Based upon the introduction and subsequent reviews by those who have actually seen an iPad, the device is indeed using the iPhone operating system. This was further validated when Apple introduced a new Software Development Kit (SDK) that included calls for using the iPad’s new features.

Where my prediction fell down was that I wrongfully assumed the iPad would require a new version of the iPhone OS. Instead Apple built the iPad to live within the constraints of version 3.1.2 of the iPhone operating system.

That is not to say we will not get an iPhone OS version 4, it just means that the iPad will drive a requirement to update the operating system. My suggestions and wish list items for a new version of the operating system will have to continue to be far off dreams.

Maybe with the iPad actually ships it will include iPhone OS 4.0 or perhaps we will see a new version introduced at the Apple World Wide Developer’s Conference. In the mean time I’ll stumble and struggle with the current operating system with its idiosyncrasies and long for the day when a new version will be released restoring balance to the technology universe.

I’ve been to enough Apple events to know the company and in particular Steve Jobs has these things down to a science. They maintain secrecy over all details of the event and subtly let out slight details at a rate that ensures the general public is spun up to a frenzy.

This was definitely the case for this event. It was perhaps the worst kept secret in the computer history that Apple would be releasing a tablet device. Despite that knowledge Apple customers and potential customers were glued to their computer screens waiting to learn the details of this new device.

After taking the stage Jobs wasted no time before bringing out the new product for everyone to see. It had been rumored the device would be named the “iPad” and that was accurate. At first glimpse it looks like an iPod Touch with a thyroid problem.

It has the same touch screen technology that the iPod Touch and the iPhone use. From the screen displays it runs a version of the iPhone Operating System with extensions that will utilize the larger screen real estate.

Apple is positioning the iPad to be missing link between the iPhone and the MacBook. It will run over 140,000 applications from the App Store with no modification giving the device an instant library of software on day one.

iPhone apps can run in two different modes. The first will set the application up in a window sized the same as an iPhone or iPod Touch. With a click you can expand the size of the window to four-times nearly filling the iPad’s screen.

The iPad is 9.56 inches high and 7.47 inches wide with a depth of 0.5 inches. It weighs approximately 1.5 pounds making it extremely light weight and portable for taking with you wherever you go. The 9.7 inch (diagonal) LED screen has a resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels at
132 pixels per inch.

The form factor was slightly different than I expected. I thought it would have a screen ratio of 16:9 rather than 4:3. While the additional width might be good for some applications, it results in black bars on two of the sides when watching video.

The iPad comes in several configurations to allow the customer to decide which one will meet their needs without overbuying the technology. There are two standard types. One is strictly Wi-Fi enabled allowing network connectivity to any Wi-Fi Hotspot in 802.11a/b/g/n flavors.

The other includes 3G networking in addition to Wi-Fi allowing the user to connect the device to a cellular network if Wi-Fi is unavailable. Apple announced that the 3G model comes unlocked meaning it can be used on any 3G network that utilize specific frequencies. AT&T immediately announced the iPad could be used on their network.

Besides the networking type, customers can also choose the device’s capacity. The iPad will be available in 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of memory. Like the iPhone the iPad includes an accelerometer to sense when the device is rotated or tilted.

The iPad uses a graphical keyboard like the iPhone and can also utilize Bluetooth keyboards such as the Apple Wireless Keyboard. The iPad includes full support for Bluetooth 2.1 which should mean you could use wireless earphones.

The processor in the device is an Apple designed chip called the A4 which is running at 1GHz. The chip was designed to provide good performance while maintaining lower power consumption.

Power conservation was an important design criterion for the iPad allowing it to have up to 10 hours of use or 30 days of stand-by power, impressive considering the device’s minimal footprint.

The iPad is capable of playing music similar to an iPod Touch. It is also able to display High Definition video reproduction in 720p at 30 frames per second.

The device is initially being targeted to the traveler who wants to use multimedia while on the road. Its screen size would be perfect for watching a movie on an airplane or in a hotel room.

Besides audio and video, the device is also great as an electronic book reader. It was immediately clear that Apple was positioning this to compete head-to-head with Amazon and its Kindle product.

Besides the iPad, Apple also announced it would add books to iTunes allowing customers to purchase electronic books and have them downloaded directly to the iPad. Besides text and pictures, the electronic books can also include video and other media.

