’t work for me, either.

Finally, in a fit of frustrated, insane, brilliance, I decided to search on “forcing 1024×768 resolution on a netbook”. I bumped into an article for Windows 7 that was said to have some success with Windows 8. Thankfully, the registry mods that were described in the article worked for me, with one caveat – that’s the only resolution available (the resolution dropdown in the Display Control Panel applet is unselectable), contrary to what the article describes. Getting all this to work right took most of a day.

Windows 8 Setup

I chose to upgrade the PC to Windows 8, installing it over Windows 7. I kept all of my software and settings, and though Windows 8 did correctly tell me that I had to uninstall Microsoft Security Essentials (the new version of Windows 8 Defender replaces it), it found no other required actions for me to take before taking the plunge. However, as soon as it finished, things took a turn for the worse.

As soon as Windows 8 finished setting up, it displayed a dialog box (which came back no matter how many times I dismissed it) indicating that it couldn’t load the Asus ACPI driver. I thought this was related to the display driver issue I had, but it stemmed instead from the Asus Hot Keys application included with the machine in Windows 7. I had to run through the legacy software still left on the system, uninstalling each app one by one until the dialog disappeared. Once I found the offending app, I then had to restore the system to factory settings, reinstall Windows 8, then make the display-based registry mods and uninstall the bad ACPI app.

Most users won’t have to deal with this level of grief. For one, Microsoft and Asus ought to get feedback from users and insure their products play well together. Also, again, most Windows 8 installations will be on new devices; most computer users won’t upgrade to it.

Analysis

The moment I first saw Windows 8′s new Start Page and Live Tiles in the Developer Preview, I immediately hated it. The thought of leaving behind my non-touch, conventional desktop experience turned my stomach — after all, it’s what most of the computing world is used to as well, right?

Consequently, anyone using Windows 8 on a traditional desktop/laptop system should stick with Windows 7. The learning curve for non-power users is going to be huge — I’d say three to six months before the way Windows 8 works becomes second nature. Those who remember the frustration of moving from XP to Vista, or from Office 2003 to 2007 (when the ribbon interface was first introduced), will feel just as pained. People had a hard time getting work done because Microsoft had “moved their cheese.”

That said, those on touch-centric devices are in for a treat. Live Tiles provide a cool way to get information and make it easy to get to the applications you use the most. For everything else, there’s a searchable program menu that makes it easy to get to installed apps. The most frustrating thing about Live Tiles is that the OS wants to make every app appear in the start screen with one, even if its not intuitive for the app to be there. It’s great for apps like Mail, Weather or Stocks, or example, where the data changes frequently. It doesn’t make sense for, say, Word to have a tile. One, it’s going to be static; two, scrolling horizontally to the right trying to find that one static tile gets old quickly.

However, the implementation of touch into the OS is really rather elegant and intuitive (of course, provided you have the hardware to back up the experience and use paradigm). The OS in and of itself, for a beta, feels very polished. I haven’t seen a beta offering from Microsoft that was this solid since Windows 2000.

Metro Apps

Windows 8′s Metro Apps are very flat and have a very non-traditional, un-desktop-Windows feeling. They cannot be windowed. They run full screen only and were developed and targeted to be run on a tablet (and not necessarily a touch-enabled PC). From a multi-tasking point of view, it’s a huge step backwards: no putting two windows side by side with Metro, for instance. The automatic memory management of Metro apps might also raise eyebrows.

A side note about Windows Live Essentials – Many pundits will tell you that Windows 8 Metro Apps are really the Windows 8 version of Windows Live Essentials 2011. The apps included in WLE 2011 are all of the Metro apps that Microsoft included, with the exception of Windows Live Writer, at least. If you want WLW in Windows 8, unless and until Microsoft comes out with a new version of their blogging client, you may be out of luck as Windows Live Essentials 2011 will not install under Windows 8. (I know — I’ve tried.) I use WLW every day, and it’s my blogging client of choice, regardless of platform, but I had to install WLE 2011 under Windows 7 before I upgraded to Windows 8 in order to ensure that it was there.

MetroUI

Other industry pundits argue that multi-tasking is a myth — that the vast majority of users either lose track of all the windows they have open and the apps they have running. There’s something to this: most people run multiple apps so they copy data from one to the other, and task switching makes more sense from a system perspective (use of CPU and memory, etc.). But getting the general public to fully embrace the full-screen Metro paradigm after 25 years of not doing that is going to take a bit of doing.

