Since Windows 7 RC version has been released on April, 30, 2009, the time of releasing full version getting closer and closer. Windows 7 not only has a lot improvement on operating efficiency but also on Power Management. Recently, Microsoft has announced a whitepaper with 14 pages, titled “Windows 7 Power Management” which listed how to improve power consumption in Windows 7.

The following statement is the way how Windows 7 saves power:

1.Avoid No-operating System Power Consumption:
After turn on computer, the system would keep operating all the time. In Windows 7, the system will become low-power consumption while disc is not working. This technique has been utilized in CUP, disc, RAM and network connection.

2.Operate system through Trigger:
In the past, the system would be place on desktop if you’re not using. However, the system still under operating and it will consume the power. In Windows 7, system can only start it by trigger, such as insert some device or change IP. In this way, the system can minimize operating quantity in the desktop.

3.Enhance CUP’s Power Management:
According current loading and efficiency, Windows 7 can adjust CUP’s function automatically.

4.Adjust Screen’s Light Automatically:
Screen will turn off automatically if no-operation happens within 10 to 15 minutes. However, there’s more time that system will on no-operating status. In order to save more power, Windows 7 will be lower screen’s light.

5.Time of Operating Management in CUP:
In the past, CUP need to under a long no-operation status so that system can save power. In Windows 7, CUP can separate operation time to increase no-operation status.

6.Improve Power Consumption in Bluetooth Use:
Windows 7 will turn off Bluetooth while it under suspending status which is so call “Optional Operator” and available for all kinds of removable devices, such as USB or Network-Enabled Video devices.

7.Improve Power Save in Network Connection:
In Vista version, network will be broke down while system cannot detach system’s low power in advance. However, Window 7 enhances this function which system will search available network before system under low power.

Compare with former version, Windows 7 possesses more efficient power save management. In addition, user can arrange different power save setting and diagnose source of power consumption by build-in Power Management.

Although Window 7 did a lot of improvement on power management, the hardware industry’s support definitely would be necessary. In last year, due to mini-notebook’s demand increase, battery manufactories such as Simplo and DynaPack gained highest revenue in the record respectively in August and September, 2008. As low-price computer came into the market at the end of 2008, Celxpert sold their battery to ASUS’s EeePC; Simplo and DynaPack sold to DELL and HP respectively. Consequently, the mainly battery factories in NB industry will gain a large number of orders while Windows 7 release in July, 2009.

We can forecast the development in efficient operation system and power management by Window 7’s released. The future prospect is toward to system’s low power waste, high power save function and the efficient power management. In the future, we will face bigger challenge about power efficiency’s improvement, no matter what in NB producer, cellophane manufactory or battery factories for PDA, etc.

The latest news about Windows 7 is the RC version will be released in April, 2009 and allow users to download it. RC version so call release candidate version. Recently, people foresee that the full version will be released two months later. Before knowing that there will be contain fabulous window’s design and widely improvement of operating efficiency, are there any improvements on wireless network functions and operation?

First of all, Windows 7 integrate all of wireless network devices into one. Take wireless network connection as example, Windows 7 simplify the operating procedure. The new system will search available wireless network automatically through Installation Wizard. Even though user has no cruel about Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, they just need to choose a wireless network they want to then enter the password. In short, you can link any kind of network by one process right now in Windows 7. Thus, windows 7 can utilize mobile phone and modem as a standard network connection just like Wi-Fi which will show a window with available network. In this way, users don’t need to memorize any category or property of the network connection. There will be Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Dail-up Internet connection through Modem in a connection device.

Second, besides wireless devices, Windows 7 provides scenario application. For instance, a notebook can utilize different scenarios between home and office. When you use your notebook at home, Windows 7 will switch the application which detach Wi-Fi network nearby your house, share folder, printer setting and other functions. In the office, the application will switch back. The portable computer users’ number is increasing, and this friendly and convenient function will benefit them. In addition, as for low-price computer in last year, Windows 7 can save boot up time and simplify the procedure to operate system smoothly.

Talking about 3.5 G network, it features ubiquitous which IT industry still work on its application. According to Windows Blog’s report, Windows 7 will support any kind of “Mobile Broadband” tag which produced by the following companies: irdstep Technology、Ericsson、Huawei、Option、Qualcomm、Sierra Wireless、Smith Micro、T-Mobile International and ZTE. It shows that Windows 7 has already inserted system drivers and applications under these WWAN tags. In the future, the global notebook manufacturers, such as Acer、ASUS、Dell、HP and Fujitsu, will insert mobile communication model directly when they produce their product, like NB、Aspire on or EeePC, etc.