The demos of the electronic book media reminded me a lot of the newspapers in the Harry Potter movies where pictures move around the page. With networking capabilities there is no reason content could not be updated in real time as news unfolds.

Besides the iPad, Apple also introduced a version of their word processor Pages, presentation software Keynote, and spreadsheet Numbers for the iPad. This brings productivity apps to the mobile space. Perhaps the best news was that each of these applications will be priced at $9.99.

The whole pricing structure for the iPad was very aggressive. A 16GB iPad with Wi-Fi will sell for $499 putting it squarely in the Kindle’s market. Prices for the 32GB and 64GB models were set at $599 and $699 respectively. If you want 3G, it is $130 more. This means the most feature laden iPad will sell for $829; $170 less than the rumored price point.

The Wi-Fi versions of the iPad will begin shipping in late March 2010 while the 3G versions will ship in late April. Overall the iPad looks like an intriguing device that has a lot of potential allowing Apple to position themselves in another mobile market.

As an owner of an iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS as well as several iPod Touch devices, I am eagerly awaiting the newest version of the iPhone OS. When Apple introduced iPhone OS 3.0 I was ecstatic.

When the iPhone 3G was released, the operating system had some challenges that severely impacted the usefulness of the device. The battery drain was excruciating and it was a struggle to hold and maintain a signal in some areas.

The update to the iPhone OS cleared up a lot of these issues and enabled the devices to become much more useful. We are now currently on version 3.1.2 meaning there have been some minor changes. Some of these changes have been welcomed while others introduced new issues that iPhone users have had to live with.

While Apple has never asked for my input, I would be happy to provide them with a wish list of items that I’d love to see them build into the next version of the OS.

iPhone 3GS Battery Usage. I bought an iPhone 3G on the first day it was available. For those first few weeks I really questioned my sanity. The battery would dramatically drain throughout the day requiring a charge during the day if I wanted to use the device for longer than a few hours.

iPhone OS 3.0 solved most of those issues. When I upgraded to an iPhone 3GS I was shocked to find my battery woes had returned to nearly the same level I had with the iPhone 3G at introduction. Apple engineers in conjunction with AT&T needs to figure out what is causing such a drain on the 3GS and resolve it. There must be a way to better manage energy usage to allow a user to use the phone for longer than a few short hours between charges and turning off the 3G network or not using applications cannot be the answer.

Multi-Tasking Applications. To be honest this one is really not high on my priority list. Given the aforementioned battery issues adding multi-tasking to applications may not be possible and I would rather have longer battery life than have multiple applications running.

That being said, I realize multi-tasking is necessary to be competitive in the smart phone market. Google has implemented this feature in their Android product so Apple will need to offer something similar. The key to multi-tasking is to have an appropriate algorithm that can manage potential runaway apps that could jeopardize the user experience.

Better Bluetooth Connectivity. Apple recently added the ability to connect wireless headphones to the iPhone using a Bluetooth connection. When it first was released it worked well with my motorcycle headphones. During subsequent OS updates, Apple broke that capability.

The level of regression testing needs to be better at Apple so that they don’t break functionality when they update. With more and more emphasis being placed on eliminating the wires, Apple needs to provide a more robust toolset within the OS to support Bluetooth functionality not just for headphones but also headsets.

Ability to Change Text Messaging Sounds. This is one of those things that leave you scratching your head wondering what Apple engineers were thinking. The iPhone supports custom ring tones for incoming calls but the user is limited to the six sounds that are included on the phone for text messages.

Nearly every cellular phone on the planet supports custom sounds to be used for receiving text messages; the iPhone is not one of those. This is such a simple change that you have to wonder why it was never supported in the first place.

There are documented hacks that will allow users to replace one of the six sounds with a custom sound but these hacks require the user to “jailbreak” the phone. iPhone OS 4.0 should at a minimum allow the user to set a global sound to all text messages.

If Apple really wants to impress the customer base, let the user set a sound on a per user basis to provide audio queues of who is trying to contact them.

Make Communications Contact Centered. With the iPhone I will get communications via several different ways from the same person. I might receive a phone call, a text message, a photo message, a Twitter message, or an email all from the same person.

