Anyway, according to this article at installsite.org, you can embed transforms into an MSI in a way so that Windows Installer will automatically apply them according to the system language when your MSI is loaded. This is the undocumented feature. If your MSI is simple enough that you don’t need dialog boxes/UI, but you just blaze through a default install, yet you want the few messages that show up by default to be localized, what I’m about to describe might be enough for you.

Here’s what you need: WiX (Windows Installer XML toolset), MsiTran.exe and some sample MSI scripts from the Windows SDK, and finally some custom-written scripts to glue the whole thing together.

I’ll assume you already have WiX installed (possibly in conjunction with Visual Studio), and that you have a simple, single-language WiX project handy.

You can get the Windows SDK from Microsoft as an ISO image (this one is for Windows 7). You can then mount this image using Magic Disc, Daemon Tools Lite or some other ISO-peeking utility. If you don’t want to install the entire SDK just to get the MsiTran.exe and MSI script samples, open the ISO up using your tool of choice and find the folder Setup.

To install just the tools package that will give you the MsiTran.exe, run WinSDKTools\WinSDKTools_x86.msi. MsiTran.exe will be found in %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0\Bin after this. I suggest copying this file to your WiX installer project folder.

To get the script samples, run the MSI WinSDKSamples\WinSDKSamples_x86.msi. Once you’ve done this, you’ll find the sample scripts in %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0\Samples\SysMgmt\Msi\scripts. Out of all these scripts you only need WiSubStg.vbs and WiLangId.vbs. I suggest copying them to your WiX installer project folder.

You should know ahead of building the original WiX project which languages and how many languages you’ll end up needing. Your original installer needs to list all of these in a comma separated list in the Summary Stream (and the list can’t contain 0). In WiX that looks like this:

<Package
  Compressed="yes"
  Description="My Installer"
  InstallerVersion="200"
  Comments="My Software Installer"
  Languages="1033,1031,1028,2052,1030,1043,1035,1036,1040,1041,1042,1044,1046,1034,1053,1049,1055,1045,2070"
/>

Once you’ve built the single language MSI using WiX, you run a script for each language you need your MSI localized in that does the following:

• Copy the original MSI to a new file
• Modify the newly copied MSI so it contains a different ProductLanguage using WiLangId.vbs
• Create a transform that captures the difference between the two MSIs using MSITran.exe
• Embed the transform in the final master installer using WiSubStg.vbs

Here’s the script that does it (I call this CreateEmbedLangTransform.cmd):

set MsiName=%1

set lang=%2

set langcode=%3

copy %MsiName%.msi %MsiName%_%lang%.msi

cscript WiLangId.vbs %MsiName%_%lang%.msi Product %langcode% > CreateLangTransform_%lang%.txt

MsiTran.exe -g %MsiName%.msi %MsiName%_%lang%.msi %lang%.mst >> CreateLangTransform_%lang%.txt

cscript wisubstg.vbs FinalMasterInstaller\%MsiName%.msi %lang%.mst %langcode% >> CreateLangTransform_%lang%.txt

cscript wisubstg.vbs FinalMasterInstaller\%MsiName%.msi >> CreateLangTransform_%lang%.txt

All you have to do as a post-build step (either in Visual Studio or as part of your build engine of choice) is call this script once for each language you’re interested in (I call this CreateLocalizedInstallerAllLanguages.cmd):

if not exist FinalMasterInstaller md FinalMasterInstaller

copy MyInstaller.msi FinalMasterInstaller

call CreateEmbedLangTransform.cmd MyInstaller da 1030

call CreateEmbedLangTransform.cmd MyInstaller de 1031

call CreateEmbedLangTransform.cmd MyInstaller es 1034

call CreateEmbedLangTransform.cmd MyInstaller fi 1035

call CreateEmbedLangTransform.cmd MyInstaller fr 1036

call CreateEmbedLangTransform.cmd MyInstaller it 1040

call CreateEmbedLangTransform.cmd MyInstaller jp 1041

call CreateEmbedLangTransform.cmd MyInstaller ko 1042

call CreateEmbedLangTransform.cmd MyInstaller nl 1043

call CreateEmbedLangTransform.cmd MyInstaller no 1044

call CreateEmbedLangTransform.cmd MyInstaller pt_br 1046

call CreateEmbedLangTransform.cmd MyInstaller sv 1053

call CreateEmbedLangTransform.cmd MyInstaller zh_cn 2052

call CreateEmbedLangTransform.cmd MyInstaller zh_tw 1028

call CreateEmbedLangTransform.cmd MyInstaller ru 1049

call CreateEmbedLangTransform.cmd MyInstaller tr 1055

call CreateEmbedLangTransform.cmd MyInstaller pl 1045

call CreateEmbedLangTransform.cmd MyInstaller pt_pt 2070

You’ll need to look up additional language codes in Microsoft’s documentation if you need more than the ones listed above.

