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Apr

30

Getting Touchy-Feely with the Toshiba Satellite M500 Series

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Here in Windows-land, we love us some multi-touch. That’s why today I’m taking a look at Toshiba’s M500 series touchscreen laptop, which was just delivered to my office earlier this week.

The Satellite M505 that I’m using is a 14” widescreen resistive touch laptop powered by a 2.2GHz Core2Duo processor (the newest versions come with Core i3’s) and integrated Intel graphics. It has 4GB of RAM and massive 500GB 5400rpm hard drive, and a full complement of ports - HDMI, VGA, 3 USB 2.0’s, eSATA, an ExpressCard slot, and multi-format media card reader. There’s also a very low-profile, mirror-trimmed slot-load CD/DVD drive, and a set of Harmon/Kardon designed speakers powered by Dolby Sound Room. You can get one starting at $699.

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Design-wise, the Satellite M505 is thicker than many 14” laptops due to the touchscreen, but Toshiba’s done a nice job of making it look and feel slimmer than it actually is with some creative contouring and mirroring on the display and body bezels. Some users might call the M505 “heavy”, but I think a better word would be “weighty”; it definitely has some heft to it, but it’s well balanced in way that says “My weight shows I’m well made.” It’s available in red, white or black (mine is black) and decorated with Toshiba’s signature “Fusion Finish” across the lid, palm rest and trackpad - a nice touch that gives the Satellite M505 a bit of flair not usually found in this class of laptop.

Of course, the star of the Satellite M505’s show is the multi-touch screen. Aside from being bright and clear, I found the M505’s touchscreen to be very responsive. I tinkered with a few art applications like Window 7’s touch-ready Paint, and the more advanced drawing application ArtRage. Note that my degree is in Art *History*, not Fine Art, so don’t judge to harshly! 

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When you’re done marveling at my breathtaking creation, check out the slightly askew canvas. Since this machine is multi-touch, you can use two finger gestures to enlarge, shrink or spin the canvas.  Very cool.  And useful when creating masterpieces like the one above – that’s the only way to get such intricate detail.

I also had a chance to play with Toshiba’s new Media Controller software, a completely touch-based application that does a nice job of bringing an easy touch experience to core Windows 7 features like HomeGroup and PlayTo. Basically, think of Media Controller as a way to automate the process – fire it up and it will automatically scan for HomeGroup-ed PCs and any other compatible PlayTo devices like an XBOX 360 or DLNA powered TV. Select the device you want to play to, and just drag and drop files like movies, music or photos over, and you’re ready to roll. I tried this out with the HomeGroup I have running in my house and found it to work quite well. Toshiba’s posted a how-to video on their site that provides a good overview of how to get up and running.

More and more OEMs are making touchscreen PCs available. Do you want one? If so, what would your ideal use case be? Already own one? Tell us how you’re using it – or better yet, send me a video!

Apr

30

Volume Activation Management Tool 2.0 released

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We are pleased to announce the release of the Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT) 2.0. This free download is an important tool that helps customers automate and centrally manage a range of activities related to Windows and Office activation.   The release of VAMT v2.0 is a significant milestone as it packs the following features/benefits:

Read more about how you can benefit from using VAMT 2.0 in our Manage Activation Using VAMT 2.0 whitepaper.  We are also in the process of releasing multiple videos highlighting the features of VAMT, which will be available on the Windows Volume Activation site soon.

Apr

30

Financial institutions find security, performance and cost savings with Windows 7

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As the global economy begins to revive, financial institutions around the world are looking to their technology infrastructure to secure their data, decrease their expenses and grow their business. At two recent financial industry events, the Asian Banker Summit in Singapore and the Tower Group 2010 Annual Conference & Exhibition, the Microsoft team was talking with customers about how financial services companies can reduce their operating costs and improve productivity while remaining secure and compliant with government regulations with Windows 7 Enterprise.

Several Windows 7 financial services customers recently shared their deployment stories with us, and emphasized the advanced power management, lower TCO and utilization costs and improved performance they’re seeing.

Shinshan Bank, one of the largest multiservice financial institutions in the Republic of Korea, deployed Windows 7 to drive down operating costs, enhance security, and improve competitive performance. At the Asian Banker Summit 2010, Microsoft announced how the bank is leveraging security enhancements, such as AppLocker, BitLocker and BitLocker To Go, to provide Shinshan Bank with easier IT management and control. Kim Jangon, IT General Management Department from Shinhan Bank, says:

The financial industry is held to high standards for safeguarding customer information against theft or loss — a responsibility that Shinhan Bank makes a primary concern. In evaluating new operating systems, however, we also realized that we needed to strike the right balance between security and system performance to meet our employee productivity and customer service objectives. Windows 7 enables us to strike this balance.

AmericanWest Bank, a business and consumer bank in the Pacific Northwest, deployed Windows 7 to help improve security, system performance and user experience. Windows 7 features including AppLocker, BitLocker and BitLocker To Go provided the security enhancements American West needed while features like User Account Control helped enhance system performance and improve the user experience. To help mitigate any possible compatibility issues, American West Bank also leveraged Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) to allow users to run a virtual instance of Windows XP on the Windows 7 desktop. Here’s what Robert Cardon, Network Administrator for AmericanWest Bank says:

We can reduce calls to the help desk by enabling users to troubleshoot on their own. For each call saved, that’s an addition 15 minutes our IT personnel can spend on more strategic tasks.

Piraeus Bank Group, financial service provider with offices and branches throughout Europe, Egypt, and the United States, upgraded to Windows 7 for enhanced security, greater flexibility for mobile workers, and better desktop management. Piraeus Bank also plans to deploy Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system to take advantage of the DirectAccess and BranchCache features in Windows 7, to help mobile and remote workers connect more quickly and securely to the bank’s corporate network. Piraeus Bank is considering introducing BitLocker Drive Encryption and BitLocker To Go technologies, which use full-volume encryption to help protect the data both on computers and portable storage devices. Because of the success they’ve realized, Piraeus Bank plans to upgrade all 5,000 of its desktop and portable computers to Windows 7 before the end of 2010. Here is what Haris Voutsas, Deputy IT Director from Piraeus Bank Group, says:

From what we’ve seen so far, we’re convinced that we’ll experience greater stability and fewer issues with Windows 7 than with any other operating system. We trust our banking business to run on it!

And here is what Nikos Petropoulos, IT Operations and Administrations Manager for Piraeus Bank Group, says:

Windows 7 has been 100 percent compatible. It’s the most compatible version of Windows yet—even with no changes to our hardware.

To learn more about how these and other financial institutions are benefiting from Windows 7, check out the Windows Enterprise site, or read more enterprise company case studies.

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