From a UI and interface perspective on a traditional PC, MetroUI is a huge let-down. The apps are flat and two-dimensional. They have little visual appeal and they contain a great deal of white space, which many may see as wasted screen real estate. They’re also still a little glitchy. To wit: I have 230 unread messages in my inbox. The Mail tile tells me I only have four unread messages instead of 230. If it’s only synching the last 3 days of mail to my inbox, it should show a count of 6 notes, not 4.

Dual Mode UI – MetroUI vs. Windows 8 Desktop

When you look at Windows 8, you see two totally different interfaces: the Windows 8 Desktop and MetroUI. There’s a definite line in the sand that’s drawn between the two interfaces and there are two camps here – The Traditional Computer User and the Tablet Computer User.

The big concern I have with this UI dichotomy is: does it make sense? Microsoft is definitely trying to write the “one OS to rule them all” with Windows 8. While Metro works well with Windows Phone and on a true tablet system, swapping back and forth between Metro apps and, say, Office 2010 or any other legacy Windows app, can be a bit jarring. The two interfaces are so drastically different and require users to work with their hardware in completely different ways.

Also, how will software developers approach Windows 8 development? Will they develop UIs for both, or just stick to Metro? If apps are redesigned entirely for Metro, will users shy away from it and stick to versions they already own? All important questions; and all without complete answers as of this writing.

Since Microsoft is, like Apple, moving to a digital delivery model for future software delivery and sales, the impact to existing software delivery models is not completely known or understood. Apple’s App Store doesn’t provide for demos or for shareware. It’s clear that Apple will at some point require that all Mac software be delivered via the App Store. How Microsoft will approach third-party software delivery, especially considering Windows’ large shareware and third party software markets, is unknown at this time; and will have far-reaching consequences, to say the least.

Conclusion

I’ve been using Windows 8 for a week now. It’s not on my main computer, and it isn’t my OS of choice (I’ve switched to a Mac), and probably won’t be. I’m torn over the dual UI.  Transitioning between the two is jarring and unnerving, yet each by themselves isn’t bad. Veteran Windows users will be most comfortable with the old-school desktop and traditional apps on non-tablet based computers. Those working with touch enabled computing devices will appreciate Windows 8′s improved operating performance and standardized, built-in support for touch, which is miles better than WIndows 7′s support for it.

Metro Apps fit a tablet paradigm and are great on one; but on a PC they’re going to be met with total rejection. On a tablet, they make sense; but their flat, one dimensional appearance and poor use of screen real estate are still disappointing. Metro as a whole is going to take a while to get used to; and its total acceptance and adoption may take more than one release of a tablet-oriented-Windows, to secure.

Bottom line – Unless you’re going to be interacting with your computing device via touch, there’s no compelling reason for using or switching to Windows 8. The touch paradigm doesn’t convert well to keyboard and mouse equivalents. If you’re using Windows Vista or earlier and are considering an upgrade, pick Windows 7 as opposed to Windows 8.

Pitifully sad.

Ok, that’s two words; but it does sum up the writing I saw on the wall a few months ago.  Based on news reported by Bloomberg, a couple additional nails were pounded into the RIM coffin. In no particular order, here they are:

• Fourth-quarter earnings, excluding one-time items, fell to 80 cents a share; and sales dropped 25 percent to $4.19 billion
• Jim Balsillie, one of RIM’s former co-chief executive officers, has resigned from the board. Additionally, chief technology officer David Yach and global chief operations officer Jim Rowan are also leaving the company
• RIM’s new CEO  Thorsten Heins, announced that RIM would no longer provide “specific qualitative guidance.” RIM expects “continued pressure on revenue and earnings throughout fiscal 2013.”

The picture for RIM, continues to get grimmer.  Here’s my take on these additional developments.

I’m not surprised that earnings or sales were off.  I am a bit surprised that sales dropped as much as they did, though. While Blackberry may be “it” in other countries, in the US, they don’t have the sex appeal they once commanded.  This has been at the forefront of our minds here at BYTE, and we’ve been doing some pondering ourselves. BYTE’s editorial director, Larry Seltzer, was at the recent Enterprise Connect conference in Orlando and spoke to representatives from RIM about their current situation, before this announcement was made. According to Seltzer, “[RIM's] plan is to follow through on BB10 and to leverage the fact that they are still almost universally deployed throughout enterprises in the western world. They may be uncool now, but there are a hell of a lot of BES servers out there and IT [departments like] them. If they can actually make an appealing product with BB10 and convince app writers to write for [the platform], then who knows?  There were tons of Blackberries in evidence at Enterprise Connect. It’s easy not to take RIM seriously anymore, but they’re still a major, major force.”