Note that I’ve modified the scripts above from the ones I’m actually using to make them a little more generic, and I haven’t tested every aspect of them, but they give you the gist of it.

Here are the script files zipped up.

Linchpin is at its core a self-help book. It’s meant to help you realize that if you want a shot at being indispensable, in whatever human realm (but mostly at work), you have to make some hard choices in your life. The reasoning for this takes you on a brief tour of economic systems, psychology, neuroscience and societal systems, including the education system.

You’ll read about Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Adam Smith and how a system is emerging that leaves an opening for a new role in economic systems: so-called “linchpins,” people who don’t need access to capital in the traditional sense, whose contributions are difficult to make interchangeable/replaceable and who make these contributions for the sake of contributing, not for the sake of making money. Making money, argues Godin, comes as a byproduct of the contribution that a linchpin makes. In a way, part of this book is about how the emerging global economic situation is made up of Communism and Capitalism remixed. And the best (perhaps the only) way to get by in this emerging system is to become a linchpin - an artist who gives of his or her creativity, ingenuity and humanness freely without desire for reciprocation. Linchpins are intrinsically motivated.

The self-help aspect of the book is that Seth is trying to convince you that this is the kind of role YOU want to play, because doing otherwise is a dead-end in the system that’s now emerging worldwide. Seth’s reasons for wanting you to become a linchpin are well-meaning and honest. He’s attempting to give you the best advice he can, based on the way he sees things unfolding right now. It’s hard to accurately summarize what the book says constitutes the behaviors and attitudes of a linchpin, and it would probably diminish the experience of reading the book. There are plenty of examples and inspiring stories in the book, and they make for really interesting reading.

At times it feels like the book is a collection of somewhat distantly related blog post blurbs, woven together loosely by a few underlying threads. It’s a little hard to follow at times, keeping up with the jumps and turns, and maybe this is just a logical consequence of Seth frequently sharing a lot of his thoughts in blog post format. It’s become his style. That doesn’t make the underlying threads any less important, though.

In a way, the case for the linchpin idea is made with a hermetically sealed argument. If you want to argue that the idea won’t work for you, the book has the counter-argument ready that this is your “lizard brain” speaking. It is the most ancient part of the brain (speaking in terms of evolutionary age), the part that is most concerned with survival and basic biological functions. Given the chance, your lizard brain will win over the more developed, more “recent” parts of your consciousness. It takes hard work and tricks to overcome the resistance that the lizard brain represents. The book takes a long, hard look at all that. In fact the book says that your lizard brain hates it when you read books like Linchpin.

I have no doubt that the book is spot on in saying that we don’t need more things cheaper, faster and more average. We’ve lived in a system focused on that for only a short time (a couple of generations), but it seems like forever (we have bad memory). We’re ready for getting back to outstanding things. Art that moves us, makes us feel connected, builds us up, helps us form new tribes. We’re hungry for real, human interactions, ready for forming new bonds with people in whatever way that might happen. We’re tired of the simple exchange, the transaction that leaves us distanced from each other. We look for ways to get more involved, to matter to each other. Linchpin shows us how, by encouraging us to bring all of ourselves into each part of our lives, at work and at home (but it’s mostly about work).

That being said, I don’t think everyone can be a linchpin. All large systems (ecosystems, societies, companies) have hierarchies and layers. Ecosystems, for example, have tons of species that are needed “below” to feed the outstanding species at the top. I think it’s similar in the workplace. And in a way, the book has an answer for that. Nobody is a linchpin all the time. Even the most successful people spend most of their time doing ordinary things. It’s the moments of extraordinary acts that make them linchpins.

I also think that the road to becoming a linchpin is long and hard. The “resistance” can’t be overcome “suddenly.” It’s a slow learning process. In fact, the book argues that the best way to beat the resistance is to slowly try to build a platform that looks “harmless” to the resistance, so that when you’re finally ready to take the leap, you have a network of “friendlies” that are ready to see what you have to give. A lot of the arguments the book makes depend on an assumed network that supports linchpins. For example, you shouldn’t be afraid of getting fired for breaking rules, because it will be obvious to others that you have linchpin characteristics, and they will hire you in a heartbeat. This requires that you’re well-kown. The hard part is getting noticed. The Internet accelerates the “race to the bottom” (outsourcing, standardization, commoditization) and at the same time makes it harder to be remarkable because you have to stand out among a vastly bigger crowd. Seth says you don’t have to be an outlier (probably in the Malcolm Gladwell sense) to become a linchpin, but it seems to me that somehow you do, at least a little bit. Maybe not an outlier in a “global” sense, like a world-famous movie star or musician, but certainly in your local environment.

