200th Post: Random Links

I hereby celebrate my 200th post on this blog with a few random links that've caught my eye.

1) Live Search: I was about to go to the CIA World Factbook, but on a whim I tried "population density of india" and it worked.
http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=what+is+the+population+density+of+india%3F&form=QBRE

2) Colbert's Google Bombing successful: Colbert declared "greatest living american"
http://www.google.com/search?q=greatest+living+american&rls=com.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7DKUS

3) Wal-Mart to put their weight behind HD-DVD?
http://news.digitaltrends.com/talkback184.html

And finally....

4) iPod Killer
http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilbert-20070420.html

Vista Thoughts, Remote Assistance, and Fun Links

So I've been using Windows Vista for a couple weeks now, and so far it's working great. It's running on a Dell XPS 410, a computer that basically replaced a Dell Dimension XPS T600. Funny, I had never known the XPS nameplate had been recycled from an old Dimension line.

Both Vista and Office 2007 have been working great. A few notes on each:

Vista

• I love search!!! It's everywhere in Vista, including the Start menu, and when you hit Start it has cursor focus automatically. And it searches basically instantly, which, while now the norm in modern desktop search programs and elsewhere, is immensely gratifying to someone who never really bought into that whole market.
  
  So opening MS Word is as easy as typing WinKey + "word" + Enter, which takes me all of half a second. And becauses it indexes not only files and programs and all that stuff but also IE Favorites and History, opening starwars.com is as simple as WinKey + "starwa" + Enter.
• The Sidebar is quite handy.
• I love breadcrumb navigation in Windows Explorer...
• The much-advertised Flip 3D, aside from being incredibly satisfying, is actually kind of handy because it gives you a much better sense of what you're flipping through and thus makes it easier to find a window if you've got a ton of stuff open at once, like I usually do.
• Seeing live video play in Flip 3D, Alt-Tab thumbnails, or taskbar thumbnails is truly a "wow" moment.
• But Search remains the REAL wow moment.
• Little things like a taskbar calendar that doesn't make you change the date if you just want to see what May looks like, or the per-application volume mixer, or the transparency effects, or ultra-high-res icons, really add up to a much nicer overall experience
• But Search is the nicest experience.
• My desktop has never looked better thanks to aforementioned high-res icons and the fact that you can resize desktop icons by holding Ctrl and scrolling your mouse's scroll wheel.
• Voice command is incredible. In IE you can just say the name of a link and it'll click it. Or in Solitaire, say "2 of Clubs" to click the 2 of clubs, and then "3 of hearts" put it on the 3 of hearts. You can do literally anything with it, as far as I can tell. Sure, it's not always faster than keyboard and mouse, but sometimes it is.
• I love the general emphasis on tagging and metadata throughout Vista.
• Did I mention I love search?

Office 2007

• It's just so.... so easy...
• I actually use formatting styles for the first time ever.
• I love macros. Not that that's new.
• All the design templates have finally been updated from the old 90's-era relics.
• Sadly, traditional Word Art is still there and ugly as ever
• But it's been replaced in part by new, much much better text styling
• Images can be given nice reflections and everything in a matter of seconds
• There's just too much to mention it all
• Some old rarely-used functions can be hard to find now, and one or two are actually gone. They won't be missed by many... but I'm still kind of sad they're gone. But literally, one or two things. That basically nobody ever used.
• Every once in a while, evidence of the old Word 2003 UI comes and mars the experience a bit.

Note that for both Office 07 and Vista, you need to actually use it for a little while to really appreciate everything.

Remote Assistance

It's been in Windows since before XP, but today I'm using it to help my brother on a Spanish menu publication while he's working on one computer and I'm still working at the other. I don't understand why Support teams can't start using this. Though, for all I know, maybe they do. But I must say, it's a real "wow" moment, and it's not even new! In the slightest! Oh, the gems that lay hidden due to overwhelming UIs and lack of discoverability...

Fun Links

Just a few quick things to end on:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bonniegrrl/sets/72157600031506494/show/
http://www.on10.net/Blogs/laura/techfest-07-playanywhere-meets-playtogether/
http://www.on10.net/Blogs/tina/first-official-look-at-the-xbox-360-spring-dashboard-update/
http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2005/04/12/407562.aspx
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/04/soldierportable.html
http://theforce.net/latestnews/story/Star_Wars_101_105039.asp
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18096644
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S9SpdCZeg0