He’s right, too.  The organization I work for uses Domino (Lotus Notes) and unfortunately, Domino doesn’t work well with Android or iOS devices.  As such, my organization still uses Blackberry. I can only imagine what our CTO and his staff are thinking at this point; but I’m certain it includes making plans to move away from RIM should they, their NOC’s or any other portion of their infrastructure become unreliable or unavailable. I’m certain other organizations with similar infrastructures are making similar contingency plans. If they aren’t, they should be.

RIM’s Thorsten Heins also indicated that RIM was continuing to search for licensing arrangements, strategic partners, other strategic opportunities, etc.  He didn’t indicate that they had or hadn’t cut any new deals, or had anything important cooking; but the fact that that information was omitted from what was largely a bearish announcement also has me curious about what the rest of their fiscal year has in store for them.  What really bother’s me the most is that they lost three members of the executive management team today. While they may be part of today’s problems, they were definitely part of yesterday’s successes. Losing key members of management always darkens things at the office. I fear that things will continue to get worse for RIM before they get better, if they do at all.

This is only March 2012, folks. RIM’s announcements come with nine more months of the calendar year left to complete.  With today’s developments, its clear the company is in serious trouble.  Many industry analysts are rating RIM’s stock a “hold” at this point. They realize there’s a problem, but they don’t want to create a run on the company’s coffers or send the market into a panic. However, its clear to me that while Heins is trying to turn things around, shareholder dollars are at stake.

We haven’t seen much of anything else coming out of Toronto. I’d love to hear Heins’ thoughts on a restructuring plan. I’d love to have an understanding of his vision for RIM between now and the end of 2015. I’d love to learn how they are going to fill the holes in their management team.  Unfortunately, we haven’t heard anything from them, and my doubts continue to grow as time passes. If I were Thorsten Heins, I’d be going out of my way to keep RIM in the news—we’re trying this. We intend to do that. Here are key features of BB10 that we feel will provide end users with value. Here’s how [any changes to] licensing will be structured.  SHOW me something—right now, it seems really quiet in Toronto, and all that tells me is that it’s the calm before the storm.

I don’t hold any stock in RIM; but if I did, I’d sell any stake I had in the company at this point.  The stock isn’t likely to climb out of the hole its digging itself into; and I’d rather cut my losses now before the REAL fire sale starts.

Setup
Apple released Messages Beta for all of its desktop and laptop PC’s on Thursday 16-Feb-12.  The timed beta, currently requires the latest version of Mac OS X Lion, 10.7.3.  So if you’re not running the latest version of Lion, make sure you run Software Update, or better yet, head on over to its Apple Support Page, and download the Combo Updater for the latest version of Lion. Please note that if you like the app and wish to use it after the beta period expires, you’re going to need to upgrade to OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.  Messages will only run on Mountain Lion after it is officially released.

After you install the application, the setup process is initiated.  Messages asks you for your Apple ID, and if you want read receipts sent to you.  After that’s done, and you complete setup, it wants to bounce your Mac.  After you restart, you can configure the rest of our accounts.

AIM auto starts with Messages	Enter your Apple ID to get started	Check the box if you want read receipts	Click Done, and you’re done

Instant Messaging and Video Chat Support
If you had iChat installed on your computer, you should see all of your previous accounts show up in Messages Beta.  Its intended to be a replacement for iChat, which is being retired with the release of Mountain Lion.  However, Messages has built in support for AIM, Jabber, Google Talk Bonjour and Yahoo! Instant Messenger.  Messages Beta will also update your status on Facebook, provided you have Facebook’s status updater as a buddy on AIM.

One of the things that I’ve noticed over this past weekend, is that I’m not getting a great deal of AIM IM spam…again.  I’m getting pinged by every porn bot known to man (not by my need, want, desire or design), and its getting a bit annoying. This is why I dropped AIM back in 2007 in the first place. During the review of this Mountain Lion preview app, I have a feeling I’m going to seriously NOT like the fact that I’m getting “hi hottie” IM’s from just about everyone I don’t know.

With the release of Messages Beta, Apple is integrating FaceTime into its standardized IM and chat client.  You can now start a FaceTime video chat with the person you’re trading IM’s with directly from either iMessage, AIM, Yahoo!, etc. provided they also have the appropriate software on their end.  iMessage users on either an iDevice will need to be within the Wi-Fi Zone, or its not going to work.  The iDevice in question will tell you that the other person is not available, or won’t start on your end if you’re on 3G/4G.  FaceTime, Apple’s answer to Skype and other video chat services, functions very well over Wi-Fi; and will even function well under 3G/4G, if you’re using a jail broken iDevice OR if you’re ultimately connecting through a Mobile Hot Spot, as I am.