Linchpin encourages everyone to contribute “art,” saying that it’s the only thing that is hard to commoditize. I wonder if a flooding of the marketplace with “art” won’t commoditize it somehow anyway. Another question in my mind is how today’s megacorporations can become more human, more remarkable? It certainly isn’t going to happen overnight. There’s a lot of inertia in big systems. I suppose the only thing to do is to focus on “art” that’s within your grasp, and slowly build from there.

My own attempt at this (giving things away through this blog) have so far been – how do I put it - interesting. Interesting in the sense that I have given things to people without expecting anything in return, and in specific instances where personal contact was involved, haven’t even gotten back a “thank you.” Maybe what I’m capable of giving away online is not “art” enough. Maybe I have made it too hard to receive.

To me, Linchpin is a perfect specimen of a self-help book, because you really have to do it all yourself. Nobody can help you. Want to make artful gifts, as the book argues linchpins do? You have to figure out what your art is. Want some help figuring it out? Sorry, there is no map (not entirely true; there are seven characteristics a linchpin exhibits, but you still have to figure out how to apply them to yourself or how to develop them). Hesitant to start? That’s your lizard brain holding you back.

 
Proof that it happened. 100024 views.

Daily stats leading up to 100000 views.

  
Weekly stats leading up to 100000 views.

Blog stats all the way from the beginning to 100000 views.

People usually reflect on what got them to 100000 views. I guess for me it’s been my involvement with the community site that is connected with the TouchSmart PC. I’ve posted some things here specifically in response to stuff that happened on the community site. As you can see from the dip above, my blog is not particularly popular just for its own sake. It’s usually when something big happens around a release of TouchSmart that people start looking.

Here’s a list of the top posts in case you are into that kind of stats:

For some reason people like to read about my experience with Crossloop. Whoda thunk?

Anyway, no matter what prompted you to pay a visit – thank you!

And Merry Christmas!

If you see me at PDC, say hi, and I may be able to hand you one of these puppies. I only have a limited supply, though. 15 to be precise.

Check out the pictures:

Front of the card

Back of the card

Back of the card with USB memory stick flipped open/out

Front of the card with USB memory stick flipped open/out

Today HP is announcing a new Software Development Kit for helping you write apps that play well in the HP TouchSmart “shell” environment. The new SDK still contains the general guidelines that outline both what makes a good app that’s optimized for touch interaction and the general rules you have to play by in order to “fit” into the HP TouchSmart shell.

But this time around there’s more: For the first time there is also documentation for a WPF library that you can use to more quickly write an app that heeds all of the rules that need to be followed. This library has actually existed for a few releases already, but it was not documented until now (for HP TouchSmart 3.0).

There are also two sample applications. One that demonstrates the basics of the WPF library (and that shows you what the shell does to the apps on a pretty detailed level – it’s great for seeing what registered messages are sent to the app, how the app gets sized, etc.) and one that’s a little game. To round out things, there’s some skeleton sample app code as well, so you can get started quickly with your app idea.

Here are a few screenshots of the two sample apps:

“Hello world” Wide-interactive tile

“Hello world” Large tile

Notification with CircleX icon

Notification with CircleCheck icon

“Hello Mole” Wide-interactive tile

The documentation is provided in two forms: PDF for easy printing and reading offline as well as in Windows Help format for easy searching and looking at class library details.

You’ll notice that most of this only applies to WPF development. If you’re not using WPF yet (why aren’t you? – it’s a great platform), the general guidelines still apply and work. The shell is actually technology agnostic, since all it cares about, really, is the window (handle) your app produces. As long as your technology stack produces a Win32 window, you can “play”. The essence of that is something I’ve talked about before.

So where can you get this newfangled contraption? Head right over to http://www.touchsmartdevzone.com/download/file/2074-27 to start downloading. There’s still a license agreement in the installer (to make the lawyers happy), but I believe you can now download the thing without having to consent to the agreement first.

(Update 2010-02-05: The “shell” has been updated from 3.0.32.0 to 3.0.35.0 on HP’s support site. I’ve updated the link here as well)

I can’t get into every detail of the upgrade process (how to install Windows 7, drivers, etc.), but I thought I would list the HP TouchSmart software applications that are currently available for download and suggest a good order of installation to you. This is all just interim, personal information until something official is made available.

So what’s currently up there on the HP support site? Here’s the list (as of the time of this post) in the order that would be good to follow when installing (again, this may differ from whatever official guidance may come out later; it’s my personal take on it as of right now):

• HP TouchSmart 3.0 itself (the “shell”/the “foundation”), called the HP TouchSmart Application Update 3.0.35.0 (15 MB)
• Music/Photo/Video 3.0.2.3228 (158 MB)
• Notes 3.0.3462.28879 (19 MB)
• Calendar 3.0.3476.32189 (6 MB)
• RSS 3.00.0006 (5 MB)
• Browser 3.00.0008 (3 MB)
• Clock 3.0.3572.25998 (2 MB)
• DVD 3.0.1.3123, called HP MediaSmart DVD (not sure why) (64 MB)
• Weather 3.00.0001 (3 MB)
• Webcam 3.0.1.1903 (61 MB)
• Netflix 1.0.29.0 (4 MB)
• Hulu 0.9.7 (4 MB)
• Twitter 1.0.3541.23899 (6 MB) (new 2009-11-05)
• Live TV 3.00.1924 (46 MB)

Note that the Live TV application only works with a certain set of TV tuner models. I snagged the links in this post (which may get outdated over time) from the updates page for the IQ527. Since your model may be different, the Live TV app may not work for you. That’s partly why it’s listed last.

