Using Windows Live Writer – A Windows 7 Experience

I woke up this morning still not feeling great (I’ve had the flu in one form or another for the last 8 days or so), so I thought I’d make a slideshow to music of a recent trip my girlfriend and I took to Leelanau County, Michigan. For those of you not from the Mitten State, the upper portion of the lower penninsula is generally referred to as “Up North” by us Michiganders, while the upper penninsula is the “UP.”

When deciding to make the slideshow, I realized that Windows 7 doesn’t natively come with an application capable of making such a thing. The application you would see Kylie using in the Windows 7 commercials is Windows Live Movie Maker, and is available through Windows Update. I went onto Windows Update, and also noticed another

application when choosing what Windows Live programs to install; Windows Live Writer.

The description mentioned that Windows Live Writer was primarily a blogging tool, that allowed you to more easily insert photos, videos, tables, and other more “advanced” items into your blog. I went through the simple setup of telling Live Writer about my Cold Boot blog, and now I’m using it to write

this column. It’s more of a test than an actual article, but it seems to be fairly intuitive. I’m not as limited as to where I would like to insert a picture, or what size it’s going to be, and the “preview” tab at the bottom of the program does a great job of giving an accurate portrayal as to what the blog post will look like once finished.

Windows Live Writer doesn’t add a ton over what I have available to me through Google’s Blogger, but it’s just user friendly enough for me to continue to use it for at least the next few posts. It still drives me kind of crazy that there’s no native support for a “caption” underneath a picture (how hard is that?), but there are ways around it.

Windows 7 Student Upgrade - Not an Easy Path

As some of you may already know, especially considering it's now almost a full couple weeks after release, the Windows 7 Student Upgrade from win741.com was not really the easiest of tasks when it came to install. When it comes to "upgrading" an operating system, I always try to get the freshest start I possibly can by doing a clean install. That can be difficult with upgrade media, but I was able to get a pretty spotless install, and here's how.

The main issue I had with the win741.com upgrade download was burning it to disc. The download did not come as a disc image, or ISO file, but an executable that unzipped the disc contents to their own folder. This seemed fine, since I just dragged the disc contents to another window to be burned. However, the resulting disc would not boot on startup, and I was left pounding my fists repeatedly against the top of my desk for a good half-hour. How could I get a clean, custom install if I'm forced to install from within Windows XP?

That being the question, I eventually decided to try another trick. What if I installed Windows 7 onto the same partition, my 15 GB C:. as I had Windows XP at the time? Windows 7 was barely too big to fit, but, after deceasing the paging size on the disk, I was able to do the install. This method actually worked fine, as, once the install was entirely complete and Windows 7 booted, the contents of Windows XP were neatly placed into the good old windows.old folder on the C:, which I promptly dragged to the Recycle Bin.

So, that's it! Just thought I'd share another install method with anyone. There were no "dual boot" confusions on startup either, despite the two operating systems still being on the disk at first. If anything, just make sure you really defrag heavily once all that file shifting's over.

Windows 7 - Thursday's the Day

Just a short post for now, but Windows 7's release this Thursday should be an exciting event for those of us planning to upgrade. Apparently, some in the UK got a little lucky already.

Mossberg Pumps Up Windows 7

He may trash Vista in the article, but WSJ tech author Walter Mossberg enjoys his experience with Windows 7. He mainly boasts about the usability of the operating system, and how it finally gives XP users a reason to abandon the now 8 year old operating system. Despite seeming to be somewhat of an Apple fan, I've never read his articles before, Mossberg mentions he feels Windows 7 beats out OS X in terms of taskbar and window organization, as well as touch features.

The real question, and one that I've felt was answered for me in my testing with betas, was whether Windows 7 was faster than Vista in terms of booting, loading applications, etc. PC World seems to think not, particularly in terms of loading apps. Performance within the applications, however, once they were loaded seemed to improve with 7. I guess we'll all just have to see for ourselves October 22nd.

Are Apps the Answer for Verizon?

Despite being known for its great 3G and voice coverage, Verizon has struggled lately compared to AT&T with its phone selection and applications. Wired.com has looked into why the smartphones aren't there, but they also mentioned something briefly that's equally as intriguing.