Except notebook manufacturers, we can’t ignore domestic Network Interface Card manufacturers. In the future, the wireless network demand will increase due to the improvement of wireless network function. Therefore the domestic Network Interface Card manufacturers, such as D-Link、Gemtek、CyberTAN、SerComm、Cameo、Edimax will play important roles in network communication field.

While Windows 7 release into the market immediately, its friendly wireless network design will benefit future development. Nowadays, wireless network has employed into digital family. However, along by digital family application, we hope that wireless network will popularize gradually into every families and companies after releasing in 2 to 3 years.

Since ASUSTeK introduced the first EeePC adopted a 4GB solid state drive (SSD) in 2007, more laptops started to replace conventional drives with SSDs. Even the capacity was only 4GB for EeePC and Linux OS was run, many users still reinstalled Windows XP in EeePC. Therefore, after the release of Windows 7, desktop, laptop makers as well as ASUSTeK’s new EeePC will enhance the compatibility with the newly introduced Windows 7 OS. Not only hardware manufacturers, but Microsoft’s Windows 7 also is adjusted to better fit SSD in terms of compatibility and efficiency.

Windows 7 enhancements and adjustments

Mainly, Windows 7's new "trim" feature improves SSD’s lifespan and read/write circles. Comparing with conventional hard drives, Windows 7‘s re-engineering will enable SSD to run faster and shorter time of data search. The attached table shows the differences between conventional hard drives and SSDs.

Table 1: the comparison between conventional hard drives and SSDs

In addition, Windows 7 will turn off disk defragmentation when it detects an SSD instead of a spinning disk drive.

SSD manufacturers

In terms of SSD manufacturers, SanDisk introduced ExtremeFFS which is SandDisk’s new flash management technology in November, 2008. ExtremeFFS SSD is expected to be on the market next year with four times faster than existing SSDs. ExtremeFFS has the potential to greatly extend endurance and accelerate SSD random write speeds by as much as 100 times compared with existing systems. SanDisk also newly introduced two measuring tools specified for SSD.

The measuring tools are industry metrics including vRPM and LED announced by Rich Heye, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Solid State Drives (SSD) Business Unit at SanDisk Corp, in Microsoft WinHE 2008 conference in Los Angeles. vRPM (virtual Revolutions Per Minute) gives users benchmarks to evaluate the endurance of SSDs and their performance vs. hard disk drives (HDDs) and other SSDs. LED (Long-term Data Endurance) is to measure the longevity of a SSD.
 
To better perform Windows Vista at SSD than HDD, the new flash management technology and faster write speed and longevity is necessary. However, the performance of a HDD is based on RPM (Revolutions Per Minute) which doesn’t apply to SSD. Therefore, vRPM will enable users to compare the performance between SSD and HDD. Heye also predicted that the performance of SSD will be four times faster than the existing in 2009 and six times faster than a 2.5 inch HDD. Moreover, LED is the first industry metric that expresses how long data can be reliably stored in SSDs in a measurable number. SanDisk already proposed the metric to JEDEC, the developer of standards for the solid state industry.
 
In Taiwan, the impact of SSD has increased. How to cope with the impact and to gain the maximum profit for the industry is the main concern. When there are no testing standards, several companies found the Solid State Drive Alliance (SSDA) to ensure the quality for users. Founders are A-DATA Technology Co., Ltd., ASMedia Technology Inc., Allion Test Labs, Inc., CoreSolid Storage Corporation, ITE Tech, Inc., ITRI, JMicron Technology Corp., Phison Electronics Corp., Silicon Motion, Inc., Silicon-Power Computer & Communications Inc., Solid State System Co., Ltd., Toshiba and Ulink. The SSDA was established in November, 2008 and aims to define, integrate and promote the SSD Compliance Standard in order to initialize and create an industry acknowledgeable Compliance Program in accordance with the test platform standard defined through leaders of industry professionals.

Conclusion

Taiwan has taken an important role in the fields of memory modules and SSD controlling IC in the world. When overseas leading manufacturers enter SSD market progressively, Taiwan-initiated SSDA did take a first step in compliance standards. In the future, the certification and standards are getting accepted worldwide that will help Taiwan-based manufacturers to take a lead in SSD supply chain.