So there it is, a refresh to work with Windows 7 for all the original applications that came with the IQ500/800, plus three new ones (Netflix, Hulu and Live TV.) A total of 390 MB of new software. All for just the cost of download bandwidth and your time to install everything.

Direct interaction / tile size: The biggest change is that the top row of tiles is much bigger and wider in 3.0. This enables direct interaction with the content of the tiles, something the 2.x software didn’t allow for most tiles. This means that you can no longer scroll the top row of tiles by just touching them anywhere and then moving your finger. To scroll you have to use either the colored bar at the top of the tile or the semi-transparent border around the tile.

Resource usage: In order to let you better manage resource usage while running the TouchSmart software, tiles that are placed in the bottom row no longer present any live data as they did in 2.x. So if you find little use for all but two tiles, for example, put the ones you don’t use much in the lower row. That way only two apps have to run (each tile corresponds to an app) and the computer will have more resources available for other tasks.

Tile states: TouchSmart 3.0 still has the concept of two app states: the state a tile is in when it’s in the top row (called “wide-interactive”) and the state it’s in when you “launch” it (called “large”). The difference is more academic in 3.0, since you can now interact with tiles whether they’re wide-interactive or large. In 2.x you could only interact with “large” tiles. To “launch” a tile to the large state, you tap on the colored bar or the semi-transparent border around the tile. Tiles in the large state have access to more screen area, and thus may present more functionality in that state than they do in the wide-interactive state (Canvas is a good example of this.)

Speedy scrolling / “throwing”: One of the more fun interactions in TouchSmart 2.x was the ability to “throw” tiles, giving them momentum with a quick flick of your finger, and letting them spin until they came to rest. You could do this in the top row and the bottom row. TouchSmart 3.0 still lets you “throw” tiles, but now there is a beginning and an end to the row; things no longer just spin. That should make it a little easier to find a tile you may be looking for. Also, a “throw” will now take you to the next “set” of tiles and will always center on a tile. If you’re about to go past the end of the row, a snap-back effect will indicate that there are no more tiles in that direction. This snap-back effect is most pronounced in the lower row, since a “throw” there will take you “further”. None of the tutorial videos actually show these “throw” effects, so play around a bit to experience them for yourself. I think they’re fun, anyway.

More apps, more features: TouchSmart 3.0 introduces a whole bunch of new apps: Canvas, Link, Live TV, Netflix, Recipe Box, Twitter and Hulu. You can read much more about these on the HP TouchSmart product page.

Also, the “main” apps (Music/Photo/Video) have been improved substantially, allowing for home network discovery of media files (support for USB/network/Media Server locations) as well as providing access to Pandora and Rhapsody Internet music services.

Personalization: An area that got a major overhaul in the “Shell” application (branded “HP TouchSmart” proper, but really named SmartCenter by the developers) is Personalization. The introduction of the colored bar at the top of each wide-interactive tile enabled bringing in lots more “color”. Let’s take a more in-depth look at the personalization screens:

On this screen (Manage My Tiles) you can pick a tile to customize in the list on the right (hitting a letter on the keyboard takes you around the list quickly). Then you can choose a color for the tile’s bar on the left, using the various buttons or the rainbow color picker (with an optional RGB color input field for access to all colors). You can also delete a tile. If you do that, and the tile was one of the TouchSmart apps, you can get it back via the Create Tile button (pick the button called HP TouchSmart Program).

You can create a new tile using the Create Tile button:

Creating a Windows Program tile looks like this:

You can choose from a list of programs found on your computer (the list is filtered a bit to suppress irrelevant programs) or use the Advanced button to define everything “by hand”:

Here you can name the tile, type in the full path to the executable (exe) and define any command line arguments in the Parameters box. You can also pick an icon (if the exe has a suitable icon you can use it, or you can pick from a list of icons provided by HP TouchSmart.) If you find the list of icons too limiting, you can place icon files of your liking (best to use 256*256 PNG files with transparency) in the folder %LocalAppData%\Hewlett-Packard\TouchSmart\SmartCenter 2.0\Icons and they should get added to the list [This is for all you fellow geeks out there.]

Creating a Website tile is quite similar, except here the list is made up of Favorites from Internet Explorer:

Typing in your own URL (aka website address) also works.

