Windows 7 Touch logo program detailed, Release Candidate "at the end of May"
By Thomas Ricker 
posted March 26th 2009 9:22AM
posted March 26th 2009 9:22AM
In a bid to help consumers recognize PCs optimized for new Windows 7 multi-touch controls, Microsoft has started... (can you guess?)... a logo program. Not that those "Vista Capable" stickers were of much use. Just think, now our new convertible laptops will be graced with loads of crapware and stickers touting Designed for Window 7, Intel inside, nVIDIA graphics or similar, and now Windows Touch, too. Of course, Microsoft's slide-ruled hearts are in the right place: the Windows Touch logo is meant to identify machines featuring all the required improvements in hardware (such as accuracy, sample rate, and resolution of the display) to ensure that gestures are recognized and that users can successfully target common UI elements like "I'm over 18" boxes. The logo program also quantifies the requirements for drivers (hooray!) and applications (natch). Certified machines must pass a 43-step test that validates the core requirements under different conditions. Every device submitted for logo will be tested in-house by Microsoft. Hit the read link for the exhaustive detail straight from the unicorn's mouth. P.S. The BBC's report on the new logo program says that Microsoft will kick out the Windows 7 release candidate for users "at the end of May," not April as previously rumored.
[Via BBC]
Goo-Gone to the rescue.
The sooner the better! Im running flawlessly as it is!
I touch myself to Win 7.. I hope you guys are ok with that!
:D
Damn, you beat me to it!
And, who the hell is in charge of Engadget's website programming? The comments rankings have been broken for like... 6 months. Is this a joke?
CORNIFY!
None of this really matters, does it? Microsoft says 7 won't come out this year. Their talking 2010. So, should we care?
I'd like to jump onto 7 as much as everbody else, but the only concrete news I can count on is Vista SP2 to be out pretty soon.
RC1 is pretty early...then RC2, maybe RC3....
xcrunk you sir are a tard if you think Win 7 won't be out before Sept of '09. If you had been using the beta you'd know the OS NOW, in beta form, is solid enough to be considered a release candidate. MS said 2010 last fall. Right now the official word is this fall for a release. There will be one release candidate...possibly two if they try and sneak one in July. But beyond that. Its baked.
@Jon: In addition to mentioning that the RC will be released in May, the BBC article also says that Windows 7 will be released in 2010. That may be marketing or it may not - only time will tell.
@xcrunk: Microsoft don't intend to release more than one RC for Windows 7.
Well, Windows 7 is already at least 2 years late! It's 2009 already!
@elBravo - that was a joke right?
Microsoft needs some stimulus money so it would be smart to get windows 7 cash on the books asap.
Build 7057 RC1 is already out.
And it is RC1, it's referred to as RC1 in the EULA.
Also, the BBC sucks, it's the worst outlet for technology based news. I remember when Oink.cd got shutdown, they managed to get pretty much _every_ detail about the site wrong, and just ate the crap they were fed by the IFPI by the spoonful.
Sorry about the multiple posts.
@ben: you know could a typed all that into a singel comment.
@ onelove
"singel"?
Gee, way to try and spin this into something negative again. Never heard Engadget complain about stickers on PC cases, but Microsoft comes out with a Touch logo program (since when does this mean there's be a separate sticker?) and suddenly stickers are the scourge of mankind.
I take great pleasure in peeling off the 'designed for xp/vista' stickers shortly before installing Ubuntu.
i doubt this will be an additional sticker. it will probably replace the standard Windows sticker, so instead of saying "Windows 7," it might just say "Windows 7 touch"
Knowing the PC industry, it will be another sticker.
Logo programs are just such a corporate way to handle this. Advertise the box on the box you just bought. What would really help the consumer would be if Microsoft would get ahold of its OEM program and tell them not to ship touch displays that don't meet the requirements.
But then, what would Microsoft do with the sticker machine they just bought? Might as well use it.
After using OS X since its birth, I can't imagine ever paying for another version of Windows again.
I love XP, it's awesome and I have had only minor issues wirth installing hardware with it. I haven't tried Windows 2000 or Vista. Windows 98 was what Windows 95 was supposed to be. Windows 95 disapointed terribly, and Windows 3.x was the shitiest OS I have used... Microsoft Windows has proven itself to be a terrible OS over the yeras, and I think the only reason it is supported these days is that every company out there has spent their money on MS shit... It's not widely accepted because it is good, but rather because there is huge PR behind it.
I have used other OSes as well. Linuix, BeOS, Qnx, and others. All of them had unique features, but lacked the support of OS X and Windows.
Windows has won the OS war only because companies have invested so much in hardware and software already, not because it is worth the money...
Take your soapbox somewhere else.
