Here you see some examples of Kinect, new games and the new XBOX360:

Read here the official announcement from Microsoft on the E3 and the video in full quality.

I know Henk since my childhood. He owned a Commodore Amiga, like I did at that time. I met him because he was a friend of my father.

People who experienced problems with learning to do computer stuff did sometimes hear me say. Come on. It’s not that hard. My friend Henk is 80 years and he can manage it, that’s right. He did. Sad to write in past time. Henk is no more.

Since a few weeks he had Windows 7 correctly installed on his computer with some tips and hints I gave him. He had to know the difference. Fantastic to see this.

I can remember one time he had a complaint filed with Apple because the sync-program between his iPod and Windows did not function well and now and than his collection was erased. Always funny moment when the people asked him his age. If he called me those moments gave me a big smile on my face. He actually knew more about it than the young nerds who were working at the helpdesk.

He was delighted on gadgets. We shared that interest…

We could have a good discussion… because on some issues we were not having the same thoughts and ideas but always did we respect eachother opinion and feeling.

Henk, Rest In Peace…

The most important advantage of 64 bit versus 32 bit is that you can use more than 3.5 GB in your system. If your computer at the moment is equipped with 4 GB you can only use 3.5 GB for your system and applications. With 64 bit versions either Vista or Windows 7 you can use above 4GB.

Your processor has to have 64-bit capabilities.

I have tested several versions especially with the focus on speed. Windows Vista and Windows 7 were tested in 32 and 64 bit on an AMD Turion64 X2.

My focus was looking for difference between the feeling of speed and working speed.

Editting a Full HD 1080p recording with adding 3 effect in Adobe Premire Elements 7 (32 bit version).

I did a surprising conclusion.

I had expected that Vista 64 would give a power boost, but this wasn’t true. I had Windows 7 32bit installed. The editting went without delays. The system was able to monitor the recording without sound stuttering.

Weird was this problem is known due to slow harddrives. The harddrive cannot cope with the stream. On the desktop computer I don’t have this problem due to faster harddrives, on the notebook I have. The weird part is that I was able to edit easier and faster on Windows 7 32bit than on the fast desktop pc.

I would have expected Vista 64 should perform the same or better than Windows 7 in 32bit… End conclusion is that Windows 7 is really faster with the same hardware even on 32 and 64 bit… On this ‘old’ notebook I have a preference for the 32 bit version because I can’t upgrade to more than 4GB. Also some drivers and programs cannot deal well with 64 bit yet. But it is really well compared to Vista 64.

I’m sure the next computer will be 100% certainly Windows 7, 64 bit edition…

First you have to stop the service : Office Software Protection

Then run x:\Windows\System32\OSPPRUN.exe (x can be your C: or other driveletter you have installed windows on)

You will have a prompt.

Enter these command followed by an enter like shown below, go to next step

>Initialize (enter)

>Open (enter)

>GetInstalledSkuIds (enter)

   0. 128a057a-7e95-4063-b296-c54c5f3d3f3a (deze is het ID van Office 2010)

   1. 26adec89-edf3-4adc-a3fc-c865f1a9f71f

OK.

> GetInstalledAppIds 128a057a-7e95-4063-b296-c54c5f3d3f3a (enter)

   0. 59a52881-a989-479d-af46-f275c6370663

OK.

(You will get something that looks like this)

> GetLicensingStatus 59a52881-a989-479d-af46-f275c6370663 128a057a-7e95-4063-b296-c54c5f3d3f3a (enter)

SkuId            = 128a057a-7e95-4063-b296-c54c5f3d3f3a

eStatus          = SL_LICENSING_STATUS_IN_GRACE_PERIOD

dwGraceTime      = 1D 23:37

dwTotalGraceDays = 30 days

hrReason         = 4004F00C

qwExpiration     = 2010/10/31

OK.

(What you are now going to do is set AppID and SkuID for Office 2010 to enable again 30 days before activation. That gives you another 30 days to test. Mostly the IDs are the same, if not please copy and use yours

> Rearm 59a52881-a989-479d-af46-f275c6370663 128a057a-7e95-4063-b296-c54c5f3d3f3a 1 (enter)

OK.

>close (enter)

>Initialize (enter)

>open (enter)

You can enter the command below to check out how many days you have left (See dwGraceTime): 

> GetLicensingStatus 59a52881-a989-479d-af46-f275c6370663 128a057a-7e95-4063-b296-c54c5f3d3f3a (enter)

SkuId            = 128a057a-7e95-4063-b296-c54c5f3d3f3a

eStatus          = SL_LICENSING_STATUS_IN_GRACE_PERIOD

dwGraceTime      = 29D 23:37

dwTotalGraceDays = 30 days

hrReason         = 4004F00C

qwExpiration     = 2010/10/31

>quit (enter)

You are able to use it again for 30 days. Have a lot of fun with testing Microsoft Office 2010…

Look what for beautiful things are coming soon :

Windows 7 (replacing Vista)
Office 2010 (replacing 2007)
Windows Mobile 6.5 (replacing 6.1)

Bing (new engine for their search solution) (replacing msn live search)

Microsoft is really active in 2009 to prepare everyone to a good ending of 2009 and start of 2010.

Grab these opportunities. These new applications have nice features and create opportunities.

Technical terms are commonly being used by sales persons as if it’s normal everybody would understand it. In a lot of cases the sales persons use the terms in the wrong context. I’m going to give you an example of someone who was going to buy a new LCD TV together with a friend who was not an expert but knew more than the buyer. You can see that communication between the sales person, the buyer (the user) and the assistant (friend, helper) important is.

The friend went with him to buy the LCD TV and asked the simple question: What do you want? The answer was : minimal 42″. They went to the shop and this is what them is told :

1. “Do you want FullHD or HDReady?”
2. “Do you need HDMI and how many?”
3. “Do you need any component connections?”
4. “Do you want to view Digital broadcasts?”
5. “Do you want plasma or LCD?”

The answers on these questions were easy :”What is that?”

The salesperson gives answers but the buyer and the assistant are overwhelmed in the more complex technical terms than the initial question. Instead of making it more clear it’s now not understandable for both. For every unknown term there are now 2 unknown term added.

1. It’s easy, FullHD has 1920×1080 pixels and HDReady has 1280×720
   (buyer ask himself what those numbers are and what the heck pixels are)
2. HDMI is a new connection which is based on DVI but with integrated sound, but also better than component
   (they wonder what DVI is, what about the sound and what is component)
3. Component provide better quality than a scart-connection
   (scart connection, sounds familiar, component not, they don’t know if their equipment has component connections or not)
4. Digital broadcasting is more clear than your current television broadcast.
   (This will confuse the people. Can I see my ‘old’ channels? But HD is better, why do I need digital broadcasting?)
5. The biggest difference is that plasma has a better refresh rate than LCD.
   (the what? refresh rate… ahhh ofcourse (now you lost them completely)

What you see is that the sales person what to show-off with his knowlegde. The buyer does not come to the shop for this. He/she wants to buy a new good television. The assistant does not say he also doesn’t understand the half of the terms and is going to say ‘yes’ on some sentences to not look dumb.

The same happens every day as a new ICT project is started. What the customer wants should be communicated with the customer on the level he/she understands.

You could use explain those complex terms in easy language without technical terms. Instead of saying ”1920×1080 pixels” it’s maybe more clear to say ”4-5x sharper image”.

Try to speak clearly to the customer. Nobody is well served by someone who his ego is so big that he wants to show-off with complicated term, nobody is served with that. Clear and easy is the way to go.