When Verizon launched the LG enV Touch, the phone I currently use, they repeatedly claimed that it was "app friendly." Great, what apps? All I see everyday are things like the Guitar Tuner and a WeatherBug app I have to pay $3 a month for! The ridiculously small selection makes Verizon's recent price increases for data plans even more infuriating for the consumer. Luckily for me, I locked into my $15 unlimited date VCast plan before they eliminated the option with the launch of the highly touted Samsung Rogue.

One reason for the price increase, however, may be the looming launch of Verizon's App Store this holiday season. Verizon would like to avoid the same network troubles that AT&T's been having with Apple's iPhone, and increasing the prices, as well as placing caps on data may be their way of avoiding it. The App Store is supposed to drastically lower any fees that developers have normally had to pay in order to get their applications on the Verizon network, hence the monthly subscription fees. Also, everyone knows that Java's been a bit easier to develop for than Verizon's BREW, and rumors have it that Verizon may be switching to Java as a result.

The new data caps may take away from the potential for Verizon to make its own footprint in the mobile apps sand, but the removal of subscription fees could push the pendulum in the other direction. Applications for Twitter, which was apparently just released using BREW, but with a subscription fee, Facebook, and Gmail would be great for Verizon feature phones. But hey, you could always just go all-out and pay $30 a month for data on a new Verizon Google Android smartphone, right?

Windows 7 Student Discount - Tips and Tricks

Obviously this information's been out for a while now, but I'm hoping to add a little bit to what you may have already heard. The website win741.com is running a promotion, managed by Digital River, that allows "students" to purchase copies of Windows 7 at a discounted rate. The Windows 7 copies available are upgrade versions of either Home Premium or Professional. Now to the interesting aspects of this promotion:

Trustworthiness - For one, you may be suspicious of the website, as there appears to be little to tie Digital River, or the website itself for that matter, to Microsoft. Things should be kosher, however, because Digital River actually ran a promotion for Windows Vista, of which I was a participant, that resulted in FREE copies of the FULL VERSION (not upgrade) of Vista Business.

Who REALLY can participate? - Next, the fact that only "students" are supposed to be able to participate in this promotion can seemingly be easily worked around. All that appears to be required is an academic e-mail address by an "approved institution." As a recent alum, and also a result of having attended a higher education institution during the digital age, I have an academic e-mail address. Many of you may as well, or you may know someone that does who is also a recent alum, or a current college student. This is a great way to save approximately $80 on the Home Premium upgrade, or a whopping $170 on Professional.

Pricing - Speaking of the price for Professional, I was informed that it may be $39 compared to the $29 for Home Premium, but I have yet to see that confirmed outside of a rumor. The $10 difference may be worth it anyway, but there are differences between the two versions that you may want to take a look at before pulling the trigger, whether upgrading with this promotion or otherwise.

Where's Professional? - Also, in regards to actually ordering the Windows 7 Professional upgrade through the promotion, it's been my experience that it's very difficult to find. I can't precisely recall how I stumbled upon it, but I believe the option comes after you've registered for the promotion and clicked the link e-mailed to you. Once you navigate to that page, there should be an option somewhere for you to go after Professional instead of Home Premium. It's out there, and is well worth the extra effort if the promotion price is the same for Professional as it is for Home Premium.

How is it delivered? - How the download of the product is going to work, or even how it's going to be formatted, still remains a slight mystery. I've heard, and suspected so far, that it will come in the form of a disc image, or ISO file. The website also lists an option to have a physical disc delivered to you, but it'll cost $12. If you've got a DVD burner with some blanks laying around, I'd probably just fire that puppy up, but, if not, the physical media may be worth it considering the deep discount you're already getting on the product.

It may seem simple, but this is, clearly, one complex promotion. If you follow these steps, and consider these options, however, you should be in pretty good shape with your wallet once general availability hits on October 22nd.

NOTE: The student discount offer will run through January 3, 2010.

Back Again!

Haven't been around in a while, but I've got time to type, so I figured I'd take advantage. I was a law student for the past three years, but I graduated in the spring. I'm still awaiting my Michigan Bar Exam results, but that means I've got time for tech blogging prior to employment (which I'll hopefully attain sometime soon).

As you can see, I've been primarily blogging about the development of Windows 7, and other PC news. So, if anyone who frequents this blog, if there is anybody, wants me to expand my horizons, please comment at the bottom of my posts and let me know! With that said, here we go!