It would be extremely beneficial if I could look at a user’s contact information and see all the communications I have had with them regardless of the medium. I understand this may not be a trivial task but it would extremely useful to consolidate all of the data in one place.

Apple took the first step when they introduced Spotlight search capabilities on the iPhone but a user should not have to go to the search function to find all the information about a recipient. Make the interface more user centralized.

These are just a few things that come to mind, I am sure I could come up with additional examples of features or functions that would be helpful in the iPhone OS 4.0. These are not complaints, they are helpful suggestions of ways to endure this device to the hearts of the users.

Trying to determine the appropriate upgrade path to get to Windows 7 is not the easiest thing in the world. Microsoft has multiple versions of the operating system and a multi-column matrix that is supposed to help you figure out which version you need. Much of this is determined by what operating system you are currently running.

When Microsoft introduced Vista, there was a lot of discussion about how difficult the company made it by having so many different versions of their operating system to choose from. When Windows 7 was introduced, they took that to heart and reduced the number of versions; or so they say.

Windows 7 comes in four different flavors: Starter, Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate. Of course each of these versions also comes in 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Then of course you have decide if you need a full version or an upgrade so there is a staggering 12 different permutations to choose from. Not exactly a recipe for a good customer experience.

I had initially decided I would install Windows 7 Professional as it seemed to have the features I was interested in including having VPN access and bit-locker for when I need to work remotely. Unfortunately Microsoft does not offer a multi-pack of that version pushing me instead to Home Premium.

The Windows 7 Home Premium Family Pack provides you with three licenses to install the software on three computers that already have some version of Microsoft Windows loaded upon them. If you have new computers or if your computers are running a different operating system then the Family Pack licenses are not supposed to work.

I say not supposed to since these are upgrade licenses meaning it is assumed a previous version of Windows is present. There are tutorials on the Internet that will show you how to get around this stipulation but to be in compliance with the license you should have a previous version of Windows.

That being said, it should be noted that unless you are doing an upgrade from Vista, you really aren’t upgrading as much as you are erasing the hard drive and starting over with Windows 7. The Upgrade option in the software only recognizes existing hard drive partitions containing Vista.

If you are running Windows XP or below, you are forced to do a “Custom Install” which basically overwrites your Windows installation installing Windows 7 in its place. This means you will lose all your data from your hard drive so it is imperative that you back-up before beginning this “upgrade”.

Before I actually installed the software I ran the Microsoft Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor to see what software or hardware would not run or needed to be upgraded. On every one of the computers I tried the upgrade advisor stated that my video card was incompatible with the Aero interface.

It did not matter what video card I tried, ATI or nVidia, or the level of GPU, all of the configurations stated that I could not run the Aero interface. After a search on the Internet I found that in all cases the GPU was indeed compatible and worked fine with Aero. This of course put into question whether any of the information provided by the Upgrade Advisor was accurate.

The days of people having a single computer in their house have long since past for most people. It is not uncommon for a household to have several computers. In our case each member of the family has their own computer meaning we have six computers in our house. Three of the computers are running Mac OS X while three are under Windows.

When Apple introduced Snow Leopard I was able to buy a family pack that provided five licenses to run the new operating system. I was hoping that Microsoft would do something similar. I was relieved to find that Microsoft would offer a family pack but only for Windows 7 Home Premium. Further the licenses were limited to three rather than Apple’s five.

The cost of the Windows 7 Home Premium Family Pack was set at $149.95 which is only $30 more than a single license of Windows 7 Home Premium. Of course it is $100 more than the Apple OS X Snow Leopard Family Pack and contains two fewer licenses so the deal is relative.

The Windows 7 Home Premium Family Pack contains both 32-bit and 64-bit versions so that was a welcomed relief. The Windows 7 Ultimate version that I received contained only the 32-bit version. When I contacted Microsoft for the 64-bit I was told I needed to send in the 32-bit DVD and wait 30-60 days for a new disc and even then they could not promise I would receive one.

I started with my daughter’s computer which was running Windows XP Professional. Her computer had an AMD dual-core processor, 4 GB of RAM, an ATI video card, and a 320GB hard disk. The upgrade began and I sat back waiting for it to complete. In the middle the screen turned blue and the computer hung up. Finally after three hours I rebooted. The upgrade continued and completed normally after the restart.

