Mark Johnston's Blog : Windows Vista

Mojave Experiment - the geek's blind taste test

markjo — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:15:33 GMT

I love this experiment by Windows to see what ordinary consumers think of Windows Vista when they actually think it is the next big OS from Microsoft codenamed "Mojave".

It is like an old-fashioned Product X v Product Y blind taste test brought up to date for technology!

Worth a look - The "Mojave" Experiment

Microsoft store launches in the UK...

markjo — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 18:39:23 GMT

My pal Chris (doesn't blog) has just launched the Microsoft Store. It offers a load of our consumer products and some developer+designer stuff as well.

Early days I know but I hope they will be loading this site with loads of MS and partner products in the future!

Go visit it @ www.microsoftstore.co.uk

Last.fm Comes to Vista Media Centre

markjo — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:20:07 GMT

I'm a big fan of Last.fm and will be giving this a go on my home machine for listening to music.

Last.fm Comes to Vista Media Centre (Sarah Perez)

Loving Windows Live OneCare

markjo — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:29:44 GMT

Video: Microsoft Windows Live OneCare

I'm only a day late for Paddy's day (disappointing for someone that heralds from Northern Ireland) so thought this was worth posting - http://www.getgreenstaygreen.com/

I've been using OneCare on my home machines for about 4 months now and love it. I've just set it up on my parents and sisters machines as well - being their IT support, this service has made my life a lot easier!

(Hat tip to Brandon over at the Windows Experience blog for this one)

UltimatePC.com launches

markjo — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:40:16 GMT

New site/community launches for Windows Vista Ultimate users to showcase the amazing things that real people do with their Vista PCs. Will also have discounts and offers on software/hardware for Ultimate users.

(Lucky I picked up Ultimate for my family and my own home PC then :-))

UltimatePC

Synergy - great for multi-PC setups like mine

markjo — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 23:27:22 GMT

I've got a spiffing Dell XPS 420 as my main home machine and I've been spending a lot of time on it working on personal projects and being an ADD-type of person tend to do work stuff at the same time on my Lenovo laptop. I always struggled with having to flip between machines but didn't want the expense and mess of a KVM switch.

Then I spotted Clint Rutkas' post about Synergy, a neat utility that allows me to share my keyboard/mouse across two machines seamlessly. It's a little unfriendly in the UX department getting it set up but once you have got that mastered it's a breeze to use!

(Image Source: Me and it is normally messier than this!)

Clint Rutkas: Synergy in action

Microsoft UK Student page goes live - built on Silverlight

markjo — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 15:32:41 GMT

I haven't been part of the development but it's good to see this finally go live. We've been hankering for a 1-stop-shop for students wanting to see what Microsoft has to offer for ages and finally have it at:

www.microsoft.com/uk/students

It highlights:

Windows Vista
Windows Media
Xbox and PC gaming
Jobs
Office 2007
Windows Mobile
Visual Studio and Expression
Security
Imagine Cup

(Warning - it can make you feel a bit queasy when the globe starts to spin to fast. All part of the fun and I'm sure we'll continue to developer over the coming months)

Silverlight DreamScene content available

markjo — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 17:03:37 GMT

Barak has the skinny on the recently published DreamScene video background that gives you the uber cool Silverlight branding as moving desktop wallpaper (if you are running Windows Vista Ultimate).

Brandon LeBlanc even did a short video to 'wow' us:

Video: Microsoft Silverlight "Dusk" DreamScene

Download Silverlight DreamScene for your desktop (standard | widescreen)

Technorati tags: silverlight, windows vista, dreamscene