Tapping the Delete button for a tile just brings up a confirmation screen:

If you delete a TouchSmart Program tile, you can recover it later via the Create Tile button by choosing the HP TouchSmart Program button as mentioned above. That will look a little like this:

TouchSmart 3.0 comes with a lot more choices of background pictures as well. You can select one from the Choose Background screen in Personalize (see the three buttons towards the top: Manage My Tiles, Choose Background and – on the far right – About):

You may not have all of these since my screenshots are from a custom install on a test machine. To add your own background pictures to this selection screen, just copy some pictures to the “HP TouchSmart” folder in the Public Pictures folder of Windows 7. Sadly, the ones I managed to get included in 2.x are now gone

The last area of Personalize is the venerable “About” screen. Here you’ll find the version number of the SmartCenter program itself as well as a “build” number (in parentheses, here you see “build” 32):

I hope you enjoyed this little guided tour around the TouchSmart 3.0 “shell” and learned something new in the process!

If you’re a developer and want to know how you can add your own apps to the 3.0 “shell”, stay tuned. More information on that will be coming out soon.

P.S.: Here’s a list of direct links to some more TouchSmart 3.0 tutorial videos:

General
Canvas
Demo
Recipe Box: Overview
Recipe Box: Headset
Recipe Box: Add a recipe
Recipe Box: Voice control
Recipe Box: Troubleshooting
Touch Tips
Live TV: Setup
Live TV: Watch and Record
Video: Make Videos

Not only is more “happy” coming with Windows 7, as Kylie is fond of saying, if you buy an upgrade, it also brings you a lot of “shiny”.

Agile Open art by Elizabeth McClellan

 
Agile Open art by Elizabeth McClellan

 
Agile Open art by Elizabeth McClellan

 
Agile Open art by Elizabeth McClellan

 
Agile Open art by Elizabeth McClellan

 
Conference center stage

Open Space Framework

Theme for 2009, Art by Elizabeth McClellan

 
Marketplace of topics Thursday

 
Marketplace of topics Friday

 
Session art 1 by Elizabeth McClellan

 
Session art 2 by Elizabeth McClellan

 
Session art 3 by Elizabeth McClellan

 
Session art 4 by Elizabeth McClellan

 
Session art 5 by Elizabeth McClellan

 
Session art 6 by Elizabeth McClellan

Conference Center at Fort Mason

Sunset outside Fort Mason

Sunset outside Fort Mason

HP TouchSmart 600 Desktop reviews – CNET Reviews

HP ushers in third wave of TouchSmart desktop all-in-ones  Windows 7 Insider – CNET Reviews

HP TouchSmart tx2, 300, 600 and 9100 get Windows 7 multitouch – SlashGear

HP TouchSmart 600 Desktop Review – PC World

HP TouchSmart 600-1055 PC – At A Glance – Reviews by PC Magazine

HP TouchSmart 600 Review Multitouch Multimedia Mogul – Hp touchsmart 600 review – Gizmodo

Video Demos of New HP TouchSmart Apps, Touch Interface  GottaBeMobile.com

HP TouchSmart 300 and 600 bump the software to the next level, tx2 comes along for the ride

HP TouchSmart 300 and HP TouchSmart 600 Do Twitter and Hulu Out of the Box

HP Adds A Touch Of Genius To The Touchsmart  Voxy.co.nz

HP’s Touchsmart A PC, maybe, but cooler as a TV  Between the Lines  ZDNet.com

HP revamps TouchSmart PCs with Windows 7; starts $899; will you ditch your desktop PC, HDTV The

New HP TouchSmart PCs get touch-enabled Hulu, Netflix and Twitter

PCMag.com:

This third-generation TouchSmart PC is boosted by Windows 7’s gesture support, but HP’s custom multitouch software is even more impressive.

But as with the earlier models, on the TouchSmart 600 it’s HP’s custom software that really shines. Version 3.0 is a significant upgrade, offering touch-friendly versions of Hulu, Netflix, Twitter […]

And the HP apps now multitask, letting you hop back and forth by sliding them around with a fingertip. The interface is responsive, and is the benchmark for upcoming Windows 7 all-in-one PCs from Acer, Asus, Dell, Gateway, and MSI.

 Engadget:

[…], but more important is what HP is doing with its own TouchSmart application. It’s added panes for Hulu, Netflix, Twitter and an HP Music Store powered by Rhapsody, which work in nicely with the rest of the touch-friendly apps onboard and a bit of underlying Microsoft technology keeping things humming — like a nice big handwriting pane for quick Rhapsody searches. There’s also a voice controlled recipe app that can capture recipes from popular recipe sites and read them out loud to you, and the photo app can hook up with a phone over Bluetooth and pull off photos.

Gizmodo:

But to really take advantage of the system, you’ll want to use the TouchSmart interface and the wonderful, custom apps.