I thought things were ok but when I tried to install Microsoft Office 2007 it failed with several errors about not having access to write to the registry. After another two hours trying various things to get Office 2007 to load I finally gave up.

I deleted the disk partition where Windows 7 was installed and created a new partition. After doing this I started the Windows 7 upgrade again and this time it went without issue. I was able to install Office 2007 and other applications. I have no idea what happened during the first upgrade but I was finally successful.

The next computer I upgraded was my son’s small form factor Shuttle with an Intel dual-core processor, 4 GB RAM, 750GB hard drive, and integrated graphics which was running Windows XP Professional.

In this case I ran the utility to transfer users and settings to an external hard drive. The transfer program worked well but you need to be careful. The application does not appear to differentiate between two hard drives so all of his music that was located on a second hard drive was transferred to the external hard drive.

I upgraded this computer to 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium. Since I was running Windows XP it erased the existing Windows system and installed Windows 7. This upgrade went without incident and once completed worked flawlessly.

I ran the transfer utility again and it gave me errors that there was not enough room to restore the users and settings. After some troubleshooting I realized that the utility was attempting to restore his music that was located on a separate hard drive onto the Windows 7 boot drive. Once I told the transfer utility to only restore users and settings it completed successfully.

The final system I upgraded had Vista Ultimate 64-bit loaded on it. I had some issues when I tried to upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium since the system explained that many of the features of Vista Ultimate would be lost. I ended up just telling the system to do a custom install that would blow away the Vista data.

Once I chose that it upgraded the system without incident. All three computers are now running Windows 7 Home Premium and seem to be working well. They are all running Aero without incident so I am not sure what the Upgrade Advisor is looking for when it comes to compatibility.

So far Windows 7 seems faster than Vista was. The XP machines don’t seem any faster but they don’t seem any slower either so I guess that’s a plus. The kids like the Aero interface and in general have been happy since the upgrade.

I guess I would say at this point that Windows 7 is better than Vista was when released but it is still too early to tell whether the upgrade was really worth all the hassle that I seemed to have.

These upgrades never quite work out the way I envisioned them. Oh sure there are some like Windows 3.0 that were so astronomically superior to the previous version that I never looked back but for every one of those experiences I have ten like the day I upgraded to Microsoft Vista on release day.

Today marks another one of those milestone days in Microsoft history. Today they released Windows 7, their follow on product to the highly unsuccessful Microsoft Vista. I shouldn’t say Vista was highly unsuccessful, after several months of pain and suffering it did get better.

Still there were more than a few annoyances that remained with the operating system and of course the gigantic black eye it received at launch that caused the product to never gain a strong foothold in the marketplace.

All of that is about to be forgotten as people begin to purchase and upgrade to this new version. Release day is almost anti-climatic since public beta versions of he software have been out for what seems like years.

Many of the problems users suffered through with Vista have been cleaned up and there are sufficient amounts of new features to make this a must have for many Microsoft Windows users. Considering most people are probably still using Windows XP, this is a necessary change to make the platform more reliable and safer.

Today was not just the release of Windows 7 though. It was also the grand opening for the new Microsoft store in Scottsdale Arizona. Yet again Microsoft is “borrowing” from Apple’s success to open their own branded store hoping to cash in at the retail channel.

The store has a grand opening at 10 AM but people have been lining up well before that. It is probably equal parts curiosity and free swag that is bringing the people out to this event. For the first 1,000 people in the store Microsoft is giving away free gifts. For the first 100 in the store they are giving away concert tickets.

As part of the grand opening, Microsoft has spared no expense and has brought in a recording artist to entertain the customers. In Scottsdale the entertainer is Ashley Tisdale from the Disney Channel. Ms. Tisdale has a couple of albums under her belt but she is best known for her work in Disney’s High School Musical trilogy.

What that means though is that the Microsoft Store will be inundated with a combination if geeky Microsoft fan boys and tween mall rats. That may not be the best demographic to target your new operating system and products to but that’s what they are going to get at least on the first day of business.

I think Microsoft needed to do something especially in Arizona where interest in the new Windows 7 platform does not seem to be gaining a lot of momentum in the market. There is some buzz as there always is just as a new product is released but not nearly as much as Apple seems to raise when they release a new product.