It is not difficult to find the enhancements and changes for SSD in Windows 7 Beta. In future three years, the writer assumes the SSDs will not fully replace HDDs. For the advantage of SSD’s read/write speed and capacity, SSDs still have a good chance to become the mainstream when SSD prices continue plummeting.

At the beginning of this year when rumors surfaced that Google might release its own operating system to compete with Windows, well it is not difficult to find the fact after browsing couple web-sites. Actually, gOS is not a "Google OS" nor is it affiliated with Google but is developed by Good OS LLC out of Los Angeles, the United States.

The impact of gOS on web browsing market

When web browser market was dominated by Netscape before 1998, Microsoft broke the ice to implement Internet Explorer 3.0 in Windows 95 to take over the leading place. After reinforcing IE functions in the following series up to IE 8.0 which introduced in March, 2009, Microsoft has taken the first place in web browser market. On the other hand, the release of Firefox also gradually eats up Microsoft’s market share. Moreover, Google introduced its web browser “Chrome” in 2008 that would grow faster, the marketers predicated. However, the market share of Chrome is less than 5% up to now. What’s wrong with it?

Chrome developed by Google

The writer indicated it is very normal for Chrome not to take more than 10% market share in three months. If a newly released web browser can easily take over 10% market share of web browser market, IE and Firefox would not find a place to stand not to mention Microsoft’s 10-year hard working and experiences in this field. Therefore, if Google aims to elevate Chrome’s market share, it will take at least 3 to 5 years. It is similar to what happened to Firefox. Therefore, Google might still take itself as a service provider to serve enterprises and individuals.

The impact of gOS on OS market

In the following, the operating system will be mentioned. A web browser can not replace an operating system. However, Linux or gOS has been an operating system, why can they not get popular either? The main cause rests on the integration and compatibility of the operating system with devices and peripherals. At the current stage, no operating system developer can complete with Microsoft for the above mentioned reason.

Related hardware manufactures support gOS

It is hard to find vendors not only to pre-install gOS in the PCs but also sell them on the market. There were few examples. Back in 2008, Taiwan-based PC vendor, FIC introduced its own branded Everex gPC adapted VIA microprocessor in CES show, Las Vegas. Also, the other GIGABYTE M912 Touch Screen Netbooks was recommended in gOS’ official web-site. If gOS is getting popular in the future, Taiwan-based vendors will be the main beneficiaries. Furthermore, gOS seems to give up the PC market and has aggressively developed Netbooks and Nettops version in current six months. Assuming from the failing experience of Linux, gOS might not be able to roar a change in IT industry like what Microsoft’s IE has done. gOS should work on the peripheral drivers, system compatibility and popularity to make its voice heard.

For the system requirements of gOS was not mentioned in gOS’s official web-site (http://www.thinkgos.com/index.html), It's based on Ubuntu Linux 7.10 which also supports 64 bit microprocessor and would use as a minimum a 1 GHz Pentium III with 256MB RAM, 4GB HD. Even gOS has not the mainstream of operating systems, the cpus OEMed by Taiwan-based Nan Ya PCB, Hong Hai and TSMC are still supported by gOS.

Conclusion

The writer believes that in terms of operating system of PC and NB, Microsoft will still be the leader in next 10 years. Ironically, a web browser can not replace an operating system yet to become the major interface for users at the same time. However, in terms of mobile interface, Microsoft is not the mainstream yet so that Google Android + Chrome can stand in a better ground in the future.

Microsoft enabled the free download of the new operation system – Windows 7 Build 7000 (Beta 1) toward interested players, programmers and IT professionals in January, 2009 and the final version will be launched at the end of 2009.

It can be said that Windows 7 is the upgrade of Windows Vista based on the completeness of the system and operation efficiency. Microsoft Windows 7 not only sustains the core functions of Vista but also reinforces the design on interaction between the device and users. For better user experience, Windows 7 is featured more in user friendly operation interface.

First of all, Windows 7 supports multi-touch function on touch panel devices. Back in the year of 2008, Microsoft introduced Windows Surface which was the first Windows operation system to support multi-touch function with both hands’ movement to zoom, flick and pan the photos, applications and videos on the screen. Windows 7 also shared the same function. The user can install windows in a laptop or a device which is supported multi-touch function to enjoy the same experience of interactive screen and monitors in the move “Minority Report (2002)”.