New messages are appended to existing conversations	…and show up in the existing conversation list	A bug..? On my daughter’s phone, my messages started a new conversation

Behavior and Use

I’ve been playing with Messages Beta over the past couple of days; and I have to say, from an iMessage perspective, I like what I see.  I like being able to txt my daughter from my PC, while she is on her iPhone. From this regard, you should be able to send and receive text messages not only with anyone with an Apple ID/iDevice, but with anyone who has a mobile device as well.  However, one interesting development, my text message conversation with my daughter identified me as my Apple ID (email address) and not necessarily as my contact name, on her iPhone.  Her replies, however, came in one consistent conversation, and contained all of the content that was on my iPhone, including messages sent and received prior to me installing Messages Beta on my Mac. I found this very interesting, as it means that you can start a conversation on your iDevice and then continue it without losing any context on the desktop, and as I said, back the other way as well. I’ve not seen this type of conversation behavior in any other product or service.

As a quick aside, while Messages appears and behaves like a near finished application, its clear that there is still some work to be done with it. Once I’ve got a conversation started with someone, I would expect that conversation to stay in the left pane unless and until I remove the conversation from my Mac. Opening and closing the program window doesn’t do this consistently, though the complete conversation history is consistently pulled over each time a new message is initiated and sent. I’ve noticed that if the other party initiates the conversation, then the conversation shows up in the left hand pane of the program window, but again, inconsistently.

AIM pulls over your existing buddy list, but not your existing iMessage history	Messages automatically runs thru your contact list as you type recipient names	The actual message display looks like it does on your iDevice	Contact details are easily seen
You can specify alerts and alert types for each contact	You can send messages to more than one address & specify what gets sent	FaceTime can be configured to use with Messages Beta	Configure Messages based on system events
Control how your conversations appear	Configure different type of messaging accounts to work with Messages Beta	Setup your account after choosing the type you want	Configure Messages general settings

Price:  Timed Beta. Requires OS X 10.7.3. Released version will only run on OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

Pros:

• iDevice and desktop client message integration.
• All your messages show up in a single contact conversation, regardless of where you had the conversation

Cons:

• IM SPAM tools need to step it up
• Lack of a consolidated interface

Conclusion: 
For a beta app, Messages delivers a really great iMessage experience.  The app pulls in the entire conversation from all of your iDevices, and allows you communicate with all of your contacts in a clean, easy to use desktop interface.  As a replacement for iChat, it does a decent job, though the interface between iMessage and your other IM accounts is kept completely separate.  This may be good and bad, as it definitely keeps their spam ridden chocolate out of my nice iOS-based peanut butter. However, I would like to see some kind of UI consolidation, and we may in future releases or even in the released version that comes with Mountain Lion.  As this is an early release, its clear that much if not the entire enchilada could change.

At the beginning of this review process, I thought I wanted all of my IM accounts (ICQ, AIM, Yahoo!, Skype, etc.) to all come together in one single interface, and since getting spammed by every porn bot known to man, I’m really glad that this isn’t the case. However, its very easy to kill my AIM account integration and just let that go. I haven’t used it in years anyway. It might also be nice to see support for Facebook Messenger as well as Twitter Direct messages; but getting those integrated may take a bit of doing.

I noticed yesterday on MSN that the National Transportation Safety Board is recommending that all states ban the use of mobile devices, with the exception of navigation devices – even those that employ hands free communication via Bluetooth or a wired headset – in all motor vehicles. There have been a number of response articles to this, including one on Information Week.  Most of these articles, including the one at Information Week recount the decision and comments made by the NTSB Chairman, Deborah Hersman; and invite readers to comment. Unfortunately all of this REALLY hits me the wrong way.

I’m a Quality Assurance director by day.  Its my responsibility to analyze problems, determine their root cause and develop action plans to resolve the issue and prevent it from recurring. I see the NTSB vote and ultimately its recommendation as very misinformed as to the root cause of the problem – the distracted driver. What I, and a number of different people have not seen from the news articles and NTSB recommendation, is what alternatives the agency considered before making its recommendation.  And while I assume that an agency as influential and important as the NTSB would have explored technology-based solutions and alternatives to their recommended ban, I really can’t make that assumption, and neither should you.  Everything relevant that has been published thus far that I’ve found fails to cite any of their thought processes or considered alternatives. 

However, the NTSB and the world must realize that smartphones, tablets and other mobile computing devices are NOT going to go away. Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and the like are here to stay. Texting revenues for all of the cell carriers amount in the tens to hundreds of millions of dollars annually.  Use of these tools and technologies is only going to increase as time goes on.  The better thing do to instead of banning them in a motor vehicle, is to insure that they function appropriately in that motor vehicle, while the engine is on and the vehicle is moving.