The one downfall here is that HP has designed TouchSmart to run all of the bundled apps at once. You’re truly multitasking, and that means stacking HDTV, Hulu, Netflix, photo editing, a browser, Twitter, and even more video playback. The system generally handles itself admirably, but the TV tuning definitely tips the scales on occasion (just watch the video for interface stutters). If I were to use the system as my DVR on a regular basis, I’d probably cut down the fat on HP’s apps and buy myself some resources.

I want to love the TouchSmart 600, but I just really, really like it a lot. The functionality is all there; no one can question the full media suite of apps, like Netflix, Hulu, and Twitter, let alone the full Windows 7 OS sitting right behind HP’s optional software. It’s the light performance hiccups coupled with a less than 100% touch interface that stop me from screaming at the top of my lungs, "YOU SHOULD BUY THIS RIGHT NOW OR GIVE UP ON LIFE COMPLETELY."

CNet.com:

While HP has clearly borrowed from Sony in its wall-mounting and video input capabilities, the software designed for its touch interface is unique and just as compelling.

As promising as we find HP’s new touch programs, Recipe Box in particular, we found the touch interface unresponsive at times, and the main touch software carousel can be slow to load.

Neither Sony nor Gateway have put as much effort into their respective touch software as HP has.

You might also appreciate the numerous video tutorials included with the system to help you navigate the new touch software.

Howtohackstuff.com:

HP continues to put its TouchSmart user interface on top of Windows 7 and it is one of the best I have seen. The new stuff comes in the way of applications; there are now loads of new third party applications, including Hulu, Twitter and Netflix. The interface is as smooth as a baby’s bottom and the main set of tiles fan across the screen and you can easily flick to toggle them. Again, check out the full review of the TouchSmart 600 to get a glimpse of how it really works. HP may just have a method to its touch madness.

Laptopmag.com:

Not only is the touch interface on the refreshed tx2 much better than anything else we’ve used on a notebook, HP is adding cool new apps like Twitter and Hulu, with more to come.

What makes the “new” tx2 stand out is what it does with touch.

Unlike the very limited MediaSmart software HP bundled previously, this machine has HP’s full TouchSmart treatment, which means it has the same slick tile interface and nearly all the same applications. These include photos, music, weather, notes, games, a touch-friendly Web browser, and more. Just like on the desktop, you can move smaller menu items to the main menu by dragging the tiles up, or vice versa.

ChipChick.com:

HP has released two new TouchSmart All-in-one PCs and these latest models come preloaded with an  impressive, and very much improved upon set of built-for-touch applications.

GottaBeMobile.com:

HP’s new all-in-one TouchSmart PCs come with an improved touch interface and some new apps. I really like Recipe Box, an application that organizes all of your online recipes. The application can be controlled with your fingers or through a Bluetooth headset. I rarely cook, but I’d probably be willing to spend more time in the kitchen if I had something like this.

The new TouchSmart PCs have a touch interface that’s a lot more lively than previous versions.

The new TouchSmart PCs come with touch applications for Hulu, Netflix and Twitter. Consumers may have fun with these applications, but I found the business applications HP had on display much more compelling.

Edit [adding more stuff just because]:

CrunchGear:

I will hand it to HP and Sony: their interfaces are gorgeous. The HP interface I saw last week has a number of simple tools – a recipe box, for example, that can take recipes from the web and import them into a private database – as well as the standard stretch’n’drag photo and note-taking applications that make touch actually compelling.

I’m sure there will be more, and there will be more criticism too. Developing software is always about trade-offs, and sometimes customers want other trade-offs to be made; that’s why software is never “done”.

But these first few reviews make me feel it was worth the time, working on the TouchSmart software. And yes, the “shell” that hosts all the various applications is still written in WPF. WPF rocks!

• Create a Windows app using any technology you please (C++, MFC, VB, WPF, Flash, Air, whatever)
• Do not use DirectX exclusive mode
• Make sure the app produces one Win32 window (and only one window) and does this quickly
• Make sure the window has no “chrome” whatsoever (no borders, resize grips, close/minimize/maximize buttons, system menu, etc.)
• Make sure the window can still be resized by WM_SIZE and moved by WM_MOVE messages (and make sure it does so very responsively)
• Make sure the window content is touch friendly

That’s it. If you know how to produce a program that does the above, you’re all set. No need to learn any interfaces, new programming models, technologies, nothing. I’ve actually had partial success at getting apps designed for Windows 1.0 to run inside the HP TouchSmart environment.

Now, if you want to improve on things, here are some more things you could do:

• Make sure you have a black background for your window
• Support the three “layouts”/sizes that HP TouchSmart uses as the user interacts with the UI (small, medium, large)
• Take into account that the user can only interact with your window in large layout/size
• Present something useful/informative in small and medium layout/size
• Provide a beautiful, large icon

And to make it really great:

• Use the notification mechanism that the environment provides (if your app needs to notify the user of anything)
• Use the mechanism for launching IE that the environment provides (if your app needs to put the user in a full web browser experience)

Finally, use the RegisterSmartCenterApp.exe registration mechanism (described in the document linked to above) in the package you deliver for installing your app. You need to do that so program you’ve developed can be integrated into the HP TouchSmart UI.

