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Many new Windows 7 features hinted from Microsoft Privacy Statement
Monday, October 27, 2008 22:39
Posted in category Windows 7 News

http://windows7center.com/windows-7-news/many-new-windows-7-features-hinted-from-microsoft-privacy-statement/#tpms

The Windows 7 Privacy Statement is like any other privacy statement - it helps users understand how data is collected and its use practices. Being the snoops that we are, we’ve decided to read the entire document and list out the main new features we were able to pick out. You can see the full list here. But we’ve summarized the main or notable features of Windows 7 that we were able to pick out.

* Driver Protection
* Dynamic Update
* Gadgets
* Home Group
* IME Learning
* Internet Printing
* Online Print Wizard
* People Near Me
* Plug and Play Extensions
* Program Compatibility Assistant
* Trusted Platform Module (TPM) Services,

Driver Protection is a new feature that helps prevent Windows 7 from starting drivers that are known to cause stability problems. This means all drivers that are to be run are checked against a Driver Protection List database stored on the computer before the are run. Unlike previous versions of Windows that just warned you for installing any unsigned drivers, the Driver Protection List is constantly updated through Windows Update. When a driver listed in the DPL starts, a process similar to Error Reporting occurs where you can choose to report the problem or check for solutions online.

Strangely enough, I was able to find an entire page on the feature for XP, but nothing on Vista.

Dynamic Update allows you the computer to communicate with Windows Update servers while Windows is being installed, so when you are done with installing Windows 7, it will contain all the latest security patches, driver updates, service packs, and any other updates.

Gadgets

Gadgets are programs that run on the desktop and provide at-a-glance information, and easy access to frequently used tools.

Home Group is a “better way” for Windows 7 computers to share files and devices. My guess is that Microsoft is going to borrow the idea of the Sharing Folder from MSN and incorporate it with Windows 7.

A HomeGroup allows you to easily link Windows 7 computers on your home network so that you can share pictures, music, videos, documents and devices. It also makes them ready to stream media to devices on your home network such as a media extender. You can help protect your HomeGroup with a password, and you can choose what you want to share.

Input Method Editor (IME) Learning seems to be a new feature added to IME. In Windows 7, IME for East Asian languages will be able to record word or word pairs to improve character selection. IME learning seemed to on previous versions of Windows but the memorization of words would erase after a reboot. In Windows 7, these words will be recorded into the user dictionary so you won’t have to suffer through re-teaching IME after each restart.

The IME learning feature records a word or word pair and their associated scores as a result of user operations. This information (excluding any digit/symbol character sequences) is stored in the user dictionary for each user on the computer.

Internet Printing makes it possible for computers running Windows 7 to use printers located anywhere by sending print jobs using the the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

When you print using this feature, you must first connect and authenticate yourself to an Internet print server. The information that you will need to submit to the print server will vary depending on the level of security that the print server supports (for example, you might be asked to provide a user name and password). Because the print job is unencrypted, it may be possible for others to see the content being sent. Once you are connected, you are presented with a list of available printers. If your computer does not have a print driver for your selected printer, you may choose to download a driver from the print server. If you choose to use a print server hosted by Microsoft, Microsoft does not use the information that you provide to identify you or contact you.

Online Print Ordering Wizard allows you to send pictures to an online photo service of your choice. Depending on the service, you can have your pictures delivered to an address, or you can pick them up at a local store.

The Online Print Ordering Wizard enables you send digital pictures stored on your computer or network drive to an online photo printing service of your choice. Depending on the service, you can have your pictures printed and then delivered using postal mail, or you can pick up the prints at a local store.

People Near Me is a service that identifies nearby computers in your local network and allows people to send you invitations for programs. If an invitation is sent to you, you must have the program already installed on your computer. I am quite surprised they have decided to keep this feature - I can’t remember the last time someone I know used it.

People Near Me is a service that identifies people nearby on your local network who are using computers and allows those people to send you invitations for programs. They can only invite you to participate in programs that are installed on your computer. To use People Near Me, you have to sign in to the service.

Seeing that you have to sign-in, this is no doubt one of the services that will be part of Microsoft’s online Live Program. Microsoft is stripping many of Windows traditional built-in apps from Windows 7 and requiring users to sign in online through its Live service to use those apps.

Plug and Play Extensions (PnP-x) allows you to share or connect to a PnP-x supported device on your local network.

Plug and Play Extensions (PnP-X) provides the same experience for network-connected devices as Plug and Play does for devices that are connected directly to your computer. In addition, this feature allows your computer to discover and connect to devices on your local network, and it allows devices that support PnP-X to broadcast their presence on a local network. After you install a PnP-X enabled device, the driver is configured and loaded whenever you use the device, typically without requiring your input.

Program Compatibility Assistant is something that should have been part of Windows Vista. It’s a great feature that warns you if you run an incompatible program that will cause stability problems. If you still want to run it, it will offer you the option of checking online for more information or solutions. Good job to Microsoft for adding this one.

Trusted Platform Module (TPM) Services works with computers that contain a microchip that enables the computer to take full advanced security features such as BitLocker Drive Encryption.

The Trusted Platform Module (TPM) security hardware is a microchip built into some computers that, if present and initialized, enables your computer to take full advantage of advanced security features such as BitLocker™ Drive Encryption.

More information on the service here.

I’m sure what’s listed in the privacy statement are still only a few of the features to be revealed tomorrow morning. But for what we know now, it seems that one of Microsoft’s big objectives for Windows 7 is system stability. This was one of the biggest issues in Windows Vista Pre-SP1 and Microsoft seems to have addressed many big issues on their part with features such as Driver Protection, Dynamic Update, and Program Compatibility Assistant.

Dynamic Update is probably one of the more important ones because it addresses the more popular stability problems that stem from old device drivers and missing updates and patches before Windows 7 is even installed.

Driver Protection is also a very good idea assuming that Microsoft is able to keep up with new hardware that gets pushed into the market everyday.

All-in-all the list shows a couple services that are worth noting, but none too impressive as they are seen as features that should have been incorporated into Vista. Ballmer said that Windows 7 is Vista, but better. But Microsoft needs something unique that will affect the user during everyday use of the computer, particularly the typical Windows interface that has yet to see any major improvements over the past decade. It will be an interesting to see how Microsoft will manage to pull this off as a major release.