For example,

1. Require Bluetooth to be implemented in all mobile hardware (cell phone, smartphones, tablets, etc)
2. Require built-in, hands free car kits in all new motor vehicles
3. Require Bluetooth enabled, professionally installed and/or NTSB endorsed, 3rd party, aftermarket car kits for all existing vehicles.
4. Implement a method by which the driver’s smartphone disables ALL, non-navigational data transmissions (so the phone can’t text, surf, etc.) while the motor vehicle is moving.  This could be easily done with a Bluetooth profile – the OS could simply disable all non-navigational data transmissions when the GPS receiver determines that the phone is traveling at a sustained speed faster than say, 15 miles per hour. The Bluetooth profile would need to distinguish between a Bluetooth headset and a car kit.  Most profiles don’t do this today.

While this may require software updates to existing and new phones, and may require additional hardware or accessories, this is the more appropriate mandate. It should be easy to implement given that most smartphones support OTA (Over the Air) updates and that GPS hardware is already in most of them (and perhaps some high end feature phones, as well). Specifically, it

• Supports the implementation of new jobs by employing additional hardware and software design, development and sales engineers.
• Saves current jobs by preventing the recall and disablement of existing hands free features in most Ford and other vendor’s automobiles, thereby saving the jobs of existing hardware and software engineers, testers., and assembly line auto workers.
• Appropriately addresses the root cause of the problem of cell phone based, distracted driving by turning off the social networking features in mobile devices in a moving vehicle, and reenables them after the vehicle stops and the engine is turned off.

Obviously, in order to satisfy the intent of this recommendation – to save the lives of American citizens and tourists – its going to require individuals at the NTSB and all Mobile Communications Carriers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, etc.) as well as all mobile device hardware manufacturers like HTC, Motorola, Samsung, and Apple, to name a few, to work together and think out of the box. This should be an easy get, and its reasonable to expect that it should be implemented in such a way that it won’t be expensive for the consumer. 

To put it another way, doctors wouldn’t want to amputate a person’s leg simply because a patient developed an infected toe. It simply doesn’t make sense. Treating the infection and/or localizing the amputation to the effected toe or area is a more appropriate solution than immediate amputation.  It also still allows the patient to maintain a holistic image of himself and more importantly, to walk.

If something like my above suggestions are, or were, NOT considered, then the issue that the NTSB is attempting to address must also include a recommended ban on

• Multipassenger motor vehicles
• Children in ANY motor vehicle, especially school buses
• Radios and/or any music/media playing devices in any and all motor vehicles
• Eating and/or drinking in any motor vehicle
• Applying make-up in any motor vehicle
• Any activity other than driving inside any motor vehicle

The issue is distracted driving. Period. The issue is NOT mobile device use by a driver.  The NTSB should not single out this individual, potential cause of distracted driving if they are not going to also recommend a ban on anything and everything that causes driver distraction. The recommendation was merely low hanging fruit, politically volatile and an easy attention and headline grabber.

I would like to challenge Deborah Hersman and her talented team at the NTSB to revisit this recommended technology ban. In my opinion as a mobile devices expert, a better solution is to employ technology to control the technology, not to forbid its use.

I’m also available to help – advise, consult, etc. – should the NTSB like to explore this further.

The Software Update Notification from my iPhone 4S

Yesterday was a big day for Apple and its fans as Apple’s Tim Cook lead the announcement of the “New iPad,” or “iPad 3rd Generation” as its being formally referred to on the company’s website.  In conjunction with the release of the new hardware, comes iOS 5.1, for all currently supported iDevices.  The download weighed in at 189MB for me, but could be as big as 206MB (or slightly larger) on the desktop.

This update contains improvements and bug fixes, including:

• Japanese language support for Siri (availability may be limited during initial rollout)
• Photos can now be deleted from Photo Stream
• Camera shortcut now always visible on Lock Screen for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch (4th generation)
  (previously, this was accessible via a double Home Button tap)
• Camera face detection now highlights all detected faces
• Redesigned Camera app for iPad
• Genius Mixes and Genius playlists for iTunes Match subscribers
• Audio for TV programs and films on iPad optimized to sound louder and clearer
• Podcast controls for playback speed and a 30-second rewind for iPad
• Addresses bugs affecting battery life
• Fixes and issue that occasionally caused audio to drop for outgoing calls

The Daily, it seems had someone “close to the project” come into their office and demo the software for them…or at least that’s what they are claiming at this time.  The Daily claims upside down, backwards and sideways that the report is credible and that the image that they posted (seen below – Credit: The Daily) isn’t doctored, but is a digital image they snapped of the software’s main program screen on the iPad that it was demoed on.