If you’ve climbed the WPF cliff, the latest version of the HP TouchSmart software (2.8) includes a library that you can use for even closer integration. Leave a comment if you’d like more information about that. I don’t consider that part of the “nutshell”, since it ends up binding you to a specific technology stack.

Sorry about the bad scan quality (it’s from today’s newspaper – yes, dead trees, and yes, I still read newspapers). It says:

80% of Toyotas sold in the last 20 years are still on the road today.

Is it any wonder that it’s hard to make any kind of change on environmental impact? Not just for cars. Think, for example, about the inefficient lighting systems installed in millions of old houses (that aren’t well insulated, have old, inefficient furnaces/air conditioners, etc.). Things like these have a habit of lasting long and they weren’t designed with environmental impact in mind.

With information like this, it’s harder and harder to stay optimistic, wouldn’t you say?

If the user account you’ve created contains the ampersand character (aka. “and” symbol: &), the Notes application can’t save the “sticky” note kind. To-Do list notes are not affected by this problem.

The symptom is that you draw on the sticky note and then tap the Done button. Now the Done button will gray out, but the note won’t be saved and the creation surface won’t disappear. Only a tap on the Cancel button will make the creation surface go away (and without saving the note).

A workaround, if you want to use that Note feature, is to create a new user account that does not contain the ampersand (&) symbol. Renaming the user account is not enough, since the initial creation sets up certain things that can’t be changed later on. (After creating the new account, most of the user data needs to be copied from the old account to the new account so documents, pictures, etc. are available under the new account. For example everything from “c:\users\old&problem” needs to go to “c:\users\new-no-problem”.)

Until a proper fix can be developed and published, this is the only known workaround, unfortunately.

(Someone was cleaning up a bunch of old floppy disks at work. I happened to come across them because I needed a floppy for updating the BIOS of a really old laptop.)

Just an interesting little factoid for your geek trivia…

You may never have heard of ACCU, the Association of C and C++ Users as it was originally called. It is a volunteer organization, consisting of programmers who care about programming. The ACCU publishes two magazines, both devoted to raising the standards of programming everywhere: C Vu and Overload. On top of that they organize a conference every year, where some of the top names in C/C++ programming (and many other software development fields) come to speak and mingle with programmers from all around the globe.

I was introduced to the ACCU several years ago, when I first came to Silicon Valley, and still renew my membership every year, even though I don’t attend the local ACCU-USA events anymore. Yes, there is a local “chapter” of the ACCU in Silicon Valley, and they have monthly events that you can attend for free. I had the good fortune of hearing Bjarne Stroustrup speak once (plus going to dinner with him and the rest of the attendees afterwards, and even getting to exchange a few words with him in private.)

At one time I also co-hosted an event for the ACCU, and I think it is this personal connection that has kept me going as a member, even though I’ve not been much directly involved since. What keeps me hanging on now are the two excellent journals, which are largely ad-free and contain almost nothing but passionately written articles and code samples, demonstrating how to become a better programmer.

If this is something you strive for, I highly recommend checking out the ACCU and encourage you to become a member. Even if you live in the United States or elsewhere outside the UK.

Obviously this is from before I started my current job… One of the benefits of my current job is being able to verify soon after RTM that the Windows 7 bits you can obtain “out there” have not been messed with. Anyway, let’s see how it looks:

There’s no display driver for this system’s ancient ATI Rage Mobility M1, so it runs in standard 800*600. Thus the black frame inside the physical bezel. On to the desktop:

No sound driver, either. I think it’s an ESS Maestro 2 or something. I haven’t really spent a lot of time looking for drivers. This system used a Xircom RBEM56G-100 multifunction Ethernet/Modem CardBus card for network connectivity, and as you can see there’s also no driver for that (“x” over the network icon in the notification area.)

Okay. On to some system specs:

A 450 Mhz Pentium III. 256 MB RAM. Naturally, Windows 7 wouldn’t normally install on something as low end as this, but there are ways around that. They involve making a bootable USB drive, copying the Windows 7 install files onto it and then messing a little with a hex editor and winsetup.dll.

Now the most interesting part: actual performance of the system:

Not too shabby. Only 28 processes and it’s able to run with 256 MB with 87 MB Available. The processor curve looks pretty normal too. Mind you, this thing probably won’t be able to run much else than a browser, but since I didn’t look for network drivers I don’t have Internet access from this system anyway.

Well, there you have it. A really old laptop, running Windows 7. Pretty cool. Great job, Microsoft!

