September 14, 2009 by
Jason
Microsoft is ready to offer free upgrades from Windows Vista to the latest iteration of the Windows client for participants in a Windows Media Center testing program. But the prizes go beyond the free Windows 7 upgrades, and include laptops, Xbox Elite consoles and even a PC Home entertainment System. In order to be eligible for the prizes, users must first get accepted into the Windows Media Center TV Ambassador program. The catch, well, there’s always one, Microsoft is accepting participation requests only from UK residents.
“Become one of our TV Ambassadors! If you’ve already got Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate, you could receive a free TV tuner valued at £60 so you can enjoy watching and recording live Freeview TV channels on your PC,” revealed Microsoft’s Rob Margel. “Just turn it on, watch and record your favourite TV shows from over 50 Freeview channels including BBC Three, ITV2, Film4, E4 and Dave, and tell us what you think. Spread the word and you could win free stuff: software, games, an XBox 360, and an ultimate home entertainment system. You could even be in our next ad.”
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Posted in Windows 7 | No Comments »
Windows 7 General Availability will in just a few days be only two months away and Microsoft is laboring to catalyze the adaptation of the ecosystem of hardware and software solutions orbiting Windows to the latest iteration of the platform. In this regard, the Redmond-based company has supplied developers with the RTM bits of Windows 7 via MSDN, but has also offered the developer resources necessary to tailor apps to the operating system.
But the Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 is not the only software development kit for Windows 7. At the end of the past week, the Windows Media Center Software Development Kit for Windows 7 went live on the Microsoft Download Center.
“This release includes documentation, tools, sample code. The Windows Media Center SDK is designed to help developers create applications and software components that take advantage of features provided by Windows Media Center, and documents programming technologies that you can use to extend the capabilities of Windows Media Center,” Microsoft stated. Read More»
Posted in Software, Windows 7 | No Comments »
February 16, 2009 by
Jason
Following the same strategy that it applied with Windows Vista as the operating system was making its way through the development process, Microsoft is now releasing the developer tools and resources designed to permit building on top of the Windows Media Center component in Windows 7. Made previously available via Microsoft Connect, the Windows Media Center Software Development Kit 6.0.2009.0106 Beta for Windows 7 Beta Build 7000 can now be accessed by the general public.
It is important to note that as far as the actual application programming interface goes, the latest release of Windows Media Center SDK 6.0 for Windows 7 Beta is similar to what the company already delivered to developers for the Milestone 3, pre-Beta Build of Win 7.
Speaking on the Windows Media Center Software Development Kit for Windows 7 Beta, Charlie Owen, product manager on the Media Center team said: “This has been available for beta testers via Connect for a while now and we finally got it posted for everyone.” Read More»
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The Windows Experience Index Score was introduced in Windows Vista and used to give you a good idea of the capabilities of a computer. You can use a computer’s Experience Index base or sub score to help determine if it’s what you need when purchasing a new computer.
The Experience Index Score rates your computer’s components performance from 1 to 5.9 with 1 being the worst performing and 5.9 being the best. The score’s benchmarks were established when Windows Vista was released.
Base Score Explained
The base score represents the overall performance of your system as a whole, based on the capabilities of different parts of your computer, including RAM, CPU, hard disk, general graphics performance on the desktop, and 3-D graphics capability. Read More»
Posted in Computer, Hardware | 1 Comment »