Credit: The Daily

Last year, Microsoft released OneNote for iPad, and that of course sparked all sorts of rumors and speculation that MS would release the entire Office 2010 suite for iPad.  Well, before you start drooling all over the tablet you’ve come to know and love, grab a napkin and sit back.  Microsoft adamantly denies the entire story. 

According to the New York Times, Microsoft has issued the following statement:

“The Daily story is based on inaccurate rumors and speculation. We have no further comment.” She added that an image with The Daily’s article depicting an Office product for iPad was not from Microsoft. “The screenshot is not Microsoft’s software,” she said.

Its too bad. OneNote for iPad, currently version 1.3, has mixed user ratings; but it syncs desktop and device based notes, and (the version I have) supports both handwritten as well as typed notes.  A full Office suite on the iPad could be huge for Microsoft, if they ever do decide to pursue it.

About 8 months after I got the account, I got moved to a new location here at the office.  While that’s the life of a contractor, it did sorta suck. I am no longer in a cubicle at the office. I’m currently stationed in a contractor’s bull-pen, and have a 36” lateral section of shelf to call home. I don’t have any room for my second laptop, and as such, I haven’t used my mobile broadband account, much.

The purchase of an unlocked iPhone 4S for Christmas has me living in the world of EDGE, and I don’t like it. EDGE works, but it is so slow.  There are a number of applications and activities that you simply can’t complete or that time out due to the slow speeds on EDGE, and it totally kills the iPhone’s online experience. Knowing that I had the MB account, I tried putting that SIM in one of my 4G Android phones to activate it as a mobile hot spot, but that didn’t work. The SIM wasn’t provisioned for a smartphone, and the thing wouldn’t even get online with a data signal, let alone serve up a hot spot signal.

The solution was obvious to me – the T-Mobile Sonic 4G Hot Spot.

The T-Mobile Sonic 4G Hot Spot

T-Mobile has a couple different Mobile Hot Spots: the T-Mobile 4G Hot Spot and the T-Mobile Sonic 4G Hot Spot.  The former is the original mobile hot spot that they have offered.  The latter is the newer, updated version.  The comparison chart between the two is below.

As you can see from the comparison chart, there’s very little that’s different from one model to another.  However, the differences that are there, are significant. Going down the list, here they are

• 50 hours more standby battery life in the Sonic 4G
• 30 minutes more continuous use in the Sonic 4G
• The Sonic 4G is 1.24oz heavier than its predecessor.  Likely due to the larger battery.
• The Sonic 4G is larger, wider and thicker than its predecessor.  Again, likely due to the larger battery.
• The 4G Mobile Hot Spot has a quad-band chip and supports 1700mHz, 1900mHz and 2100mHz.
• The Sonic 4G has a penta-band chip, supporting 4G on just about every GSM frequency available in the USA
• The 4G Mobile Hot Spot supports Local Synchronization (whatever that is) with Wi-Fi.

Based on the penta-band chip alone, the Sonic 4G was the better device to get. I picked one up, and have the following to report.

Configuration
During the initial setup of the device you’re asked to do a couple of things related to hotspot configuration.  There are a couple things that you need to keep in mind related to security and your hotspot.

1. Your default administration password is “admin.” I couldn’t find this documented anywhere in ANY of the included documentation , and was seriously thinking that my hotspot was defective, as the default user password wasn’t working when the configuration app asked for a password.
2. Setup and configuration of the hotspot allows you to change the SSID and to make it visible or invisible. Hiding the SSID made connecting to it problematic for me and both my Apple MacBook Pro, iPhone 4S and iPad 1. I have no idea why.
3. Your default SSID and password are hard coded into the device’s ROM (or other non-volatile area). They are also printed on a factory label  under the battery cover. If you reset the hotspot for any reason (all of your custom configuration information will be wiped), your hotspot will revert to factory settings and you’ll need that information to get everything back up and running.

Configuring the actual device is really rather easy.  You MUST be connected to the hotspot via Wi-Fi in order to configure it.  You can install the configuration app for your OS, or you can simply open up a browser window and surf to 192.168.1.1.  This will bring up the configuration page, and the hotspot will ask you for a password.  This is where you put the ADMIN password in (again, “admin” without the quotes), not the default user password.

Initial Admin Login Page

The first screen you see after you log in is the Settings Page. Here you can change the SSID of the hotspot and have it broadcasted or kept hidden.

Settings Page 1 of 2 – SSID & Broadcast settings

The second page of the setup wizard allows you to specify the type of wireless security you want to use and the device’s use password.  Make any appropriate changes and click the Finish button.