I was going to try this on two other systems I have lying around (collecting dust) as well, but one of them failed with an ACPI Stop error 0×000000A5 (0×0001000B, 0×50434146,…) which, after some digging, turned out to mean that the BIOS on this system didn’t follow the ACPI specs of the FACP table. More digging into the BIOS showed that the length entry in the table (and the table length itself) is supposed to be longer than it is, although it actually is as long as the table entry says. The other system is so old that it doesn’t have the ability to boot from USB, and the CD drive is unable to read CD-R discs, so it’s more trouble than it’s worth. It’s only got a PII 400 MHz and 192 MB RAM, too. That would be really interesting to see running Windows 7.

So, maybe Windows 7 really can breathe new life into old hardware. This may be a little extreme, but anything from within the last five years should probably do just fine. If it follows the ACPI specs and can boot from USB or CD/DVD, that is.

My computer runs backups over night (I use MozyHome), which shouldn’t be a problem, really. But as part of the backup, a volume shadow copy snapshot is made, and this step caused the blue screen error.

In addition to adding a SATA controller, I had also bought a bigger hard drive to hold my ever expanding collection of pictures, vacation videos, etc. When I installed it, I cloned the old drive (which was a PATA drive) to carry all the information forward onto the new drive.

Apparently, after you install a cloned a hard drive, some information is retained on the system about the old drive, and this affects volume shadow copies.

I had to go to Device Manager and turn on “Show hidden devices”:

Then, under Storage Volumes, I had to delete one in particular that seemed to have gotten a corrupted name (something like Generic Volume□□□ [not shown in this screenshot, since it’s fixed now]):

Just for good measure I deleted all of them (although they didn’t seem to really disappear), ignoring the request to reboot after each prompt to do so.

When I was done, a couple of reboots of Windows recreated the necessary information about these volumes from the (old and new) hardware. After that the volume shadow copy snapshots no longer failed and I was able to run my backups without blue screen errors.

Credits for this find go to the folks in this thread: http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic94820-2.html

Check out the program page and download the new version.

Now Microsoft has published special early upgrade pricing to entice people to rush out and get Windows 7 “while supplies last”. And they’re at it again. Guess what the upgrade price for Windows 7 Ultimate is:

Yup.

$219.99!

Sorry to shout there. At least this time there’s no promise of “Extras”. Only BitLocker and Language Packs (in addition to the Professional features). Not sure that’s worth $120 over the Professional Upgrade or $170 over Home Premium (even considering XP mode.)

Oh, and you can’t do an edition “downgrade” from Vista to 7. You can buy the upgrade package, but you’ll have to use it to do a “custom install” (i.e. clean install) and then reinstall all your programs and data. Despite that inconvenience, I’ll go for the Home Premium upgrade, thank you very much. I’m done being an Ultimate customer. Or is that Ultimate fool?

(And just for the record, Windows 7 is a fantastic product in my opinion. I hope Paul Thurrott is right when he says it may be the next Windows NT. Unfortunately he also seems to be right about how Microsoft can mess things up with their pricing)

I’m trying to block the IP address range that has been causing this, but I have no idea when my host will unilaterally decide to shut my domain down again (I suppose it isn’t nice of me to turn it back on without telling them, but they didn’t tell me they would shut it down either.) Apparently it is my responsibility to monitor the access logs and detect excessive activity and deal with it. I’m not aware of any tools they provide that help me do so, nor do they provide any kind of alerts that would help me be more responsible (if you can call finding yourself in a situation that you didn’t cause and dealing with it being “more responsible”.)

Of course, they’re in the clear, because the terms of service state that they can do whatever they want if my site causes problems for other customers on the shared web server box.

I’ve contacted Microsoft’s abuse email address and sent them access log “greps” that prove the problem. I’ve also tried to find access logs for other addresses the host claims have caused issues, but those logs seem to have been deleted by now. So now I’ve embarrassed myself with an abuse email to an ISP without having the ability to back up my claim. Nice.

Anyone have any advice on what else I can do?

If you author a type 50 custom action that runs an exe on the system, based on a registry app search in combination with a type 51 action for example, make sure you don’t put quotes around the property that defines the exe path in the type 51 custom action. In other words, don’t author it as “EXEPROPERTY”, but just EXEPROPERTY.

You may think you need the quotes if your exe path has a space in it somewhere, but you don’t.

Now, if your type 50 action uses an ExeCommand and part of that has spaces in it, that usually needs to be quoted.

Looks inconsistent to me, but I guess the ways of the Windows Installer are inscrutable and mystical at times.

My type 50 action actually ended up as 1138 or something because of deferred execution and no impersonation, but basically the same idea applies.

Check out how you can help make sure that our dwindling water reserves last longer:

http://awesome.goodmagazine.com/transparency/web/trans0309walkthisway.html

http://www.good.is/?p=16356

Check out Good’s post on the topic as well (some provoking videos in there).