With an Apple introduction there seems to be lines everywhere as people wait for an opportunity to purchase one of the first ones. When Apple introduced the iPhone people camped out for days waiting in line for a chance to purchase. Stores even opened early to get through all the mobs of people lined up.

For the Microsoft Windows 7 release none of the local stores appear to be doing anything more than having a kiosk with the new operating system and someone who can answer questions. I have not found any stores in the immediate area who planned a midnight opening or any special coming out party.

This is in stark contrast to just this past Tuesday when several businesses had a midnight opening to allow people the opportunity to purchase the movie Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen. It makes you wonder what Microsoft is doing from a marketing perspective if a DVD sale for a Hollywood sequel garners more press and excitement than a new operating system.

I’m still undecided whether I will make a trip to Scottsdale to see the new Microsoft Store for myself. Although I plan on upgrading to Windows 7 before the week is over I find my excitement is waning a little. Instead maybe I’ll stay home and watch Transformers 2 on Blu-Ray. After all it is the hottest movie of the season according to the Geek Squad at Best Buy when I was there Tuesday night at midnight.

While I do have a few Windows machines, my preference is clearly to Apple’s OS X operating system. I wanted to go into this meeting with an open mind to give this new operating system an opportunity to show whether it was an appropriate replacement to Windows XP and Windows Vista.

I will be the first to admit that I am an early adopter and I usually will upgrade to the latest version of either an operating system or an application as soon as it comes out. Part of this is due to my insatiable curiosity and partly it is because I know that friends and family are going to upgrade and therefore I need to know what kinds of issues they may have since they are going to call me to troubleshoot their problems.

The event was held at an AMC movie theater. Microsoft had rented out four theaters and had set up a presenter’s podium in front of the screen. The movie screen was configured to show the contents of the presenter’s computer.

The venue actually worked which somewhat surprised me. Granted it was strange having to dodge movie goers looking for the appropriate theaters and the registration tables were adjacent to the snack bar making for a traffic disaster but we seemed to survive.

The breakout sessions I went to included understanding new features of Windows 7, delving into the security aspects of Windows 7, incorporating Windows 7 into a cloud computing model, and creating a deployment strategy for implementing Windows 7 into an enterprise.

As I sat through these presentations I came away with an appreciation of how Microsoft had learned from the challenges they faced trying to roll out Vista. Clearly the troubles of Vista did not fall on deaf ears in Redmond. Many of the enhancements within Windows 7 build on the successes of Windows XP while carrying forth the vision that was unrealized in Vista.

I made a few observations about this new operating system and the features it is bringing to the table.

• Jump Lists – Windows 7 will group windows under an application on the task bar and provide you with previews of the windows. This is a much better paradigm than seeing just the titles. The titles will appear if you have too many windows open in an application to make previews unmanageable.
• Snap – You can make a window take half the screen by dragging it to the left margin of the screen or the right margin. This makes it easy to compare windows side by side and is a welcome improvement to the user interface.
• Search – You can now save searches from various search sources and have them available in the Windows explorer eliminating the user from having to remember which search engines they used to get the results they needed.
• Hide Windows – Now you can click in the task bar in the far right corner to hide all the windows and see the icons and files that are on the desktop without having to manually minimize each window. It works much better than the show desktop options in either Vista or XP.
• Printer Set-up – You can now set up a default printer per network meaning if you are at work the system will set your default printer to your work printer but when you attach your computer to your home network the OS will set your default printer to your home printer. It will take away a lot of the headaches associated with forgetting to change printers.
• Faster Start-up and Shutdown – Windows 7 only loads the files it needs to boot rather than loading everything making start-up much faster than Vista or XP. Shutdown will not wait 12 seconds for an application to shutdown then give the user a dialog box to terminate the application and shutdown. This is a lot faster than previous versions of Windows.
• Better Memory Management – Windows 7 has been optimized to make better use of computer memory meaning you will be able to have more things open without running out of memory.

These are just a few of the new features that users will see with Windows 7. While I hesitated recommending Vista to family and friends, I do not think I will have that same reservation with Windows 7. The initial observations left me impressed with the features that Windows 7 brings to the table.

Does this mean I would trade in my Macintosh and OS X? Not hardly but it does mean that for those times where I do have to boot into Windows I am going to be happier doing so in Windows 7 than I was in either Vista or XP.