Settings Page 2 of 2 – Wireless security type & Password

If you have wireless networking in your house, the  rest of the configuration pages are pretty much self explanatory.  However, you will want to click on the Wi-Fi header and change the following Basic Settings: Change the Wi-Fi Auto Off setting to “Disabled.”

Wi-Fi Basic Settings – Disable Wi-Fi Auto Off

According to information I was able to find in the support forums for the Sonic 4G Mobile Hotspot, there appears to be a connectivity bug preventing both the device from connecting to T-Mobile’s 4G network as well as devices trying to connect to it, when the device tries to wake from sleep because an allowed or recognized device tries to access the web through it.  Disabling Auto Off seems to either minimize or eliminate the bug.  T-Mobile needs to address this issue with a firmware update as quickly as they can.

Reception & Signal
T-Mobile’s signal in Chicago over the last two years has been simply amazing.  Back in 2003-2004 time frame, I wouldn’t have even considered being a T-Mobile customer, due to their horrible coverage.  They were good around most, if not all, of the interstate corridors and about 1000 yards to either side.  Other than that, it was a crap shoot. They’ve come a long way since then.

On the 7th floor of the BDBS-IL building in downtown Chicago, I’ve got a 4-bar 4G signal on the Sonic 4G.  This level of reception is a far cry better than I got from the Jet 2.0 Web Stick. With it, I was lucky to get 2-3 bars anywhere inside the building.

The T-Mobile Sonic 4G’s screen

Battery Life
The Sonic 4G Mobile Hot Spot is rated at 4.5 hours of battery life while its in active use. I’ve been getting 4-4.5 hours consistently over the past week or two since purchasing it, so its been right on the money.  Its standby time has also lived up to its specifications.  I’ve only got a couple devices configured to use it, so its either off or left on at night, in sleep mode.  It lasted a good couple days without a recharge over the weekend, but quickly died after I started using it Monday morning.

Here’s the bottom line as far as power is concerned – If you’re going to use it, keep the USB and/or power cable around.  I use this basically all day, every week day; and without access to power, I could find myself cut off from the outside world if the battery dies.

Speeds
I’m mostly using the Sonic 4G with my unlocked iPhone 4S, though I have also configured it to work with my MacBook Pro.  The following are network speeds received through the Sonic 4G on my iPhone 4S.  The top two were done on the train on the way into Chicago from the house. The other four were done while I was in the office, sitting at my desk.

These are the speeds that I’ve been getting on the Sonic 4G Mobile Hot Spot	Additional speed test results. Notice the 10 & 16Mbps entries. With a good connection, this thing really cooks!

I’ve been taking some additional speed tests with the Sonic 4G.  I was really surprised to get some of the test results I got the other day. I was able to clock just over 16Mbps down.  That was blazing fast, and the download was almost over before I could even mentally acknowledge that it had taken place. Average speeds for me between downtown Chicago and my home are between 2Mbps – 6Mbps down with a median of 4.53MBps down; and .50Mbps – 1.25Mbps up with a median of 0.89Mbps up.

Conclusion
This is an awesome choice for mobile broadband users.  You get up to 5 devices on the hotspot at a single time, and can get cable modem speeds or better.  I was able to have a FaceTime video call with a writing partner this morning and the call was flawless.  However, additional attempts at video calls during the heart of the day proved to be either not possible or result in the call being dropped. However, for simple, low-bandwidth tasks, like light surfing, mail and texting, the Sonic 4G has been perfect.

The device is small, easy and convenient to carry, as its about the same size and shape as a small smartphone.  Its display is easy to read.  The device really only has had two problems during my time with it.

1. There appears to be a known bug with the device reconnecting to mobile broadband service and allowing devices to send and receive data  after waking from sleep. I was able to find a work around for this issue by disabling auto sleep, but that option clearly impacts battery life.  I’m hoping T-Mobile addresses this known issue with a firmware update in the near future.
2. The device gets hot during use. So hot, in fact, that the carrying pouch that comes with the device CLEARLY states that you shouldn’t have the device in the pouch when you want to use it.  Here in Chicago, despite the unseasonably warm Winter we’re having, this isn’t a problem.  In the Summer if it gets very hot, that may be a different story.

Price: $0.00 to $99.99 USD on contract, $174.99 Contract Free from T-Mobile USA.