Thanks for your input (even though it had nothing to do with the original topic).
ok, so you admit that the newest windows version you have tried is xp,which you claim to love. then continue to say that windows oses are shit because 95 and 3.x don't compare with leopard? excuse for pointing out the obvious but isn't that like saying the atari 2600 sucks because its graphics are worse than a ps3? stop being a troll.
"Windows 95 disapointed terribly"
Check it out. We have found the one person on Earth would was LET DOWN when he tried Windows 95.
@AVG:
See, the ranking system works fine...
I think I would rank Windows 95 as the least disappointing operating system of all time. It was such a dramatic leap forward from 3.x, it doesn't seem like it should have been possible.
Timm, anyone with half a brain realizes the HUGE UPGRADE Windows 95 was, compared to Windows 3.1
Windows 98 has been regarded as one of the best MS OSes till now.
Windows XP, well enough has been said regarding XP. It's 2009 and manufactures are still going for it.
My boss has the latest Mac Pro, and it blows.
Actually people run Windows because it has all the cool applications. Less than 5% of the world's computer using population care about OS X and far less than that about Linux. MS may be horrible but they're the world's kind of horrible.
If OSX is so good then why do they dual boot it with XP or Vista on a Mac??
I'm not saying that its not good but why do they have Windows running on Macs as well?
@John Doe: Mainly to run Windows-only applications (AutoCad, Visual Studio, most games, accounting applications, Windows versions of Office, testing web page rendering in Internet Explorer and so on). I'd prefer using virtual machines over dual-booting for most tasks.
I feel like part of my brain has melted...
Hands up for those who had WHQL drivers mess up and crash their system (constantly), right, it's unanimous then and we agree; 'logo certification' is just a way for MS to get extra cash.
I can honestly say that I've never had a WHQL driver do that and I was running Vista RTM in November 2006. I have no problem with Microsoft doing what they can to improve the quality of the hardware that their OS is installed on.
Drivers can cheat WHQL, if they're sneaky enough.
http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2004/03/05/84469.aspx
If you claim you honestly never had issues with a WHQL driver then you are either just using PC's 2 days or need to get a dictionary and look up the word honest.
Or you are some MS employee being cute.
Does anyone know if the Windows Touch is just a touch-copy of the full windows 7? or is it some sort of watered-down version with touch add-on?
Windows Touch is just a marketing term for the new touch features in Windows 7. It's not a seperate version of the OS and the touch features will only be available if the OS detects compatible hardware.
I would like to know what the hardware requirements are exactly for multitouch, capacitive screen and..? sounds like another marketing scheme to sell expensive machines.
Oh my God... make a fuckin article about...stickers?
These guys must have had a seriously hard time using ten seconds to pull them off!
wow :) Now touch screen LCDs should be made common...
it'd also be interesting to see what Apple and Linux would do in response to MS' touch screen feature.
You do know that touch screen technology has been around for quite a few years, right?
Touch support was fantastic in both Fedora and Ubuntu on my TX1000...before that HP piece of crap kicked the bucket on me. It was just as smooth as Vista's touch support, if not more so.
Multi-touch support is already gaining ground in the Linux world, and there are apparently linux drivers for the macbook trackpads available.
@Andir3.0
What I meant is that touch screen LCDs being standardised to all computers i.e. your computer at home. So in a few years time I hope that every computer the manufacturers are selling will come equipped with touch screen as standard without an increase in cost.
And yeah, there's like touch screen panels like tablets, but they're not like "glass" like this iPhone-like touch screen, so you have to use either your nails or the stylus...
Windows 7 multitouch netbooks couldn't come any sooner...
Again, Engadget, your inability to deliver unbiased reporting is absolutely astounding. This is an obvious attempt to HELP THE CONSUMER, and all you do is bash microsoft for... stickers?! STICKERS?! ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?! STICKERS?! REALLY!? Do you know what would have been more effective than obviously mocking microsoft with a unicorn pasted over their OS? Maybe the actual logos? Maybe the someone performing the touch gestures
Think a little bit guys, I've said this before and I've said this again, your opinions go in columns, leave it out of the news.
1) This is not a negative article
2) The unicorn picture has been used for a dozen other articles in the past. I don't remember exactly where it originated, but I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be a positive reference.
CORNIFY!!
chilax dude
@defgon
1) It's definitely NOT a positive article
2) It's a reference to OSX because they use REAL animals and therefor they used a unicorn for windows 7 because the OS seemed too good to be true for engadget(fortunately it isn't)
ugghh....
Windows 7 gui with touch input = 5 minutes "Wicked cool" + 1 year "Shit. Shoulda saved money and got the normal laptop."
Windows 7 with touch specific gui = "Wicked cool"
I'm guessing its going to be the former.