The multi-touch functions supported in Windows 7 is hopefully to trigger more business opportunities of touch screen and display industry. In terms of touch panel technology, the operation and manufacturing can be divided into resistive, capacitive, acoustic wave, optics, camera-based and electromagnetic technologies. Since 1999, Taiwanese companies have developed resistive related products. The noted touch panel companies include JTOUCH Corp., SWENC Corp., Young Fast Optoelectronics and Wintek Corp. when Sentelic and two other foreign companies dominate the patents of Projective Capacitive Technology (PCT). Moreover, Taiwan-based eGalax_eMPIA Technology (EETI) demonstrated infrared, ultrasound and surface acoustic wave (SAW) multi-touch solutions when AU Optronics and Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) also both announced the In-Cell Multi-Touch Panel Technology which is more advanced than Apple iPhone. However, Windows 7 has better memory management and the demand on memory is more sufficient than Vista. It might not be a good news for DRAM makers including Powerchip Semiconductor, Nanya Technology and Promos Technologies.

Picture 1: Windows Surface

Secondly, “Home Group” is also the new function of Windows 7 to connect other home electronic appliances. It is not an easy thing to exchange data among different specs of home electronic appliances and devices. The establishment of Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) makes it possible. The major task for DLNA is to formulate the unified transmission specification enabling the data transmitting among different brand multimedia devices. Through cable, the data can be saved and operated in Windows 7.

Picture 2: Home Group in Windows 7 control panel

DLNA was found by Intel, Microsoft, SONY, Samsung and several IT and CE manufacturers. By September of 2008, there were 3,000 products certified by DLNA. For more information of DLNA certified products and manufacturers, please visit http://www.dlna.org/products. You may find Several Taiwanese  hardware manufacturers include Acer, Zyxel and software developer Cyberlink in the list. Besides, Allion Test Labs and Taiwan Institute for Information Industry established DLNA v1.5 accredited Independent Certification Vendor (ICV) to provide interoperability test service for Taiwanese companies. More Taiwanese ICT manufacturers are willing to follow DLNA certification program including Faraday Technology and Promise Technology.

Mr. J.T. Wang, Chairman and CEO of Acer, has mentioned after the completeness of technology platform, standardization of open source and the reasonable pricing and mass production of LCD and Multimedia, the year of 2007 would be a take-off year of digital home in a topic related seminar on September 26, 2006. Now, adding with Windows 7’s support of DLNA, digital home will no longer be a slogan and facility for demonstration.

Thirdly, Device Stage is a new device managing featured in Windows 7. In past operation system, it was instantly shown the new device when plug-in. Microsoft Vista even added the drivers for over 8,000 computer peripherals. However, it is not enough for users. From Device Stage you can see device status and run common tasks from a single window. There are even pictures of the devices which makes it really easy to see what's there. You may find the list of products that take advantage of Device Stage in the link: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/devices.aspx.

Besides, Windows7 can detect the device’s model number and match its application; therefore, many device makers already started put effort in developing the device coding. When each device is connected to the laptop for the first time, the compatible hardware coding can be downloaded from the web-site. To quickly access all that is offered through Device Stage for that specific device, you can right-click on the device on the taskbar to see all the Device Stage options.

 
Device Stage: Icons of devices and printers

Actually we can take a peek of Microsoft’s ambition and ideas on operation system with the introduction of Windows 7. Users can connect electronic appliances at home to integrate information technology devices for a better working and living environment operated from users’ desktops or laptops. In terms of home appliances, the improvement of LCD and multimedia and the certification of DLNA logo will be the future trend of developing multimedia devices. Also with the page of Device Stage, more coding information of computer peripherals and home appliances can be easily searched and functioned. On the other hand, the relation between hardware and software will be complementary. Software can provide more services and functions for improved hardware. The compatability between hardwares will go better and better for software’s flexibility and extensibility. It is believed that the future life will be fusion of living and technology.

In all, Windows 7 brings up the products supported DLNA, multi-touch displays and Device Stage supported products to become the mainstream in the future. When Windows 7 is a huge revolution of Microsoft operation system, it is expected to trigger a purchasing demand of new PCs. The OEMers of PC supply chain will be beneficial including Acer, ASUSTeK, Quanta and Compal. However, in terms of design and plan of future products and social responsibility, these will also be a great challenge for them at the same time.

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