Pros:

• Fast
• Affordable
• Up to 5 concurrent users can connect, but will share bandwidth
• Small, easy and convenient to carry

Cons:

• Poor documentation (admin password)
• Device overheats easily during extended use
• Performance tanked after about a week requiring a factory reset
• Customizing and disabling broadcast of the SSID prevented connectivity

• 2.3gHz Quad-Core i7 Processor
• Anti-Glare, HD Screen with 1680×1050 native resolution
• 12GB RAM
• 240GB OCZ Agility 3 SSD – Boot Disk
• 750GB Seagate Momentus XT (Data Drive)

As you can see, its missing the Double Layer SuperDrive. I took it out of the computer and replaced it with Other World Computing’s DataDoubler (a hard drive caddy) and originally, OWC’s 60GB 3G SSD. Nice drive. Peppy…Way too small. 

Anyway, OWC makes a nice DIY kit with their 60GB 3G SSD that includes their DataDoubler for about $165 USD, as of this writing. When you’re all done with the DIY replacement of your MBP’s SuperDrive for an SSD, you’ll need to find an enclosure solution for the SuperDrive.  Thankfully, OWC also recently added the OWC SuperSlim for Apple SuperDrive USB 2.0 Optical Drive External Enclosure to its DIY catalog. With it, you’ll be able to take the SuperDrive and hang it off of one of your USB ports and use the drive externally. However, you’ll need to make a couple of binary modifications so that DVD Player (as well as other apps) work with an external DVD drive. Its a nice little setup; and one that makes the PC very green and very fast.

However, I almost immediately ran into storage problems with the 60GB SSD, and I began looking for alternatives. The problem is that SSD’s are expensive, and I was hooked on the SSD performance, which, unfortunately is like crack. Once you wrap your lips around that pipe, you’re never going to go back.  Thankfully, I’m patient, and I know how to search the internet for deals.

The Patriot PS-100 3Gbps 128GB SSD

In June or July I found an awesome deal on a Patriot PS-100 128GB 3G bps SSD at NewEgg. I ended up paying about $150 for the drive, and doubled my boot drive’s storage space for about the same price I paid for the 60GB SSD from OWC. It was ok; but the performance on this drive was horrible. It was very slow, and didn’t support TRIM.  This started being a problem as the drive started to fill up. Both performance and battery life began to take a hit, and it was CLEAR I needed to do something.  The drive does not support TRIM, even with LION and TRIM Enabler. It is heavily fragmented, and while it had enough space, for now, I knew I would need more for applications and such, even though I store my Mac’s home directory and all other data (including my iTunes library) on that Seagate 750GB Momentus XT Hybrid Drive.

I began looking for an alternative SSD solution, one that would be a tad bigger, have better performance and must, of course, support TRIM.  My problem was that I didn’t want to spend a lot for it.  I really spoiled myself when it came to the PS-100. $150 for a 128GB SSD is STILL a good deal (as of this writing); and I really didn’t want to spend much more than that.  However, the next step up in size from 128GB is 200-256GB; and the way things were looking, the deal that I found on the PS-100 was a fluke, fire sale or some other type of product dump. I wasn’t going to find something that cheap again; and the way the PS-100 was performing, I probably wouldn’t want to, either.

The OCZ Agility3 3Gbps 240GB SSD.

What I did find was the OCZ Agility3 3Gbps 240GB SSD. NewEgg currently has it on sale, and as you can see from the basic spec comparison table, below, its a much better drive.

The PS-100 has mediocre read speeds, and near snail-paced write speeds. the OCZ Agility3 is somewhat faster reading data, and is nearly twice as fast writing data as the drive its replacing. Now, what does this all mean?  Very simple – its a much better drive. The performance boost I’ve seen in the short amount of time that I’ve used it is clearly noticeable. At 240GB, I shouldn’t have any issues with Mac OS or application storage. Its also rated to last twice as long as the PS-100; and most importantly, has TRIM support. (For those that don’t know what TRIM is, you can check out this article on Wikipedia.) However, suffice it to say, that for as much data as I’ve had on and off the drive, the lack of TRIM support on the PS-100 was causing some really huge problems for me.  The PC, with its processor and large cache of RAM was really taking a performance hit, and I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to figure out what was wrong.

I’ll be following up with another post, in a month or so, on the performance of the new SSD.

What I liked: Cost per GB, Improved Read/Write performance, TRIM support

What needs Improvement: Cost per GB. TBD. The updated post will likely highlight potential performance-based improvements.

Conclusion: At $1.25 per GB, the drive is a pretty good deal for an SSD; but its still nearly four times as expensive as the 750GB Seagate Momentus XT I’m using as a data drive. Given that most SSD’s will likely dip below the $1/GB price in 2012, this isn’t a GREAT deal, but its still not bad.  SSD’s will eventually replace spinning media for mass storage in PC’s.  The only thing currently holding it back, is the cost.