[access-uk] Re: Windows 7 ?

More worrying is the use of it on remote controls etc. I keep warning people 
we won't be able to live independently for long unless something is done! 
Just think, we might not be able to use a radio soon!



--------------------------------------------------
From: "Vanja Sudar" <vanja@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2008 1:49 PM
To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Windows 7 ?

And to bring accessibility in to this, I wonder is this a bad news for those
of us who are blind or VI? I know it's very early days now, but there are
questions to be raised here. For example: would this touch screen interface
be possible to be disabled? Would some features only be available if you use
touch screen?
Vanja
http://www.sudar.co.uk
http://mashupradio.net
MSN/windows live messenger: sudar23@xxxxxxxxxxx
AIM: vanja121
Skype: vanja121
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Derek Hornby" <derek.hornby_uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Access-Uk@Freelists. Org" <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2008 12:29 PM
Subject: [access-uk] Windows 7 ?


> Hi all
> I thought the floowing would be of interest here.
> Sorry  rather  long.
>
> Touch and go for the new Windows system:
> By Jonathan Richards
> The Times 29 May 2008
>
> Microsoft is signalling the end of the mouse with its latest
> operating system, which aims to build on the success of its rival
> Apple's iPhone touch screen.
>
> Windows 7 will allow PC users to touch, rather than point and click,
> in a move which indicates that the world's most influential software
> company believes that the days of the keyboard-mouse combination are
> coming to an end. But some critics claim that Microsoft is a long way
> from replacing what has been the dominant human-computer interface
> since its invention by Xerox researchers in the 1970s.
>
> It is unclear how willing office workers or home users are to abandon
> hard-won typing skills and lean forward to start manipulating images
> on a large computer screen.
>
> Windows 7 -which is not due to be released until 2010 -represents the
> latest in a long line of attempts by Microsoft to catch up with the
> technical lead established by Apple -though the software giant
> usually overhauls its rival in the end.
>
> "The way you interact with the system will change dramatically," Bill
> Gates, Microsoft's billionaire chairman, said at a conference in
> California this week. "Today, almost all the interaction is
> keyboard-mouse." He indicated that he expected users to talk and use
> a pen to interact with their computers as well as caress them.
>
> But Roberta Cozza, an analyst at Gartner, said: "With mobiles, which
> you hold in your hand, touch can make things easier -you get to the
> phone's functions faster, whereas with a PC you'd have to lift your
> arm every time, and with a screen that's 17 inches wide that's going
> to become more difficult."
>
> Although Microsoft is loath publicly to acknowledge the success of
> its competitors, except when it is trying to buy them, it is clearly
> worried about the popularity of the touch-screen interface on a
> string of handheld devices, ranging from sat-navs to iPhones. A
> touch-screen BlackBerry is expected this year.
>
> "Touch-enabled surfaces are popping up everywhere, including
> cellphones, remote controls, GPS devices, and more," Chris Flores, a
> director on the Windows Client team at Microsoft, said.
>
> Microsoft is in need of a lift after the success of the Apple iPod
> and other handheld technologies, the losing battle that it continues
> to fight with Google over control of the internet, and the lacklustre
> release of Vista, the operating system released last year.
>
> Nevertheless, Windows remains the dominant desktop computer standard,
> and Microsoft could not resist a swipe at its rival.
>
> Asked whether Microsoft or Apple would be first to market with
> touchscreen computer software for desktop computers, Steve Ballmer,
> Microsoft's chief executive, suggested that the two companies were
> not in direct competition.
>
> "We'll sell 290 million PCs, and Apple will sell 10 million PCs.
> Steve (Jobs, Apple's chief executive) can flip his hand and sell a
> few models -they're fantastically successful and so are we, but it's
> a different job."
>
> This month, the company was forced to abandon a $47.5 billion bid to
> acquire Yahoo!, the internet portal, in an attempt to wrest control
> of the internet from the search-engine giant Google. That collapsed
> because it could not agree a price, although Yahoo! was reluctant to
> be bought by a company seen as anathema to the entrepreneurial
> creativity of Silicon Valley.
>
> Meanwhile, most of its customers -including businesses -have not
> upgraded their computers to Vista. The majority of the 140 million
> copies Microsoft says that it has shipped so far have been sold
> bundled with new machines. A video of Windows 7 on Microsoft's
> website shows the technology being used to spin an on-screen globe,
> zoom in on a map, and scroll through menu lists in a gentle, flicking
> motion.
>
> Yet, despite the slick demonstration, it is not clear that computer
> makers are clamouring to follow the Windows 7 ideal. Dell, the
> second-largest PC manufacturer, said that "multi-touch" was
> "interesting", but declined to say whether it would release a
> touchscreen laptop in time for January 2010, when Microsoft said it
> expected Windows 7 to be introduced.
>
> LOOKING BACK
>
> * Windows 3.0 (1990)
>
> Microsoft's first succesful attempt at a graphical user interface
> (GUI). Still inferior to the look and feel of Apple's Macintosh
> system, but PCs sold better than its overpriced rival. The tiled
> windows are still fondly remembered
>
> * Windows 95
>
> Microsoft finally caught up with Apple, launching an operating system
> with an easy-to-use interface and natural language file names. Bill
> Gates persuaded Mick Jagger to allow the use of Start Me Up on its
> launch
>
> * Windows XP (2001)
>
> After a succession of upgrades to Windows 95, XP came in. It was more
> stable than the 95 family and sold well, but had security flaws,
> exposed by the Sobig virus, which generated e-mails that filled
> in-boxes worldwide
>
> * Windows Vista (2007)
>
> Software demands meant that only higher-end computers could run the
> system adequately. Concerns on compatibility held back uptake. Sold
> 20million in first month. Bill Gates claimed sales of 100million by
> Jan 2008
>
>
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